EVENT RESULTS EVENT NOTEBOOK POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL SPORTSMAN RESULTS

FRI. GALLERY SAT. GALLERY SUN GALLERY

 

SUNDAY
 

SALINAS MAKES TOP FUEL STATEMENT FOR SINGLE-CAR TEAMS WITH PHOENIX VICTORY - Nitro tuning wizard Alan Johnson left Mike Salinas and his Scrappers Racing NHRA Top Fuel operation at the end of last season to work with Salinas’ Top Fuel competitor Doug Kalitta. 

Never mind that Johnson also left Tony Schumacher and Steve Torrence, both of whom went on to win championships, and Brittany Force, who remains a perennial title contender. But many felt sorry for Salinas, figuring his dreams of a championship were dashed. 

Salinas didn’t feel that way. He said – and no one should take this the wrong way – “I'm glad he's over at Doug's now.” 

To give that context, Salinas said, “Alan’s smart – genius, man. We were like a sponge, trying to learn from him. And we did and it's good. It's really good. What's kind of cool is . . . he taught Torrence method, all this and that, and look what happened. He was with us for three or four years, and we learned a lot. We learned a lot. This guy's an icon in the sport – smart man, smart man. But I'm glad he's over at Doug's now so [that] now we can show the world what he taught all of us. [Current crew chief] Rob Flynn came in before [Johnson] exited, and they showed him their method of doing it. Now it will be nice to show the world what we know.” 

And that took just two races to go on full display in bold fashion. 

Salinas defeated Clay Millican in Sunday’s close side-by-side Top Fuel final at the Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park at Chandler, Ariz. 

Barely out of his dragster, clutching his fourth overall “Wally” trophy, Salinas said, “This is a statement right here. We’re here to stay. We’re going to have some fun this year.” 

During the offseason, Salinas promoted car chief Arron Cave to be Flynn’s assistant, as part of his Scrappers Racing initiative to develop both driving and mechanical talent in drag racing so the sport can survive and even flourish. 

And he said Sunday that he considers Flynn, who came to Scrappers after many years with Kalitta Motorsports, to be terribly underrated. And Salinas underscored that by saying, “This solidifies [it] . . . Don’t mess with him.” 

No one should be underestimating Salinas, either. The San Jose, Calif., businessman has advanced to four final rounds in the past seven events, dating back to last season’s Countdown to the Championship. 

Against Millican in Sunday’s final, No. 2 qualifier Salinas won with a 3.751-second elapsed time with a 318.24-mph speed on the 1,000-foot suburban-Phoenix course. It was his first triumph since last October’s event at Bristol, Tenn. 

Millican – hoping to win for the first time in 72 races, since the 2018 Chicago event – fell .012 of a second (or about six feet) short of his fourth victory as he powered the Parts Plus / Summit Racing Equipment Dragster to a 3.769, 322.73 performance. 

Salinas has no doubt a true single-car team can win a championship, even in the shark-infested Top Fuel pool. 

“Look at Steve Torrence. That answers your question. Yes, you can.” 

And that inspired him to stay in the sport, he said: “I almost didn't come back into the sport, but I saw Billy come in.” 

He was referring to Billy Torrence, Steve’s father and occasional Capco Contractors Dragster teammate, who as a part-timer qualified for the Countdown of the class’ top 10 drivers and ultimately prompted the sanctioning body to rewrite the playoff rules. 

Salinas said, “And I'm like, ‘You know what? We can do this again. Let's go try.’ We've been back ever since. But yeah, it’s very possible. It's going to get harder, but multi-car teams, it's going to get harder for them, too. We're all in the same boat.” 

Scrappers Racing is a genuine one-car team, and Salinas said, “It looks like we reinvented the sport, because now it’s a bunch of single-car teams. Same drivers –they now just own the teams. It's going to be good for the sport. 

“They just need to be careful,” he said of the new team owners (including Antron Brown, Buddy Hull, and Tripp Tatum in Top Fuel and Ron Capps in Funny Car). I think the part for the inner workings of what it takes to do this, they're going to learn some good lessons, because you got to get up every morning, no matter what you feel on that day, smile, go hustle, go make a buck. Some people aren't made for that. Every day you got to go hustle. Still to this day I get up at three o’clock in the morning. How do you build relationship? You’ve got to do what you got to do to make sure everything is right. Treat people right. Take care of people, and you'll be good. They're all going to learn if they like it or not now.”

That laser-focused discipline is what makes Salinas stand out and what has gotten him to the point he can build and manage a handful of non-racing enterprises, establish a scholarship program through his businesses, branch out into classes other than Top Fuel in his racing, help two and possibly three of his four daughters launch their own drag-racing careers, and sponsor several Jr. Dragster programs as a driver-development initiative. 

The self-motivated Salinas is quiet. But while others are blathering, he is thinking, he is planning, and he is doing. And when it comes to the Camping World Drag Racing Series, the results are showing. In just two events so far this season, he has qualified No. 3 and No. 2 and won a race. 

Sunday, after beating Jim Maroney (a part-time Arizona racer he said he “treated like a Torrence”), 2013 champion Shawn Langdon, current king of the class Steve Torrence, and finally Millican, Salinas joined Funny Car’s Robert Hight and Pro Stock’s Aaron Stanfield in the winners circle. Susan Wade

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - TOP FUELER SALINAS HAS BIG PLANS; PRO STOCKER GLENN INJURES FOOT WHILE NITRO TEAM OWNERS BROWN, CAPPS HURT WALLETS 

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - WILKERSON'S LATEST NHRA POWERBROKER, PRO STOCK TUG-O-WAR SHAPING UP AS BATTLE OF THE AGES FOR THE AGES? 

 

WILKERSON DRAG RACING KINGPIN – It’s impressive enough that longtime Funny Car owner-tuner-driver Tim Wilkerson scored a provisional No. 3 spot in the qualifying line-up Friday night at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, near Phoenix.

But probably more remarkable is that the one-man-band from Springfield, Ill., has turned into an elite-level drag-racing powerbroker. 

For years he has been considered a privateer, sticking to his own operation that has been funded for nearly a quarter-century primarily by IT consulting and solutions firm Levi, Ray & Shoup. 

But he has evolved into a kingpin in the nitro pro ranks, giving career boosts and tuning guidance to Top Fuel racers T.J. Zizzo, Keith Murt, and Buddy Hull and Funny Car racers Chad Green, Bobby Bode, and son Daniel Wilkerson.   

Wilkerson doesn’t think of it that way, though. He doesn’t puff himself up, equating himself to a Don Schumacher, who built an empire with multiple teams, 19 championships and 366 victories, a major machine shop that sells parts to not only racers but also across a diverse range of industries, and Hall of Fame honors. He isn’t tying to jockey for the best networking for data-sharing. 

He admits that his motive actually sort of plays to the lowest common denominator – making money, but he also takes some pride in knowing that his extra-effort of time investment and knowledge-imparting is helping the sport grow at a time it needs that the most. 

“I mean, basically I had some opportunity to help fund my car by helping other people. And at the same time, it’s doing just that – it’s growing the field. So it's just been a win-win, quite frankly,” Wilkerson said. 

He always has had the reputation of being a focused individual, fun-loving when its’s appropriate but laser-locked on whatever his task at hand might be. And he’s juggling these new obligations with aplomb. 

“I just kind of change my hat and go work on something else and come back,” he said of his method to compartmentalize everything. “I’ve got a great group of guys working on my car [directed by Richard Hartman], so I can be absent a little bit,” he said. 

“But I think it's going to come to a head here before long with it. Those guys can basically take care of themselves. So, my son, Daniel is running Chad Green’s car. They're parked right next to me every day. So that's probably going to be basically a two-car team for the whole year. I'm not physically over there every second, but I'm still helping Daniel try to get through all the ifs, ands, and buts,” Wilkerson said. 

He said he’s impressed with Daniel’s fearlessness in stepping up from driver to crew chief: “He's not afraid. We went from six races last year to 19 this year. That's a big jump. So we had to hire three more guys, so that's taken a transition a little bit. But I don't know, it's going to be exciting. Chad's excited about it. We kind of stole a guy out of Pro Mod and put him into Nitro Funny Car. But that's what needs to happen.” 

Wilkerson said he expects Green to compete in the Pro Mod class at “I think maybe just one or two [events]. But I asked him not to do both, because I don't think he drives well when he does both.

“They are separate. You drive that Pro Mod with one hand, and you drive that Funny Car like you’re wrestling a gorilla. So I just want him to focus on one car,” Wilkerson said. “I told him, ‘I don't care – if you want to just run Pro Mod and the Funny Car once or twice, that's fine.’ But he decided he'd rather run Funny Car the whole season and maybe the Pro Mod once or twice. So we'll see what he ends up doing.” 

Green’s son, Hunter, is planning to drive in the pro ranks a little this season, too. 

“We spent some time and got Hunter a Top Fuel license,” Wilkerson said, “but I think he's going to run Randy Myers’ A-Fuel car at three or four races to just again get more laps under his belt. That was my suggestion to him. So when we went to the test session in the spring, I think he made five or six runs in Randy's car and got better and better and better at it. He made a couple runs in our car [the one Buddy Hull has purchased], and he did well in our dragster.” 

Keith Murt is not in the picture anymore, but Wilkerson still thinks the world of him. 

“I called Keith before all this happened [before Hull bought the dragster and equipment] to discuss that with him, because I kind of felt like I owed him that, because he was the guy that initiated that Top Fuel car to begin with. He was good with all that. He said he's crazy busy and if he wants another Top Fuel car, ‘We will just go buy one.’ I said, ‘OK. Cool.’ He's a really good guy. Always hard to find a better guy than that.” 

Wilkerson continues to offer guidance to Funny Car newcomer Bobby Bode, who claimed the No. 7 spot in Friday’s tentative order here at Chandler, Ariz. 

“They need very little guidance anymore. They, like everybody, like even me, get off track a little bit, and they'll call me up and I'll go there and spend a half an hour over there, staring at their stuff and figure out what happened,” he said. “I just talk to Bobby. I make him the guy that makes all the calls [and not dad Bob, a seasoned racer, or anyone else]. That works out really well. That way I don't have five people asking me questions. 

“He understands if we make a decision, if we make a change, how it affects the car, and when he drives it he can see how it affects it. He does stuff on his own, and some of it works, and some of it doesn't and we'll discuss that later on. He's real good about it. He takes a good butt-chewing,” Wilkerson said with a laugh. 

“I’m always kidding with him about burning up his dad's money. We giggle about it and on we go,” he said. “We don’t need bad days, right? It doesn’t matter how wealthy you are with one of these cars. Everybody asks, ‘How much does it take to go racing?’ I say, ‘All of it, that’s how much.’” 

Most aren’t aware that Wilkerson helped T.J. Zizzo when he first wanted to race and that he pointed him in the right direction for his IHRA career start. 

“That was a car that I bought a long time ago from a really good guy in Memphis. He sold that car because of his business acquisitions and stuff, and I ended up buying it, and I thought I was buying it for my sponsor. After we got it going, he's like, ‘No, I don't want to do that.’ Zizzo found out about it, and I sold it to Zizzo and helped him get his license and all that. Then he went on and hired Dave Settles to help him when he was running IHRA. 

“Then he had [Rahn] Tobler [who currently tunes Austin Prock’s dragster] helping him the last couple years. I only helped him for a year or two,” Wilkerson said. “But it worked out good. Again, when you find people that are smart enough to listen and not complain and contradict everything you do, it works out pretty good.” 

TATUM GEARING UP – Tripp Tatum is one of the most serious racers in the Camping World Drag Racing Series. The Top Fuel driver, who’s among the wave of new team owners this season, always looks like the weight of the world is on his shoulders – either that or some tiny devil whispering to him that he absolutely must perform perfectly. 

And Tatum knows he could loosen up some more.

“Everybody says I need to smile more. I'm just focused. It is, I can't help it. It's just, I don't know. It's just focus. It's this focus,” he said. “All it is, it's just one of them things. Everybody tells me smile, smile, smile. I look like I'm mad, but I'm not.”

Instead, he called himself “very purposeful,” because driving a nitromethane-propelled, fire-belching 11,000-horsepower dragster is nothing to mess around with. Tatum said, “Well, you know, these things, they're serious. So for me, it's just that focal point. It's such a short deal, so you got to be on. No making up.”

Tatum wasn’t in last weekend’s 16-car mix at Pomona, Calif., but he reminded everyone Friday that he’s in the class with a career-best 3.684-second pass (at 310.55 mph) that was one of the few strong runs of the opening qualifying session. That gave him the provisional No. 2 starting position for what shapes up to be his 11th start in Top Fuel. His previous best elapsed time was 3.704-second effort in a first-round victory over Shawn Langdon at the Finals last November at Pomona.  

He tested at Phoenix earlier this month. He’s entered for next month’s Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., then will stay at home at Indianapolis for a while, getting his new race team operation in order mechanically and financially. He said he’s taking baby steps.

Tatum said he needs “to work on finding some [sponsorship] help and just try to go from there. The end goal would be to run this thing fulltime.”

He funds the team from his own pocket right now but said, “I'm not going to continue to do that forever, because before you know, it'll all be gone. I didn't want to have my hand out just talking about what I could do or maybes and ifs. Now it's reality. I actually have something that's marketable now.

“Car runs good. Looks pretty good. I mean, I finally got my name on it and my logo on the back of the trailer. I went to Vegas and Pomona with this trailer, and what you knew who it was. Got a good group of guys. So heavily going to start working on funding to run the car more,” Tatum said.

He broke into the Top Fuel ranks, after a stint in an A-fuel car, with a ride in Bobby and Dom Lagana’s Nitro Ninja Dragster. “I got my license in that car and then ran six races with them,” Tatum said.

Now he is his own boss.

“I was a paid driver before, as in I had to pay. Now that it's all my own stuff, there's a way different dynamic,” Tatum said. “There's a lot more things that are happening in your head. The subconscious is powerful. So it's a lot more on you, running, getting everybody together, keep the ship upright and pointed in a good direction. That takes a lot.”

But he said he’s grateful for all the support he receives from the Torrence/Capco Racing group.

“I moved from Maryland to Indy about five years ago. And Bobby and Dom, the Capco family, they've been instrumental. I mean, this whole thing is with their help. Very blessed to be associated with them. I mean, and Billy and Mama Kay [Torrence] have just been unbelievable. You know, Steve [Torrence], everybody, Natalie [Steve Torrence’s wife and a social-media specialist]. I mean, they're just great. And all the guys over there, every one of them has helped me in the pit in more ways than I can even tell.”

His car mimics those of Torrence Racing. “It's a Lucas chassis. But they put the entire thing together. It's almost identical. It's just doing a little, few things different. It's R&D, trying things, testing. So far it works pretty good.”

Tatum’s expectation, he said, is to “run probably a couple [of races] in the middle [of the season] and then kind of, depending on how everything's going with that this year, this fall will probably be heavy in the Countdown. I mean, it's my job to go out there and take out cars that are a threat to them [the Torrence team cars that will include Billy Torrence only occasionally in 2022]. I mean, that's what it is, do our best to do that.

“This class is so tough right now,” Tatum said. “It has a potential to be the most competitive year in a long time, that's for sure. I mean, a lot of good drivers, Austin [Prock] being back. I mean, I love it because it just makes everybody better. Then the kid’s sharp on the starting line, everybody else. I mean, this guy helps all the time, too.”

He said, “I concentrate on what's right in front of me and just take the step, and then hopefully that will turn into bigger and better things.” 

NITRO CLASSES STRUGGLE IN Q1 – Few Top Fuel drivers got to the finish line under full power Friday, but Doug Kalitta did it best, in a stunning 3.657 seconds at 329.58. That was the veteran Mac Tools Dragster driver’s career-best elapsed time.

He credited his new Alan Johnson / Brian Husen brain trust for the feat after exiting his car and said, “What can I say? That’s throwing it down.”

Tripp Tatum found the fast way down the Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park 1,000-foot course, too, to land the tentative No. 2 position.

Leah Pruett, displaying her colorful Sparkling Ice livery for the first time this year, ran alongside Kalitta and turned in an outstanding 3.703-second, 328.22-mph performance.

But that was the last of the noteworthy runs in the sport’s headliner class Friday, as most drivers experienced tire shake or tire smoke. A suspected glitch with the Leahy Device safety system on the Parts Plus Dragster prevented Clay Millican from even trying a pass. But everyone will have two more chances Saturday to improve. The pro qualifying sessions are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., local time.

Overnight the top half of the ladder includes No. 4 Todd Paton, No. 5 Austin Prock, No. 6 Antron Brown, No. 7 Doug Foley, and No. 8 Steve Torrence.

Pomona winner Robert Hight, who had a gratifying preseason test here at this venue a couple of weeks ago, led the Funny Car contingent Friday, using a 3.838-second run at 332.18 mph on his quest to erase frustrating 2021 memories. He said he felt “really good about going to Arizona. It’s hard not to. We had a great test session here just a couple weeks ago and last weekend with the win [at Pomona].”

Following Hight Friday in the provisional order were No. 2 John Force, whose 3.851-second E.T. was only slightly slower than his PRO Spring Training-leading 3.83-second result; No. 3 Tim Wilkerson, who also ran in the 3.85-second range; and No. 4 Matt Hagan, at 3.859. Chad Green was the only other Funny Car competitor to record a 3.85 for tentative No. 5. The rest of the top half of the field contains sixth-place Jim Campbell, seventh-place Bobby Bode, and eight-place Jeff Arend.

PRO STOCK SPARRING FIERCE FRIDAY – The spread between Nos. 1 and 12 in the tentative Pro Stock qualifying order Friday was .054 seconds. 

Erica Enders and her Elite Performance Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield had identical 6.540-second elapsed times. But Enders earned the provisional No. 1 position because her 210.44-mph speed trumped his 209.82. And current champion Greg Anderson was only one-thousandth of a second off their pace (at 6.541).

After those three who earned qualifying bonus points came top-half racers Deric Kramer, Kyle Koretsky, Bo Butner, and the seventh- and eighth-place drivers Dallas Glenn and Rodger Brogdon, who both registered 6.571-second passes. 

PASSEY RETURNS – Veteran Top Fuel driver Rob Passey is back at it for another season.

The last race the Salt Lake City, Utah, resident competed at was the fall race in 2021 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We've had Johnny West on board helping us out. And last year we went three or four races and finally the last qualifying session, the last run we put on the car, we finally found some gremlins and got (them) taken care of. And we're excited. 

“So, we really didn't change anything in the offseason. We just need to put some laps on it now. We feel like we can start putting the tune up on this thing and have it run. Johnny's got some other commitments coming down the road here, but we're going to run this race and he will be here helping us out.”

Following Phoenix, Passey said his team’s next race will be the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 1-3 in Vegas.

“We will run Phoenix, Vegas, and take a break,” Passey said. “We'll run Denver, Sonoma (Calif.), and then back to Vegas and possibly the World Finals in Pomona and it all kind of depends on a little bit of funding we can put together and how the car runs. I'm not afraid to go run the car. I just got to make sure I keep all the pieces in it and we get this thing running as consistently as I'm hoping we can. Then I don't mind dragging it out and running five or six events a year and having some fun with it.”

This is Passey’s third time competing in Phoenix, with his other appearances coming in 2002 and 2009. 

“You work on this thing it seems like all the time and we have shop nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays all through the year. And I'm just anxious to get out of the snow here a little bit and go where the warm is,” Passey said.

Passey is realistic about his approach to his Top Fuel program.

“I would like to be able to have a big sponsor and go out and do this a heck of a lot more on a lot grander scale,” he said. “But we've tried for many years to beat the bushes and gotten close on a couple of big deals over the years. Most of the time it's just some friends or some local guys around here help us out and I have had a partner in all of this in Eric Mattinson. And I'm going to try and make a little bit bigger push to get a few deals together. But, that's just a lot bigger pond to be swimming in and, I definitely would like to upgrade my program some to be a big touring car.

‘I don't really dream that big anymore, but I would like to be able to come out to the five or six (races) I go to and do it a little bit, and have a car that we can consistently chip away at it.” – Tracy Renck 

BATTLE OF THE AGES . . . FOR THE AGES – Arguably what might have saved the Pro Stock class is the infusion in the past two seasons of second-generation and just plain younger drivers. Rookie Camrie Caruso has helped lower the average age of the class’ drivers this year.

While that’s a huge godsend for Pro Stock, it turned out to be a misdirection play. The focus was on three-time winner Dallas Glenn (who took the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year Award) and the other fresh faces in the class: Troy Coughlin Jr., Cristian Cuadra, Fernando Cuadra Jr., Kyle Koretsky, Mason McGaha, Vincent Nobile, Robert River, and two-time Factory Stock Showdown champion Aaron Stanfield.

By season’s end, though, “The Kids” had fallen out of title contention, leaving veterans Greg Anderson and Erica Enders to duke it out for the series crown. So will this year be The Kids’ turn to outshine their older counterparts?

It’s too early to say, but the dynamics have shifted and produced some curious alliances. Most notably is the thawing of enmity between Anderson and Enders.

Last fall, Anderson said of Enders, “She’s right at the top, as good as they come.”

And after winning last weekend at Pomona, Enders repeated her praise of cooperation between Anderson’s KB Racing and her Richard Freeman-owned Elite Performance Motorsports: “Our toughest competitors out there, KB Racing, they have worked hand in hand with Elite Motorsports owner Richard Freeman to make the class what it is right now, to make it more affordable for people to come in.”    

Anderson and Enders spent much of their careers openly and subtly feuding with one another, but at the moment, they’re starting to become allies, at least when it comes to the “Experts vs. Novices Challenge” on the racetrack.

“The landscape has completely changed When I first started racing Pro Stock as a 19-year-old kid, it was me and a bunch of older gentlemen, and now it's completely flip-flopped from there,” Enders, 38, said. “Now there’s Greg Anderson and myself, and we’re taking on this class of kids – which I think is so cool, because Pro Stock has always been your factory-hot-rod, old-guys deal. And now we have all these kids interested in the class and, again, [it’s] more affordable because of what Richard Freeman and the KB Racing guys have done. Although Greg's a solid two decades older than me [he’s about to turn 61 March 14], I'm still considered in the same [age/status] class as him. That's an honor because of his success.”

She is a four-time Pro Stock champion. Anderson just pulled away last November for his fifth.

Enders won at Pomona last weekend and said that “to be in the class that we're in with Jeg Coughlin, Warren Johnson, Bob Glidden, myself, that have four-plus world championships, it's pretty awesome."

Enders said, "I think Pro Stock was a lot different 20 years ago when I first started, and I did get to work with Bob Glidden when I drove at Jim Cunningham's and then he ran the second car over there. He taught me all kinds of things that I didn't even know there were to learn. I'm so thankful for the relationship that I had with him, but it's definitely a different era. 

"I think that the mindset of the younger kids is a lot different than – I only speak for myself – than mine was coming in. I was so gracious and humbled to be there, to have the opportunity to race against legends and heroes of mine. I used to sit in a laundry basket on the living room floor, pretending like I was driving a Pro Stock car.”

Today’s Next Gen Pro Stock drivers have a different path to the elite level, and while that’s wonderful for them, it definitely is the less-laborious route.

"I don't know if they truly understand the opportunity at hand and what it takes to get here. There were long, long, really frustrating roads to get here. When you get to jump in state-of-the-art equipment and just run right at the top, you don't get to learn what it actually takes. I'm not being ugly. I don't want that to be twisted. I think it's great that they have that opportunity, but I feel like going through what I went through until I got here at Elite Motorsports definitely made me the person and the driver that I am today."

Anderson won the Finals at Pomona last November, clinched his fifth title, and completed a season that propelled him to the distinction of the class’ most successful driver with 99 victories. Afterwards he said, “Apparently I’m not too old. Don’t throw dirt on the grave just yet.”

No one is doing that to Anderson, but these young racers are fearless. Take Kyle Koretsky, for example. He is unintimidated by teammate and mentor Anderson – or any other competitor.

Intimidated by Anderson? “Nah, definitely not, because I know I got just as good as car as he does every time I line up against him or anybody. So nah. I want to crush everybody. Doesn't matter if you're on our team or not – we're here to do a job for Lucas [Oil], and they want to see wins."

At the same time, he doesn’t think he’s necessarily has surpassed Anderson or believes he can beat him regularly. “I think it's a 50-50. I mean, the guy taught me pretty much most of what I know racing. He tells me when [I] make a mistake how to fix it. And so to go against Greg, I mean, they just make me better. I mean, he wants to see me do good, and I want to see him do good. It's a big team, but I think it works out both ways. But going against my teammate, I want to crush him every time I line up against him."

Koretsky said he has no intention of hiding behind a “beginner” label – because he doesn’t think of himself as a newcomer: “I'm definitely not a rookie anymore in my eyes. They keep calling me a rookie, but I feel like that part of my career is over and gone with and now I got to come out here and do a real job and no more excuses.” So that maturity (along with his one victory and four runner-up finishes) belies the truth that Koretsky has competed in just 26 events before this weekend.

The buzz in this class is about the “kids” taking on the “veterans.” But to focus on that alone cuts out the “tweeners,” the Deric Kramers, Bo Butners, Matt Hartfords, and Val Smelands. They aren’t starry-eyed kids, to be sure, but neither are they grizzled old-timers.  

Hartford said, “Well, I just turned 50, so I'm not a young gun anymore. When I first started in Pro Stock, I was definitely one of the younger guys. And now I look around and I think, ‘You got Greg Anderson and Kenny Delco. God, I'm in the top five of the oldest guys out here now,’ which does not seem possible to me.

"So you got all these young 20-year-olds, and hell, I'm not even sure if Mason [McGaha] is 20 yet,” Hartford said. [For the record, Mason McGaha broke from the teenager ranks this past Dec. 7. So he’s 20 now.] But these young guns, they're hard to race against because their reaction times are phenomenal. They see the tree probably better than us older guys, and they're on their game. So I would not consider myself a young gun." 

However it all plays out, the competition is stiff. Enders said, “It'll be a dogfight. I'm super-excited that you're going to see 20-plus cars and all these races. It'll be a battle.”

Butner, the 2017 class champion, said, “Right now, you cannot pick a winner in Pro Stock. The field is so tight, and it's awesome. This is how it should be." 

BOBBY'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE - At first glance, Bobby Bode’s results at the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., last weekend would seem frustrating.

He qualified ninth with a 3.993-second run and lost in the first round to world champion driver J.R. Todd out of the Kalitta Motorsports stable.

Bode clocked a 4.039-second run at 290.94 mph and was upended by Todd’s 3.957-second lap at 325.22 mph.

Despite the early exit in Pomona, Bode saw plenty of positives come from his team at the first race of 2022.

“Yeah, I was so happy with how the entire race turned out,” said Bode, 19. “We ran a 3.99 out of the box. Then I shut it off a little early and it was probably going to run a 96 or 97, which would've qualified us in the top half if I would've stayed in it, but we were testing some new stuff and I didn't want to hurt any parts. In Q2, we had a fuel leak on the starting line, so we didn't get to make that run and then we sat out Q3. We only made one qualifying hit and it was a good one.”

Bode drives the car for his father Bob Bode.

Against Todd, Bobby said his Funny Car had some engine woes.

“We're still figuring out the fuel curve at the end of the track,” Bobby said. “So yeah, it was pretty lean at the end, so it hurt the heads and pushed the head gasket out. But I had a really good reaction time. I was .052 to his .069. So, I was pretty proud of that. He is one of the best in the business.”

Though Bobby was born and raised in Deer Park, Ill., this weekend is a home race for him in that he’s a sophomore business major at Arizona State University in nearby Tempe.

“Yeah, I mean, I guess it's a little bit more added pressure because I have two exams this week and I'm going to have a couple of my buddies come out from here (at ASU),” Bobby said. “They've never seen a race before. I have just shown them a lot of videos and stuff, so it'll be cool for them to actually experience it.”

The proximity of Bobby’s apartment, which is 15 minutes from the track, is a convenience he’s looking forward to.

“I actually went to go watch the testing that was out there two weeks ago,” he said. “I think I'm actually going to stay in my apartment here. I think I'm going to drive out there and drive back every night. So that'll be pretty cool because I've never been able to do that.”

Bobby said after the Phoenix race, his team plans to skip the Gatornationals, March 10-13 in Gainesville, Fla., and then return to action at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 1-3. at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"After Vegas, we are going to Houston (April 22-24),” Bobby said. “If we don't hurt any parts in Phoenix, we're going to actually leave the truck out here at one of our friend's places for about a month, and then take it straight to Vegas.” – Tracy Renck

CARUSO KEEPS IMPRESSING – Camrie Caruso’s 6.574-second elapsed time Friday at the Arizona Nationals was just a few ticks behind her consistent qualifying results of 6.563, 6.566, and 6.553 seconds in the Powerbuilt Tools Chevrolet Camaro last week at the Winternationals.

And at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, the 24-year-old rookie barely missed nailing down a top-half spot in the tentative order – by a mere three-thousandths of a second. (So did 20-year-old Mason McGaha, who had a matching E.T. And his dad, Chris McGaha, was right on their heels, only one-thousandth of a second slower, at 6.575.)

But this über-confident, straight-talking young driver from Denver, N.C. – who chased her own money to go racing and is slightly sassy as well as B2B-marketing-savvy – has two opportunities Saturday to move up through his buzz-saw of competition. 

“I was so excited to qualify at my first event and see this Powerbuilt Tools Chevrolet Camaro perform the way that it did,” said Caruso. “This is a complete team effort from Titan Racing Engines and Mike Smith with the engine program to crew chief Jim Yates to our crew guys getting the car ready at the track. We are learning every run and I am really working on being consistent with my routine.” 

Multiple testing sessions leading up to the Winternationals gave Caruso the necessary comfort level inside the cockpit, and she continued to improve with each pass. The third-generation racer said she’s benefiting from three straight weeks on the racetrack. 

“The best way to get better is to make passes in your race car, and this stretch to start the season has made me very comfortable,” Caruso, who has won at every level at which she has competed, said. “I got into a great groove in Pomona. And now that I have experienced a professional race day, I think we will be even better in Arizona. The Winternationals was so much fun.” 

A Jr. Dragster graduate, Caruso has moved up through the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and most recently drove in the Top Alcohol Dragster class. She also has raced in the Super Comp and Top Dragster classes – in both the PDRA and NHRA for three years. 

A SPARKLING ICE ‘CHEERS’ FOR PRUETT – Leah Pruett began her journey with newly formed Tony Stewart Racing last weekend with a No. 7 qualifying spot and a first-round exit – but she made it down the track on every run and had what she called “a healthy running engine combination with a reactive car and a team that gels together very well.” And she said she’d “take that 10 out of 10 times.” 

As she prepared for the first of three qualifying sessions at the Arizona Nationals, she said, “We are still sorting our power range and developing our baseline, and I am learning to race under different circumstances. I had a less-than-impressive start [at Pomona], very atypical of the consistent quick times I had in qualifying. I will be working on managing my happy throttle foot while we fine-tune our high HEMI horsepower performance.” 

Pruett’s dragster is decked out in the refreshing colors of faithful sponsor Sparkling Ice this weekend. The brand, which is part of the Talking Rain Beverage Company, also will partner with Pruett at the July 29-31 Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, near Seattle. Sparkling Ice will be an associate sponsor for all other events this year. Pruett has been a brand ambassador for the company since 2014, and it has been on board for all nine of her Top Fuel victories. 

Talking Rain CEO Chris Hall said, “Leah Pruett has carved a well-earned place at the very top of her sport, and Sparkling Ice is proud to be a longtime supporter. Her drive and determination are second to none, and we approach our business the same way, striving for excellence in all that we do.” 

Pruett has served as an ambassador for Sparkling Ice since 2014 and the brand has been a part of all nine of her Top Fuel victories. 

Her sponsors had something to toast Friday. In a session that saw nearly every driver spin or shake the tires, Pruett reeled off a 3.703-second run and clocked a 328.22-mph speed to stake herself to a third-place spot in the provisional order behind No. 1 Doug Kalitta and No. 2 Tripp Tatum, both of whom set career-best elapsed times. 

ASHLEY QUIET BUT DETERMINED – Ever since Justin Ashley entered the Top Fuel ranks, he has been articulate, low-key, professional, and diplomatic. He never has been boastful. And the only time he has raised his voice is to shout, “Yeah!” or “Yahoo!” to celebrate earning a Wally trophy.

During qualifying at the season-starting Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., Justin Ashley was the provisional No. 1 qualifier last Friday. And his retired-racer father Mike Ashley displayed more than enough passion for his son, quietly confident crew chief Mike Green, and the Phillips Connect / Toyota / Vita C Shot Dragster team. 

A pumped-up Mike Ashley said, “It takes a whole entire team. And we want that championship. We know that we’re up against the best in the world, but we expect to go out there and get it.” 

His voice, his demeanor, his statement of resolve – which came from an inner fountain of excitement rather than some core of aggression – just spilled over. It was, perhaps, the first salvo fired in what looks to be the tougher-than-tough Top Fuel grind this year – one Justin Ashley called “the deepest Top Fuel class in a decade.”        

For all of Mike Ashley’s heart-on-his-sleeve reaction, he was the calming influence for Justin Ashley as the Top Fuel racer prepared for a daunting day of eliminations. Justin Ashley ended up starting from the No. 2 spot in the order, his best qualifying result since his No. 2 start in 2020 at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas.

Whatever Mike Ashley said to his son was effective. Justin Ashley plowed through a lineup of worthy opponents (Jim Maroney, Antron Brown, Steve Torrence, and Austin Prock) to win last Sunday and grab the early points lead coming into this race.

Part of what bothered Justin Ashley, who’s recognized as an outstanding “leaver” at the starting line, was his performance on the Christmas Tree. After all, he said, “Now more than ever, reaction time is critical to the success of the team. I prioritized that importance going into Sunday [at Pomona].” 

But last weekend, he didn’t feel satisfied with his lights.

“I'm going to be honest – I wasn't too pleased with my reaction times going into Sunday,” the 27-year-old said. “It was something that was important. It was only important because I wanted to make sure that we gave our team the best opportunity to win. That's it. So we were just picking at it. I didn't want to stay still and not make any changes. I didn't think that was a good idea. So we adjusted some things in the car. We adjusted some of my pre-race routine, and I think it paid off and you see that [with the victory]. So that was a big part of it.”

He said his father is “always there to support me and keep me level-headed, because this sport's an emotional rollercoaster. And you do not want to ride that emotional rollercoaster, because it's not going to be good for you. It's not going to be good for your team. So to have him and have his advice really helps me stay calm and level-headed.

“These nitro cars are supposed to be unpredictable. These races aren't supposed to be that close, but for whatever reason they are. And what it means for me I always have to be on my A game. There's no room to let up. There's no room to let a round slip by,” Ashley said. “So I think we know that as a team and to be able to come out strong and leave here with the points lead feels pretty good.” 

It has been two years since Top Fuel driver Justin Ashley competed at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. 

“We have raced at the Arizona Nationals one time and run relatively well there,” Ashley said. “We made some good runs in testing in which we were primarily focused on our early numbers. That work paid off during the Winternationals when we had good 60-foot and 330-foot times. This class is so close that you generally have to have a quick car early to give yourselves an opportunity to win races.” 

Ashley also is recognized as one of the leaders when it comes to using the drag-racing platform for business. He said, “This business side of racing is unlike any other endeavor. I grew up watching my father race and build marketing relationships. I learned a lot from those experiences and value the importance of helping companies generate a return on investment. No matter what happens on the track, all our partners should be winners when they leave our Lucas Oil hospitality tent for the weekend.” 

And he rather liked leaving the racetrack as the undisputed winner for his racing performance, too. 

ON WINNING TRACK AGAIN? – John Force has won more times at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park than anyone else. His eight victories have come in streaks (1994-1997, then 1999-2001 and 2005), but they add up to three more than anyone else in any category. Top Fuel’s Tony Schumacher has taken the trophy here five times. In Funny Car, no one has come any closer than Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, and Matt Hagan, who each have three victories here.

Force also has been No. 1 qualifier here eight times (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2010 and 2014).

“A lot of good racing at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park,” Force, who advanced to the semifinals in his most recent competition here (in 2020), said. For him, seeing the fans means a lot: “We haven’t had the chance to put on a show for them in two years. We’ll put on a show and hopefully get this PEAK Chevy in the winner’s circle.”

He’s eager to get his program pointed back in the right direction after qualifying 16th and losing to Ron Capps in the opening round of the season last weekend at Pomona, Calif. And what better place than the venue where he was quickest two weeks ago during preseason testing?

“Pomona, home track, that was difficult. Not the showing we wanted,” the owner-driver of the PEAK / BlueDEF Platinum Chevrolet Camaro, said. “But as a team owner, it was a good weekend – Brittany [Force] with Flav-R-Pac and Monster No. 1, Robert [Hight] and Auto Club [Funny Car] with the win and Austin getting Montana Brand into the finals. This PEAK BlueDEF team, we know we’ll be OK. Something just didn’t quite add up in Pomona, but I know [tuners] Danny Hood and Tim Fabrisi, they have this Chevrolet dialed in. We showed what we could do at testing. So I’m not worried. I’m excited.”

INEXPENSIVE PART STINGS COUGHLIN – A small part that likely sells for less than $10 cost Troy Coughlin Jr. much more than that in last Sunday’s first round of eliminations at the Lucas Oil Winternationals at Pomona, Calif. In his match-up against Aaron Stanfield, Coughlin’s car experienced what he called “a fluke thing, something that rarely happens.”

He said a loose nut inside the right rear shock failed, “but it has been fixed by our good friend Adam Lambert at Precision Racing Suspension. And we are all very determined to rebound with a big weekend at Wild Horse Motorsports Park. Once the guys started analyzing the data it became apparent something was hurting us early in each pass. It was a simple process of elimination from there, and they discovered that loose nut in the right rear shock that had backed off, which was throwing off the balance of the car.”

So he’s aiming for “a big result,” he said. But Coughlin said he knows that “it's a long season and there will always be races that don't live up to your expectations. How we react is key." 

HART GETTING COMFORTABLE – Josh Hart, Top Fuel owner-driver of the R+L Carriers Dragster, competed in just 13 races in his rookie season last year and netted two victories (season-opening Gatornationals and the fall Carolina Nationals) and six semifinal finishes. This year’s launch of the 22-race season – his first full one in the pro ranks – didn’t go quite as easily as last March’s Gatornationals. But the Ocala, Fla., racer seems to be thrilled with his team and his ample seat time so far this year. 

“Last year we knew we were only going to run a partial schedule. We had some great sponsors, R+L Carriers and TechNet, get involved, and we finished the season with a lot of success. This year we are going to go after the championship and work to help R+L Carriers with their recruiting efforts across the country. They are an amazing company that I am proud to represent,” Hart said.

“I just go up to the starting line and run my race. I have a great crew chief, Ron Douglas, who is now my business partner, so I have a lot of confidence,” he said. “This class is so competitive you have to keep your focus and block out as many distractions as possible.” 

Hart won the 2021 season-opener, at Gainesville, Fla., and at last week’s 2022 season-starter at Pomona, Calif., he defeated Shawn Langdon in the first round but lost to Brittany Force in the second round. He knows that was just the first race of 22 and said, “I try to keep my emotions from getting too high or too low.” 

He said the traditional Southern California opener “was a lot different from the [2021] Gatornationals. We have been working out the details on this R+L Carriers race car. Me getting comfortable was not as quick as last year in Gainesville. There was just a lot of fine-tuning. This is a new car for me, and I have learned a lot. When you see your guys come together like they did between rounds, it gives me a lot of confidence going forward. Every person has their designated area of responsibility on the car. Driving is my area. I have to do whatever it takes to be sharper and faster. I will work on that.” 

The Winternationals, he said, “is always monumental, to get back in the car in competition to see all the fans and get all the first season opener butterflies out of the way. We are comfortable. This is a long season and I know we have a very strong team.” 

Hart got his first-ever look at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park earlier this month when he participated in the PRO Nitro Spring Training event and made a handful of strong runs. So he has some data from those three days, of course like his competitors do. He’s not especially worried about them. Instead, he said he’s regarding that extra time at the Chandler, Ariz., as a helpful experience. 

“Getting back in the car in four days will be priceless,” he said before the team headed to Phoenix. “Being able to test in Phoenix was good, and I am so thankful we did that. There were a lot of adjustments we needed to make inside the new car.

“I am glad we are getting back on the track this weekend. This will be my third weekend in a row driving the R+L Carriers Top Fuel Dragster. I don’t think that the track in Phoenix provides any extra comfort, but the repetitions from Phoenix to California then back to Phoenix has me excited. Then in a week and a half, we are back to Gainesville. I don’t think I have ever had so much seat time. The more laps you get the better you can become,” he said. 

DID YOU HEAR THAT? – Here’s some of what we overheard at last weekend’s Lucas Oil Winternationals:

Ron Capps had an amazingly strong start to the 2022 season at the Lucas Oil Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., in is first race as a Funny Car team owner. He was No. 1 qualifier and runner-up to Robert Hight. He also set low elapsed time and top speed of the meet (3.857 seconds in qualifying, 333.82 mph, in the final round.
 
But after his quarterfinal victory over Cruz Pedregon, he spoke in his top-end interview about his relationship with Dodge that evidently went sour. Capps had driven Dodges for Don Schumacher Racing for nearly two decades.
 
Referring to the new Toyota Gazoo Supra that was making its competitive debut, Capps said, “I’m jealous of that Toyota Gazoo, that TGR body. I was with that other manufacturer for 17 years, and they didn’t want to come with me on this venture. So hopefully I can get a ride here pretty soon with a good manufacturer.”

That was his first public statement about his situation, and it startled some of the longtime NHRA insiders. Stay tuned.
 
Winternationals Top Fuel runner-up Austin Prock has said a number of times how grateful he is to have experienced crew chiefs Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler prepping his car and Frank Tiegs’ Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist / Flav-R-Pac financially supporting his John Force Racing team. Just how excited was he? He said, “Got bad-ass crew chiefs and a bitchin’ sponsor.” His dad, Jimmy Prock, crew chief for Funny Car race winner Robert Hight, came within 0.0184 of a second of sharing the podium with his son. (That was Top Fuel winner Justin Ashley’s margin of victory.) Jimmy Prock said, “I’m just thankful for all this, for my son to be here and have such a good team.” 

Ironically, just as Josh Hart was set to make his first-round pass against Shawn Langdon last Sunday, Gary Scelzi – like Hart a Top Fuel winner in his first NHRA pro-level race – took to the public-address system. And he was rather colorfully descriptive about how surprised he was at the progress the nitro-powered classes have made since he left the sport at the end of 2008. Scelzi said, “I crapped my pants watching the fuel cars go from 300 feet to the finish line. They are absolutely out-of-their-minds accelerating like never we could imagine. And we were fast in our day. It is absolutely amazing, the people seeing what they’re seeing. Your eyes don’t believe what you’re seeing.  And how do you explain it unless you’re here in the stands? That’s the only way. TV does not do it justice.”

Josh Hart gave kudos to Brittany Force after she beat him in the quarterfinals. He said, “I try to race myself and not the person in the other lane. You have to give her props. She did a great job on the light. (.052 of a second to his .073). My guys were awesome between rounds before that run. We had a couple of problems, and the team came together. It was cool to watch. It was almost magical. Something on the burnout was a little weirder than normal, and it threw me off my game a little bit. I have no excuses. She just outran us.”

 Last week’s Winternationals marked the first time since the 2016 season that the Southern California classic had full fields in the pro classes.

According to Racer Magazine’s Andrew Crask this Wednesday, the delayed coverage of the Lucas Oil Winternationals was averaged a 0.14 Nielsen rating and attracted 235,000 viewers. By comparison/contrast, Sunday’s telecast of NASCAR’s marquee Daytona 500 (also that series’ season opener) averaged a 4.70 Nielsen rating and drew 8.868 million viewers.