NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

After a one-year hiatus, the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series returns to rustic Brainerd Int’l Raceway this weekend for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. Here is everything you need to know in our Friday preview.

The Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, a popular event for midwestern drag racing fans for nearly 40 years, was a 2020 casualty due to the pandemic, but it’s back, and the enthusiastic fans that annually pack Brainerd Int’l Raceway and the adjacent campground couldn’t be happier.

The event is not only the 12th race in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, it’s also the second to last event in the regular season for racers in the Top Fuel and Funny Car, meaning that there are just two more chances to lock up spots in the upcoming Countdown to the Championship. While some drivers, including runaway Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence, are comfortably seeded into the field, others are scratching and clawing for every available point, adding a critical measure of importance to every qualifying and elimination round in Brainerd.

Torrence has won just about everything but the Powerball lottery this season, but the Capco Contractors driver is winless in the last two events in Pomona and Topeka. While Torrence has already locked up the No. 1 seed in Top Fuel, he’s going to be looking to recapture the same sort of momentum he had earlier this season when he won six of the first 11 events.

While Torrence has dominated Top Fuel this season, he’s not the only winner. His father, Billy, won in Epping, and Brittany Force and DSR teammates Leah Pruett and Antron Brown also have victories. Pruett has been particularly impressive in recent weeks. After struggling earlier this season, the Mopar/Pennzoil team has come to life this summer with a runner-up in Sonoma followed by a Pomona victory. Ranked No. 10 in the NHRA Camping World standings after Epping, Pruett has climbed to fourth, and while she won’t catch Torrence, she figures to be in a good position to make a move after the Countdown starts.

While he’s not in much danger of missing the Countdown, Doug Kalitta could certainly use a boost after what could only be described as a disastrous first half of the season. Kalitta, a solid championship contender for the last two decades, has won just nine rounds in 11 races this season and hasn’t been past the quarterfinals since Houston. For all the bad news, there is time for Kalitta and the Mac Tools team to make a run at a long-overdue championship.

Gainesville winner Josh Hart has skipped the last four events and comes into Brainerd as the No. 11 seed in Top Fuel. Hart is currently 161 points out of the Top 10, so while he can’t get there this weekend, there is still hope for him to make the Countdown to the Championship especially because the upcoming Dodge//SRT NHRA U.S. Nationals offers its traditional points-and-a-half format.

Coming off a win last week in Topeka, legend John Force is now leading the Camping World Funny Car standings, and suddenly, the notion of a 17th world championship isn’t so far-fetched. Force has been very good for most of this season, including his wins in Charlotte, Epping, and Topeka and a runner-up in Atlanta. Throughout his career, Force has been a terror at Brainerd with 11 wins since the inaugural event in 1983, including a run of four straight from 1994-1997. Should Force make it to the final this weekend, it will be his 2,000th round of competition in his career, a milestone that will almost certainly withstand the test of time.

For all his recent success, Force’s lead over the rest of the field is tenuous at best because the top six drivers in the class are separated by just 68 points with Ron Capps, J.R. Todd, Bob Tasca III, Robert Hight, and Matt Hagan all in hot pursuit of the top spot. With a solid showing this weekend, one of the aforementioned drivers could be in a position to enter the Countdown as the top seed.

The parity in the Funny Car class so far this season has been remarkable with seven different winners in the first 11 events, and there is likely more to come. Alexis DeJoria, Tim Wilkerson, Paul Lee, and Blake Alexander have yet to win, although all of them appear to be capable. DeJoria won the Brainerd event in 2017, her last victory before a two-year layoff. Pedregon is also a past Brainerd champ, and Alexander’s team owner, Jim Head, won this event as a driver in 1985.

The Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals will also feature action in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service and the first Mountain Motor Pro Stock exhibition race of the 2021 season as well as a full roster of competition in the Lucas Oil Series Sportsman categories.

You can catch the action all weekend on FOX Sports 1 and NHRA.tv.

You can follow NHRA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to get a closer look at the action.

EVENT SCHEDULE:
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series qualifying will feature one round at 3 p.m. CT on Friday, Aug. 20, and the final two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, Aug. 21 at 2 and 5:15 p.m. Final eliminations start Sunday at 11 a.m.

TELEVISION SCHEDULE:
Qualifying: Friday, Aug. 20, 7 p.m. Eastern, FS1
Qualifying: Sunday, Aug. 22, 12 p.m., Eastern, FS1
Eliminations: Sunday, Aug. 22, 3-6 p.m., Eastern, FOX