Five things we learned at testing
Silly Season Scorecard
A look at the Funny Car performance surge
Does Winternationals success equal season success?
Intriguing storylines to kick off the 2017 season
2016 Champions By the Numbers
2016 Pro Stock Qualifying by the Numbers
2016 Nitro Qualifying By the Numbers
Saving the best for last
It all comes down to Pomona
One down, three to go
Rookie report card
Thinning the herd
Survival of the fastest
A St. Louis Shake-up
Welcome to the Countdown
Land of 10,000 horsepower
Upset winners
Emerald City makeover
Heard it through the grapevine
Prime-time players
Sweeping the Western Swing
Chi-Town Turnaround
Funny Car milestones
'Eastern Swing' MVP
A storm is a-brewin'
Super Summernationals
An epic Epping
Holding the Line
Record weekend
A look at the Funny Car performance surge
Since Jack Beckman and his then-Jimmy Prock-led crew turned the world on its head with back-to-back stunning performances in Sonoma and Seattle in 2015, Funny Cars have been getting quicker and quicker, and the 2016 season saw new track records at every track on the tour.
How much has performance improved over the last couple of years? Following is a look at the quickest e.t.s at each event from 2014 through 2016.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| Pomona 1 | 3.965* (J. Force) | 3.995 (C. Force) | 3.888 (Beckman) |
| Phoenix | 3.990 (J. Force) | 3.975 (Hagan) | 3.905 (Hight) |
| Gainesville | 4.061 (Hight) | 4.022 (Pedregon) | 3.879 (Beckman) |
| Las Vegas 1 | 4.006 (C. Force) | 4.007 (Hagan) | 3.916 (Beckman) |
| Houston | 4.051 (Worsham) | 3.988 (Beckman) | 3.899 (Wilkerson) |
| Charlotte 1 | 4.059 (Capps) | 3.983 (Beckman) | 3.934 (DeJoria) |
| Atlanta | 4.012 (DeJoria) | 4.010 (Pedregon) | 3.906 (Hagan) |
| Topeka | 4.009 (C. Force) | 3.967 (Head) | 3.862* (Hagan) |
| Epping | 3.988 (Hight) | 4.047 (Johnson) | 3.865 (Capps) |
| Englishtown | 3.959* (Pedregon) | 3.967 (Pedregon) | 3.870 (Capps) |
| Bristol | 3.992 (Worsham) | 3.978 (J. Force) | 3.884 (Capps) |
| Norwalk | 4.000 (Worsham) | 3.973 (Hagan) | 3.875 (Worsham) |
| Chicago | 3.990 (Johnson) | 3.966 (Pedregon) | 3.882 (Hagan) |
| Denver | 4.049 (J. Force) | 4.015 (J. Force) | 3.917 (C. Force) |
| Sonoma | 4.045 (C. Force) | 3.921* (Beckman) | 3.868 (Worsham) |
| Seattle | 4.057 (J. Force) | 3.912* (Beckman) | 3.832* (Worsham) |
| Brainerd | 3.998 (DeJoria) | 3.879 (Hagan) | 3.822* (Hagan) |
| Indy | 3.998 (Hagan) | 3.936 (Beckman) | 3.858 (Hagan) |
| Charlotte 2 | 4.058 (J. Force) | 3.971 (Johnson) | 3.876 (Johnson) |
| Reading | 3.991 (Pedregon) | 3.897 (Beckman) | 3.850 (Beckman) |
| St. Louis | 4.022 (J. Force) | 3.883 (Hagan) | 3.893 (Hight) |
| Dallas | 4.039 (C. Force) | 3.909 (Beckman) | 3.839 (Hight) |
| Las Vegas 2 | 3.983 (Hagan) | 3.931 (Johnson) | 3.871 (Beckman) |
| Pomona 2 | 3.998 (DeJoria) | 3.884 (Beckman) | 3.825 (Beckman) |
| *Quickest run in history at that time | |||
Looking across the board, the best run of each event improved by a tenth or more between 2014 and 2016 at most of the events with an average improvement of .132-second across the 24 events. The biggest jump in performance was in Seattle, where the 4.045 best of 2014 was bettered by .225-second in 2016 when Del Worsham ran a 3.832.
Low e.t. of 2014 was Cruz Pedregon’s 3.959, and that remained the quickest run in NHRA history for more than a year, standing until Jack Beckman’s team began the performance surge with the 3.921-second run in Sonoma in 2015. Since that groundbreaking run in Sonoma, the record books have been rewritten five additional times with Matt Hagan’s 3.822 from Brainerd last year being the quickest e.t. ever recorded.
Not surprising, Beckman and Hagan have been the quickest drivers at events more than any other during the past three years with Beckman pacing things 14 times and Hagan doing so 12. Following them is John Force with eight event low e.t.s and Courtney Force, Cruz Pedregon, and Worsham all with six.