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 Protect the Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.

TOP FUEL Funny Car | Pro Stock |Top Alcohol Dragster | Top Alcohol Funny Car
	Steve Torrence • Capco Contractors The 2012 winner and national e.t. record holder has had the quickest car in the last 10 consecutive and 11 of the past 12 qualifying sessions. His Friday and Saturday heroics are bound to start paying off on Sundays.	3-1
	J.R. Todd • SealMaster He swept all of the races on the Western Swing; he just accomplished the feat over a three-year span. The defending event winner cracked the code with his Sonoma victory.	4-1
	Tony Schumacher • U.S. Army His third of three consecutive wins here in 2008 began a story of eight different winners over the past eight years that “the Sarge” would like to bookend.	5-1
	Doug Kalitta • Mac Tools Anyone who watched him pedal, drift, and holeshot his way to the semifinals in Sonoma has an idea of the lengths the veteran driver is willing to extend himself to get his points lead back.	11-2
	Antron Brown • Matco Tools He is the points leader and a two-time world champion for a reason. This team just doesn’t make many mistakes. He only has one first-round loss in 2016, and that occurred during the third race of the season.	6-1
	Richie Crampton • Lucas Oil Welcome back to Tipster. The Aussie has been gaining traction in both the literal and figurative sense. This team won here in 2013 with Morgan Lucas behind the wheel.	7-1
	Brittany Force • Monster Energy The last time she came out on the wrong end of a holeshot decision, she promptly won two of the next three races. This dragster is plenty fast.	8-1
	Shawn Langdon • Red Fuel/Sandvik Coromant He won two consecutive races and only scored one round-win in a pedalfest in the three races that followed. Like a freight train, he’s hard to stop once he gets going in eliminations.	11-1
FUNNY CAR
	Ron Capps • NAPA Dodge Not quite as dominant on the West Coast as he was back east, but if Tipster was given a chance to drive a Funny Car right now, this is still the one we would pick. It’s steady, consistent, quick, and continues to rack up the round-wins.	3-1
	John Force • Peak Chevy Tipster thinks the other two cars in his camp are probably better, but it’s hard not to move a guy with back-to-back wins who still has a shot to sweep the Swing up. Plus, his recent record here is strong: a win and two semi’s in the past four years.	4-1
	Courtney Force • Traxxas Chevy This remains one of the class’ best cars. Even with that semifinal 4.07, Force still averaged a 3.93 for the Sonoma weekend. Her biggest roadblock at this point is dear ol’ dad, who has won all five of their matches this year, including at the last two events.	5-1
	Robert Hight • Auto Club Chevy This team continues to show a lot of potential and could be a real factor heading down the stretch. Tied Matt Hagan for low e.t. of Sonoma eliminations and made another great run in round two, just coming up on the losing end of a great race.	6-1
	Del Worsham • DHL Toyota Tipster was very impressed with what we saw from this car in Sonoma, and if that same car shows up again this weekend, we like his chances of matching or bettering the runner-up finish he recorded here last year.	7-1
	Matt Hagan • Mopar Express Lane/ Rocky Boots Dodge This car may possibly be the most challenging to handicap. One round it’s running low e.t., and the next it is smoking the tires. It’s not a question of if they can contend for a win but rather when they will. The potential is definitely there.	8-1
	Jack Beckman • Infinite Hero Dodge This week’s “falling several spots because others had strong cases to move up” driver is “Fast Jack,” who has had a bit of a rough Western Swing but is more than capable of correcting that and doing so in a hurry.	9-1
	Tommy Johnson Jr. • Make-A-Wish Dodge The defending event champ’s biggest problem right now is qualifying. His mid-pack starts aren’t giving him the most favorable first-round draws, so even with a solid run like he had in Sonoma, he still lands on the trailer early. Fix qualifying and race day may very well improve.	10-1
PRO STOCK
	Greg Anderson • Summit Camaro He put the KB Racing team back on top by earning his seventh win of the season. The competition is getting tighter, but Anderson and his teammates are still the strongest in the field.	2-1
	Bo Butner • Jim Butner Auto Camaro He has had a great car all year. The problem had been the performance behind the wheel, but Butner picked things back up by appearing in his fourth final of the season but has yet to claim the ultimate prize.	3-1
	Jason Line • Summit Camaro After appearing in 11 finals this season and winning seven, it was hard to believe that he qualified No. 8 and suffered a first-round loss in Sonoma. Line’s performance has faltered recently but not enough for Tipster to believe he’s out for the count.	4-1
	Allen Johnson • Marathon Petroleum Dart He remains the only non-KB driver to have won a race so far this year, and with that, he is also on the verge of being the next Pro Stock driver to clinch a spot in the Countdown.	6-1
	Shane Gray • Gray Motorsports Camaro He is staying steady, qualifying in the top half of the field for the 11th time and appearing in semifinals for the fifth time this season, but he has yet to break through to the final round.	7-1
	Vincent Nobile • Mountain View Camaro Continues to be the best amongst his Elite Motorsports teammates, but Nobile’s best is still only average compared to much of the field.	9-1
	Drew Skillman • Ray Skillman Auto Camaro He has a competitive car and is never far off from winning rounds. If he can get off the starting line first, his chances of going further in eliminations increases greatly.	10-1
	Chris McGaha • Harlow Sammons Camaro Things were looking up for this team when McGaha qualified No. 4 in Sonoma, being the best position he’s had all year. Who knows how far he could have gone if he hadn’t encountered that unfortunate second-round loss.	12-1