NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

TOP FUEL ROUND 1

Expected morning rain showers pushed the start time from 10 a.m. to 12:35, but cool air and overcast skies will set the stage for what should be a wild day of racing at the famed SoCal raceplant.

The round got off to a fast start, literally, with Justin Ashley cutting the best Top Fuel reaction time of the year (.025; he also has the second-best at .026) and handed popular rookie Maddi Gordon her first opening-round loss of the year, 3.71 to 3.74. He'll take on Leah Pruett, who smoked the tires trying to test the track's limits and lay down a run on her solo pass.

Will Smith is going to give Ashley a run for that perpetual title of best leaver and drilled Tony Stewart with a .029 light, but couldn't keep the Bluebird Turf car ahead as "Smoke" rolled by for a 3.726 win.

Reigning event champ Clay Millican ran his Pomona win streak to five straight rounds with a 3.75 victory over Shawn Reed, who will turn the cockpit of the Reed Trucking and Excavating rail over to Ida Zetterström at the next event in Charlotte for the first of many appearances this season as the duo split wheel time.

Josh Hart reset low e.t. of the meet with a 3.698 after local favorite Cameron Ferre had to shut off the Freeman brothers' entry on the line, which was pouring raw fuel from one of the pipes after the burnout.

Phoenix winner Shawn Langdon escaped with a tire-smoking, head gasket-burning 4.00 pass after Tony Schumacher grenaded a rear end for the second time in as many days. Yesterday, this cost us an hour of downtime cleaning up the 200-weight gear lube, and this won't be a short one either as the Safety Safari descends on the left lane. 

Seventy minutes later, we were back in action with Doug Kalitta getting a bye run after Ron August Jr. couldn't make the call. Crew chief Alan Johnson took the right lane, and Kalitta steamed to a 3.719 at top speed of the meet, a track-record 339.79 mph. The old mark was 338.94 mph by Brittany Force at the '22 NHRA Finals.

Billy Torrence closed the round by beating Antron Brown for the second straight time in round one with a 3.746.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Justin Ashley vs. Leah Pruett; Doug Kalitta vs. Clay Millican; Josh Hart vs. Tony Stewart; Billy Torrence vs. Shawn Langdon

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FUNNY CAR ROUND 1

Jack Beckman, who had lost in the first round of the season's first two events, turned on his first win light in style with a 3.890, low e.t. of the meet, to defeat Jim Campbell and Gary Densham's team, which rebounded from a trip into the sand trap yesterday. Beckman didn't hold low e.t. for long as low qualifier J.R. Todd took it back with a 3.889 in besting Blake Alexander. Todd earns second-round lane choice over "Fast Jack" by .001-second.

Beckman's John Force Racing teammate, Funny Car rookie Jordan Vandergriff, also looked sporty with a 3.894 to oust Daniel Wilkerson. Seven years ago at Pomona, Vandergriff, then racing in Top Fuel, defeated Austin Prock, in whose two-time Funny Car championship-winning car he now competes. Matt Hagan added his name to the 3.89 list with a 3.892 to beat Spencer Hyde, avenging his loss to Hyde in the semifinals in Phoenix.

Both Todd and Hagan leapfrogged third-place Hyde in the standings, sending the reigning Rookie of the Year down to fifth (for now), and could plummet all the way to seventh.

Reigning world champ Austin Prock's woes continued as he was upset by local favorite Jason Rupert's 4.28. Prock's PPG Ford went silent at 330 feet with an apparent lead, the result of a reported safety-system malfunction, and he remains winless through the year's first three events.

"It was running pretty good, and it started spinning the tires, and out of my peripheral vision, I looked over and didn't see him, and I thought I'd better get back on the gas and get to the finish line," said Rupert. "To beat a team like that is pretty special. I mean, those guys are really, really good, and we're a part-time team, and we have a really good team also, with Rahn Tobler leading us. I'm just happy to go to the next round."

Gatornationals champ and points leader Chad Green also avenged his second-round loss from Phoenix by sending Paul Lee home with a strong 3.96.

Both Ron Capps and Dylan Winefsky lost traction early, but Capps pedaled and coasted to the win after shutting the car off (or having the crew shut it off) with a cylinder-dropping 4.97. It ends a great weekend for Winefsky's Nitro Moose team, which reset both ends of its career bests here.

Alexis DeJoria joined her JFR teammates in round two with a 3.90 to beat Dave Richards as the battle for the special 1,000th Funny Car race trophy continues.

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): J.R. Todd vs. Jack Beckman; Matt Hagan vs. Jason Rupert; Alexis DeJoria vs. Ron Capps; Jordan Vandergriff vs. Chad Green

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PRO STOCK ROUND 1

Pro Stock is definitely a family sport: Three pairs of fathers and sons and an uncle and a nephew are among the 16 drivers in round one.

Two of the sons raced first, and Matt Latino slapped a .003 light on Aaron Stanfield and raced into round two on a 6.551 to 6.542 holeshot by .007-second at the stripe. Stanfield was no slouch with a .019 reaction time, but it wasn't enough. Latino's father, Eric, followed him down the left lane with a 6.542 win after Chris Vang left .006-second too soon and fouled. Stanfield's father, Greg, did move on, taking an easy win after Stephen Bell's mounted rolled the beams and red-lighted.

Cody Anderson, son of six-time world champ Greg, lost to Erica Enders for the second straight first round after Double-E put a small holeshot on him and won, 6.547 to 6.546 by just .003-second. 

Jeg Coughlin Jr. moved into round two with a 6.56 victory over Deric Kramer, but his nephew, Troy Jr. was undone by Dave Connolly's 6.50 in his replacement ride in Cody Coughlin's machine,

World champ Dallas Glenn reset low e.t. of the meet with a 6.508 after Gatornationals champ Matt Hartford's car, which struggled throughout qualifying, was done within the first few feet on the run. Glenn's teammate, Greg Anderson, retook low e.t. with a 6.496 against Kenny Delco, whose car suffered the same fate as Hartford's. Anderson's win and Hartford's loss moved Anderson past Hartford into second place in the standings.

Final score: Fathers 3-0, Sons 1-2

Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Matt Latino; Greg Stanfield vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Dallas Glenn vs. Eric Latino; Dave Connolly vs. Erica Enders

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TOP FUEL ROUND 2

Several small and annoying rainshowers later, we're ready for round two of the Pros; none of the wet stuff even showed up on radar, so we're all kind of puzzled where it's coming from, but it's got us well behind schedule.

Shawn Langdon ran his current win streak to six straight rounds with a dazzling 3.689 to 3.71 victory over Billy Torrence to advance to the final four, where he'll be joined by his teammate, Doug Kalitta, who blasted to a 3.694 in ending Clay Millican's Pomona reign.

Tony Stewart, carrying the colors of Josh Hart's former sponsor, R+L Carriers, defeated Hart's new Speedmaster ride with a 3.715 to create the other half of the ladder where he'll take on Justin Ashley, who was .025 on the tree for the second straight round en route to beating Leah Pruett on a 3.720 to 3.703 holeshot win. Langdon passes Hart for second place in the standings.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Doug Kalitta vs. Justin Ashley; Shawn Langdon vs. Tony Stewart

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FUNNY CAR ROUND 2

Like Langdon in Top Fuel, Phoenix Funny Car winner Ron Capps collected his sixth straight win light, powering the NAPA Toyota to a 3.88 to end Alexis DeJoria's day. Jordan Vandergriff reached the semifinals for the second time in three starts this season with a 3.91 conquest of Chad Green's game 3.97 but will cede semifinal lane choice to Capps.

Jason Rupert was an astounding .013 on the Tree against Matt Hagan, but his machine lost traction early, and Hagan bashed his way into the semifinals for the second straight race with a 3.90. Hagan will have semifinal lane choice over low qualifier J.R. Todd, who ripped to a 3.91 to beat Jack Beckman.

Capps is the new points leader and Todd and Hagan both move past Spencer Hyde into third and fourth place in the standings.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Matt Hagan vs. J.R. Todd; Ron Capps vs. Jordan Vandergriff

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PRO STOCK ROUND 2

Jeg Coughlin Jr., who has taken home the Wally at Pomona Dragstrip in Pro Stock eight times (fourth most in the category and second most of any active Pro Stock drivers) won't get the chance to add to that after squaring the tires at the clutch drop against Greg Stanfield, who raced into the semifinals with a 6.527. it's Stanfield's second straight semi after a first-round loss in Gainesville.

World champ Dallas Glenn pounded out a steady 6.520 to erase KB Titan teammate Eric Latino, but will cede lane choice to KB Titan sub driver Dave Connolly, who blasted to a 6.496 against tire-shaking Erica Enders. The normally rock-solid Connolly was .126 on the Tree and there for the taking against Enders' .034 light.

"I really don't know what happened," said Connolly. " I got in first, and I decked in, I flinched a little bit, and let the clutch out. I'm like, 'Well, I just blew it.' I don't get many chances to run, so you try to do a good job, and that was not one of them, so we're gonna try to redeem ourselves. Obviously, we've got Dallas next round and all-KB Titan semi's with him, so we're gonna need to be better than .126 against him, but I think we can easily improve on that. I'm just out here having fun. It's been a blast."

Greg Anderson made it three KB Titan cars in the semifinals after a stunning low e.t. 6.487 to drive around Matt Latino's .007 light and 6.537.

Glenn is guaranteed to keep his points lead regardless of what happens in the next two rounds.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Greg Stanfield; Dave Connolly vs. Dallas Glenn

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TOP FUEL SEMIFINALS

It's 6:30 p.m. local time, and the air temp is a crisp 61 degrees as we get ready for the final fours, but the track temp is still a manageable 83 degrees. If all goes well, we will run final rounds at 7:35, just getting under the wire of the 8 p.m. curfew.

Doug Kalitta is .034 on the Tree and runs 3.705 and the track's first 3240-mph speed at 340.56 ... but finishes second. Justin Ashley is .025 on the Tree for the third straight round and matches Kalitta's e.t. to the thousandth to take the win, Incredible.

It's almost a similar fate for Kalitta's teammate, Shawn Langdon, who was .048 on the tree and ran 3.718 but trailed Tony Stewart through the traps after "Smoke" rockets off the line with a .042 reaction and follows with a 3.701. Stewart got final-round lane choice by .004-second and now has the chance to bring the Pro Stock-centric Elite Motorsports team its first Top Fuel win.

Kalitta will leave Pomona as the points leader; Stewart can get as high as fourth with an event win.

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FUNNY CAR SEMIFINALS

Matt Hagan will have the chance to win alongside team owner Tony Stewart after racing to a 3.88 victory over up-in-smoke J.R. Todd. After winning Saturday's Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, he can get his stated wish of walking out with three trophies, including the Wally and the 1,000th Funny Car event trophy.

Hagan will cede final-round lane choice to Ron Capps, who now has collected seven straight win tickets after powering to low e.t. of the meet 3.86, to end Jordan Vandergriff's dream day despite a 3.88 pass. No matter what happens in the final, Capps will leave Pomona at a minimum in a tie for the points lead. If Hagan beats him, they'll be tied atop the pack with 251 points; if Capps wins, his lead will be 40 over Hagan.

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PRO STOCK SEMIFINALS

"Double-oh Dallas" Glenn lived up to his nickname with a .005 reaction time against Dave Connolly, then hamered it home with a 6.51.

The other half of the semifinals was the 46th meeting between the Gregs, Anderson and Stanfield, and Anderson extended his advantage with a blast of 6.495 to set up another all-KB Titan final with lane choice going to Anderson.