NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

For more than five decades, National Dragster's famed Tricky Tipster has tested his (or is it her?) prognosticating skills prior to each national event, putting odds on the top eight racers he (or she?) thinks have the best shot at victory in Tricky Tipster. This week, Tricky Tipster handicaps the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals.

TOP FUEL Funny Car | Pro Stock
	Steve Torrence • Capco Contractors The last time he started a season with a victory or led the national points standings was during his Top Alcohol Dragster championship season in 2005. Once this Texan gets going, he’s hard to stop.	2-1
	Tony Schumacher • U.S. Army “History repeats itself,” sayeth “the Sarge.” He rebounded from a first-round loss at last year’s season opener by winning in Phoenix. It also happened in 2002.	3-1
	Doug Kalitta • Mac Tools He won here in 2001 and has reached the final three times since, including last year. He was step for step with fellow finalist Steve Torrence in Pomona. He’s ready to christen the new car with a victory.	4-1
	Antron Brown • Matco Tools The history book that Tony Schumacher alluded to also shows that Schumacher has won this event in the last two odd years (2013, 2015), and Brown has won in the last two even years (2012, 2014).	5-1
	Richie Crampton • Lucas Oil A clutch controller malfunctions; he wins the first round in Pomona. A slide valve malfunctions; he wins the next round. Imagine what the third-year driver can accomplish this season when his dragster works as intended.	6-1
	Clay Millican • Parts Plus/Great Clips Tipster special. He made one of the top three runs of the qualifying session or eliminations round all four times he got to the finish line under power at the season opener.	7-1
	Shawn Langdon • Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant The 2013 world champ attended spring training with the Chicago Cubs this week, but his fastball is already in midseason form with the quickest reaction time of race day in Pomona.	9-1
	J.R. Todd • SealMaster His new crew experienced just about every kind of result in Pomona: explosions, holeshot wins, clean victories, and a heartbreaking semifinal defeat. Todd has the performance to “seal” the deal this week.	10-1
FUNNY CAR
	Del Worsham • DHL Toyota In our last ranking, we said that the champ stays No. 1 until someone proves he or she belongs above him. Others made strong cases to move up, but several threes and a runner-up finish is nothing to sneeze at. It also doesn’t hurt that he was the runner-up here last year.	3-1
	Ron Capps • NAPA Dodge Carrying over the strong, consistent performance we saw at the end of last year, Capps started his 2016 campaign very well, winning in Pomona. If he keeps it up, we could easily see Capps displacing Worsham atop our order.	7-2
	Jack Beckman • Infinite Hero Dodge Looked like their old show-off selves in Pomona qualifying with, among other good runs, a 3.88 that netted them the pole. Race day showed there’s still work to do here, but overall, a good start for last year’s pacesetters.	5-1
	Robert Hight • Auto Club Chevy Quietly got a very solid start to the season, qualifying No. 3 and going to the semi’s. Add in a good history here — he has been in the semi’s or better three of the last four years — and we like his chances of repeating or bettering his Pomona performance.	6-1
	Tommy Johnson Jr. • Make-A-Wish We’ll admit we’re a little stumped here. So strong at the end of last year and absolutely killed it in testing, but then they fell flat on their faces in Pomona. Was it a onetime deal or a sign of troubles? We choose to believe it is the former.	7-1
	Courtney Force • Traxxas Chevy Remember last time when we said we felt a rebound coming for this team? Yeah, it started in Pomona, where Force looked quite good. Is she 100 percent back? We’re not quite ready to declare that, but running low e.t. of the first round certainly indicates her team is making strides.	8-1
	John Force • Peak/Republic Services Chevy Much like last year, there is still a level of inconsistency in his performance, but there was more good than bad in Pomona, including a semifinal finish. We believe that, like the rest of his team, the 16-time world champ is on the upswing.	10-1
	Alexis DeJoria • Tequila Patrón Toyota This final spot came down to DeJoria and Matt Hagan. It may seem odd to leave out the guy who won from No. 1 last year, but Hagan’s team is definitely struggling right now. DeJoria, meanwhile, looked good in Pomona, and she has done quite well here recently.	11-1
PRO STOCK
	Greg Anderson • Summit Camaro He will forever be remembered as the first winner in the fuel-injected era of Pro Stock, and based on his performance in Pomona, there’s a good chance that the KB team will win a lot more races this season. It currently enjoys a slight but noticeable edge over the rest of the field.	3-1
	Jason Line • Summit Camaro Although he lost the Pomona final to teammate Greg Anderson, Line had a lot to celebrate in Pomona. He qualified No. 2 and set top speed of the meet. His .003 light in the semifinals was also a thing of beauty.	4-1
	Bo Butner • Jim Butner Auto Camaro Acknowledging the fact that he’s yet to win a Pro Stock race, he gets the No. 3 spot simply because the KB team was so strong in Pomona. At this point, it’s fair to say that he’s in a three-way tie with Brittany Force and Clay Millican to become NHRA's next first-time Pro winner.	6-1
	Drew Skillman • Ray Skillman Auto Camaro OK, how many people thought he would be the last of the four Elite team drivers standing on Sunday? Honestly, it’s not that much of a surprise. He drives as well as anyone and has already made one Pomona final.	7-1
	Chris McGaha • Harlow Sammons Camaro All things considered, he can’t be too disappointed by his Pomona outing even though it resulted in a round-one loss. A top-half qualifying spot shows that the Harlow Sammons team had a productive winter with the new EFI rules package.	9-1
	Jeg Coughlin Jr. • JEGS.com Dodge Dart The Elite team is going to need some time to get its new Mopar engine program up to speed, but it won’t have to wait for the five-time Pro Stock world champion. He’s already in midseason form with a solid .015 light in his first-round win against his teammate.	11-1
	Erica Enders • Elite Dart Enders is in the same boat as teammate Coughlin. The Elite team is going to need some time to sort out its new Hemi engine combination. Once that happens, expect to see another championship-caliber effort.	14-1
	Allen Johnson • Marathon Petroleum Dart Advance Tipster apology for not including Vincent Nobile or Alex Laughlin, but that only serves to illustrate how tough (and unpredictable) the 2016 Pro Stock class is going to be. While he was a tick behind the leaders in terms of performance, Johnson earned the spot by advancing to the quarterfinals.	16-1