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It’s going to be a beautiful weekend here in Pomona as the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season gets underway with its first race of the year in Pomona. It may be early in the season, but as as the professional teams have found, every point counts and racers in all three categories are aiming to kick the 2012 campaign off with a bang. Stay tuned to DragZine Friday through Sunday for same day updates and photos from the Pomona Winternationals.
Special thanks to our event coverage sponsor Mickey Thompson. Check out their full line of tires and wheels at www.mickeythompsontires.com
It is going to be a beautiful weekend here in Pomona for the 52nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals. Unlike last year where rain plagued racing, this weekend looks to be a perfect, rain free event. Many teams began unloading around 9:30 AM to get ready for their single round of qualifying today.
Khalid Al-Balooshi is going to be a name to get use to in the 2012 NHRA season. Backed by a championship winning team, Balooshi earned his Top Fuel license, making a number of runs to varying distances, culminating in a great 3.86-second, 319 MPH blast to the 1,000 foot clocks.
In addition to the NHRA Pro Modified crown, the 32-year old Balooshi also won the 2011 Arabian Drag Racing League Pro Mod Championship, winning five of the seven events contested in Qatar. He also finished third in the American Drag Racing League Pro Nitrous points standings.
In all, the Dubai UAE native has won 158 races in Pro Nitrous, Pro Modified, Outlaw, and Super Street classes in his career.”Going from 3,000 horsepower in Pro Mod up to 8,000 horsepower in Top Fuel is a big jump, said Balooshi . “It is much faster from start to finish line than Pro Mod; the feeling is just so much faster.”
At a press conference held at the 2011 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Mopar and four-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. announced the second generation racer’s return to the factory hot rod ranks in 2012 after a one year hiatus, behind the wheel of a brand new Mopar/JEGS.com Dodge Avenger on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Since then, the team has made it to the track twice for testing, once in Palm Beach an once at Las Vegas while en route to this weekend’s race.
“The adrenaline is definitely pumping,” Coughlin said. “The level of factory support Mopar is providing is fantastic and I think it’s going to be very special. The passion the CTC and Mopar folks have for drag racing and for taking the their brand to the top of the sport is invigorating. These guys and gals are on a mission and we’re thrilled to be working with them.”
Coughlin, who is not only a four-time Pro Stock champion, but a four-time division 3 champion and winner of 67 national events, will team with longtime Mopar racer Allen Johnson and father Roy’s J&J Racing Team in his Pro Stock efforts for 2012.
If you thought John Force got a lot of attention from media and fans, you wouldn’t believe how much exposure rookie Courtney is getting recently. A flood of fans converge to Courtney’s pit anytime she out and about to get their first sight of JFR’s newest driver. With the family heritage deep in Top Fuel racing, we asked Courtney what dinner conversation was like at the Force home, “It’s very awkward if we are not talking about racing! (laughs) I have been involved with this since I was born, and we don’t have much to talk about because this is our passion and we love being out here.”
We asked her how the transition has been into a Funny Car and how the learning curve has been, “It’s been great. I have so many great teachers with my dad and my sister. I am learning something new on every run; the car always throws something new with you, which can be exciting.”
After winning her first NHRA national event in Top Alcohol Dragster in 2009 and earning “Top Agent” honors in the marketing contest that fueled Ford’s Fiesta Movement introduction in 2010, Courtney spent the better part of last season testing in a Ford Mustang Funny Car following selected Full Throttle tour events. We got first glimpse of Tony Pedregon's awesome, new American Racing Wheels wrap this morning. The rat rod-inspired design will be backed by a wrap that is truly unique - looking like an old and rusted out (though carbon fiber doesn't rust!) salvage yard queen. The Funny Car is also sporting red beadlocks with white shoe polish on the Goodyears to simulate the white-wall tire look. Very cool.
2011 Funny Car champion Matt Hagan was out early signing autographs this morning. The 28 year old is racing in only his third full season in Funny Car. Hagan had an impressive year by winning twice, qualifying number 1 three times and finishing runner-up two times. He was also the first to break the Funny Car 3-second barrier, running 3.995 seconds at zMax Dragway, where he also established the fastest speed in NHRA history of 322.27 mph.
Qualifying Round 2
Pro Stock
Jeg Couglin currently sits on the bump with a 6.673 @ 209.01.
Mike Edwards knows the number one qualifying spot too well, and if it holds, it will be the 41st of his career and the 5th at Pomona. His top pass holds from yesterday’s Pro Stock qualifying action where he went 6.545 @ 211.86 mph.
Today though, Edwards still went fast, clocking a 6.571 @ 211.53 mph run, though he said it was less than ideal, “Our car made a hard move out of the groove right off the starting line in the right lane. The 60 foot time was about the same as yesterday, but leaving crooked scrubbed off some E.T.
Tomorrow looks to be about 7 degrees cooler than today’s temperatures, which helps the Pro Stock competitors more than any pro class. “I really think tomorrow will be a better session with the cooler temperatures; the engines in these cars love cooler temperatures,” said Edwards. “If the conditions are good for Saturday morning’s first session, everybody should pick up and I think that it’s going to take a 6.52 to end up with the number one qualifying spot.
Greg Anderson poses for the camera as he gets ready for his first qualifying pass. Anderson's pass of a 6.556 @ 211.43 puts his currently in the number five spot.
Vincent Nobile had a hard time getting his car into reverse for his pass and had to be pushed back to the line. Nobile currently sits in 6th with a 6.569 @ 210.77.
Funny Car
All eyes were on Courtney Force for her first run and she put down a solid 4.199 @ 307.09 mph pass that put her in 8th, which is two spots behind her father's (John Force) 4.185 @ 300.40 run.
Bob Tasca is letting everyone know, he isn’t here to play around this season. “Listen. We have high expectations for our program this year,” exclaimed Tasca. “I not out here for any other reason other than to compete for a championship. This is my fifth year racing and I believe this is our best shot to do that.”
Tasca drove his Shelby Mustang to the current number one position with a 4.109 @ 309.34 mph If it holds, it would be Tasca’s third career number one qualifying position.
“That 4.10, based on what everyone else ran, was pretty impressive,” Tasca said. “I tell ya, it wasn’t much of an off-season for us. We tested a week in December and another week-plus in January, so we probably have 50 runs on that Motorcraft/Quick Lane car. We were disappointed with how we finished the season last year, so we dug deep this off-season and made some great runs in testing, and it’s always nice to translate into a race-day tune up.”
Alexis De Joria sits right in between the Force family in 7th with a 4.198 @ 300.40 mph run.
Top Fuel
Second generation Top Fuel pilot Brandon Bernstein, displaced from his Copart ride at the conclusion of the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle season when father and team owner Kenny Bernstein announced his retirement from the sport, has been selected to drive the MavTV/Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster for Morgan Lucas Racing in 2012 and beyond.
Morgan Lucas is the defending winner of this race from last year and let the field know he is trying to do it again by running the quickest Top Fuel lap during the session with a 3.835@ 316.38 mph but it was the 3.832 @ 320.28 mph Thursday that actually put him number one.
“To be honest, I’m as shocked as anybody that we’re still low with a 3.83,” said Lucas. “Our run today was pretty similar to what we did yesterday other than that it dropped a cylinder down track. I have to sing the praises of my guys. Since Aaron [Brooks, crew chief] and Rod [Centorbi, assistant crew chief] came over this winter, we adopted the motto ‘If it’s not perfect, it’s not right.’ The way the car is running is a reward for the hard work and extra hours they put in.”
