NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Heading into last weekend’s Division 7 Lucas Oil Series season finale at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the titles in Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Comp and Super Gas had already been clinched in favor of Rachel Meyer, Sean Bellemeur, Bruno Massel, and Luke Bogacki. Now, the roster of 2021 champions include Greg Stanfield, Blake Peavler, and Jimmy Lewis in Super Stock, Top Dragster, and Top Sportsman respectively.

Stanfield won four Super Stock championships in a five-year period from 1990-94, has returned more than a quarter century later to add a fifth title. Stanfield got off to a quick start this season with multiple wins in his home division. He put the title out of reach following a semifinal at the NHRA Texas Fall Nationals in Dallas and a clutch victory a week later at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol.

Stanfield will celebrate his fifth title alongside his son, Aaron, who earlier clinched his second-straight championship in the Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown. It is the first time that a father-son have celebrated NHRA national championships in the same season. Ironically, Stanfield has also won all five titles behind the wheel of the same race car; the familie’s cherished ’87 Camaro.

In Top Dragster presented by Vortech Superchargers, Peavler took over the lead with a runner-up finish at the recent Division 2 event in Rockingham, N.C. He then traveled cross country to Las Vegas in an attempt to fend off a challenge from Bradley Johnson, who was making a late-season push for the title for a second-straight year. Peavler lost early in Las Vegas but clinched the title in round two after Johnson lost a close race to Mark Barnhardt.

The lead in Top Sportsman presented by Vortech Superchargers also changed hands last weekend in Las Vegas when Jimmy Lewis went to the final round and scored enough points to overtake Paul Mitsos. Lewis, who won the Super Gas national championship in 1998, put himself in title contention with consecutive wins at the NHRA Texas FallNationals in Dallas and the Division 7 Lucas Oil Series event in Tucson, Ariz. Lewis also traveled to North Carolina for the Rockingham event before making the long haul to Las Vegas to finish the job.

The final two sportsman championships in Stock and Super Comp will be decided during this weekend’s Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona. In Stock, former champ Joe Santangelo II is attempting to fend off a challenge from Jerry Emmons while Christopher Dodd is attempting to win his second-straight Super Comp title.