After two days of blazing-fast qualifying to open the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season, it’s time to crown the first set of event champions here at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. We’ll have all the action right here on Dragzine throughout the day, until we have only three professional racers remaining.
Sunday morning, well before eliminations begin, fans and the press start lingering around the starting line, grabbing a good spot to see the pro drives introduced. When we shot this, the ceremony was still an hour and change away.One of the more popular things to do among seasoned nitro fans is to take newbies for a stroll through the pits while the teams warm their cars up. The sting of nitro always makes the newcomers gasp for air as their eyes and noses burn like fire. This poor girl just lost her nitro virginity!
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Mornings at the track are also the best time to get up close and personal with your favorite driver, whether it's getting a shirt autographed by Pro Stock racer Allen Johnson or a selfie in the staging lanes with Tony Schumacher. It’s not just racers here at the Winternationals. A common sight in Alexis DeJoria’s pits is her boyfriend Jesse James.It’s not secret that one of drag racing’s biggest potential problems is keeping today’s youth interested. In the small car show area here at the Winters is a Junior Dragster exhibit, and this little kid, who can’t be more than 2 or 3 years old, just got hooked. We wonder if his dad, who lifted him into the car, has any idea what he just signed himself up for!
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Sidnei Frigo had an engine explosion in the first round that disintegrated his right rear tire and had everyone holding their breath, but he kept the car straight and got it stopped without any further drama. It did throw parts and fluid all over the track though, and brought out the tractors.
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Richie Crampton (right) pulled off the upset in the first round of Top Fuel, taking out Brittany Force's digger with a stout 3.747 at 322 to Force's slowing 4.16 at 279. Crampton then went on to lose to Doug Kalitta in the second round. Clay Millican lost his battle on the tree with Antron Brown but thundered off to a win to face Steve Torrence’s speed racer. Torrence is on a tear and is headed to the semis to face Khalid Al Balooshi.Spencer Massey will face Doug Kalitta in the semi-finals, while the other matchup is Khalid Al Balooshi and Steve Torrence. Stay tuned to see how those races shake out and who goes to the money round.Crew Chief Jimmy Prock telling John Force he has a single, thanks to issues with Paul Lee’s car in round one. Force then raced Tommy Johnson Jr. in the second round and won, though he was a mph slower than Johnson. Get this; Force ran 321 mph while Johnson blasted off a 322 in the next lane.
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Gary Densham and Alexis DeJoria had a pedal-fest in the first round, as both lost the hook and had to get on and off the gas to stay alive. It was Densham getting to the stripe first however, advancing him to round number two. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't quite handle Del Worsham's 4.05 in that round. Ron Capps in his NAPA Funny Car got past Jeff Arend’s Mooneyes car in the first round, but in the next round, against Bob Tasca III, Capps’s car took a hard right at about 660 feet and hit the wall fairly hard. A flattened set of headers and an early trip home was the result.Former Funny Car champion Matt Hagan took out Courtney Force and then her fellow JFR teammate (and brother-in-law) Robert Hight in rounds one and two, respectively. He will face Del Worsham in the semi. Worsham ran a 4.056 to beat Gary Densham’s 4.131 in the second round. That sets the Funny Car semis as Worsham racing Hagan, and John Force running Bob Tasca III.
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Vince Nobile took out Shawn Tucker's machine in the first round, while elsewhere on the ladder defending champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. dispatched Roger Brogdon. Nobile and Coughlin will therefore meet in the semi-finals.
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Running the winner of the Nobile/Coughlin matchup will be either Erica Enders-Stevens (who beat Derick Kramer) or V. Gaines (who took out Greg Stanfield). So far in eliminations, Gaines has a slight ET advantage over the former Jr. Dragster hero.
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The other semi-final matchup in Pro Stock will be Jason Line's Summit Racing Camaro against Shane Gray's Charter car. Line dispatched Matt Hartford and Dave Connolly in the first two rounds, while Gray got there at the expense of Jimmy Alund and Larry Mogan.
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Steve Torrence (back to the camera) and Khalid Al Balooshi wish each other luck prior to bucking into their Top Fuelers for the semi-final round. Both men's energy levels were through the roof as they strapped in, and their on-track matchup did not disappoint. Torrence got a slight holeshot with a .052 light to Balooshi's .072, but it was the black and gold Qatar dragster at the stripe first with a 3.783 at 318 to Torrence's 3.804 at 323. Do the math...that's a difference at the line of .001 second!
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On the other side of the Top Fuel ladder were Spencer Massey and Doug Kalitta. Like the Torrence/Balooshi race, this one was tight as a drum too. Kalitta won it by .003 seconds. So both semi-final round matchups in Top Fuel were decided by a total of .004 seconds. The final against Kalitta and alBalooshi is going to be epic! In the Funny Car semis, it was Del Worsham running Matt Hagan, and Bob Tasca III running John Force. The first pair saw Hagan get a .004-second holeshot and run a quicker 4.030 at 318 to Worsham’s .068/4.055/321.In the Tasca/Force race, the old man in the Castrol Ford proved his reaction times are still top-notch with a .038 light. He stormed off the a 4.025 at a thundering 322 mph to Tasca’s off-pace 5.007 at only 195. That sends Force to the final round for a repeat of last year, racing Matt Hagan.
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In the Pro Stock semis, it was a battle of the Vs (Vince Nobile and V. Gaines) on one side of the ladder and Shane Gray versus Jason Line on the other. The first pair were Gray and Line, and though Gray's Camaro left by .006 at the tree, Line's Camaro thumped him with a 6.527 at 212 to Gray's 6.541 at 211. Well okay, it wasn't a thumping, it was a close one! That sets the final as Jason Line and V. Gaines. We'll be back shortly to bring you the final round winners.
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The final round of Pro Stock was a good one. Jason Line and V. Gaines were within .003 of each on the tree, with Line getting the miniscule advantage then running a quicker 6.526 at 212.06 mph to Gaines' 6.533 at 212.56. Jason Line's crew went nutso on the starting line when the winner's light came on the board.
See that whisp of smoke just starting to come off of Matt Hagan’s tires in the near lane? A nanosecond later that turned into a cloud of tire smoke as the car blew the Goodyears off, while John Force blasted off to a 3.965 at 323 mph. Force was on a tear this weekend, not only winning the event but also qualifying number one, setting the low ET at 3.965 (also a Pomona track record for Funny Cars) and the top speed at 324.12. That’s a good start to a season where you’re defending your title. Will 2014 be John’s 17th Funny Car championship? Doug Kalitta pulled a holeshot on alBalooshi but at about haft-track his engine blew to tiny pieces, handing the win and the early season points lead to the Al Anabi fueler. And here they are, your winners of the 2014 NHRA Circle K Winternationals! From left to right are Jason Line, John Force, and Khalid alBalooshi. We’ll see you in Phoenix in two weeks!
After a record-setting day of qualifying on Friday that kicked the 2014 NHRA season off with a bang, the race day fields will be set during today’s two final rounds of qualifying. We’ll be bringing you all the news and notes from here at Pomona all day long, so keep it tuned right here!
Ever since 1961, drag racing fans have flocked to Southern California for one of the sport’s grandest traditions: The unveiling of new cars, drivers, teams, and sponsorships for the new season, which starts and ends here at the historic Pomona Fairgrounds, known for its fantastic surface, huge crowds, and always intense action.
Over the winter, there has been a ton of action in the boardrooms of corporate America and also with the various racing media and message boards that should make this year an especially important one for NHRA drag racing. Perhaps the biggest, and most shocking, news is that the King of Drag Racing, 16-time champion John Force (18 if you count his other team cars’ championships) will end his sponsorship deal with both major sponsors Castrol and Ford at the end of the ’14 season. Some other teams have traded hands, a few crew chiefs were shuffled, and who knows what else is going to happen as we progress in the season. There has also been a lot of talk among pundits about the health of the NHRA and drag racing as a sport, and regardless of how much weight you put into all the opinions out there, we expect the Winternationals crowd to be huge as usual. Dragzine will be here to give you all the scoop from the weekend, starting today.
The pros arrived at the track around 9:30 and began unloading their rigs, as seen above, while the sportsman classes were already in the lanes ready to run eliminations since 8:00 am. The Big Guys start t begin their last two hits of qualifying starting at 12:30 and we’ll bring you all that action as soon as it happens. In the meantime, check out the gallery for Saturday’s early morning action, and come back here in a few hours for updates from Pro qualifying.
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The fans were just starting to arrive while the Sportsman classes were already hot and heavy. Mike Edwards Edwards, the 2009 Pro Stock world champion, sold his Pro Stock operation to Chris McGaha this past offseason. The McGaha crew was just getting started when we first roamed the pits this weekend.John Force’s Funny, sans body,gets unloaded and pushed into the team’s pit stall to get ready for this afternoon’s qualifying sessions.
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Here's Saturday's racing schedule, plus the qualifying results after the two runs on Friday. As you can see, going into Saturday's final two qualifying rounds, Antron Brown leads Top Fuel, John Force leads Funny Car, and 2012 Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson is on top of the doorslammers. One of the biggest stories in the Pro pits is the major shuffling of crew chiefs and the return of Tommy Johnson Jr. to the drivers seat full-time behind the wheel of the former Johnny Gray-driven Dodge Charger R/T (shown). Johnson joins the lineup of Matt Hagan, Jack Beckman and Ron Capps. At Pomona, veteran chief and tuner Rahn Tobler is helping the team, but there has not been an “official” crew chief named yet.Antron Brown, running with the Don Schumacher team, won the Top Fuel championship in 2012 but came in runner-up to Shawn Langdon last year. He’s on top of the qualifying sheet (a spot above Langdon) after Friday’s rounds. Antron is always a crowd favorite, and was one of the first drivers we saw standing at the ropes signing autographs and taking photos with fans.2013 Pro Stock Champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. looks to repeat, starting this weekend at Pomona, but going into Saturday’s qualifying sessions he’s behind Allen Johnson and Vincent Nobile by a few hundredths. Will the screaming yellow Jeg’s Mopar pick it up today?
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Steve Torrence put his Capco Fueler in the sixth spot on the ladder, but his 329.02 mph trap speed was a new track record for Pomona.
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Brittany Force and Richie Crampton filled out the middle two spots of the field, numbers 8 and 9 respectively, and will face each other in the first round tomorrow at noon. Second generation racer Troy Buff drives the Bill Miller Engineering (BME) digger and just made the field, qualifying the car 15th with a 3.850 at 309 mph. The entire Top Fuel field is separated by only .149 seconds.
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Before the first round of Top Fuel qualifying began, a brand new vintage Funny Car was unveiled for TV Tommy Ivo, a historic driver, car builder, and showman. Kinda makes us wish today's Funny Cars looked as good as this vintage Duster.
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No real shocker here: The top cars to qualify for Funny Car are from the JFR stable. Defending champ John Force took the number one spot with a 3.966 at 324 while teammate (and sone-in-law) Robert Hight came in second. They will face Paul Lee and Tim Wilkerson, respectively, in tomorrow's first round. Alexis DeJoria joined the 3 Second Club with her first pass in the threes, a 3.997 that put her number three in qualifying. She happened to be running next to Gary Densham on that pass, and the two will meet again first thing tomorrow.How can the Make A Wish Foundation afford to sponsor anyone, let alone one of Don Schumacher’s Funny Cars, when it’s a charitable organization? They don’t. The team turned the car into a Make A Wish billboard to build interest in the worthy cause. So donate a few bucks, will you?
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In Pro Stock, Jimmy Alund (right) is taking over for Greg Anderson, who is missing the first part of the season due to a heart condition. Line's Summit Camaro qualified third with 6.514 while Alund, in his first race in the car, is tenth on the ladder with 6.54. Line will meet Matt Hartford and Alund will face Shane Gray in first round action tomorrow.
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Last season Vincent Nobile won three NHRA event races while racing a Mopar under the Allen Johnson umbrella, but this year he changed over to KB Racing and a new Chevrolet Camaro. He is now teammates with Jason Line and Greg Anderson/Jimmy Alund. The new team fits him well as he put his Camaro on top of the Pro Stock field, ahead of his teammates. Privateer Paul Pittman was left on the outside looking in, as his 6.676 at 208 was just off the bump spot in Pro Stock. He’s the only racer that didn’t make the field.
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And here's the final qualifying sheets for the 2014 Circle K Winternationals. Check back here tomorrow for all the action from eliminations.
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Words by NHRA Communications
The NHRA’s season-opening Circle K Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona is finally upon us, as we bring you same day coverage and photo galleries from the long-awaited kickoff to the 2014 campaign.
John Force raced to a national record time of 3.966 seconds at 324.12 mph in his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to lead Funny Car qualifying at the season-opening Circle K NHRA Winternationals Friday at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) also were qualifying leaders at the season-opening NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event.
Image courtesy NHRA/National Dragster
Force, the defending Funny Car world champion, opened with a 3.983 second run in his first qualifying attempt and then powered to the national record 3.966 effort in the evening session. If the time holds through the end of the race weekend, Force will earn a 20-point bonus for setting the national record.
“Jimmy Prock (crew chief) has his stuff together,” said Force, who hasn’t held the national record in more than a decade. “I never thought it would run 96. That impressed me. I told ’em, check the clocks. When we saw Robert (Hight, teammate) run that 99, Jimmy knew it was there.”
Brown led Top Fuel qualifying with a 3.731 at 326.00 in his Matco Tools dragster, taking the top spot away from defending world champ Shawn Langdon, who qualified second with a 3.746 at 328.70 in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster.
“The track is phenomenal out there,” Brown said. “We just tried to make a run to get down the racetrack in the first run. The Matco team regrouped. We weren’t sure how far we could push it. They stepped up the power level and gave it more clutch. It spun just a little on the starting line but recovered and ran a great number.”
Johnson, the 2012 Pro Stock world champ, powered his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger to the qualifying lead, posting a leading time of 6.517 at 212.53. Johnson moved from fourth to first with his run in the second qualifying session.
“We missed [the setup] pretty horribly the first run and knew we had a little in the bank there if we could just get it through 2nd gear,” Johnson said. “Crew chief made the right decision, and the motor performed. We’d like to get in the .40s here; that would be a dream come true. But I don’t know if the weather will get any better tomorrow. If it gets just a tick better, you might see a 6.499 or something.”
Image courtesy NHRA/National Dragster
Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday’s eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m.
Friday’s results after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the 54th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, first of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday’s final eliminations.
