NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

For more than five decades, NHRA National Dragster's famed Tricky Tipster has tested his prognosticating skills prior to each national event, putting odds on the top eight racers he thinks have the best shot at victory in Tricky Tipster. This week, Tricky Tipster handicaps the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

TOP FUEL Funny Car | Pro Stock | Pro Mod
	Tony Schumacher • U.S. Army His results at the last three events: second round, semifinals, runner-up. The eight-time world champ and five-time Bristol winner is trending in the right direction.	7-2
	Steve Torrence • Capco Contractors The 2013 winner is hot off the heels of a big win in Englishtown. The only Pro driver with as many No. 1 qualifying spots as him this season (five) is Pro Stock points leader Jason Line.	4-1
	Antron Brown • Matco Tools Bristol is one of the few remaining stops on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour where he has yet to score a win. The driver who grew up idolizing “Big Daddy” is hoping for a large Father’s Day in the winner’s circle.	5-1
	Doug Kalitta • Mac Tools The points leader won the inaugural race here in 2001 and scored in back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006. He is back in prime form entering the event this season.	11-2
	Brittany Force • Monster Energy The winner of the Gainesville and Charlotte events seems to do some of her best racing in the Southeast region of the United States.	6-1
	Shawn Langdon • Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant The 2014 winner has gone rounds at each of the last five events and has been on the verge of reaching his first final of 2016.	8-1
	J.R. Todd • SealMaster Setting low e.t. of eliminations by a half-tenth as he did last Sunday is possible with a bold tuner like Connie Kalitta.	10-1
	Leah Pritchett • FireAde This team is going from playing catch-up in the early going to being on offense when it pulls through the gate at Bristol Dragway.	12-1
FUNNY CAR
	Ron Capps • NAPA Dodge The usually competitive Funny Car class has turned into the Ron and Rahn show. Can they maintain the performance that gave them back-to-back wins from No. 1? Hard to say, but we’re going with Capps and crew until someone proves more worthy of the top spot.	2-1
	Matt Hagan • Mopar Express Lane/ Rocky Boots Dodge Lost a bit of the consistency he had when he scored victories in Atlanta and Topeka, but his car is still very quick at times — he had low e.t. of Englishtown eliminations — and we wouldn’t be surprised to see the defending event champ back in the final or winner’s circle.	4-1
	Jack Beckman • Infinite Hero Dodge It wasn’t pretty, but Beckman made it to another final last weekend, giving him three in the last four races. His car runs very well at times, and he seems to have a healthy dose of good luck, too. That can be a tough combo to beat.	5-1
	Courtney Force • Traxxas Chevy Suffered her first first-round loss of the season in Englishtown, and her car hasn’t looked quite as steady the last couple of races. Even so, we think this is still one of the best cars in the class.	6-1
	Del Worsham • DHL Toyota Race day was kind of weird in E-town, so we’re not going to focus too heavily on the manner in which Worsham got to the semi’s and instead look at the fact he is steadily going rounds right now and looked pretty solid in qualifying.	7-1
	Tommy Johnson Jr. • Make-A-Wish Dodge Much like we did with Worsham, we’re chalking Johnson’s inconsistent showing last weekend up to a quirky race in which most teams had trying moments. Johnson won here in 2014, and his car continues to show the potential to get him back to the winner’s circle.	9-1
	Alexis DeJoria • Patrón Toyota Anybody have a lucky rabbit’s foot or four-leaf clover this team can borrow? DeJoria really can’t seem to catch a break this year, once again coming out on the losing end of one of those good, close first-round matches in Englishtown.	10-1
	Tim Wilkerson • Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford As always, this final spot was a struggle, coming down to Wilk, John Force, and Robert Hight. Wilkerson has the better overall record this year, and we remember how great he looked here en route to a runner-up finish in 2014, so he gets the nod.	12-1
PRO STOCK
	Greg Anderson • Summit Camaro Well, you figured one of the two Summit drivers would be in this spot, right?	2-1
	Jason Line • Summit Camaro He made the quickest run in Pro Stock this year and made another final-round appearance. There’s no slowing down for Line or this KB team.	3-2
	Allen Johnson • Marathon Petroleum Dart His record this season still holds strong, in spite of an early second-round finish in E-town.	4-1
	Bo Butner • Jim Butner Auto Camaro Though he continues to qualify in one of the top three spots alongside his KB teammates, Butner still faces difficulties come race day.	5-1
	Shane Gray • Gray Motorsports Camaro He posts impressive numbers in qualifying and goes rounds in eliminations, as long as he doesn’t have to face Kenny Delco.	7-1
	Vincent Nobile • Mountain View Camaro He currently carries the banner for the Elite Motorsports team after his recent semifinal finish and another top-half qualifying position.	8-1
	Drew Skillman • Ray Skillman Auto Camaro He made progress last weekend but still has a few kinks to work out as he settles in with his new team.	10-1
	Chris McGaha • Harlow Sammons Camaro His bad luck continues. McGaha made four good, solid qualifying passes last weekend but bowed out in the first round for his third consecutive race.	12-1