It’s elimination day here at the Four-Wide Nationals; we’re set up and awaiting the beginning of the festivities. Stay tuned all day as we bring you coverage.
In a “whoops” moment this morning, we realized that we neglected to report on the first round of the Pro Mod class eliminations that took place last evening, so we’ll start off with that this morning.
Danny Rowe entered the Pro Mod elimination sessions at the top of the ladder; just after this photo was taken, tire shake spoiled his day, allowing Mike Knowles to head on past him to the finish line and get the win.Von Smith turned in a stout 5.88 in the Dr. Moon’s Rage Camaro to take out Eric Latino; Smith’s 5.88 was the quickest pass from any competitor in the round. He will face Kenny Lang in the Corvette, who advanced over Doug Winters in a pedalfest.Steve Matusek is starting to gain traction in his Mongoose II Pro Mod Mustang – he cranked off a 5.98 in the first round to take out perennial contender Mike Janis. Matusek’s 250.55 MPH through the traps was top speed of all competitors. Matusek will face Rickie Smith in round two, who coasted across the finish line in round one with a 9.21, just ahead of Chris Juliano’s 9.28.5.909 at 248.52 MPH was Troy Coughlin’s first-round number, as he snuck ahead of Chip King’s Dodge at the finish line to move on to round two. He’ll take on Mike Castellana, who turned in a 5.94 in his defeat of Kevin McCurdy.
Mike Edwards continued his run in the first round on Sunday, turning in a round-quickest 6.493 in his pursuit of his first win this season after five number-one qualifiers. He and V Gaines moved in on their quad while Vincent Nobile and Frank G/ugliotta ended up on the outside looking in.Jason Line is the second Pro Stock driver to break into the .40’s this morning, barely doing the deed with a 6.499 at 213.50 MPH. He and Rodger Brogdon pushed Jeg Jr. and Lewis Worden to the side in their quad.Greg Anderson’s 6.514 and Allen Johnson (third from front) moved on in their round as they were the only two drivers on the pace. Kurt Johnson and Larry Morgan were unable to even crack the six-second zone.In the last quad of Pro Stock’s first round, Erica Enders-Stevens carded a 6.535 to move on; Shane Gray became the third driver to crack the 6.40’s and move on as well. Warren Johnson was out of it early and it appeared that Greg Stanfield had a mechanical malfunction up top.You may never see this matchup again – Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines representing the Harley contingent; Adam Arana and Hector Arana Jr. representing the Buell machines. Hector Jr. and Krawiec moved on, leaving Adam and Andrew on the outside.John Hall (near lane) and Katie Sullivan turned it up for the first round; Sullivan cranked off a sweet 6.87 and Hall carded a 6.90, sending Hector Arana and Steve Johnson back to the trailer. Sullivan and Hall will be paired with Krawiec and Hector Jr in the second round.Jim Underdahl turned in what would normally be an incredible 6.847 at 195.95 MPH in his quad, but that only put him second of the grouping, because Scotty Pollacheck whupped the quad with a stout 6.818 at 194.24 MPH. Â LE Tonglet and Mike Berry are going home.Matt Smith ran alongside wife Angie, Michael Ray, and Shawn Gann in the last PSM group. Despite Angie treeing everyone, Matt and Gann took the stripe first to move on.Mike Knowles continues his run in Pro Mod as Clint Satterfield shook the tires and was out of it by half-track.Kenny Lang’s 5.95 made him the only other competitor in the 5’s in round two in his defeat of Von Smith, who carded a respectable 6.10.Troy Coughlin kept on rolling, recording low ET of the round with a 5.90 at 247 MPH against Mike Castellana. He’ll face Knowles in round three.Rickie Smith (far lane) got way out of the groove and tagged the right-side wall in his matchup with Matusek, sending the Aeromotive car on to the semifinal.In the second round of Funny car, Tim Wilkerson had the quickest ET of his quad, clicking it off with a 4.09 through the traps. Chad Head got way out of shape but managed to reel it in in time to recover and cross the stripe just ahead of Cruz Pedregon. Robert Hight was out of it early and could only watch his chances for the weekend evaporate. Wilkerson and Head advance to the final.In the other Funny Car semifinal, Blake Alexander (pictured) ran a 4.14 in his quickest run of the weekend so far to advance to the final round and a chance for the prize money. Matt Hagan also advanced with a 4.07 as Bob Tasca III and Jack Beckman smoked the tires and are out.Number-one qualifier Shawn Langdon continued rolling along in the Al-Anabi Fueler, carding a 3.778 at 326.79 MPH – fastest and quickest of the second round to advance to the final. Tony Schumacher also advanced from his quad while Doug Kalitta and Bob Vandergriff got the early exit sign.Spencer Massey needed a stroke of luck (and bad luck for quad-quickest Morgan Lucas) in his holeshot win in the other Top Fuel semi. Brandon Bernstein also found himself on the positive side of Morgan’s sleepy .094 light – Massey and Bernstein advance to the final.
What an incredible set of final-round runs from all of the Pro classes. Four-wide racing is a true spectacle, and if you have the ability to make it here to Bruton Smith’s palace in North Carolina, you owe it to yourself to make the plans and come check this out. From a first-time perspective, the racing was incredibly exciting and something that every drag racing fan needs to witness in person.
Troy Coughlin turned in his second-quickest run of the day against Kenny Lang in the final round of Pro Mod. A .053 reaction time got him out of the gates four hundredths ahead of Kenny Lang, and he needed every bit of it as Coughlin’s 5.893 at 242.19 MPH barely outran Lang’s .087/5.898/246.98 blast. A great showing for the Jeg’s Corvette. Crew chief Bryan Metzenheim had the car on rails all weekend long. We had to wait until the scoreboards flashed in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final round to see who won – it was that close through the traps, Hector Arana Jr. (second from bottom) went wire-to-wire, qualifying number one and sealing the deal today over 2012 class champ Eddie Krawiec. Mike Edwards was out in front of the Pro Stock class from the outset, and by halftrack it was evident that he’d collect his first win of the season as Anderson and Gray were shutdown by then. The 2009 Pro Stock champ set the national record and his 35th career win this weekend. Erica Enders-Stevens scored the runner-up spot  for the second race in a row to go with her win in Arizona. Matt Hagan (second from bottom) led the Funny Car final round from end-to-end, scoring the quickest reaction time and rolling through the big end solidly ahead of Blake Alexander (top lane), who landed his first career-runner-up spot in only his second season in the hotly-contested Funny Car class. At this point in the race, Spencer Massey (bottom lane) was at the back of the pack, but by the time the win lights came on he was in the front. This is his first win of the season and first since July of last year. He goes to third in the points standings with the solid finish. A sweet, sweet taste of victory for Hector Arana Jr. In an awesome, four-wide, side-by-side-by-side by-side run, Hector Jr, turned in a .028 reaction time, and a 6.896 at 190.73 MPH to take the win light. Eddie Krawiec took the runner-up spot with a .024/6.924/190.65 line, while Scotty Pollacheck carried a .000/6.948/187.96 run through the traps. Jim Underdahl did his best on the tree with a .011, but his 6.942/192.82 line just wasn’t enough to get it done.
Mike Edwards has qualified at the top of the ladder for every single race this year, but under the most pressure here at the four-wides he was finally able to get it done and end up in the winner’s circle. Matt Hagan was quick to credit the crew of the Mopar Funny Car for the win this weekend. He had been under the weather earlier in the week and was able to recover in time to take the event win with a strong 4.07 at 315 MPH. Spencer Massey hasn’t had the smoothest off-season, and over the last two years he’s been within spitting distance of the championship, finishing second by .004 in 2011 and in third place last season. This is the second year in a row he’s won at zMAX; his win came over Schumacher by only .012-second.
That concludes our coverage of the Four Wide race from here at zMAX Dragway in Concord, North Carolina. We hope you’ve enjoyed the coverage – we’ve enjoyed providing it for you!
We’re here and ready to rock this morning. The sportsman cars are already hustling down the track and the weather forecast for today looks outstanding – perhaps even record-setting. Pro Stock Motorcycle is scheduled to hit the track for their second round of qualifying at 12:15PM, and the Pro classes will be back-to-back-to-back after that with two more rounds of qualifying on the schedule in a round-robin style format. Pro Mod’s first round will be the last Pro class of the day – scheduled at 4PM – and we’ll bring updates as soon as possible after that.
We chatted with Eddie Krawiec this morning – the 2012 Pro Stock Motorcycle champ has had to completely redesign his program this season along with teammate Andrew Hines, after the NHRA outlawed their cylinder head design at the end of last year. He pushed back out of the water on his only chance yesterday due to a mechanical malfunction and is ready to roll this morning. After checking out the weather station, he told us he thinks that runs in the mid 6.80’s should be possible today.Vincent Nobile was one of the Pro Stock competitors that didn’t get to run yesterday before the rains came. He was signing autographs when we stopped by but was happy to tell us that he’s looking forward to running some 6.40’s in the Pro Stock session early this afternoon.Possibly the longest autograph line we saw this morning was underneath the Edelbrock tent, where Lizzy Musi has her ADRL/X-DRL Top Sportsman Camaro on display.Greg Stanfield’s Pro Stock crew was hard at work weighing the  many sets of rear tires they have on hand, which is done in order to know exactly how much weight is on the car before a run, when they don’t have a chance to make it down to the scales. Every pound is critical in Pro Stock, so having this knowledge is important to ensuring the runs will count instead of coming up light over the scale.Larry Dixon also had a long autograph line, and when we finally had a chance to corner him to talk about his car, he explained that the team had to change head gaskets to lower the compression for today. Since they started the morning set up for yesterday’s weather, his crew was thrashing to get the car ready. When asked how he expected to run in today’s sessions, he laughed and said “Quicker than everyone else.” The three-time Top Fuel champ has noted crew chief Lee Beard in his corner, so we’ll have to take him at his word until the cars go down the track.2012 Top Fuel champ Antron Brown pulled a few kids out of the crowd to sign some autographs on used-up Top Fuel parts. The expression on this young lady’s face tells the story better than we ever could.Frank Gugliotta’s Pro Stocker was one of the first cars down the track yesterday in the abbreviated session. He turned in a 6.69 to sit seventh on the ladder entering today’s final qualifying sessions.Robert Hight made this young fan’s morning. He didn’t get to run yesterday, but Top Fuel is scheduled to hit the track in a four-wide qualifying session around 1PM.
We had a wild and crazy couple of rounds of qualifying this afternoon. Check out the photos below and in the gallery for coverage of the action from as many angles as we could provide.Â
If you can believe it, Hector Arana’s 6.86 at 192 MPH was only good for fourth at the end of the day in Pro Stock Motorcycle.Eddie Krawiec wasn’t able to make good on his prediction from this morning. In fact – here barely even made it into the field, sitting on the bump at the end of the day with a 6.97 at only 190 MPH. Look for the 2012 champ to get after it hard this evening and come out swinging in eliminations tomorrow.Scotty Pollacheck made the long trip from Medford, Oregon well worth his time, as he rode the Star Racing Buell to the second spot in qualifying with a strong 6.834 at almost 194 MPH.Hector Arana Jr. made the most of his qualifying chances, ending the day at the top of the ladder with a 6.826 at a whopping 195.19 MPH – the highest speed of anyone in the qualifying sessions. All three Arana family members qualified today – brother Adam sits in the eighth spot.Angie Smith’s Buell got a little crossed up during the first session today – it appeared as if something in the front end let go. She later redeemed herself in the second session by rolling on to a 6.949 at 190 MPH to sit in the fourteenth spot entering eliminations tomorrow. Husband Matt sits in the third position.The amazing Mike Edwards re-set the Pro Stock record during qualifying today in his Interstate Batteries-backed 2013 Camaro. Not only that, he did it with the quickest Pro Stock elapsed time ever, clocking an unreal 6.471 at 213.64 MPH in the first session of the day. He later backed it up during the second session.Jeg Coughlin Jr. (second from top) made the move to a Dodge Avenger and it looks like the decision is paying off. He was the second of three cars in the ’40’s today in pro Stock with a 6.495 at 212.93 MPH.Shane Gray wrapped up the trio of .40 qualifiers in Pro Stock today with a 6.498 at 213.03 MPH. Four of the top five qualifiers exceeded 213 MPH – today’s cool and dry weather was definitely good for making horsepower in the naturally-aspirated class.2012 Pro Stock champ Allen Johnson mustered up a 6.500 run today – and it was only good for fourth on the ladder entering eliminations. Johnson’s won the last two events, though, so don’t count him out for tomorrow.Erica Enders-Stevens (top) ran the same exact elapsed time as Greg Anderson – 6.508. But since Anderson ran 213.67 MPH and Erica went through the traps at 212.96 MPH, Anderson gets the higher qualifying spot for tomorrow – #5 for the four-time champ versus #6 for Erica.Chad Head scored his first-ever top qualifier spot this weekend in his AJPE-powered Camry Funny Car. Head’s 4.014 at 315.19 MPH was run in the first session today.How about a little bit of the Force? John just keeps on rolling – right into the second qualified spot behind Head. His 4.03 at 316.08 MPH carried the highest speed of anyone during the qualifying rounds.
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It's a good thing for Robert Hight (far lane) that he made a full run in the first round, because this body-tossing explosion happened in round two. We estimate the body went 75 feet in the air, and blew probably another 50 feet sideways before it landed. As a precaution two fans were evaluated and released by paramedics onsite. Hight is qualified on the bump going into tomorrow.
Courtney Force’s indoctrination into the Funny Car ranks continues. Courtney’s Traxxas-sponsored Mustang was good for a 4.53 at only 190.65 MPH, so look for her to be dangerous tomorrow if the team can put a full run together.Jack Beckman was the third of four cars to qualify in the Four-ohs today. His 4.07 at 311.09 MPH puts the Mopar driver in good position tomorrow.Alexis DeJoria improved immensely in the second session, clicking off a 4.19 to land in the eighth spot.Bob Tasca III’s 4.16 made three Mustangs in the top seven qualifiers. He’ll run with Force, Tony Pedregon, and Blake Alexander in their first-round quad.
The Sarge came into the second round sitting on the bump spot, but redeemed himself nicely with a 3.823 at 321.19 MPH to end up in the eighth position behind teammate Antron Brown.Shawn Langdon drove the Al-Anabi Silver team car to the top spot in Top Fuel with a stout 3.751 at nearly 328 MPH.Al-Anabi Racing teammate Khalid alBalooshi clicked off a strong 3.804 at 324 MPH, showing that the Alan Johnson-tuned cars will be a force during Sunday’s elimination rounds. alBalooshi has a quad run against Doug Kalitta, Bob Vandergriff, and Leah Pruett in the first round tomorrow.Spencer Massey (top) had the best showing of the three DSR cars. Massey turned in a 3.77 at 326.24 MPH to land in the second spot behind Langdon. Morgan Lucas (second from top) qualified third with a 3.788, while Bob Vandergriff (second from bottom) is qualified fifth.Brittany Force’s outstanding rookie season has her making a name for herself in the Top Fuel category in the Castrol Edge-sponsored machine. The 3.83 she turned in puts her solidly in the ninth spot, but that means she faces number-one qualifier Langdon, along with Tony Schumacher and rookie Sidnei Frigo in the first round of competition tomorrow.Brandon Bernstein’s 3.84 has him sitting in the tenth spot ahead of Larry Dixon. He’ll face class champ Antron Brown, TJ Zizzo, and number-two qualifier Massey in tomorrow’s first round.Brazilian businessman Sidnei Frigo is making a strong case for the rookie of the year award in Top Fuel. His 3.88 bump-spot qualified time puts longtime racers Chris Karamesines, Clay Millican, Terry McMillen, and Pat Dakin on the outside looking in.
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That’s it for our coverage today – stay tuned tomorrow as we bring you elimination notes and photos.
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 The stars of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series return this weekend to Bruton Smith’s palace of drag racing, the zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, for the one-of-a-kind NHRA Dollar General Four-Wide Nationals, where racers in the nitro categories, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle square off in a four-wide contest that assaults the senses unlike any other event in the sport.
This may be the emptiest you ever see Nitro Alley – this was the first shot in the camera, taken at about 8AM.You might notice the hundred-dollar bills embedded in the paint on this car and wonder “Where’s Mike Knowles’ new Pro Mod?” Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in this sport, Mike just ran out of time getting the car sorted out for this event, and decided to bring out his McAmis-built ’68 Camaro instead. They tested the car recently and feel comfortable that they can start out running 5.90’s this weekend and hope to go quicker if all the stars align.The Super Gas competitors were lined up and making passes in their first round of qualifying this morning.
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Left- The Aeromotive team of Steve Matusek was hard at work in the pits this morning getting his hotrod ready for competition. Right - Steve Petty was clicking the keys on Troy Coughlin's machine in preparation for the first round of Pro Mod, scheduled to begin at 2PM if the weather holds out. The forecast doesn't look great for later today but the rest of the weekend could provide record-setting conditions. The Cobra Jet contingent is large this weekend in Stock and Super Stock. We also saw a number of COPO Camaros and a few Dodges while checking out the pits.The Vance and Hines team was also moving at double-speed getting their Pro Stock Motorcycles ready for competition.It was a bit windy this morning – making the task of packing the parachutes a difficult proposition.While wandering the pits this morning we came across the huge Traxxas R/C car display, where they were putting on a show for the fans checking out their goods. Cool stuff.
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The Pro Stockers are also out in force this weekend. They were all moving around and getting prepared during our pit tour. Tony Schumacher’s US Army Dragster was front-and-center in the Army’s midway display. The canopy sure does change the look of the car, but if it helps the drivers stay safe in the event of a mishap, we’re all for its use.
First round of qualifying for Pro Mod and Pro Stock Motorcycle is complete, and ten Pro Stock cars were able to make runs today. At this time racing has been cancelled for today and will pick up tomorrow. The Pro Stock racers who have completed runs so far will have their times counted, and there will be two rounds of qualifying tomorrow for all Pro classes.
There’s nothing like the smell of nitro in the morning, as this group of fans clustered around Courtney Force’s Traxxas Funny Car can attest.Looks like Petty did his job this morning – Troy Coughlin went right to the top of the Pro Mod ladder with a super-strong 5.963 at 243.72 in his ‘Vette.Steve Matusek rattled the tires early in his run but recovered to drive to a 6.49 at 243 MPH. When we saw him earlier this year at NMRA in Florida he couldn’t even get to the sixty-foot clocks, so it looks like he’s getting closer to figuring out his new car and combination.Danny Rowe captured the #2 spot in the first round with a strong 5.96 at 244 MPH.Rickie Smith jumped right into the #3 spot in the first round with an awesome 5.977 at 242 MPH from his nitrous-assisted Camaro.Clint Satterfield’s monstrous 6.01 at 246 MPH came despite his relatively-slow short time of 1.07. This team will be dangerous if they can get the short-track figured out.Hector Arana Jr. rode his Buell to the sixth qualified spot during the four-wide Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying session. His 6.97 at 193.10 MPH earned him the third-highest qualifying speed.After Eddie Krawiec was pushed back in the second lane, it was up to teammate Andrew Hines to salvage the Harley efforts in round one. He tripped the clocks with a 7.01 at 190 MPH to land in the seventh spot. The Vance and Hines team is still working to figure out their new two-valve combinations in 2013.As the Pro Stock Motorcycle contingent hasn’t raced four-wide since the inaugural zMAX event, the first two groupings struggled with the tree. James Surber left before the tree was activated in the first grouping and didn’t receive a time.Larry Morgan rocketed to the #2 spot on the abbreviated Pro Stock session. His 6.64 at 208 MPH was four hundredths behind Shane Gray, who clicked off a round-low 6.60 blast at 210 MPH – almost two full MPH faster than everyone else.Don’t count out the Professor just yet. Despite not having a major sponsor, the man still knows how to hustle a car down the racetrack. He’s currently sitting fourth with a 6.66, and tomorrow will be quicker for everyone as the weather cools off.Rodger Brogdon is sitting just a hundredth behind Morgan in the third spot. His 2013 Camaro ran straight and true to a 6.652 at 208.42, second-highest MPH of the round behind Gray.
We’ll pick back up tomorrow – at this time the NHRA has not released a daily schedule, but we’ll update as soon as possible. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the photo gallery by selecting it from the dropdown menu at the top of this page.
It’s elimination day here at the Four-Wide Nationals; we’re set up and awaiting the beginning of the festivities. Stay tuned all day as we bring you coverage.
