A LOOK BACK AT THE 2010s
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Top Five Top Fuel drivers of the 2010s
At the start of the decade, Larry Dixon ruled, winning the 2010 championship, his third overall. He was perfect in 12 final rounds that year and led the standings from April through November. Tony Schumacher had a 32-race drought during the first three years, but he recorded his eighth and most recent series title in 2014 and won the U.S. Nationals a record 10th time in 2016. However, despite building on his distinction as the class’ winningest driver (84 trophies) and finishing second in the standings in 2018, he sat out the entire 2019 season without sponsorship. Three-time champion Larry Dixon, No. 2 of Top Fuel’s victory list, also had been plagued by low or no funding for the past several years, before a legal battle with the sanctioning body. So Top Fuel’s top two competitors, who waged many a fierce battle, yielded the spotlight to Antron Brown, who earned three championships in five seasons (2012, 2015, 2016). Just when Brown seemed unbeatable, along came Steve Torrence with his independent team and dominated. All the while, Doug Kalitta compiled 47 victories and was a threat all throughout the decade (which ended without an overabundance of consistent Top Fuel regulars on the tour).
Top 5 Top Fuel drivers of the 2010s:
Antron Brown
Larry Dixon
Tony Schumacher
Steve Torrence
Doug Kalitta
Who was the best Top Fuel Driver of the decade? Cast your vote in the ARP Question of the Week - #DragRacingnews - https://t.co/30MowEBvz1 pic.twitter.com/tzTtru8IAi
— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) December 31, 2019
Top Five Funny Car Drivers of the 2010s
John Force, already seemingly superhuman for rebounding from the catastrophic loss of Eric Medlen in March 2007 and his own terrible crash at Dallas that fall, proved once again in the 2010s that he could triumph over hardship. He had multiple setbacks but managed to win two championships (2010, 2013) and top the 150-victories plateau. Crew chief Austin Coil, who orchestrated 132 of Force’s 151 victories and all 16 of his Funny Car championships, quit in a protest over salary cuts Nov. 16, 2010. The two reconciled in 2016, with Coil volunteering to advise Force. Key crew chiefs paraded down Northfield Drive at Brownsburg, Ind., between the John Force Racing and rival Don Schumacher Racing headquarters. One prodigal son was Jimmy Prock, who has forged a formidable tandem with reigning champion Robert Hight and seen his son join the ranks of JFR drivers in a Top Fuel dragster.
Force endured a 1-2 punch in August 2013, learning he was losing both longtime major sponsors Ford and Castrol. He returned to an alignment with Chevrolet and struck a deal with Old World Industries and its Peak brand, among others. And he’ll try to extend his drag-racing championship record to 17 as a driver. (He has 21 as a team owner.) In August 2019, Force won at Seattle to earn his 150th victory, and he added Wally No. 151 at Indianapolis, in the sport’s showcase race, the U.S. Nationals.
But he’s doing it without Funny Car-driving daughters Ashley and Courtney alongside him. Ashley Force Hood stepped away in January 2011, and Courtney Force Rahal followed suit in January 2019.
Perhaps the most underestimated racer in the sport is Del Worsham, who won series championships in both Top Fuel (2011) and Funny Car (2015) in this decade. And he has become an accomplished tuner, helping JR Todd to the 2018 championship. Worsham, who also has fielded a family-owned dragster and Funny Car, has scored a hat trick: He can build and tune and drive – and he’s one of the very few who can do that today.
Robert Hight clinched his third overall Funny Car championship and second of the 2010s in November. In a decade that saw as many fierce as friendly encounters between John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing, the two megateam principles ruled the competition. DSR’s Matt Hagan became a champion in 2011 and repeated in 2014. DSR colleagues Jack Beckman and Ron Capps added a championship apiece to their resumes, Beckman in 2012 and Capps in 2016.
All five of them had the dubious distinction of making TV highlight reels on multiple occasions with spectacular explosions during qualifying and eliminations throughout the decade.
Top 5 Funny Car drivers of the 2010s:
John Force
Robert Hight
Del Worsham
Matt Hagan
Ron Capps
Who was the best Funny Car Driver of the decade? Cast your vote in the ARP Question of the Week - #DragRacingnews - https://t.co/Isn8Rcr0P3 pic.twitter.com/a9NGTEVJFA
— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) December 31, 2019
Top Five Double-Nitro drivers of 2010s
Del Worsham – The man can do it all.
Tommy Johnson Jr. – It took a minute to remember that the Make-A-Wish Funny Car driver began the decade in a Top Fuel entry throughout Europe for Andersen Racing and later in the decade for Rapisarda Autosport International, with gigs in Australia.
JR Todd – He took about a year to get the hang of handling a Funny Car, but the Top Fuel refugee shut up his naysayers to claim the 2018 title.
Blake Alexander – He’s back in a Funny Car, but he showed in Bob Vandergriff’s Top Fuel ride that he can tame any kind of a nitro beast.
Shawn Langdon – After a stint in Funny Car, this four-time national champion (Top Fuel 2013, Super Comp 2007 and 2008, and Jr. Dragster for age 14 category 1997) reportedly is headed back to Top Fuel.
Drivers/personalities we lost in the decade
This list is nowhere close to being complete, as the sport lost too many personalities, drivers, and longtime participants. But here is a sampling of those we miss:
Neal Parker and Mark Niver – Well-respected sportsman racers who lost their lives in successive months during national events on opposite coasts (Parker at Englishtown, N.J., Niver at Seattle)
Mark Lyle, Official Starter (March 2016)
Junior Pippin, Pro Stock Motorcycle Owner/Racer (2017)
Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen, Funny Car legend and pioneer of the sport (2018)
Dick LaHaie, Maybe the most successful champion-turned-tuner (won the 1987 Top Fuel championship, then tuned both Scott Kalitta and Larry Dixon to back-to-back titles) (2018)
Bill Doner, Illustrious promoter (2019)
Who was the best Pro Stock Driver of the decade? Cast your vote in the ARP Question of the Week - #DragRacingnews - https://t.co/z6i8KWPvla pic.twitter.com/AecbCHysKJ
— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) December 31, 2019
Influential Victories of the Decade
Again, this list is not definitive of the decade. It simply is a sampling of key victories.
John Force’s 150th victory August 2019 at Seattle – Hit a milestone for the 16-time champion
Billy Torrence’s victory October 2019 at Dallas – Put him in a legitimate position to win a Top Fuel championship despite racing a limited regular-season schedule and put the NHRA in an uncomfortable position, prompting it to consider tweaks to the Countdown format
Steve Torrence’s victory November 2018 at Pomona – Completed the Top Fuel driver’s unprecedented sweep of all six Countdown to the Championship races
Brittany Force’s victory November 2017 at Pomona – Underscored her championship that made her the first woman since Shirley Muldowney in 1982 (in 35 years) to earn a Top Fuel championship
Clay Millican’s victory June 2017 at Bristol – Broke the six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion’s long NHRA winless streak, in his home state, on a Fathers Day he didn’t want to celebrate because of the recent loss of his son Dalton in a motorcycle accident
Terry McMillen’s victory September 2018 at Indianapolis – Gave McMillen his second overall Top Fuel victory but nevertheless was monumental and sentimental for everyone who cheers for a popular, hard-working underdog to shine on the sport’s biggest stage
Tanner Gray’s April 2, 2017 victory at Las Vegas – Made the Pro Stock wunderkind the sport’s youngest race winner – a year before he became the sport’s youngest champion (after which he bolted drag racing, complaining that the NHRA won’t promote him and the Pro Stock class properly, and returned to circle-track racing in NASCAR’s K&N East Series)
Surprises of the Decade
Larry Dixon suing the NHRA – Three-time Top Fuel champion files antitrust lawsuit against the NHRA in Indiana April 2019
Tony Schumacher sidelined entire 2019 season – After a high-profile 19 years with U.S. Army as his marketing partner, the eight-time Top Fuel champion missed all 24 races in 2019
Billy Torrence finishing fifth in 2019 – The Top Fuel part-timer proved it’s possible to sit out a handful of regular-season races, qualify for the Countdown to the Championship, and seriously contend for the series crown
Champions Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and “King of Speed” Kenny Bernstein drop out of the sport – The renowned double-nitro-class drivers/team owners, facing rising costs and dwindling sponsorship prospects, leave the NHRA – Prudhomme in early January 2010, Bernstein at the close of the 2011 schedule. It was ironic because they were the two who capitalized on big-time corporate deals to underwrite the costs of race-team operations that defines today’s environment.
Feats of the Decade
The Vance & Hines team was the cream of the Pro Stock Motorcycle crop in the 2010s, as Eddie Krawiec scored three of his four titles in the decade (2011, 2012, 2017) and Andrew Hines three of his six (2014, 2015, 2019). That made 13 championships 23 seasons for the exclusive Harley-Davidson operation headquartered at Brownsburg, Ind.
Erica Enders, who also competed in Pro Modified and several sportsman categories, became a three-time Pro Stock champion in a decade that crowned seven different titlists in the 2010s. She also joined Top Fuel’s Shirley Muldowney and Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Angelle Sampey as the third female with three championships. Elite Performance team owner Richard Freeman declared about Enders, “She’s probably the best driver to ever step foot in a Pro Stock car. And then the guy, in my opinion, that’s right there with her is Jeg. He’s as good as it comes.” Enders and Coughlin were 1-2 in the final Pro Stock standings in 2019.
Top Fuel tuning ace Alan Johnson was a seasoned winner when the decade dawned. He had registered eight series championships - three with Gary Scelzi (1997, 1998, 2000) and five straight with Tony Schumacher (2004-2008). He blazed on in the 2010s. He dominated with Larry Dixon (2010), Del Worsham (2011), Shawn Langdon (2013), and Brittany Force (2017) for a total of 12 titles as a team owner and/or crew chief.
Who was the best Pro Stock Bike Driver of the decade? Cast your vote in the ARP Question of the Week - #DragRacingnews - https://t.co/H4GGLq2qXS pic.twitter.com/sp7QX1012e
— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) December 31, 2019