Network
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
And here's the final qualifying sheets for the 2014 Circle K Winternationals. Check back here tomorrow for all the action from eliminations.
