NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Pro Stock returned to the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing circuit and no team looked better than K.B. Racing. Jason Line put his Summit Chevrolet on the pole, Bo Butner won the race and Greg Anderson took runner up. That dominance may not last, but that sort of triumphant return looked as good on paper as it did on the track – and it doesn’t always happen that way. 

That’s, in part, why NHRA Power Rankings exist. Your quarter mileage may vary on their success, but the reasoning holds up. The team that brings home the Wally doesn’t always have the best day – that’s kind of the fun of it. But if we want to know who’s having a great season without looking at the points [which you’re welcome to do, here], we needed a way to take some of the luck out of the equation. 

Luck wasn’t much of a factor in K.B. Racing’s dominance at the Virginia NHRA Nationals. Seven of the best 10 Pro Stock runs came with K.B. Racing horsepower and 15 of the 24 6.50s were supplied by the same power plant. That’s a good recipe for success, although in Pro Stock reaction times play a part, too. Butner was pretty much himself in that area, averaging a .046 reaction time compared to a class average (on the day) of .044. The overall class average is .049 and Butner averages a .047. 

As such, you’ll see Butner picked up 2.52 points – primarily on the back of good horsepower after Pro Stock took 41 days off. He now holds four wins in five races and sits just seven points behind Jeg Coughlin Jr. for the NHRA Power Ranking lead. Why? The car performance is similar, but Butner gives up a hundredth at the starting line and his Camaro is slightly less consistent. Something tells me he won’t be trading his four Wallys for an NHRA Power Rankings trophy. 

OTHER NOTES

• Clay Millican moved back into the top 10 after qualifying No. 1 with Mike Kloeber. The car struggles with consistency, but this is the highest its been ranked (NHRA Power Ranking-wise) since Pomona.
• Doug Kalitta hasn’t had any manner of luck on Sunday, but that Mac Tools car is really good, and some people are going to be surprised if it starts turning on win lights. Surprises can be fun!
• J.R. Todd and the DHL Toyota Camry team put together an amazing weekend, running 4.0s and better until the final when they blew the tires off. He, along with back-to-back winner Ron Capps, moved up two spots.
• While this was very K.B. Racing-heavy – Elite Performance had a very fine weekend, too. I like that team’s chances of ending up with the big trophy at the end of the year, and not just because Jeg and Erica Enders sit at the top of the NHRA Power Rankings leaderboard [it’s because they’re the best drivers].
• Andrew Hines added another 9.02 points to his ledger and is now just 1.35 points behind teammate Eddie Krawiec for the NHRA Power Rankings lead. He’ll pass him by the time we leave Chicago unless something disastrous happens. 

TOP FUEL

FUNNY CAR

PRO STOCK

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE