NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

NHRA exists in every part of the country. It's across town at your local member track, it's in the race car trailer out behind the shop, and it's in every timeslip ever printed. But California is where NHRA was born, where Wally Parks crafted his vision for the Association, and where we return to this weekend after a hiatus that was far too long. 

All weekend NHRA race fans have been celebrating the return of the Camping World Drag Racing Series to its home state. As the first motorsport event Sonoma Raceway has hosted without attendance restrictions, the fans within the facility were overjoyed  to return to the sport they love.

That passion was equally evident in the racers after three goldilocks sessions of qualifying.  Friday night's low-qualifying heroics by Californians Brittany Force and Ron Capps survived Saturday’s onslaught by the competition.  However, Greg Anderson overcame Matt Hartford and Kyle Koretsky’s timeslips to take the number one slot in the early Saturday session. That's the first time that has occurred in Pro Stock since 2014.

But the qualifying story that tops them all is Angie Smith's. Sonoma's final round of qualifying Saturday afternoon is where Smith secured her first-ever number-one qualifier. A feat that came after a potentially devastating crank-no-start of her bike's engine in the second session that would have shaken a lesser rider and team.  And as Smith was quick to point out, her Matt Smith Racing team's success often comes in pairs. For on the same day she pulled her yellow low-qualifier hat over her crown, her teammate and husband Matt Smith shattered the Pro Stock Motorcycle top speed record. 

As we begin the second race of the 2021 NHRA Western Swing , we look forward to success coming in pairs (and then triples) for racers and fans alike. 

Top Fuel first-round matchups:

Brittany Force vs. Ron August

Leah Pruett vs. Justin Ashley

Steve Torrence vs. Cameron Ferre

Mike Salinas vs. Doug Kalitta

Antron Brown vs. Buddy Hull

Alex Laughlin vs. Joey Haas

Clay Millican vs. Shawn Langdon

The qualifying ladder in Top Fuel was dominated by Brittany Force and Crew Chief David Grubnic who set the pace on Friday night with a 3.694 run but experienced a catastrophic engine failure going through the lights. When the Flav-R- Pack team returned for their second qualifying session on Saturday, the tune-up was clearly more conservative.

In the final qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, Grubnic confessed that he was prepared to be more aggressive because he expected Steve Torrence’s team to put on a tremendous showing. Torrence did with his 3.710, and moved from the sixth position to number two above Antron Brown’s 3.724 and Clay Millican’s 3.725 with Mike Salinas (3.737) and Leah Pruett (3.749) rounding out the top six.

Funny Car first-round matchups:

Ron Capps vs. Tony Jurado

Bob Tasca III vs. Paul Lee

Robert Hight vs. Steven Densham

John Force vs. J.R. Todd

Alexis DeJoria vs. Cruz Pedregon

Tim Wilkerson vs. Jim Campbell

Matt Hagan vs. Jeff Diehl

Blake Alexander vs. Terry Haddock

Sonoma Funny Car fans saw teams experimenting with rear wing position in the hunt to balance traction and trap speed in all three sessions. It seemed the Friday night grouping was going to be hard to top, and Ron Capps (3.897), Alexis DeJoria (3.898), Matt Hagan (3.909), and Robert Hight (3.948) all found the early success are were able to hold on to it after all three sessions.

The fifth slot in Funny Car qualifying seemed the only one in play and moved from Jim Campbell in the first round to Blake Alexander in the second before John Force moved from the bump-spot in the third session right up into the top half of the pack with a 3.965-second run.

Pro Stock Car first-round matchups:

Greg Anderson vs. Steve Graham

Aaron Strong  vs. Mason McGaha

Matt Hartford vs. Alex Laughlin

Aaron Stanfield vs. Chris McGaha

Kyle Koretsky vs. Alan Prusiensky

Dallas Glenn vs. Val Smeland

Erica Enders vs. Deric Kramer

Troy Coughlin Jr vs.Kenny Delco

There was far more movement in the Pro Stock ranks. Matt Hartford was the first to put down a successful run on Friday night, and his 6.526-second pass separated him from everyone else and seemed like it might endure. But in the second session, Greg Anderson moved from the number four position all the way to the top with a near-perfect run at 6.513 seconds. Kyle Koretsky also found the power to improve on his Friday night run, but his 6.522 only allowed him to maintain his original number two position.

Erica Enders’ 6.524-second pass was the ladder climber of the class. She improved to the third position in the second session, and you can be sure that Anderson found no peace until qualifying came to an end.

Aaron Stanfield rounded out the top five with a 6.537-second run, which gives him a respectable position to do his damage on the Tree come race day when the competition shifts to favor reaction times.

Pro Stock Motorcycle first-round matchups:

Angie Smith vs. bye

Cory Reed vs.Eddie Krawiec

Matt Smith vs. Jimmy Underdahl

Andrew Hines vs. Ryan Oehler

Karen Stoffer vs. Scott Bottorff

Scotty Pollacheck vs. Joey Gladstone

Steve Johnson vs. Angelle Sampey

Jerry Savoie vs. Jianna Salinas

Sonoma Raceway has never met a race vehicle it didn’t like, but the drag strip has a particular fondness for Pro Stock Motorcycles. After two days of qualifying, the biggest stories from this class all come from Matt Smith Racing. Andrew Hines made a valiant effort qualifying at the top on Friday night with a 6.761-second run but it was not enough to hold. Especially when Matt Smith exhibited his horsepower superiority with a 203-mph run and then a blockbuster 205-mph pass that shattered the Pro Stock Motorcycle national record.

In the second session Scotty Pollacheck improved, Steve Johnson broke into the top three with a 6.751-second run, Karen Stoffer tipped the White Alligator Racing hand by climbing to the number five position, and Angie Smith's motorcycle failed to restart requiring her to foregoes the run.

Mechanical difficulties on the starting line can be devastating to a racer’s focus, but in the third and final session not only did Steve Johnson and Karen Stauffer improve yet again, but we also saw Angie Smith knock it out of the park and achieve her very first number one qualifier in the history of her Pro Stock Motorcycle career.

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.

TELEVISION SCHEDULE:

Saturday, July 24, FS1 will televise qualifying coverage from 2 to 3:30 p.m. (ET)

Sunday, July 25, FS1 will televise qualifying coverage from 3 to 4 p.m. (ET)

Sunday, July 25, FS1 will televise final eliminations from 4 to 7 p.m. (ET)