NHRA Teams Flex Muscles, On Track And Off, At Englishtown

The nitro classes wound up with teammates racing teammates for the trophies Sunday at the National Hot Rod Association’s Toyota Summernationals.
 
Meanwhile, the Pro Stock classes featured a veteran winner who’s enjoying a banner year and one young racer who’s performing like a veteran winner and stepping up his game.
 
The Wally statues went to Shawn Langdon (Top  Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock), and Michael Ray (Pro Stock Motorcycle).
 
ALL AL-ANABI – In an all-Al-Anabi/Toyota Racing final round in Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon defeated Khalid al Balooshi to record his second straight victory and pass Tony Schumacher for the points lead as the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series moves to Tennessee’s Bristol Dragway in two weeks for the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals. With his 3.853-second, 316.38-mph pass against al Balooshi’s 3.869, 297.29, Langdon has had low elapsed time in the past seven elimination rounds, dating back to his Topeka victory. “It’s exciting. This is my first opportunity in the middle of the season to be fighting for the point lead,” Langdon said. “I am definitely counting every point.”  
 
TOUGH TEAMMATES – Magneti-Marelli/Rocky Footwear Dodge driver Matt Hagan beat Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car mate Jack Beckman in the final round (4.112 seconds at 308-mph to Beckman’s 4.182, 303.98). But Hagan talked more about his Round 2 holeshot victory over another teammate, Johnny Gray. Hagan replaced Gray as the points leader and has a 44-point advantage. After that match-up, Hagan said, “That’s pressure right there. You’re racing the points leader. The guy just won three races, and he has the opportunity if he beats us to kind of run away with this thing.

“That was a huge round. It felt like someone handed me the ball and I got to slam-dunk it. It was an awesome feeling and ‘The crowd goes wild!’ kind of thing.” He gave credit to crew chief Dickie Venables, saying, “It shows you what kind of grit the guy’s got to go out there in the heat of the day and run those numbers, just lay ’em down like that. It’s phenomenal.” He also joked that he had threatened to lock Gray in a portable toilet. His warning to Gray was “I don’t know if you’ve ever spent a 100-degree day in a blue port-a-john. But you’re about ready to find out!” Then said of Gray, “He’s good fun.” Hagan qualified No. 1 and set low elapsed time and top speed of the event.

 
POWERFUL FORCE HIMSELF – All weekend long, Pro Stock leader Mike Edwards was keeping track of the wicked weather near his Coweta, Okla., hometown, rattled by reports of a tornado Friday one half-mile from his house and race shop. But Edwards continued to be a formidable force on the quarter-mile in his new I Am Second-Interstate Batteries-Penhall-K&N Chevy Camaro. He became Pro Stock’s first three-time winner this year and extended his lead in the standings to 152 points over No. 2 Jeg Coughlin. Edwards has qualified No. 1 at eight of the season’s nine races, recorded the best elapsed time of the meet at all nine, and run top speed of the event seven times.

“The Lord, He’s blessing us and showing us lots of favor,” Edwards said, adding he’s “still pinching myself” about how well he and the car have gotten in synch so quickly. “This is the greatest start I’ve ever had since I’ve been racing,” Edwards said. His final-round victim Sunday was current series champion Allen Johnson (6.589, 210.21 to 6.641, 209.95). “When you can get past Jason Line in the final four and then Allen in the final — those are two great champions and competitors — you have earned that NHRA Wally,” Edwards said. “The whole weekend was phenomenal.”

 RAY HALTS RUNAWAY ARANA – Buell rider Michael Ray snapped Hector Arana Jr.’s three-race victory streak with his Pro Stock Motorcycle victory over finalist Hector Arana Sr.  However, the young Lucas Oil Buell rider continues to lead the standings — by 151 points ahead of Ray’s teammate, Scotty Pollacheck — as the bike class’ next appearance will be June 20-23 at the  Auto-Plus New England Nationals at Epping, N.H’s New England Dragway. The Sovereign-Star Racing rider won on a holeshot, using an .008-second reaction time to a .043-second light to beat the patriarch of the three-man Arana team with a 6.954-second elapsed time at 193.49 mph to Arana’s quicker 6.952-second elapsed time at 191.02 mph.

Ray is making a habit out of upsetting the status quo after interrupting the Vance & Hines streak last September at Dallas. This Englishtown coup marked his second career victory. “Our performance is a testament to the hard work [team owner George Bryce, crew chief Ken Johnson, and the crew] put in over the past 24 months, building this team [and] to how we’re going to run in the summer months and continue to improve . . . when it does count for the Countdown,” Ray said.
 
AND JUST BEFORE FATHERS DAY . . . – The one who really blemished Hector Arana Jr.’s unbeaten record was his own father, in Sunday’s first round. The son had an atypical reaction time of .133 seconds and watched his dad pull away en route to his first final round of the year. “I was upset because we were not able to give him a fair race,” Arana Jr. said. “I had some issues off the starting line, and I was dead late. When I was working on my clutch, the lever was way off, and I put it back together. But I just have to get on it and work harder.” Of the string of victories that made him only the third Pro Stock Motorcycle rider to win the first three races of a season, Arana Jr. said, “It was fun, and I enjoyed it. He [his father] is on a roll now, and maybe we can keep it in the team.” Arana Jr. had been trying to join legendary Dave Schultz as the only rider to win the first four events.

 ‘HEY, OVER HERE — I’M NO. 1!’ – It always seems to happen to Steve Johnson. Every time the longtime underdog Pro Stock Motorcycle racer achieves something, calamity or controversy robs him of his earned moment on center stage. When he won at St. Louis, Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell’s death naturally overshadowed. Then when he won at Indianapolis, the NHRA awarded the victory first to Matt Smith, who went through the winners-circle celebration only to have his title handed back to Johnson after officials reviewed a videotape. This time the Suzuki rider qualified No. 1 as he took advantage of the new rules aimed at class parity and of the previously dominant Harley-Davidson team’s  struggle, as well as the weekend woes of the streaking Hector Arana Jr. team.

But what captured the media’s and fans’ fancy that night was a fight in the Pro Stock Motorcycle pits. Matt Smith and Hector Arana Sr. got in a loud disagreement about a motorcycle seat Arana had designed for racer Angie Smith, Matt Smith’s wife. Arana walked away twice, but Smith remained in the Arana pit and engaged in a shoving match with Arana crew chief Dan Gonzalez. Johnson dished on the details and laughed that “It sells tickets!” He said, “The Buell guys are over there, screaming at each other and taking all the publicity away from No. 1 because they’re fist-fighting! Love our sport — if you don’t like it, pop somebody in the mouth! I’m just happy it wasn’t me!”
 
ONE MAN DOWN – Hector Arana Sr. competed Sunday without crew chief Dan Gonzalez. The NHRA suspended Gonzalez for the remainder of the event following an altercation in the Arana pit Friday evening during a disagreement with rival Matt Smith. The NHRA said in a statement it “will review the situation early next week to determine if further action will be taken.”  
 
RIGHT DIRECTION – Clay Millican fed his hopes of earning his first NHRA Top Fuel victory by qualifying No. 1 for the first time since jumping from the International Hot Rod Association. The Drummonds, Tenn, native is a six-time IHRA champion who owns the most Top Fuel Ironman trophies. Millican, who drives for Bob Vandergriff Racing, was runner-up at Gainesville, Fla., in Race No. 3 of the season.

HAGAN SALUTES KALITTA – Funny Car winner Matt Hagan paid tribute after his victory to Scott Kalitta. This race marked five years since Kalitta, a two-time Top Fuel champion, was killed in a high-speed Funny Car qualifying accident here at Raceway Park (June 21, 2008). Said Hagan, “The late Scott Kalitta, God bless you. We’re thinking about you. He was a great guy, a great driver. This is in memory of him. There’s no way to ever replace the guy, but he’s in our hearts and prayers. Englishtown is going to be always one of those racetracks you remember the guy.”

 FIRST-TIMER – Mike Janis was the Pro Modified winner, edging Troy Coughlin. He earned his first NHRA Pro Mod trophy.