McClenathan, Force, Edwards, Smith win NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

Press Release by Phil Burgess, National DRAGSTER Editor

Cory McClenathan, John Force, Mike Edwards, and Matt Smith collected important and memorable victories at the historic inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, which concluded Monday at zMax Dragway.

Persistent afternoon rain Sunday at zMax Dragway forced NHRA officials to postpone the conclusion of the event; the Top Fuel and Funny Car finals were set, and Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle had two rounds to go, adding an extra day of drama to the first NHRA national event to feature four vehicles running side by side in qualifying and eliminations. Drivers spent the first two days of qualifying getting used to running against more than one opponent and adjusting to the extra bulbs on the Christmas Tree timing system, but by race day, everyone seemed to have it figured out.

Don Schumacher Racing was represented twice in the Top Fuel final, in which low qualifier McClenathan and Antron Brown faced a pair of Dougs — Kalitta and Herbert — for the historic win. In a great four-wide race all the way down, Cory Mac’s Fram dragster eked out a narrow win by .001-second over runner-up Kalitta, 3.820 to a holeshot-aided 3.826. Brown finished third with a 3.86 and Herbert fourth at 4.26. Brown and Herbert earned semifinal status and points.

McClenathan’s win – his second this season (he also won in Phoenix) and 33rd of his Top Fuel career — completed a dominating performance and a show of resiliency. The Fram team had to work hard in the pits after winning its first-round bout with Rhonda Hartman-Smith, Morgan Lucas, and Brandon Bernstein with a 3.799 that was punctuated by a blown left-rear slick just past the finish line. The team repaired damage to the chassis and body panels to get McClenathan to round two, where he finished second to Kalitta after both ran 3.809.

Kalitta finished second to Tony Schumacher in round one, 3.81 to 4.02, ahead of Doug Foley and Pat Dakin; though Foley’s 4.00 was quicker, Kalitta got the ticket to round two thanks to a .064 to .117 holeshot on Foley. Kalitta then won his second-round match against McClenathan, Schumacher, and Hartman-Smith to move to the final.

Brown and Herbert raced each other three times. Brown won their first-round go, 3.85 to 3.96 (Terry McMillen and Dave Grubnic made up the rest of that foursome), and was tops again in round two, in which Brown’s 3.84 and Herbert’s 3.85 beat Larry Dixon’s 3.81 on a holeshot. Langdon and Dixon, in that order, had advanced to round two over Steve Torrence and Bobby Lagana Jr.

The Funny Car final, appropriately enough in the class balance of power, featured two drivers from John Force Racing (John Force and Ashley Force Hood) and two from Don Schumacher Racing (Ron Capps and Matt Hagan), and the round went decisively to the JFR team, which finished 1-2.

Force powered his Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang to a 4.036 just ahead of his daughter’s 4.042 in her Castrol GTX Mustang. Their speeds — 316.38 for Ashley and 316.23 for John — are the two fastest speeds in class history. Capps’ NAPA Auto Parts Dodge finished third with a 4.08, and Hagan, who struggled in his DieHard Dodge, finished fourth. The win is the 128th of Force’s career and his second this season after winning the Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline to begin his year.

“This is a little taste of history,” said Force. “This was special, like beating the dragsters at Bristol [at the 1999 Showdown between Funny Cars and Top Fuelers]. Thanks to Bruton and Marcus Smith. They took the money and spent it to make this happen. The hardest part was racing Ron Capps. He is always tough, and Hagan, now that he has John Medlen there, will put the fear into you. My own daughter also leaves nothing on the table. I’m proud of Ashley. She’s learned the game.

“This track is go good that we took wing off of it. I don’t usually run big speed but did this weekend. That says something because my car is not light like Ashley’s. ”

“It feels good to finally get our car back,” said Force Hood. “We had a couple of ups and downs this year, and that does get your confidence down. To come to this race, with all the challenges that everyone faces, I am excited to be able to maneuver through all that and race Dad and the Schumacher teams in the final. The final could easily have gone the other way. This [Monday] was a new day; it brought new challenges for everyone, but Dad and I made two really good runs. That was one of our best since we went to 1,000 feet. To me, the biggest thing is that we have our car back, and now we can focus on the championship.”

Force, who always was the last to stage in his pairings, finished second to Jack Beckman in their first-round foursome, 4.06 to 4.09, and second to Capps in round two (both ran 4.064) – but made the final. Force came out of the toughest first-round foursome – with Beckman, Bob Tasca III, and Tony Pedregon – then, with Capps, advanced past Tim Wilkerson and Beckman in the second round. Wilkerson had the quickest pass of that round with a 4.061, but his .080 light was behind the .041 of Force and the .068 of Capps.

Force Hood raced out of round one with a 4.06 win over second-place Cruz Pedregon and Del Worsham and Bob Gilbertson, then beat Hagan on a holeshot in the second round, 4.12 to 4.10, as both advanced over Paul Lee and Cruz Pedregon.

Hagan, who destroyed his car’s primary body in a wild blower explosion in qualifying, shook off the after effects of that blast to work his way to the final. He won his first-round pairing with Lee, low qualifier Robert Hight, and Jeff Arend on a 4.04 and finished second to Force Hood in the second round, 4.06 to 4.10. Hight’s loss was scary as his Auto Club Ford drifted into Arend’s lane in the shutdown area, and the two traded paint but little else.

Capps finished second in both of his preliminary-round pairings – on a holeshot to Wilkerson in round one, 4.07 to 4.03, and to Force in the second round. Capps’ first-round pod also included Melanie Troxel and Jeff Diehl.

The Pro Stock final featured Greg Stanfield, Bob Yonke, Edwards, and Jason Line, and the outcome was never in doubt after the green. Edwards tattooed the Tree with a .009 light and ran 6.59 to win easily, ahead of Line’s 6.63. Yonke was third through with a 6.66 while Stanfield shut off to a 12-second pass. The winj is the 23rd of Edwards’ Pro Stock career.

“I must have been real shallow because that should have been a red-light; I rolled the beams a little but got away with it,” admitted Edwards of his final-round reaction time. “I’ll tell ya, this four-wide deal is hard on people, but it’s been a great weekend. It’s fun to come out and win a race no matter what it is, two-wide or four-wide. I feel real blessed to have won again and thank God and give him all the glory.

“It was fun; it was confusing a lot of times, but it was fun. It was different, but you still had to do everything right. I had a good time, and anytime you can win a race it’s a great time. This is a great start to hopefully another great season.”

Stanfield reached the final by winning both of his preliminary pairings, finished ahead of Rickie Jones, Greg Anderson, and Kurt Johnson in the first round and ahead of Yonke, Rodger Brogdon, and Jones in the second round.

Edwards, who for the first time in 12 races was not the No. 1 qualifier, powered his Penhall Pontiac to the final by winning both of his rounds, racing to the stripe ahead of John Nobile, Warren Johnson, and Vinnie Deceglie in round one and beating Line, John Nobile, and Allen Johnson to the stripe in the second round.

Line finished second to Allen Johnson in the first round but ahead of Larry Morgan and Erica Enders, then finished second to Edwards in the second round but still ahead of Allen Johnson and Nobile.

Yonke, the surprise runner-up at the delayed Phoenix event, made his second final-round appearance possibly by winning his first heat ahead of Brodgon, Shane Gray, and low qualifier Jeg Coughlin, whose Chevy got loose near the top end, forcing him to lift. Yonke finished second behind Stanfield in the second round, but ahead of Brogdon and Jones.

The Pro Stock Motorcycle final pitted Smith against world champ Hector Arana, Steve Johnson, and Michael Phillips and Smith finished his wire-to-wire win with a convincing 6.93 victory, well ahead of Arana’s 7.00. The win is the 11th of Smith’s career. Johnson ran 7.30 for third while Phillips fouled out by .001-second.

“We stayed and tested in Gainesville on Monday and got our stuff right,” said Smith. “As a three-bike team [with Angie Smith and Doug Horne] we all did our jobs down there and that helped. We still have some problems with the other two bikes and I’ll get to that but this was a big win.

“I love this four wide deal. I’m glad that NHRA and Bruton [Smith] did this. It was fun, just like NASCAR having road races. It was a different atmosphere.”

Smith rode his No. 1-qualifying Al-Anabi Buell to the final on the strength of two wins, beating Junior Pippin, Doug Horne, and Craig Treble in round one and Arana, Pippin, and David Hope in the second round.

Arana won his first-round battle ahead of surprise second-place David Hope, Karen Stoffer, and Jim Underdahl, then ran better than Smith in the second round but lost first place on a holeshot, 6.91 to 6.90. Still, he finished ahead of Pippin and Hope.

Phillips raced to the final with a second-place finish in round one behind Johnson and ahead of Andrew Hines and Angie Smith, then won the second-round foursome ahead of Johnson, Tonglet, and Mike Berry.

Johnson, who won the 2008 September race at zMax, won his first-round foursome over Phillips, Hines, and Angie Smith, then finished a close second behind Phillips – both ran 7.017 – in the second round, where both beat Tonglet and Phillips.

In Lucas Oil action, Dan Fletcher collected career win No. 66 with a final-round victory in Comp while Gene Dougherty won the heads-up SS/HA final in Super Stock over Emily Stott, 10.10 to 10.36. Anthony Bertozzi then beat Joe Santangelo, 10.41 to 10.50, in a heads-up C/SA final in Stock eliminator.

Former world champs Dave Northrop and Ed Richardson scored in Super Comp and Super Gas, respectively, while Eddie Brooks claimed gold in Super Street. Top Dragster and Top Sportsman honors went to sidelined Pro Stock drivers Dave Connolly and Ryan Ondrejko, respectively.

Top Fuel Dragster

 W/L  Driver                                     R-Time    E-Time  Speed

 (1) Cory McClenathan (Fram Tough Guard Dragster 0.060      3.820 319.60
 (2) Doug Kalitta (Technicoat Dragster)          0.056      3.825 316.60
 (3) Antron Brown (Matco Tools Dragster)         0.057      3.862 312.64
 (4) Doug Herbert (Irwin Tools Dragster)         0.075      4.268 193.79

Top Fuel Funny Car

 W/L  Driver                                     R-Time    E-Time  Speed

 (1) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.077      4.036 316.23
 (2) Ashley Force Hood (Castrol GTX Mustang)     0.092      4.042 316.38
 (3) Ron Capps (NAPA Auto Parts Charger)         0.100      4.088 306.33
 (4) Matt Hagan (DieHard Charger)                0.082      6.736 105.27

Pro Stock

 W/L  Driver                                     R-Time    E-Time  Speed

 (1) Mike Edwards (Penhall/K&N/Interstae GXP)    0.009      6.596 210.05
 (2) Jason Line (Summit Racing Equipment GXP)    0.020      6.632 209.36
 (3) Bob Yonke (Pints for Prostate GXP)          0.026      6.662 207.98
 (4) Greg Stanfield (Nitrofish GXP)              0.032     12.558  69.69

Pro Stock Motorcycle

 W/L  Driver                                     R-Time    E-Time  Speed

 (1) Matt Smith (Al-Anabi Racing Buell)          0.021      6.937 189.84
 (2) Hector Arana (Lucas Oil Buell)              0.037      7.000 190.92
 (3) Steve Johnson (Steve Johnson Racing Suzuki) 0.095      7.305 157.32
 (4) Michael Phillips (MPR & DAM Sport Suzuki)   -0.001(R)  7.031 191.95