NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Historic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park hosted the NHRA Summernationals, an event that lived up to its name when racers took on a warm racing surface Sunday. Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) beat the heat to win at the 10th stop of the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Each win was a huge triumph for a variety of reasons, and the biggest story was Sampey’s first victory in nine years. The winningest female driver in NHRA history returned to the sport toward the end of the 2014 season after last competing in 2008, reuniting with team owner George Bryce and Star Racing.

The 42nd win of Sampey’s career and first since the Houston event in 2007 occurred with an outstanding performance by bike and rider, who navigated a difficult path to the winner’s circle. She slaughtered two hogs to wrestle a gator when she defeated Harley-Davidson V-Rod riders Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec en route to a final round against alligator farmer Jerry Savoie. Neither rider made a perfect run, though Sampey was nearly perfect on the Tree with a .002 reaction in a 6.876 to 6.928 victory for the Star Racing Buell V-Twin.

Sampey is the fifth different woman to win an NHRA event in a Pro category this season.

“I know this is my 42nd win, but it feels like my first ever,” said Sampey. “I don’t feel like I had any wins before today. I’m starting all over again, and I had something to prove, and it took a while. I feel totally responsible to show my daughter what she can do with her life. Now I can show her that even if you aren’t winning every weekend, but if you just keep trying, you’re going to get it. Showing her and being her role model — I don’t have the words for it.”

Back to back: The first half of the four-race “Eastern Swing” has been all Ron Capps in the Funny Car class. The NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger has been outstanding with 15 of 16 runs in the three-second range the past two weekends. Capps has scored back-to-back wins on five occasions during his career, though this is the first time he has been the No. 1 qualifier at consecutive races.

Capps was the top qualifier with an outstanding 3.870 during Friday night qualifying. Perhaps his most impressive run was a 3.960 in the heat during the semifinals. His 3.996 in round two was the quickest run of either nitro category in that round, and the same can be said for his 3.954 in the final.

The final against teammate Jack Beckman decided which driver would leave the event with the points lead. Capps claiming his 47th win also kept the final position open in the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout before the fan vote/lottery drawing.

Sealing the deal: Steve Torrence has been the No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel five times this season, equaling his career total prior to 2016, and he scored his first win since the season-opening Circle K NHRA Winternationals after a series of near-misses.

Torrence won in Englishtown for the second time in his career. The Capco Contractors driver did an excellent job of keeping his head on a swivel on a race day that awarded drivers who were quick to adapt. His Richard Hogan-tuned dragster ran a safe 3.87 to defeat Smax Smith in the first round. For the rest of the day, Torrence was tasked with getting a dragster to the finish line under power even though it wanted to do otherwise.

He defeated J.R. Todd and Brittany Force in pedalfests to reach the final against Tony Schumacher, who went 3.843 in the previous round. Tuners were pulling their hair out on this day when the track got continuously warmer while the air got better with water grains falling. Torrence and Schumacher both smoked the tires about the same time. Torrence put two holes out after pedaling and legged it out to go 4.03, and Schumacher’s motor was eating itself up on a 4.23. Torrence is now 3-0 against the eight-time Mello Yello world champion in final rounds.

The victory spawned a huge celebration around assistant crew chief Bobby Lagana Jr., a Scarsdale, N.Y., native whose late father, Bobby Sr., was an institution at this facility with his Twilight Zone entries.

KB-Town: Greg Anderson has quite a history at Raceway Park. He won the NHRA Summernationals Pro Stock title for the second straight season and seventh time in his career.

With other teams closing in on the performance advantage that the KB Racing team has enjoyed since the start of the electronic-fuel-injection era, the Summit Racing drivers have embraced the challenge of holding off the pack and continuing to frequent the winner’s circle. Anderson and Jason Line ensured that the team would take another Wally to Mooresville, N.C., when they met each other in the final round.

The race ended when Line released the clutch with a -.024 foul. Anderson outran him with a 6.610 to 6.615 advantage.

“It’s unreal,” Anderson said, “It’s just absolutely been a dream season. I keep wanting to pinch myself. It’s just cool, and we’ve had such a great run. This was another great weekend. It’s just one more time that Englishtown tells me how much it loves me and how much the fans up here appreciate Pro Stock.”

'The Surfer’s' Endless Summer(nationals): One of the fun aspects of a hot race day is the equalizing factor that sets the stage for smaller teams to score upset wins. It happened in Pro Stock with John Gaydosh scoring his first round-win and Kenny Delco reaching the semifinal round. Another such racer was independent Funny Car campaigner Jeff “the Surfer” Diehl, who captured the imagination of those in attendance when he moved on to the semifinal round after scoring round-wins over Robert Hight and Tim Wilkerson, and it seemed possible that he could ride the wave into the winner’s circle in an upset akin to Bob Bode's win at the 2010 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.

Diehl’s pit was busy before the semi’s, with the entire Amalie Motor Oil Top Fuel team and a member of Chad Head’s crew pitching in to turn his car around. “The Surfer” wore shorts and sandals when he rebuilt cylinder heads, and he and Tony Shortall played maestros to the chaotic symphony in the pit area. Though his day ended in tire smoke opposite Jack Beckman, the driver whose rear wing once said “Fake it ‘til you make it” got to relish in taking another big step in his Funny Car career.

“It was awesome,” said Diehl. “The guys all thrashed, and people from everywhere helped us. I didn’t have time to tune it for the semi’s. We learned a lot about where to get more organized to not be a cluster on race day. I want to thank Red Line Oil and everyone who stuck by us. The biggest thing that happened for us this year is that Tony Shortall and I re-collided, and we both matured.”

Teams helping teams was commonplace throughout the event. After Dom Lagana defeated Clay Millican in the first round, the entire Paton Racing team came over to help with the turnaround as soon as its Shawn Reed-driven dragster was put away.

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Special Awards

Best run: David Barton’s 8.256, Stock eliminator qualifying
The eventual winner of the School of Automotive Machinists & Technology NHRA Factory Stock Showdown recorded the quickest run in Stock eliminator history on Thursday during qualifying.

Best race: Angelle Sampey vs. Eddie Krawiec, Pro Stock Motorcycle semi’s
Sampey drove around the Harley rider and former Old Bridge Township Raceway Park track manager to win by a margin of .007-second.

Driver of the race: Angelle Sampey
The three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion chopped down the Christmas Tree with a sharp blade. She cut two .002 lights during her first win in nine years.

Crew chief of the race: Rahn Tobler
Just before the entire NAPA crew toasted to victory in the pits after the event, Ron Capps handed the trophy to Tobler and said, “If you’ve ever deserved a Wally, you earned it this weekend.” The NAPA Dodge has made three-second runs in 15 of its last 16 runs and been the dominant car at the past two events.

Stat of the race: In 469 career races, Ron Capps had never qualified No. 1 at consecutive events until the Epping and Englishtown races. It is also the first time since 2002 that the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car won the event at three consecutive races.