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QUALIFYING ROUNDS RECAPS

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3 (1:32 p.m.): Taking advantage of improved weather conditions, the Pro Stock Motorcycles ventured into the 6.7-second zone for the first time this weekend. Andrew Hines reaffirmed his grip on the top spot with a 6.789, 196.85 on his Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod. Hines held off two-time world champ Matt Smith, who rode his Polaris Magnum to a 6.792. Smith also took over top speed of the meet at 197.22 mph. Scotty Pollacheck picked up another qualifying bonus points for his 6.809-second run. Points leader Eddie Krawiec also improved with a 6.815, 196.64 while defending event champ Jerry Savoie missed out on a chance to improve when his White Alligator Suzuki drifted towards the left-hand wall.

PRO STOCK Q3 (1:50 p.m.): Following the performance of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, most expected their four-wheel cousins to improve and the class did not disappoint. Greg Anderson took over the top spot with a 6.507. 212.13 followed closely by teammate Jason Line with a 6.512, 213.30. The third bonus point went to Drew Skillman following a 6.517, 212.19 run. Most drivers improved but those who did not included Elite Motorsports team members Erica Enders, Jeg Coughlin Jr., and Brian “Lump” Self, who each had to shut off early after they shook the tires in the left lane. Other notable performances came from Tanner Gray (6.525) and Chris McGaha (6.523). 

TOP FUEL Q3 (3:03 p.m.): Nobody had an answer to Clay Millican’s record run, but both Steve Torrence and Leah Pritchett found runs in the 3.60s. That’s good enough for some bonus points for Torrence (3.696 nets him three) and Pritchett (3.698 earns her two). Doug Kalitta ran a 3.718 to earn one bonus point. To get into the quick half of the field, you have to out run the 3.729 pass laid down by Dom Lagana. To get into the field? Better run quicker than Terry Haddock’s 3.993. That’s what Ashley Sanford, Luigi Novelli, Chris Karamesines, and Rob Passey will be looking for in the final qualifying session.

FUNNY CAR Q3 (3:32 p.m.): Don’t look now, but Dale Creasy grabbed a bonus point in a Funny Car session that featured more failure than success. Creasy ran a 4.044-second pass to earn one point, while Ron Capps (3.898) earned three points and John Force (3.919) took another two points. Those were the only two cars that ran in the 3-second range, while a whole bunch of cars were lucky to get into the 4-second range. They’ve got one more session to try to figure out the warm race track, as Jim Campbell holds the bump spot with a 4.053. Cory Lee made his first pass in two years in Del Worsham’s backup car with a 4.135. Jeff Diehl and Bob Bode are also chasing Campbell. 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q4 (4;50 p.m.): The factory Harley-Davidson team wrapped up qualifying by securing the top two spots with five-time champion Andrew Hines securing the pole with a 6.781, 196.19 with teammate Eddie Krawiec a close second at 6.783, 195.59. The final bonus point of the round went to Scotty Pollacheck, who continued his recent string of impressive performances with a 6.809, 196.42. LE Tonglet made a slight improvement with a 6.831, 195.62 and rookies Marc Ingwersen and Ryan Oehler qualified for their first NHRA events with runs of 6.982 and 6.998, respectively.

ROUND ONE PAIRINGS (Lane choice first): Andrew Hines vs. Andie Rawlings; Eddie Krawiec vs. David Hope; Matt Smith vs. Steve Johnson; Scotty Pollacheck vs. Ryan Oehler; Jerry Savoie vs. Marc Ingwersen; Angie Smith vs. Mike Berry; LE Tonglet vs. Joey Gladstone; Hector Arana Jr. vs. Karen Stoffer.

PRO STOCK Q4: (5:10 p.m.): The final session of Pro Stock qualifying produced a small amount of shuffling in the order with KB Racing drivers taking the first three spots in the order. Bo Butner made the best run of the session with a 6.510, 212.03, but it wasn’t enough to unseat teammate Greg Anderson from the top spot. Anderson was second-best with a 6.523, 211.35 and Chris McGaha also picked up a bonus point with a 6.532, 211.36 best in his Harlow Sammons Camaro. Jeg Coughlin, who did not get down the track in his first three runs, made a dramatic improvement with a 6.579, 209.98.

ROUND ONE PAIRINGS (Lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. David River; Bo Butner vs. Mark Hogan; Jason Line vs. Alan Prusiensky; Drew Skillman vs. Brian Self; Chris McGaha vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Tanner Gray vs. Deric Kramer; Erica Enders vs. Allen Johnson; Alex Laughlin vs. Larry Morgan

TOP FUEL Q4 (5:47 p.m.): Leah Pritchett made her third run in the 3.60s of the weekend, and this one earned her three bonus points. She’s also the No. 2 qualifier, which will earn her a first-round matchup against Ashley Sanford on Sunday. Clay Millican held onto the No. 1 spot and earned a single bonus point with a 3.693, while Tony Schumacher’s 3.681 grabbed him two points. Kyle Wurtzel brought held down the bump spot of a very quick field with a 3.867, while Luigi Novelli, Terry Haddock, Chris Karamesines, and Rob Passey all failed to qualify. 

ROUND ONE PAIRINGS (Lane choice first): Clay Millican vs. Kyle Wurtzel; Leah Pritchett vs. Ashley Sanford; Tony Schumacher vs. Troy Buff; Doug Kalitta vs. Scott Palmer; Brittany Force vs. Pat Dakin; Antron Brown vs. Terry McMillen; Steve Torrence vs. Shawn Langdon; Dom Lagana vs. Richie Crampton

FUNNY CAR Q4 (6:42 p.m.): The three points won’t help him at this time of year, but Jonnie Lindberg took them anyway. He and car owner/crew chief Jim Head have a very good hot rod right now. That’s great for two reasons: First, it’s always great to run quick and fast. Second, after Lindberg’s trip to the beach yesterday (his parachutes didn’t deploy and he ran into the sand during the second qualifying session) this was a nice bounce-back performance. Matt Hagan (3.894) and J.R. Todd (3.904) earned the rest of the bonus points, and Dale Creasy (4.037) held down the bump spot.

ROUND ONE PAIRINGS (Lane choice first): Robert Hight vs. Dale Creasy; John Force vs. Brian Stewart; Ron Capps vs. Jim Campbell; Alexis DeJoria vs. Cruz Pedregon; Jonnie Lindberg vs. Tim Wilkerson; Jack Beckman vs. Del Worsham; Courtney Force vs. J.R. Todd; Matt Hagan vs. Tommy Johnson Jr.

FEATURES

There’s a new elapsed time record holder in Top Fuel, and he hails from Drummonds, Tenn. Clay Millican and crew chief David Grubnic operate as a single-car team, owned by Doug Stringer. The kind of performance the Parts-Plus / Great Clips dragster is ripping off in the second half of the NHRA Drag Racing schedule is unprecedented for a team that doesn’t share data with a handful of other dragsters. 

And yet, the scoreboard lit up 3.631 on Friday night at Gateway Motorsports Park with fireworks heralding the national record. Okay, so the fireworks were technically scheduled anyway, but the timing was spectacular. Millican’s name is now all over the top-10 list of elapsed times, which is incredible cool considering the racer got his first NHRA win this season. 

“That is David Grubnic doing his thing,” said Millican. “He is the baddest dude out right here, and I don’t think anyone can argue that right now. We just set the national record. He does it his way, there is no shared information, and it’s done with a group of young guys, that the only way they know how to put that car together is the way David Grubnic and Mac Savage tells them how to put it together.” 

Millican has the best incremental marks all the way down the track. He’s the quickest to 60 feet, 330 feet, 600 feet, and… right, 1000 feet. But you knew that already. More important to Grubnic? Getting those six bonus points that moved Millican ahead of Tony Schumacher in the standings. The Tennessee native is now in fifth place as we move to the second day of qualifying. 

Improving on that 3.631-second pass is going to be very difficult, but there are six more points up for grabs. From the mouth of Millican: “That’s all Grubby cares about.” 

Let’s see what the boys have up their sleeves today. 

The Rapisarda Dragster boasts one run in the 3.70s this season, a 3.795, which helped Wayne Newby qualify in the quickest-ever field in Top Fuel history. The dragster is piloted by Ashley Sanford this weekend, and crew chief Santino Rapisarda is working on inching the machine back down after a series of tire-smoking runs. That streak ended last night, but Sanford took her foot off the gas.  

“It didn’t smoke or anything, but she took herself out of it,” said Rapisarda. “It was moving around a little bit, so she was of course being a bit cautious. It’s a better direction from what we have been doing, and it’s what we need and we have something to work on. We’ve calmed it down off the starting line for sure, and it’s tunable.”

Santino called a 3.878-second run in Reading “a good Funny Car run,” but since the Rapisarda Crew has three runs averaging 9.096 seconds. So, getting back into the low-3.80s would be just fine as far as setting a baseline is concerned. 

“First session, low 3.80s would be excellent, I know that’s a bit conservative but we need to get us some information on clutch wear and all that and know it’s safe off the starting line and all that,” said Rapisarda. “If we can get some good head wear off the first run, I think maybe today we can push a little more. If you see a good run in Q3, you can expect us to see us push a little more. Not to overstep the line, but maybe if it runs a low 80 first, maybe a high-70 next.”

That would solidly get the dragster in the field. The bump spot is currently a 4.263, held by Luigi Novelli. Expect that to drop as conditions are spectacular at Gateway Motorsports Park. 

Dom Lagana wasn’t supposed to be at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals. Okay, that’s not 100 percent true. He wasn’t supposed to be here behind the wheel of his Nitro Ninja driver. Lagana originally planned to pilot the Rapisarda Dragster, but after a couple of round wins in Reading a week ago, Steve Torrence and Bobby Lagana convinced Dom to bring the car out to St. Louis. 

“After we won in the second round, Bob and Steve got fired up and were like, ‘yeah, just bring that thing out to St. Louis.’ We were clean all weekend and, we smoked the tires a couple times, but it was a hot track so everybody did,” said Lagana. “We figured what the hell, let’s do it.”

Lagana put a six-disc clutch into his dragster ahead of the Reading race, which is good news for pseudo-teammate Scott Palmer, who is planning on making the change to a six disc soon. That has provided immediate results. His first two runs of 3.783 and 3.729 have Lagana at No. 8 through two sessions, which would match him up with Terry McMillen in the first round. 

“We were learning it a little bit, too, just learning the set up,” said Lagana. “We were really happy with it.”

This is, for sure, the last time Lagana will drive on the NHRA circuit this year. He’ll tune for Billy Torrence, Steve Torrence’s dad, during the last three races of the season. So, the points leader will lose one “blocker car,” and pick up another one. It’s tough to be a part of the “Lagana family.” 

It hasn’t been a dream start to the Countdown to the Championship for Jack Beckman, but there’s not much reason to panic for the former champion. A miss on the tune-up in Charlotte caused Beckman to lose a first-round race he should have won, and a poor reaction time in Reading led to another earlier-than-usual exit for the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger driver. 

“That’s a bitter pill,” said Beckman. “You learn from your mistakes, but you can also learn from your successes and at some point you have to dust yourself off. It’s not like at any point you say, ‘ah the next run doesn’t really matter.’ So, when people say ‘well it’s really important in the Countdown…’ I ask, why would you ever change your approach?”

He’s got a point. Frankly, there’s not much to suggest Beckman has changed his approach. He’s picking up bonus points at a consistent, if not spectacular rate, while driving a car that can run low 3.80s. Beckman might not be a threat to set the record anytime soon, but he’s a threat to finish in the top five in qualifying and win races. 

That’s especially true when the conditions are warm. Beckman won races in Norwalk and Englishtown, and reached the final in Bristol. Those conditions, barring an unforeseen heat wave, aren’t coming back during the heat wave. That’s not to say Beckman can’t keep up in the cool conditions; just look at his Friday runs of 3.873 and 3.877. That’s good enough to get him into the No. 5 spot. 

“I think we’re a top six car on cold tracks, which no matter how you stack it up we have a great, balanced race car,” said Beckman. “But again, you have no control of what the car in the other lane is doing. Sometimes the second-worst run of the weekend can win the race and the second-best run of the weekend can lose the race.”

Beckman remains pragmatic: “Every loss is a tough loss, there are just fewer of those available in the Countdown.”

Consistency without a victory might feel a little hollow, but it’s helped Courtney Force climb three spots in the Funny Car standings and put her in prime position to chase her first title. The Advance Auto Parts driver has reached back-to-back final rounds, and while she’s still looking for her first win of the season, looks poised to capture a Wally sooner rather than later. 

“This is a race we’ve won at in the past, and it definitely can turn things around if we can get a win in the middle of the Countdown,” said Force. “We were able to do it before – we’ve won at this track in the past – and at this point, being that we’ve moved up to third in the points standings, it would be huge if we could get a win. We’re looking for it. We’ve come close so many times this season, and we’ haven’t been able to get the job done, but hopefully we can make it happen this weekend.”

Force has lost three finals this season by relatively tight margins (.0316, .0496, and .0504 second); she’s been right on the precipice of breaking through. Her last eight elimination-round runs have been smooth in warm weather, and the team has had little trouble conquering cool conditions. That bodes well given the current forecast. 

Her seven No. 1 qualifiers this season are the most of any driver in any class, and it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see her pick up another green hat at the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals. Expect teammate Robert Hight to have something to say about that, of course, but it seems crew chief Dan Hood has a handle on this car after struggling with it in the early part of the season. 

“We’ve been really good in qualifying, and not good on race day, and the last few races we’ve been not so good in qualifying and real good on race day,” said Hood. “But if you’re going to do it, race day is the day to do it.  So much changes during the year, clutch stuff, and you’re just trying to follow it.” 

The Advance Auto Parts Camaro hasn’t struggled too much thus far. Force is qualified No. 6 right now with a 3.877, but Hood feels that can be bettered on Saturday. 

“It was going to run pretty good last night but it hurt a piston,” said Hood. “It’s going to be cool tonight, so we should be able to run good tonight. I think we’ll be able to run better today than we did last tonight. The sun angle is so low because it’s fall, that it’s not like beating on the track. We’re going to go out there and try to run 3.84-3.85 and see what it does.”

That would get Force into the No. 3 spot as things stand. Of course, Hood isn’t the only crew chief trying to get his driver up the ladder. We’ll see what everyone else does. 

Cruz Pedregon’s first run with a five-disc clutch since 2013 went reasonably well. That is, until the parachutes didn’t deploy. The Snap-On Tools Toyota Camry ended up in the net after plowing through the sand (video below), which damaged the body.