DRAGZINE’S Picks: The 2013 NHRA Champs

Last season, we took a crack at naming the professional champions of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, and when the smoke cleared at Pomona in November, we were 1-for-5 with our selections — right on the Mendoza line (for those unfamiliar with baseball terminology, that’s a batting average of .200). With the start to 2013 campaign just hours away, it’s once again time for the Dragzine staff to make its championship picks from Top Fuel to Pro Modified, and although we’d love to say there’s some scientific theory and mathematic calculations involved here, we’re just simply going with our gut. Without further ado, it’s time for us to climb out on a limb and name some names…

Pro Modified

It’s hard to bet against turbo tuner extraordinaire Steve Petty, and as long as he’s wearing the bright JEG’S yellow, he and his driver, reigning series champion Troy Coughlin, are our pick for the doorslammer crown.

Last year, Coughlin, didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, as he was right in the thick of the points chase all season long, but few saw his title run at the Big O Tires Nationals in Las Vegas coming, as he debuted a brand new R2B2 Race Cars-built Corvette and scored the title on the very last run of the year to overtake Mike Castellana by a mere three points. We smell a repeat.

Pro Stock Motorcycle

The NHRA’s two-wheeled division was the center of one of the biggest controversies drag racing has seen in quite some time last year, invoked by what many believed to be an unfair advantage for the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidsons that aided them in winning 15 of the 16 races on the schedule. Following the loss of a few disgruntled racers and sponsors and amid plenty of negative publicity and heat from the fans and media, the NHRA announced in August that the playing field would be leveled in 2013.

Despite that fact, the Vance & Hines camp still boasts the best team in motorcycle drag racing, with sheer talent and the best equipment money can buy from top to bottom, including a pair of the best riders the class has ever seen, and even with parity in the rules, we still have our money on the “Hogs” in 2013. This one will capturing his fourth series championship.

Pro Stock

It took Allen Johnson and his father, Roy, 17 long years of toiling in the factory hot rod category to finally score their first series championship, and a bittersweet celebration it was. Along the way, Johnson drove the family-owned Mopar Dodge Avenger to seven wins in 11 final round appearances and took the title in pretty convincing fashion.

Johnson had been right there in the hunt in previous season, and the 2012 campaign opened the flood gates for he and the Mopar camp. With the addition of the incredibly talented Jeg Coughlin Jr. into the mix, we foresee a repeat for the blue and white gang from Tennessee.

Funny Car

Following an early-season crew chief swap that saw veteran Rahn Tobler move from Jack Beckman’s Valvoline flopper to Ron Capps’ NAPA team, the two Don Schumacher Racing teammates solidified themselves as the creme of the crop in Funny Car. The pair traded the points lead back and forth, and at Pomona, Beckman dashed the hopes of the long overdue Capps on raceday, earning his first professional title by a mere two points.

After 18 years in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and 16 in Funny Car, there’s no one more hungry or worthy to win a title than Capps, and this year, we think he’ll get it done. And once again, he’ll battle his buddy Beckman to get it.

Top Fuel

With John Force Racing’s foray into the class with daughter Brittany at the controls of the Castrol Edge dragster, along with the addition of formidable duo Larry Dixon and Lee Beard, the partnering of Bob Vandergriff and Clay Millican, and the addition of part-timers such as Leah Pruett and the Dote Racing team, Top Fuel is sure to be as hotly contested as its been in some time in 2013.

In November, Tony Schumacher and his Mike Green-led U.S. Army team came up less than the length of this sentence from their seventh Top Fuel championship, as Brandon Bernstein ended their bid for another epic come-from-behind title in the final round at Pomona.

When the deck has been stacked against the U.S. Army camp — even when crew chief Alan Johnson left in 2009 to form his own team — Schumacher has found a way to win and remains an unquestionable championship threat each season.

This one will once again come down to a three horse race between Schumacher and teammates Antron Brown and Spencer Massey, with title No. 8 in the hands of The Sarge.

And there you have it…our gamble on the five professional champions. What do you think? Do you agree with our choices?