TODD, HIGHT, A. JOHNSON, HINES WINNERS ON THE MOUNTAIN

J.R. Todd won in Top Fuel for the first time since 2008 Sunday at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals near Denver, joining Robert Hight (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock), and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) as Mello Yello Series professional winners.

Mile-High Nationals

In a battle of young guns, J.R. Todd scored his first victory in Top Fuel since 2008 (and his first driving for Kalitta Motorsports) when he drove around Brittany Force on Sunday afternoon at the Mopar Mile-High Nationals at the Bandimere Speedway, 3.87 to a 3.96, notching his seventh career win and denying the youngest Force sister of her first victory. In Funny Car, Robert Hight collected his fifth win of the season, defeating boss John Force, who smoked the tires, in the final round. Allen Johnson continued his domination on the mountain at his primary sponsors’ race, winning at Denver for the sixth time, driving from the No. 2 qualifying position to defeat teammate Jeg Coughlin in the final with a 6.93-second lap. And in Pro Stock Motorcycle, the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team racked up another win on the season, as Andrew Hines ousted Michael Ray in the final, 7.24 to a slowing 9.03.

Event Winners:

Top Fuel: J.R Todd
Funny Car: Robert Hight
Pro Stock: Allen Johnson
Pro Stock Motorcycle: Andrew Hines
Super Stock: Jackie Alley
Stock: Brenda Grubbs
Super Comp: Jeremy Demers
Super Gas: James Kunkel
Super Street: Brian Percivel
Top Sportsman: Ryan Julius
Top Dragster: Brandon Rhodes

IHRA Summer Nationals

Michigan native Shawn Bowen led the charge in the IHRA’s triumphant return to the Cordova Dragway Park over the weekend, defeating Jason Rupert in a spectacular Nitro Funny Car finale, 5.84 to a quicker-but-losing 5.82, while Dean Goforth won an IHRA event for the first time since 2009 by downing John DeFlorian by a 6.35 to 6.42 count. Kat Moller notched her first career IHRA victory in the Jet Dragster class with a 274 MPH blast in the final, while Mark Cox (Nitro Bike) and Troy Martin (Fuel Altered) also collected wins at the longtime IHRA track in Illinois.

Event Winners:

Nitro Funny Car: Shawn Bowen
Pro Stock: Dean Goforth
Nitro Bike: Mark Cox
Fuel Altered: Troy Martin
Jet Dragster: Kat Moller
Top Dragster: Anthony Layne
Top Sportsman: Curt Fredrich
Super Stock: Dean Mesenbring
Stock: Aaron Allison
Quick Rod: Mike Eggleston
Super Rod: Brian Folk
Hot Rod: Marc Erickson

Radial Revenge Tour

The Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park put up the big bucks to bring all of the baddest small tire racers in the nation to Oklahoma over the weekend, and thanks to some prime weather conditions, it became a history-making affair. DeWayne Mills cranked off the quickest radial tire pass in history at 4.08-seconds in his twin-turbo Camaro, parlaying it into a victory on race day when he downed Keith Berry in the Radial versus The World finale. In x275, Todd Moyer and Tyler Stubbe posted the quickest side-by-side race the class has ever seen in the state of Oklahoma, with Moyer taking it on a holeshot, 4.62 to 4.61. In the MX235 class, Ray Parsons notched low elapsed time of eliminations at 5.10 to oust Justin Taylor’s 5.17 in the final round.

Event Winners:

Radial vs The World: DeWayne Mills
X275: Todd Moyer
X275 Second Chance: Joe Johnson
MX235: Ray Parsons
28 vs 275: Clay Selig
6.0 Index: Tye Thomas
7.0 Index: John Engelman

NHRA Division 7

Mike Maggio ripped off a stellar 5.77 to cap the West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod series portion of the NHRA Pacific Division Lucas Oil Series event at the Sonoma Raceway in California, defeating Scott Oksas, who was right there with a 5.92 of his own. In the NHRA sportsman categories, Brian Hyerstay went .004 on the tree in the Competition Eliminator finale in his G/Dragster, holding off the quicker Mike DePalma for the win. In Super Stock, Jimmy DeFrank went .002 on the tree to send Jody Lang packing, and in Stock, Steve Wann pulled the trigger just .012-seconds too quick, handing the win over to Kyle Rizzoli.

Event Winners:

Competition Eliminator: Brian Hyerstay
Super Stock: Jimmy DeFrank
Stock: Kyle Rizzoli
Super Comp: Val Torres
Super Gas: Marko Perivolaris
Super Street: Allen Macham
Top Dragster: Mike MacBriar
Top Sportsman: Jeffrey Gillette
Sportsman Motorcycle: Brian Jennings
West Coast Outlaw Pro Mods: Mike Maggio

NHRA Division 3

West coast runner Chris Demke collected his first Division 3 Lucas Oil Series victory Sunday at the National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio, defeating Dave Hirata in the Top Alcohol Dragster finale, 5.35 to a 5.37. He joined division regular Andy Bohl, who downed Chris Foster in the final round of Top Alcohol Funny Car with a 5.70. Chuck Haubiel took Competition Eliminator honors, keeping his nose out in front of the quicker-leaving Brian Browell to take the 8.21-second victory.

Event Winners:

Top Alcohol Dragster: Chris Demke
Top Alcohol Funny Car: Chris Foster
Competition Eliminator: Chuck Haubiel
Super Stock: Larry Hodge
Stock: Randy Wilkes
Super Comp: Glen Ginn
Super Gas: Cameron Manuel
Super Street: Dan Funk
Top Dragster: B.J. Sexton
Top Sportsman: Scott Wasko
Top Fuel Harley: Tommy Grimes
Pro Fuel Harley: Johnny Vickers
Pro Gas Harley: Marc Ingerson
Street Pro Harley: Charley Douglass
Hot Street Harley: Troy Young
Screamin’ Eagle Performance Harley: Troy Young
Draggin’ Bagger: David Cartwright
Junior Dragster: Joseph Bay Jr.

NHRA Division 1

Rounding out a busy weekend of action on the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series trail, the NHRA’s Northeast division rolled into the New England Dragway in New Hampshire for their fourth event on the season calendar, where Jackie Fricke scored her second regional win in a row in Top Alcohol Dragster, downing Rich McPhillips in the final, 5.70 to 5.77. Mickey Ferro rolled to a 5.59 in the final of Top Alcohol Funny Car to emerge victorious over Paul Gill, and Frank Aragona took top honors in Competition Eliminator in an uncontested final round when Steven Szupka was unable to make the call.

Event Winners:

Top Alcohol Dragster: Jackie Fricke
Top Alcohol Funny Car: Mickey Ferro
Competition Eliminator: Frank Aragona
Super Stock: Don Belles
Stock: Donald Pires
Super Comp: Jason Kenny
Super Gas: Mike Sawyer
Super Street: Michael Sawyer
Top Dragster: Kenneth Moses
Top Sportsman: Frederick Clark
Pro Stock Snowmobile: Tiina Duncanson