NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Jordan Vandergriff scored his first career round win in his competition debut, defeating former world champ Brittany Force with a career-best pass of 3.692 at 333.41 mph to highlight the opening round of Top Fuel. Vandergriff will have lane choice against Winternationals champ Doug Kalitta in the second round as his pass was the quickest of the round

Fellow nitro rookie Austin Prock, who had a scary onent in Q4 with a stuck throttle, bounced back and collected his second straight first-round win, besting Clay Millican.

After a tough qualifying outing, world champ Steve Torrence was defeated by good pal Antron Brown. On the heels of his loss in the final in Pomona, it’s the first back-to-back round losses for Torrence since last summer (Denver second round/Sonoma first round). Torrence’s father, low qualifier Billy, advanced into round two over Terry Totten.

Last year’s runner-up here, Scott Palmer, flying the colors of event sponsor Magic Dry, was involved in the wildest race of the round as he smoked the tires and crossed the centerline behind Mike Salinas, who had banged the blower downtrack and was coasting to the finish.

Second-round matchups (lane choice first): Billy Torrence vs. Mike Salinas; Jordan Vandergriff vs. Doug Kalitta; Leah Pritchett vs. Terry McMillen; Antron Brown vs. Austin Prock