NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Matt Hagan scored in Funny Car the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals for the third time in five years, defeating world champ J.R. Todd in the final round for his 30th career win.

Racing in his 1,000th round of Pro Stock competition, Jeg Coughlin Jr. collected his 62nd Pro Stock Wally and his 81st victory in his long NHRA career on Matt Hartford’s final-round red-light.

It’s been 10 years since Jeg Coughlin Jr. won the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals, and the 2009 winner will have to beat hometown favorite Matt Hartford to get back to the winner’s circle.

Matt Hagan is on pace to continue his every-other-year dominance of Funny Car as the 2015 and 2017 event champ raced into the final round, where he will face world champ J.R. Todd.

Leah Pritchett will be gunning for her third Top Fuel win in the last four years at the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals when she takes on low qualifier Billy Torrence in the final round.

Sights and scenes from the final day of the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside of Phoenix.

Hometown favorite Matt Hartford used a holeshot and a narrow .001-second margin of victory to advance his Sealed Power Camaro to the semifinals, where he will face Deric Kramer.

After dodging a tire-smoking bullet in round one, reigning world champ J.R. Todd is wasting no time making good use of that reprieve, powering the DHL Toyota into the semifinals, where he will face Winternationals champ Robert Hight.

Low qualifier Billy Torrence, whose last No. 1 start ended up with him in the winner’s circle in Brainerd last year, is halfway to repeating that feat after defeating Mike Salinas in round two with a strong-but-fiery 3.687 pass.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. won for the 45th time in 100 career matchups with rival Greg Anderson, Erica Enders advanced on a holeshot, and Alex Laughlin was quicker than all of them as the first round of Pro Stock eliminated revved up the action in Phoenix.

Tommy Johnson Jr., celebrating 30 years of nitro competition at this event, scored what is probably his wildest victory in round one of the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals, winning the round despite a broken axle that led to a car-damaging explosion.

Low qualifier Robert Hight showed no signs of relenting, bettering his pole-sitting 3.867 with a 3.862 to highlight a wild opening round of Funny Car at the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals.

Jordan Vandergriff scored his first career round win in his competition debut, defeating former world champ Brittany Force with a career-best pass of 3.692 at 333.41 mph to highlight the opening round of Top Fuel.

The first round of elimination at the Magic Dry Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals will feature two titanic clashes, the 100th career head-head-to-head meetings between Funny Car heroes John Force and Ron Capps and between Pro Stock giants Greg Anderson and Jeg Coughlin Jr.

Welcome to Raceday of the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals. Champions will be crowned in 11 classes today at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside of Phoenix. Sportsman racing will kick off the day followed by the first round of Mello Yello  eliminations at 11 a.m. local time.

Billy Torrence collected his second career No. 1 in Top Fuel, Bo Butner his first No. 1 in Pro Stock in more than a year, and Robert Hight his second straight in Funny Car on a wild final day of qualifying at the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals.

Matt Hagan, one of the performance leaders throughout qualifying, tried to steal the Funny Car pole from Robert Hight, but Hagan’s 3.881 was one-upped by Hight’s dazzling 3.867 on the final pass of the final session.

Billy Torrence zipped to the No. 1 qualifying spot in Top Fuel with a dramatic 3.667 in the final qualifying session. It’s his second top spot and first since the Brainerd event last year, which he won.

Bo Butner collected his first No. 1 Pro Stock qualifying effort in more than a year and the ninth of his career, his first-session 6.522 holding up through the day’s final passes.

Sights and scenes from Day 2 of the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside of Phoenix.

Nine drivers joined Friday leader Matt Hagan in the three-second zone atop the Funny Car pack after two qualifying sessions, with two-time world champ Robert Hight leading the way with a 3.882.

Terry McMillen, who made his first career 3.6-second pass at the Winternationals, improved on that career-best by a thousandth of a second with a 3.695 to take over the Top Fuel qualifying lead after two sessions.

The Pro Stock crowd wasted no time getting up to speed Saturday after not getting a pass Friday due to inclement weather with Winternationals champ Bo Butner grabbing the early lead.

Just hours before the day’s first Funny Car qualifying session, Bob Tasca III’s Motorcraft team discovered a broken pipe on their primary chassis and, in a swap that would make their Quick Lane oil-change partners proud, were able to do a complete chassis switch in order to make the call.

Arizona fans will have a Top Fuel driver to cheer for this weekend in Jim Maroney, who will be making his 2019 season debut in a new partnership with drag boat racer Kim Davidson.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals. After a weather-abbreviated Friday, racing continues today with Sportsman action and the final two sessions of qualifying in all three Professional categories.

Former NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel champion Brittany Force had the best run of the first Top Fuel qualifying session at the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals with a tire-shaking 4.976.

Matt Hagan and crew chief Dickie Venables looked like geniuses in the first qualifying session, where Funny Cars were the first machines to hit the track after a lengthy rain delay. The Sandvik Coromant Dodge blasted to a 3.942 to lead the session.

After two years running Top Fuel, Blake Alexander will return to his roots in the Funny Car class when he makes his first qualifying run Friday at the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals.

Race engines love cool air and teams can brew lots of horsepower to lay down record runs, but it still needs to be managed in how it’s applied to the racetrack. That’s where the crew chiefs really earn their keep.