NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The Top Fuel cars stole the show on Friday night in front of a packed house at Sonoma Raceway with wing-high header flames and a host of 3.7-second and 330-mph runs. The magic 300-mph eighth-mile barrier wasn’t eclipsed, as many had predicted, but that did little to detract from an otherwise memorable evening. At the end of the evening, Austin Prock and his Montana Brands team held down the provisional pole in Top Fuel with a 3.704 run.

Prock has qualified in the No. 1 spot just once in his career at the 2022 Dallas event, and his best starting spot this season is No. 3.

“We were just able to overcome the conditions,” said Prock. “I haven’t been that quick in a while so I was sawing on the wheel a bit down there. We’ve struggled lately to keep this car on eight cylinders but it ran right down through there. With the 13-car field, I was actually hoping to be No. 2 (to take advantage of a potential round two bye) but I missed it by two-thousandths.

“I haven’t had much success on the Western Swing so maybe this will change. I won Seattle in 2019 but other than that, I don’t think I’ve won too many rounds. Maybe we can get a win this weekend to make up for the two [round one] losses in Denver and Seattle.”

Prock has plenty of company in the 3.7-second zone as Seattle winner Steve Torrence ran 3.706 and Antron Brown is close behind with a 3.721 in his Matco Tools dragster. Josh  Hart (3.737), Shawn Langdon (3.740), Clay Millican (3.745), and Brittany Force (3.771) also made representative runs.

It didn’t take long for the top half of the Funny Car field to be filled with three-second cars as eight drivers ventured into the territory in Q1 including Alexis DeJoria and Ron Capps, who tied for low E.T. with 3.942 runs. DeJoria ran 326.55 mph and got the three bonus points while Capps did not record a speed, so he was relegated to No. 2.

The second session proved to be quite a bit more challenging for crew chiefs as most Funny Car cars struggled to get past the 330-foot mark under power. Chad Green appeared to be on a solid run before his car kicked sideways forcing him to lift off the throttle. Matt Hagan also launched solidly in his JGH Dodge before the car fell silent and the parachute deployed at half-track.

In the final pair, DeJoria managed to put together the only full pull of the round with a 3.966 to secure the top spot for the day. Crew chief Del Worsham, noted that he expected the car to run even quicker, but also acknowledged that the sea level conditions made it easy to overpower the racing surface. With two solid three-second runs to her credit, DeJoria is perhaps the most confident driver in the field heading into Saturday’s two runs.

“Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante and whole crew have done such a good job making this car consistent,” said DeJoria. “Getting down the track on that run says a lot. It wasn’t a 3.80 run but we made it down the track so I consider that a hero run. Wish it was a little more exciting for the fans, but at least we finished on a good note.

“We were trying to run a 3.84 or 3.83 but it ate up the clutch,” said DeJoria. “Still, we made it down there and picked up six bonus points. Now, it’s time to get a win. That would just shut everyone up because I’m tired of hearing about it.”

One driver who never got the chance to take advantage of Friday’s premium nighttime conditions is Bob Tasca III, who was pushed off the starting line before he ever got a chance to fire his Motorcraft QuickLane Ford. The culprit was quickly diagnosed as a broken bracket that prevented the remote starter from being attached to the supercharger. Tasca ran just a 5.29 on the first run so he’ll look to improve on each of Saturday’s two runs.

Late in the afternoon, Matt Smith lit up the scoreboard with a 6.729 on his Denso Suzuki and one pair later, championship leader Gaige Herrera stole the provisional top spot by a thousandth of a second with a 6.728 aboard the Vance & Hines Mission Foods Suzuki. Smith and Herrera are the only riders to venture into the 6.7-second zone. Herrera has not only won five of seven Pro Stock Motorcycle races this season, he’s also been the low qualifier six times.

“Matt laid down an awesome pass and to barely get him by a thousandth of a second shows that the competition is getting closer and closer,” said Herrera, who also clinched his spot in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. The class keeps getting better and better and the Countdown is going to be incredible. I was very pleased with the second pass. On the first one, I hit the rev limiter and then I watched Matt make his run ahead of me so I knew I needed a good run to beat it.”

“Today was really busy with all the Callout stuff but I actually enjoyed it more,” said Herrera. “It takes me back to where I came from with my grudge racing because you’re always busy. Hopefully, me and Ed [Krawiec] can do well as a team tomorrow and race in the final of the Callout.”

Although he was bumped to No. 2, Matt Smith wasn’t about to back down as the Pro Stock Motorcycle riders continued to deliberate their final selections for Saturday’s NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Allstar Callout event. Herrera had the No. 1 pick and there was speculation that he’d pick one of the Smith entries for a round one match. He didn’t, opting instead to call out Chase Van Sant.

“If he [Herrera] wants to pick me he can but if they want an easy draw they’d better pick someone else,” Smith quipped.

After Herrera and Matt Smith, the rest of the field tails off significantly to Angie Smith’s 6.813 from the first session and teammate Jianna Evaristo’s 6.821 on her Scrappers Suzuki. The top 12 bikes are solidly in the six second zone while the bump is currently at 7.332 by Scott Bottorff. That’s almost certain to change tomorrow as Ryan Oehler is currently not in the 16-bike field.