Capps and Brown Leading Full Throttle Series
Ron Capps and Antron Brown seem to be streaks ahead of the pack at this relatively early stage in the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Racing Series. Both drivers have dominated their respective fields during the first two events of the season and have also started to build a rather impressive points lead in the Full Throttle standings.
Ron Capps may have endured a rather dismal 2008 season, but he managed to catch up somewhat at the end. This year he seems to have picked up where he left off. His explosion into the limelight this year started when he won the Funny Car season opener at Pomona in California. His most recent victory took place at the Firebird International Raceway on Sunday when he captured his second straight Funny Car title in the young campaign by beating Robert Hight and Del Worsham in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist Nationals. Not only did he win, but he managed to gain an impressive 97 point lead over fellow competitors. Commenting on his most recent victories, Capps told reporters: “I’m living a dream right now.” He also commented on his recent experiences behind the wheel, saying: “It’s like a really good cook learning how to cook again completely differently. The car is just so different to run, to feel, and it puts me in the trunk at half track. It’s so much fun to drive and when the win light comes on, it’s even better.” No doubt fans can expect to see more from Capps in upcoming races.
Brown began his 2009 Top Fuel season with a No.1 qualifier and a runner-up finish during the Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals held at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. He followed it up with his most recent performance in Phoenix which saw him take the lead over two-time event winner Brandon Bernstein to take the checkered flag. The win also boosted him to the lead in the Top Fuel standings. Speaking about his victory, Brown said: “This just shows how strong our team really is here at Mike Ashley Racing. With all the adversity we dealt with this off season, this is just an awesome feeling.” Brown and Capps were joined by Jeg Coughlin who won in Pro Stock at the recent 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Racing Series event.
Hot Rod Heritage Series Gets Makeover
The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series schedule has received a major makeover. Two brand new venues have been added to the series and an extra event promises to provide fans with plenty of great excitement. These are just two of the highlights that are bound to make the 2009 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series a massive success.
The exciting NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series was developed by the NHRA in 2007 as part of efforts to preserve the NHRA’s rich racing history and tradition. It also provided drivers with a penchant for nostalgia drag racing with a new opportunity to test their golden oldies against other antique vehicles. While it is still relatively new, it seems that it continues to grow steadily in popularity. The 2009 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series will now feature as many as eight points-earning events as well as four non-points affiliate events. By the end of the year as many as fourteen points champions will be crowned – one in each category. The prize for this massive accomplishment will be a cash award, a gold Wally trophy and a champion’s jacket and hat. The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series is certainly worth participating in and you can be sure that the competition will be stiffer than ever in 2009.
Peter Clifford, who acts as the NHRA executive vice president as well as the general manager, said: “We are looking forward to another exciting season of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series. We have made an adjustment to our class structure this year and added two new venues. These changes should increase the popularity of a series that was well-received by fans, competitors and track operators alike in its inaugural season.” Fans can look forward to the season kicking off on March 7-9 at the track in Bakersfield, California. From there the series will travel to, among other places, the Firebird Raceway in Boise (Idaho), the Auto Club Dragway in Fontana (California) and The Strip at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway before the series concludes back where it started with the California Hot Rod Reunion on October 16-18. Make sure that you don’t miss out on this year’s Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series!
NHRA Champions Crowned
A number of NHRA POWERade Series world champions were crowned at the official awards ceremony at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City in California earlier this week. The most notable winner was Tony Schumacher who enjoyed his fifth consecutive trip to the stage to pick up his championship trophy.
Tony Schumacher has certainly become the guy to beat when it comes to the NHRA Top Fuel world championship. In accepting his fifth consecutive Top Fuel championship trophy, he became the first Top Fuel driver in the history of the NHRA to enjoy five consecutive wins. Schumacher has six titles overall and managed to pilot his Alan-Johnson-tuned U.S. Army dragster to 15 victories during the course of the season – another record! His unprecedented skill behind the wheel, good team and great vehicles all combined to ensure that Schumacher dominated the 7,000 horsepower category from beginning to end. Schumacher also picked up a check for $500,000, which was presented by the NHRA and POWERade, when he received his newest trophy.
But Schumacher wasn’t the only person at the ceremony to receive an award – Cruz Pedregon, Eddie Krawiec and Jeg Coughlin were also at the ceremony on Monday, November 17, to pick up their prizes. Cruz Pedregon was there to pick up his second Funny Car series crown. He last received the honor in 1992 and since seemed to have always run out of luck during the course of the season. This year he managed to take his Rahn Tobler-tuned Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara to the head of the pack in the final three races of the season, which ultimately saw him taking home the winner’s trophy. He also received $500,000 from NHRA and POWERade.
Coughlin was at the ceremony to receive the Pro Stock World Championship title. Coughlin is also not a newcomer to the stage, as this was his second consecutive win and his fourth win overall. His Jegs.com Chevy Cobalt enjoyed a critical win in Las Vegas that went a long way to giving him the title. He received a check of $250,000 from NHRA and POWERade. Krawiec was the NHRA POWERade Series Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion of 2008. It seems that fortune favored Krawiece and his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley Davidson this year as he became the second driver in the history of the NHRA to win a series title without actually winning a race during the season. He was gifted $75,000 from NHRA and POWERade.
Mike Neff was given the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future award, while the U.S. Army Top Fuel team, the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang Funny Car team, the ACDelco Chevy Cobalt Pro Stock team and the Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Prot Stock Motorcycle team all got the NHRA Full Throttle Pit Crew Challenge season award. Chevrolet accepted the NHRA Manufacturers Cup for their seventeenth time while Don Schumacher, Cruz Pedregon and Victor Cagnazzi were given NHRA Pro Owner’s Cups. The late Scott Kalitta was also given a video tribute.
Pedregon Wins Funny Car Title For Second Time
After a season of exciting, nail-biting Funny Car racing, Cruz Pedregon has emerged as this year’s winner. This is the second time he has won the NHRA Funny Car championship and it is the first time in 16 years that he has been able to enjoy such a victory. His championship victory was sealed on Sunday when he took home the Southern Californian Auto Club NHRA Finals trophy.
It has been a long and eventful season for Pedregon. First he won his first-round meeting with Jerry Toliver. Things then went on to look even better for him when Tim Wilkerson, the driver who’d been leading all season long, fouled against John Force. Another top competitor, Robert Hight, lost to Tony Pedregon. Both losses meant that the drivers were now out the running for the title and so Cruz’s title hopes were secure. Pedregon then went on to win his third straight event in his Advance Auto Parts Toyota Solara. His victory over Ron Capps and other competitors in the NHRa Playoffs gave him his 26th career win. It was also the second time that he’d managed to win on his home track. Just moments after he found out that his brother had beaten the last competitor to pose a threat to his overall victory, Cruz commented: “I’m stunned. It’s awesome Tony got that win right there because I’m standing here thinking of my dad (Frank) and that I hope he’s proud of his sons. I was eighteen when he died and Tony was sixteen and now we each have two world championships. We’ve come a long way for a couple of Hispanic kids from Chino.”
Meanwhile Eddie Krawiece, who was competing in Pro Stock Motorcycle, took home his first POWERade Series crown. Amazingly enough he managed to do so without winning one race during the season. He is now one of only two drivers in the history of the NHRA to win a season title without earning an actual individual race victory, showing just how advantageous consistent good placements can be in the long-run when it comes to competing in a championship series.
JEGS NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals
The past weekend in Columbus, Ohio, was a very exciting one for auto racing enthusiasts. Eight champions were crowned in the various Lucas Oil sportsman categories following the outcome of the highly successful fourth annual JEGS NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals on the weekend of September 20-21, 2008.
The SPORTSnationals were held at the National Trail Raceway where more than 500 different competitors took part in a variety of action-packed events. In the end there were a lot of thrills and spills and the best of the best emerged to claim their trophies. Robert Baily of Wabash, Indiana, won the Comp Eliminator title and Jeff Taylor managed to lay claim to the Northern SPORTSnationals Super Stock title for a second time. Female driver Katie Sepanek from Moosic, Pennsylvania, became one of the few women to have won an NHRA national event when she was given the Stock Eliminator title ahead of fellow competitor and former champion Kevin Helms. Helms only just missed his chance to recapture the JEGS Crown by loosing to Sepanek. He won the JEGS Cajun SPORTSnationals in Bella Rose last April and has to win at least two of the three JEGS SPORTSnationals to capture the limited edition JEGS trophy. He still has one more chance at the crown, however, since the third JEGS NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals is set to take place in Fontana, California, from October 3-5, 2008.
Other racers who managed to go home with a trophy were Super Comp winner Don Trasin (Pickerington, Ohio), Super Gas winner Gary Linkhorn (Cumberland, Ohio), Don Moyer (Pickerington, Ohio) who won the Super Street trophy, Ronnie Davis (Suwanee, Georgia) who took the Top Sportsman award and Bill Webb (Centerburg, Ohio) who managed to go home with the trophy for Top Dragster. The Coughlin family also enjoyed a good weekend, with John Coughlin getting the best finish in a quarterfinal finish in Super Stock. Mike and Troy Jr Coughlin each won their opening races but were unable to make it past round two of eliminations. After an action-packed weekend of fantastic racing, fans and drivers alike will no doubt be looking forward to the final instalment in the JEGS NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals this year. So make sure you don’t miss out by making your plans for the October SPORTSnationals now.
Tony Schumacher Takes Another Victory
It would seem that the name Schumacher is synonymous with speed and success. Certainly there is every indication that Tony Schumacher is destined to make it to the top of his field. The American drag racer has dominated the NHRA Top Fuel class for the past four years and it seems this year will be no different.
When Tony Schumacher thrashed his opponents at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, he continued to uphold his already well established reputation as a top NHRA driver. The drag racer is now the sixth driver in the history of the sport of drag racing to manage to take the entire western swing of NHRA races consecutively, winning in Denver, Seattle and Sonoma. His latest win is his eighth NHRA victory this season. It was also his 49th career win, putting him just three wins short of Joe Amato’s all-time best of 52. Other drivers who have managed to ‘sweep the swing’ include Joe Amato, Cory McClenathan, Larry Dixon, John Force and Greg Anderson. Anderson was the last person to do so and that was back in 2004.
When the green light lit up, Schumacher had the best reaction time allowing him to storm to the other end in 3.886 seconds at an average speed of 307.93 mph. In doing so he blew his chief competitor, Hillary Will, out the way. Will did well but her run lasted 3.988 seconds and her average speed was 306.19 mph. The race was virtually decided right from the start. Hillary Will was the local favorite, having come from Eureka in California. But it seemed that Schumacher was just one step ahead of her. Commenting on his victory, Schumacher said: “It’s been a lot of fun. The last couple of races have just been outstanding.”
When Schumacher took his U.S. Army dragster to the quarterfinals, he not only clinched the No. 1 seed in Top Fuel, but earned himself the 20-point bonus that comes with that achievement. Schumacher was not the only driver to enjoy some success on the weekend. Robert Hight won Funny Car with a run of 4.163 at 296.50, defeating mentor Gary Densham. Dave Connolly managed to claim the Pro Stock trophy with a 6.628 at 207.69 win over Jeg Coughlin. Matt Guidera won his second season race in Pro Stock Motorcycle with a 7.054 at 185.74 over Andrew Hines. Fans of the drivers now look forward their next races with keen anticipation.
NHRA Decides to Shorten Runs For Safety’s Sake
When drag racing became more and more popular in the early 1950s and 60s, the National Hot Rod Association’s home track was Pomona Raceway in California. The track was built as a quarter-mile and the cars’ speeds were only nearing 200 mph so the logistics worked. But that was then, and this is now. Today cars reach speeds in excess of 325 mph, and officials now fear that the track hasn’t changed enough to accommodate these high speeds.
This fact was brought into sharp relief recently when the life of Scott Kalitta, a Palmetto Funny Car driver, was brought to a catastrophic end when his car launched into the barrier at the end of a run last month in New Jersey, causing the car to explode with the driver still trapped inside. There were likely more factors involved in the crash than simply the lack of space and increase in speed, but the tragic event was a stark reminder that something needed to be done about the problem. The accident took place in Englishtown on a track that was built in 1965 – one of many tracks that, like Pomona Raceway, have run out of space to expand the runoff area at the end of the quarter-mile in case of emergencies such as these. Since the runoffs cannot be expanded, something else needs to be done to ensure that these tracks continue to remain relatively safe places to participate in motor sports. With this in mind, the NHRA has made the decision to shorten the races for Top Fuel and Funny Cars to just 1000 feet instead of the full 1 320-foot quarter-mile that has been the standard up until now. Both events see the fastest cars on the track and the most risks taken, and shortening the track will no doubt see a lot of cars slowing down in order to stay on the track.
Although the NHRA has said that this is only a temporary solution to the problem, a lot of people in the auto racing industry are up in arms about it. They feel that speed is the name of the game and a good driver will just suck it in and do their best. They also fear that the NHRA’s decision will become permanent. However, the decision made by the NHRA is clearly not about slowing the races down – it’s about the long-term safety of the drivers involved in these races. As long as there is insufficient space for a car hurtling down a run at 325 mph to slow down safely, the risk of more accidents like Scott Kalitta’s is just too great. Tracks must be altered, races must be shortened or technology must improve – we will no doubt see interesting developments in all three of these facets of racing in the near future.
NHRA Releases Details for Full Throttle Drag Racing Series 2009
The NHRA recently released the details for the 2009 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. But it isn’t the 24 different events that have everyone talking – it’s the more than $1.3 million purse! The figure is higher than ever before and even beats estimates of what it might have risen to, so fans are excited and drivers are setting their minds on trying to place in next years fantastic NHRA drag racing series.
So exactly how is all that money going to be divided up? There are, after all, 24 different races on the calendar. Well, it starts with the Top Fuel and Funny Car national events which each have a purse of $50 000 (about 25% more than this year). The next biggest winners will be the Pro Stock drivers who stand to take $25 000 home, followed by Pro Stock Motorcyclists who could win $10 000. However even these figures are completely dwarfed by the most prestigious drag racing event in the world – the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. The year 2009 will see that 55th running of this massive race and winners of the top two nitro classes will each walk away with a check for a cool $100 000. The event’s Pro Stock winner will take $50 000, while the Pro Stock Motorcycle winner will be able to look forward to spending $20 000. Increases in prize money will also be made for semifinalists, second-round finishers and runner-ups in a number of the different races. The total purse increase for the Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes is $1 353 700. For many drivers this is the stuff dreams are made of.
The 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule takes place in the following order: NHRA Winternationals (Pomona), Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals (Phoenix), ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals (Gainesville), O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals (Houston), SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals (Las Vagas), Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals (Atlanta), Midwest Nationals (Madison), O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals (Bristol), O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals (Topeka), NHRA Route 66 Nationals (Chicago), NHRA SuperNationals (Englishtown), Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals (Norwalk), NHRA Winternationals (Pomona), Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals (Denver), Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals (Seattle), Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals (Sonoma), Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals (Brainerd), Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals (Reading), Mac Tools U.S. Nationals (Indianapolis), NHRA Nationals (Concord), O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals (Dallas), O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals (Memphis), Virginia NHRA Nationals (Richmond), ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals (Las Vegas), Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals (Pomona). The races will take place between Feb 5 and November 15, so racing fans have a whole lot of great racing to look forward to.
Bandimere Speedway to Host Mopar Mile-High Nationals This Weekend
Bandimere Speedway looks set for a fantastic weekend as it gets ready to host the 29th Annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals. The race has the longest-running NHRA sponsorship and is always a massive success. So as fans prepare to make their way to Morrison, Colorado, between July 11-13, event organizers are doing their utmost to ensure that the masses get what they pay for.
In 2007 Allen Johnson took the Pro Stock trophy while Jack Beckman took the Funny Car class title. Both drivers will be back in 2008 to defend their position at the head of the pack, but that isn’t going to be easy. A massive lineup of racers has already signed up for the event and of course many of them have already earned a reputation elsewhere. A race with this sort of legacy certainly doesn’t need to scrounge around for good drivers. The Mopar Mile-High Nationals has long been Mopar’s premier event – something no doubt made possible by the long and healthy partnership enjoyed by Bandimere Speedway and NHRA. Nevertheless the walk to fame hasn’t been too easy and this year will see two legendary people returning to the track after years of building the Mopar brand and creating its place in auto racing history – Don Garlits and Judy Lilly. Don Garlits, also known as “Big Daddy”, will be playing the role of Grand Marshal during the event, while Judy Lilly, also affectionately called “Miss Mighty Mopar”, will act as an Honorary Starter. Both are veteran drag racers with Garlits having been proclaimed the greatest drag racer of all time by the NHRA in 2001. Lilly is seen as being one of the forerunners of female involvement in the sport of drag racing and her role on the big weekend will be just as well deserved.
But why so much fuss over this year’s race? The year 2008 marks the 50th year that Mopar has been collaborating with Bandimere Speedway. Speaking for Bandimere Speedway, John Bandimere Jr. noted that they are thankful for the relationship enjoyed by the two entities over the past fifty years and that they were “proud to be the Home Track for Team Mopar”. The action will start with the Mopar Big Block party on July 10 from 18:30 on the streets of Golden, Colorado.
Hillary Will’s Definitive Win
While there may be hundreds of images of bleached blonde, busty woman splashed across the pages of auto magazines and calendars, there are not many women who actually drive at major auto racing events. It would seem that times are changing, however, with a handful of brilliant female drivers carving up local circuits and even leaving male counterparts choking on their exhaust fumes.
Sunday saw another landmark victory in the battle of the sexes at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas. Hillary Will became the 11th woman in NHRA history to take first place at a national event. Will whizzed around the circuit to take first place in Top Fuel at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals. The sensational win was the first in Will’s career and had her grinning, laughing and shaking hands. Hillary Will managed to beat the No. 1 qualifier Larry Dixon when she drove her dragster to a 4.744-second run at a top speed of 304.53 mph. In doing so she not only took first place, but she became the third female to win in the past four NHRA races. It would definitely seem that ladies are making headway in this predominantly male-dominated domain and you can be sure that the men are having a lot to say about it.
This was only Hillary Will’s 55th professional start and it was the first Top Fuel win for team owner Ken Black. It would seem that the win comes as a result of Will’s decision to simply enjoy her job instead of worrying about winning or loosing. Will admitted that she’s let the pressure get to her previously, but she had finally told herself that she was incredibly lucky to have the job she had. She also felt incredibly proud to have the support of her team who have never doubted her in the two and a half years she has been working with them, regardless of how much she may have doubted herself in that time. She considered herself to be the luckiest driver in the world and dedicated the win to her team. This was definitely a proud moment for both Will and her remarkable and supportive team.
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