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

THURS GALLERY FRI. GALLERY SAT. GALLERY SUN GALLERY

 

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

 

ASHLEY CLAIMS THIRD TOP FUEL VICTORY IN FINAL ROUND DUEL AGAINST FELLOW YOUNG GUN PROCK - Justin Ashley could smell what the Prock was cooking, and he wasn’t having any of it.

The two youngest drivers in the NHRA’s Top Fuel class – Ashley, 27, a Long Island real-estate developer and Prock, 26, an aspiring chef and restaurateur – met in Sunday’s final round of the Lucas Oil Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif.

With a 3.694-second elapsed time at 314.53 mph in the Phillips Connect / Vita C Dragster, Ashley earned his third overall victory. Prock challenged with a 3.713-second pass and the meet’s top speed at 333 mph.

“It was tough,” he said, which was no surprise. He said he knew long before the season began with qualifying Friday or even before preseason testing the week before at Phoenix that the Top Fuel field “was going to be really tough.” 

Using a basketball metaphor, Ashley said, “You saw it starting today, where races were separated by such little margins and we really had no lay-ups at all. And you're really never going to have any lay-ups.” 

Neither did. Each had a tough line-up of champions to march past. Ashley reached the finals by defeating Jim Maroney, three-time titlist Antron Brown, and reigning Steve Torrence. Prock’s path was as difficult, for he had to face six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion Clay Millican, eight-time NHRA dominator Tony Schumacher, and 2017 ace Brittany Force. 

Ashley said that “really just solidified what we came out here and wanted to do. We spent the off-season trying to work on power, pick up, pick up, pick up and get to where we want to get to. And I feel like today is really, you could see that. 

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

In the preseason, Ashley had said that things “might get chippy this year.” 

He said, “Well, I think that because the races are so close. And a lot of times when the races are decided by reaction time, it's hard for a driver to take that emotion out of it. When these things happen and drivers are so emotionally invested that when they feel like we lost this race, or we won this race because of me, either way you're really going to see those emotions pour out. 

“And I think that reaction times are just so, so important right now,” he said. “But so is the way the car runs, and everybody just out here is doing a phenomenal job. And I think that we'll see if it gets chippy. It’s still a little early on in the season. But at the very least, I know that I'm assuming to get into the Countdown. And when we get down to the championship, it's going to come down to making the Countdown at Indy and then winning the championship, the final race at Pomona.”

Prock is assuming the same. 

“Great start to the year,” the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Dragster driver said. “This team got put together about three or four weeks ago, and I thought we did an excellent job this weekend - no mistakes and tuners were learning every run and improving the car. 

“I’m really happy with how this year has started. It’s going to be a long, fun year, and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said, anticipating he’ll have a great finish, as well.

Prock’s father, Jimmy, tuned Robert Hight to the Funny Car victory in a wild final round against Ron Capps. And Austin Prock said, “Obviously, we wanted to get the win tonight, especially with my dad winning. It would have been awfully cool to have a family double-up. I’m just happy to be back. This is my dream to drive this race car, and to be back and doing what I love again. It’s a lot of fun.” 

But the day belonged to Ashley. 

One of the things his team had concentrated on was performing well at the start of each run, from the 60-foot mark to the eighth-mile [330]. And Ashley said that played a huge role in his success Sunday. 

“I mean, you think back to testing. We test for a reason. And we wanted to focus on our 60-foot times and our early numbers. And our early numbers in Phoenix were really good. And that was up to us to make sure that they translate to Pomona and the rest of the year,” he said. 

“We're off to a good start. That was integral in the way the car was running. And really, it was like a bracket car all day today, this Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster all day long, up and down the racetrack. And from a driver's perspective, when it's moving early like that, when it's going down the racetrack, there are very few things that give you as much confidence as that does. 

“I think that the better the car is running, of course you feel a little bit more pressure to perform for your team. But for me, there's really no difference. There's always pressure to perform for your team. And there's really no more pressure from the outside than there is, I'm going to put pressure on myself,  because our Davis Motorsports team and [crew chief] Mike Green [who, incidentally, guided Prock to the 2019 NHRA rookie of the year award], they do such an outstanding job.

“And it's up to me to just try and be the best driver that I can be. And a big part of that is doing the same thing every time. Whether it stage the same time, the same way. Whether it's keep the car as straight as possible. It's all about doing the same thing every time. And really, it's just a lot of fun to be able to drive this race car,” Ashley said. 

This team all weekend seemed to be picking up where it left off last year. 

“It says we were very proactive in the off-season, which we were. We knew that the Top Fuel field was going to be stacked, and we really didn't want to stay stagnant, because that was not going to be good for us. We wanted to make sure we picked up. And I think really what it says is it's just a testament to our team. They spent all winter in the shop, getting ready to go, preparing for days like today,” Ashley said. “So to be able to see it come to fruition so quickly for this team just means so much to us. It means so much to our sponsors, Chip Lofton and Vita C Shop. We've been communicating all day and I'm just, just happy to win for him.” 

The Winternationals were in the summer last year because of COVID-caused rescheduling. And Ashley advanced to the final round but suffered from heat exhaustion and was unable to compete against finalist Leah Pruett. 

But Ashley said, “To be honest with you, I think it's more of a story than anything else. For me, that's just history. It really makes no difference. I'm going to be motivated no matter what. So that really played no role in it. I was motivated because I wanted to win a race. And I wanted to race for our sponsors and our team and everybody who was out of here for Phillips Connect this weekend. So yeah, sure. It's a little bit sweet. Not going to lie. It feels kind of good, same lane and everything, but a win is a win no matter where they come and how they come.” 

This one came in dramatic fashion and set an electrifying tone for the season.

The tour will shift back to Chandler, Ariz., site of the preseason test sessions, for next week’s Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Susan Wade

HIGHT TAKES WINTERNATIONALS VICTORY IN CHAOTIC FINAL - Robert Hight has won a lot of races in a lot of different ways.

He has finished first in pedal fests and celebrated fiery finishes. He has won big and he has won by the narrowest of margins. But until Sunday, never had he won a race with so much taking place before ever taking the tree.

In a much-anticipated final round between the top two Funny Car competitors at the season-opening Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com, Hight saw his razor-like focus shattered by a freak incident. A crew member on his 11,000 horsepower Auto Club Camaro accidentally dropped the body preparing for the run, hooking the injector and causing the car to lurch forward, knocking the crew member to the ground.

Stunned, Hight was given the signal to proceed by crew chief Jimmy Prock after the crew member was assisted and he was able to put the distraction aside in a commanding victory over Ron Capps to start the season with a win at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

“Trevor (Huff) is alright. When I pulled the chutes and turned the win light on, that was the first thing I asked. He hooked the injector with the body and, luckily, I had a hold of the brake or it could have been way worse,” Hight said. “It kind of throws you off. Now you are wondering, ‘are we going to shut this thing off? What are we going to do?’ But Jimmy was like, ‘let’s run this thing’ and staged me and we got the job done. It was a weird win for sure.”

Despite the chaotic scene, Hight was able to overcome a holeshot in powering his Chevrolet to a 3.861-second pass at 329.58 mph to earn the 54th win of his career. Capps, who had earned the No. 1 qualifying position one day prior in his first race as an owner/driver, powered his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge to a 3.882 at 333.82 mph in taking the runner-up finish.

Afterwards, Hight continued to reflect on just how hard it was to focus after the odd start. “Despite everything, you are still driving a monster and you have to focus and pay attention. You can’t go out there and do something stupid just because something else happened. I have never had that happen to me, I have seen it happen before, but this was definitely a first.”

On the track, Hight and Capps proved the class of the field for much of the weekend as the two southern California drivers traded the lead atop the qualifying ladder and then made easy work of the field to find themselves matched up in the final.

Hight easily dispatched of Jason Rupert and Tony Jurado in the opening rounds with a pair of 3.89s, before making a statement run in the semifinals against Matt Hagan. Hight equalled his qualifying performance in the matchup against Hagan, running a 3.861 at 332.16 mph in a decisive win to reach the 71st final round of his career.

Capps had wins over John Force, J.R. Todd and Cruz Pedregon to reach the final round for the 86th time in his career.

“We are back this year with the Winternationals on the correct date,” Hight said. “It was exciting to see all of the fans again. This is where the Auto Club folks are and this year marks 18 years with them. Not many people can say they have been with a sponsor for 18 years.”

After a tumultuous season one year ago, a season marred by inconsistent runs leading to Hight’s worst championship performance since 2016, Hight was thrilled to start the year with a win as he tries to put the bad memories of last season behind him. To do that, crew chiefs Prock and Chris Cunningham went back to the drawing board, reverting the team strategy back to their 2019 success where the team dominated en route to a championship.

“The team went through every single race (last year) and focused on how we lost and where we went wrong. You put all of that together in a spreadsheet and you look for the common denominator. It was the clutch,” Hight said. “A lot of times you don’t move forward without moving back. Jimmy is always looking to be quicker and faster, so a lot of the stuff that he really believed in and tried did not work last year. So we went back to how we ran in 2019 when we had the best Funny Car out there start to finish. It was a good start and we can build on that.”

While he stopped short of calling Sunday’s result a statement win, Hight was pleased to be running so closely with his chief rivals in what he considers the best class of Funny Cars the sport has seen in a long time, maybe ever.

“I wouldn’t really call it a statement, there are a lot of good Funny Cars that are doing the same thing. We just happened to get the win today,” Hight said. “It is going to be a battle. Look at our qualifying run last night and how close we were. Today, with Capps and I going into the final, you know it is going to be a battle. If you would have told me 10 years ago you would see Funny Car racing like that I would have told you you are crazy.

“At the end of the day, everybody on the Auto Club team did their job this weekend. We definitely have more consistency than we did all of last year, so I am excited about that. And with Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, they will only build on this.”

While a win at the crown jewel Winternationals is a great way to start the year, Hight admits that the season truly starts next week in Phoenix as the grind of the 22-race calendar gets underway.

“This is a long road to win this championship. There are five or six cars out here that are going to be right in the thick of things. You are going to come back here in November and see the same guys battling it out for thousandths of a second,” Hight said. “It is not going to be easy, but we are up for the task. We are on a mission and we are going to do the best that we can. This is one down. We will celebrate here for a few hours and then go to Phoenix and start over.” Larry Crum

MORE MOTIVATED THAN EVER, ENDERS OPENS SEASON WITH COMMANDING WIN - Never count out Erica Enders.

And especially don’t doubt her publicly.

With comments swirling on social media and in the headlines that Enders had lost some of her passion and wasn’t the same racer that she once was, the 38-year-old used that talk as bulletin board material in starting the new year with a chip on her shoulder.

Enders dominated every aspect of the season-opening Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com, taking the pole position and easily dispatching of her competition in earning the 34th win of her career and the 900th win in the all-time history of the Pro Stock category at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

“Today was awesome. It was really challenging when I looked at the ladder this morning and I had my teammate in the first round, two juggernaut KB cars in the second and third rounds and my teammate Aaron Stanfield in the final. It was not a walkthrough by any means,” Enders said. “At the end of the day, we were able to park the Melling Performance hot rod in the winner’s circle and we were able to secure that 900th Pro Stock victory with that special trophy, which is awesome.”

Enders got it done all day in her trademark style, dominating on the tree and piloting good clean runs. In the final, however, Enders missed on the tree for the first time all day, but was bailed out when her teammate and final round opponent Aaron Stanfield suffered tire shake and had to press in the clutch.

With Stanfield out, Enders cruised to a 6.559-second pass at 210.31 mph in her Melling Performance Camaro for the easy win.

“I had some interesting stuff happen out there today. In the semifinals, the track was really loose for both Greg (Anderson) and myself and I guess he was just a little bit looser. In the final, Aaron had to change an engine before the run. But in that final, when I prestaged I always take a deep breath before the run and with the way the weather changed my glasses got completely fogged up,” Enders said. “I was scared of going red, so I missed the tree. I wanted to keep my lights under 20 today, but three out of four is not bad.”

After the race, an emotional Enders talked about the motivation brought about by the offseason talk as the four-time champion enters her 17th season behind the wheel in the Pro Stock category.

“You listen to all of the talk from your competitors and it adds fuel to the fire,” Enders said. “I told my guys that there is no more nice Erica this year. We don’t need any more friends and I am going for it. You never know which season is going to be your last, and if this is my last I want it to be something that I can proudly hang my hat on. The fire is lit under my entire team and we are ready to go.”

Enders was especially proud of the performance by her Elite Motorsports team as she and Stanfield drove to the top two spots on the ladder in qualifying and then matched up in an all-Elite final on race day. And after watching Greg Anderson and KB Racing celebrate a championship at this same track just three months ago, it was an encouraging start to the year.

After opening the day with a win over Cristian Cuadra, Enders collected wins over KB Racing drivers Dallas Glenn and Anderson to reach the final. In that much-anticipated semifinal matchup, Enders got away cleanly and never trailed for the win as Anderson ran into issues on the top end and had to get out of the throttle. Enders advanced to her 62nd Pro Stock final with a 6.569 at 209.43 mph.

Stanfield, the defending winner of the Winternationals, had wins over Troy Coughlin Jr.,Roger Brogdon and Fernando Cuadra Jr. behind the wheel of his Janec Brothers Camaro.

“Aside from that final round and not cranking the tree the way that I wanted to, it was a great day,” Enders said. “To put the Elite Motorsports cars in the one and two positions after qualifying, this is how we wanted to finish and we were both able to work our way to the final round. Coming in here with just two test runs since the World Finals, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.”

Enders was presented a special trophy for her win in Pomona on a historic day celebrating the 900th race in the Pro Stock category. And for a driver that grew up idolizing the class and dreaming of one day just being able to compete, Enders was emotional reflecting on just how far she has come in the sport.

“Most kids when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, aside from astronauts and lawyers and doctors, if you are talking about drag racing, it is always Top Fuel. But for me, it was Pro Stock,” Enders said. “I loved the fact that you left with a clutch and you had to shift the car. Driving in junior dragsters for nine years and racing in the Lucas Oil series for five years before coming into Pro Stock, we have accomplished way more than I ever thought we would be able to. To be able to leave our mark on the class, no matter how long this career lasts, is something that is really special to me. You treat every race day the same, but this 900th victory for Pro Stock means a lot to me.”

Enders continued by reflecting on just how much the class has changed since she arrived in the sport back in 2005, watching Pro Stock evolve from a club of veteran racers to the youthful class that is dominating headlines today.

“When I rounded that corner for my first qualifying session in 2005, I will never forget that feeling that I had racing against a bunch of older guys,” Enders said. “Now there is Greg Anderson and myself taking on this class of kids. Pro Stock has always been your factory hot rod, old guys deal. Now we have all of these kids interested in the class and it is growing.”

Enders will try to keep the momentum going when the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series returns to action in one week in Phoenix. Larry Crum

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - A WILD AND FAST SECOND DAY OF THE NEW SEASON

MILADINOVICH CRASH SECOND FUNNY CAR INCIDENT IN WILD DAY OF FINAL QUALIFYING, KALITTA-SCHUMACHER KEY TOP FUEL ROUND 1 MATCH-UP, WILL DSR BUILD BACK?

FRIGHTENING INCIDENTS – Saturday’s final day of qualifying for the NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals saw two scary incidents play out, amazingly without injury to any of the three drivers involved. 

During the final session round of qualifying at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, driver Alex Miladinovich’s Hot4Teacher Toyota Funny Car crossed the center line, slid sideways, and nosed hard into the wall before coming to a stop. 

Miladinovich, of nearby Orange, Calif., exited the car under his own power and stood atop the car and saluted the crowd, perhaps his wife and crew members, to show he was unhurt. 

His car suffered extensive nose and right-side damage. 

Earlier in the day, Bob Tasca III had a “too close for comfort” moment on the racetrack. 

He was having enough trouble this weekend before Saturday rolled around. He closed the first day of qualifying out of the field, last among 18 entrants. Then on his second of three qualifying chances Saturday, he nearly had a high-speed collision with Terry Haddock. 

Both improved their elapsed times, but after they passed the finish line, Haddock’s Checklistboards.com Ford Mustang veered across the center line, frighteningly close to Tasca and his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang. 

The cars didn’t make contact, but it appeared their parachutes briefly touched – extra-harrowing as both were traveling faster than 300 mph. Haddock’s top speed was 306.81 mph, and Tasca had just clocked a 327.43-mph speed. 

"That's the closest anyone has gotten to me in racing,” Tasca said after exiting his car. “What do they say? Rubbing is racing? You don't want to do that as a driver. Terry has done this a long time, and I am sure he is not happy with himself. You always want to keep your car in your lane. We just got lucky. It could have been a lot worse." 

WHAT IS ‘GAZOO’ ALL ABOUT? – This year at the Camping World Drag Racing Series races, fans will see signage all over for “Toyota Gazoo” or “Toyota Gazoo Racing.” 

Just exactly what does that mean, “Gazoo?” 

Toyota Racing representative Lisa Hughes Kennedy had the answer. 

She said, “’Gazoo’ [pronounced GAH-zoo] translated from Japanese means image or photograph. 

“Ultimately, what happened is our president Akio Toyoda, who is a master driver in his own right. Growing up with some of his friends in Japan, they would pin aspirational photographs of performance vehicles that they wanted or that they wanted to aspire to build to own. So, Gazoo was born. It was aspirational performance vehicles that are now coming to life on the racetrack and on the street,” she said. 

Autocar.com reporter Matt Burt asked Toyota’s motorsport boss, Koei Saga, to explain the concept. He said what he gleaned from the conversation was “essentially an extrapolation of Toyota’s engineers having a picture in their minds of ‘a lot of garages filled with individual and unique cars.’ For Toyota, ‘gazoo’ came to mean ‘garage.’” 

Saga told Burt, “So we combined those two images. And the ultimate goal of the various garages, each with a different focus, is to create better cars.”

Burt wrote that Saga “laughed and admitted that he had to refer to a pre-prepared answer, because the explanation might lose a little in translation from Japanese to English. The very origin is a Japanese word, ‘gazo’, which means ‘picture’ or ‘image’,’ he told me. Almost 20 years ago our president wanted to change the structure of our company, and he introduced what at the time was a very new online system using images of cars for the reselling of used cars. They called this internet site gazoo.com, using the English spelling of the word.”

Hughes Kennedy said, “Toyota Gazoo Racing North America is the new performance brand for Toyota, if you will. So it will be the sole brand for NHRA, all of our Top Fuel entries and all of our Funny Car entries, as well as in our Formula Drift program that races around the country [and] the GT4 program and SRO and IMSA. So those are the three platforms that TGR North America will live in. 

“What is it? That's what everybody wants to know,” she said. “It's ultimately the pinnacle of performance for Toyota. So we've started to introduce new vehicles: the GRSupra, the GR 86. In order to earn the GR badge for a vehicle, it has to meet the pinnacles of performance. It means it is not born in a boardroom. It was born on a racetrack. 

“That car has gone through everything it needs to go through to prove itself as a high-performing vehicle,” Hughes Kennedy said. “So what better place than NHRA to come and showcase the GR Supra Funny Car, which is obviously the pinnacle of performance over here? Also, our GR brands are basically for enthusiasts. So it's enthusiasts and our engineer enthusiasts that work at Toyota that are responsible for these GR performance vehicles. Those enthusiasts are the ones that are going to come out here to the racetrack, and they're going to see performance at the highest standard, and they're going to, in turn, be able to take that information back and eventually work that into new GR vehicles, new GR cars that’ll come down the line from a production perspective. So it all ties together. 

“What better place than NHRA to have enthusiast-inspired vehicles on full display for enthusiasts that ultimately are out here to ‘hot-rod up’ their own cars and make their own cars as good as they can?” she said. 

WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF DSR? – Father and son never spoke to one another about it.

The exodus last fall from Don Schumacher Racing, part of it no surprise at all and part of it late-season and post-season disclosures, shrank the team that had fielded seven cars down to zero. Tony Schumacher already was planning to return with a Top Fuel dragster at the start of 2022, but the whole wave of change hit him here at Pomona last November. 

Without any conversation between him and his son – the one who drew him back into the sport in 1998 – and precious little to the media, either, Don Schumacher went about his business. He’s a man who lives in reality, so he kept his emotions to himself, hid any bruises to his ego, and shrugged it off with “Things transpired that– it is what it is. 

“It was great winning the Funny Car championship [with Ron Capps]. But the other things at that race created a finality for me, which certainly affected my emotions, and I'll leave it at that,” the team boss said. “I've got the winningest organization in the history of the sport, and we'll go from there.”

Tony Schumacher said, “You know, it probably pisses him off. I mean, not that it's one car [a one-car team now], just that he had a really great team. He had a lot of drivers that he had groomed and trained, and I think they put a lot of money into [them]. And it probably hurts at first. Really?  like, why would they want to go?

“It's one of those things. I think he respects each one of them and what they're doing,” the younger Schumacher said, referring to Antron Brown, Leah Pruett, Matt Hagan, and Ron Capps (the four left after Jack Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr. lost sponsorship and his own Army deal vanished and put him on the sidelines). “I think it takes a week where you're like, ‘Why?’ And then you go, ‘All right. I mean, I understand, right?

“These guys have aspirations of being maybe more than a driver. I never did. I just want to drive these cars. I like driving these cars. I like being in them. I never wanted to stand behind them and watch,” Tony Schumacher said. “I'm not sure how he felt about it. I wasn't there for that.”

But the eight-time Top Fuel champion said, “Watching from the outside, I think he'll be happier. He doesn't need to stand behind all those cars.” Pointing to Capps’ set-up and Brown’s hauler, Tony Schumacher said, “I mean, that car is in our shop right next to this car. That car is just on the other side of it, just like it used to be. The only difference is they're sending my dad a check instead of my dad sending them a check.

“I told my dad, ‘I personally think it's better. You go fish like you want to fish. You go do what you want to do. You're 70, mid-70s. You do what you want to do, and you enjoy that. You've earned the right to do that. Let us go out here and do this stuff. So, that's where we're at.”

But Tony Schumacher – not his father – made a bold statement about the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) organization.

He said, “As far as I know, if he's got other plans, it doesn't matter to me. I got this one car out there. We'll build it into a two-car team. We'll build it into a three-car team. We did it once. We can do it again. I just see it happening. I have these sponsors on the car right now and I have others coming. I have others that wanted to be on the car that were actually, at the same time, with Scag. So now you go, ‘OK, what do you do, right? It needs to get moved onto something.’ I'm not ready to do another one, nor is he, but we'll start piecing stuff together. You'll see another car out by mid-year, guaranteed. It's just the way he does that.” 

All Don Schumacher would confirm is that he has “some opportunities there but nothing that allows me to look at a full season. I choose not to think about putting together a partial season on any fuel car. It's a very difficult way to compete at the highest level if you only run part of the season. If I'm going to run a team, that's going to be for the whole season or I choose not to do it any other way. The only reason I've ever raced is to win races and win championships. 

“I will do what's right for my family, myself, my employees, and the sport,” Schumacher , 77, said. “But at my age, I have decided to not be as intimately involved in any business as I was in the past. And when it gets to the point that that isn't what I choose to do, then I'll turn the reins over to Megan (his daughter, who has served as vice-president of the company), and we will go from there.”

Schumacher wasn’t trying to be coy or cryptic, but he did say he’s “always working on additional things.”

Technically, DSR has four cars, and Don Schumacher was quick to remind about that: “I mean, I got three Factory Shootout cars that I'm running.” Mark Pawuk, David Davies, and Warren Walcher are the drivers for that eight-race series. 

Matt Hagan, who switched to the newly established Tony Stewart Racing team, agreed with Tony Schumacher: “You know, I think it’s a good thing for Don. Don gets to step back and enjoy life and sell parts and pieces to all these major teams. We’re still buying parts and pieces from him. The pressure of owning all these teams can be taxing, keeping the funding going and keeping the sponsors happy and all the other stuff that goes along with it.” 

Mike Salinas, who truly has a single-car team, said, “Schumacher was the smartest one out of all of them, and he didn't do it on purpose.”

Like Salinas, Hagan understands how much of a financial risk and effort it is to run a team. And Hagan said he appreciates just how much money Don Schumacher has funded himself or raised so that he and his fellow drivers could race. 

“When I first started racing [in the International Hot Rod Association, with a Pro Modified car and then a nitro Funny Car], I had a budget. And we were on fire a lot abd blowing up a lot of stuff,” Hagan said. “I got to understand how fast nitro bills rack up and how fast you start spending that budget that you thought was going to be plenty. And you start launching bodies off of cars and blowing up manifolds and a crew chief makes some bad decisions and you have two or three bad races in a row. And I’ve been on that side. I know how fast nitro eats up parts and budgets. 

“I always appreciated that Don didn’t have a budget. Don would spend his own money out of his pocket if we needed to go test or if we blew up a bunch of parts,” Hagan said. “What was nice is when you signed a contract with Don, you knew you were going to have everything you needed to make a run at the championship. 

“I really didn’t want to leave Don Schumacher Racing. I love Don and everything he’s done for me,” Hagan said. “I’m really blessed to [have been] there. But this was a new opportunity. And what did I have to lose? I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to in this sport, and just looked at it as Tony brings a lot of charisma and energy and notoriety to the sport. If I want my legacy to grow, it’s stepping over there with him to do that, as well. It’s just kind of a change of pace, not that I was upset with Don or anything that we were doing there. Very blessed to be there. Very humbled. It’s just a change of pace. Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s bad. But you won’t know unless you try, right?” 

Don Schumacher and John Force for years have had a classic Funny Car rivalry, and that, at least for now, is gone. Both still have at least one car in the Top Fuel class, but Schumacher said no Top Fuel competition ever will match the clashes the two teams’ Funny Car passions produced. 

Two-time Funny Car champion Cruz Pedregon lamented that he no longer will race against DSR Funny Cars. 

“When they had that four-headed monster with T.J. [Tommy Johnson Jr.], [Jack] Beckman, Hagan, and Capps, man, that was pretty formidable operation and tough to beat on the track ,” Pedregon said. “Don Schumacher built an empire that we all could only admire and strive to do. And maybe nobody will ever do it at that level again. He brought so much to the sport.” 

SCHUMACHER STRUGGLES A BIT – Tony Schumacher didn’t generate drama on purpose during the second session of Top Fuel qualifying, but he did produce some for himself and his Maynard Family Racing Dragster team Saturday. He ran a 4.863-second, 162.02-mph pass that was troubled by tire smoke. That left him barely in the 16-car field, at No. 15, just ahead of rookie Scott Farley. Shawn Langdon, who also had traction problems, was the lone unqualified driver in the class as the final opportunity approached. 

A bit baffled about that effort, Schumacher said, “We were trying to run a mid-[3.]70 there. I’m surprised we didn’t, because when we tested in Phoenix, man, we had a tune-up that would run .75 down a gravel parking lot.” 

He said crew chief Todd Okuhara “will take a look at it. No big deal. We’re just beginning here. It’s the beginning of the year. Seventeen cars, man – makes you earn your spot. 

“We talked about it before. I said, ‘I’m not going to shut the car off. It going to go across the finish line under power, because we need to give ourselves a little breathing room. We have a computer. We have intelligent people. We’ll go out and step on it next run,” he said. 

Schumacher settled (an odd pairing for a subject and verb) for 12th place in the starting lineup and will face No. 5 qualifier Doug Kalitta in the first round of eliminations Sunday. 

THEY MEET AGAIN – The irony of Sunday’s Round 1 Top Fuel matchup between Doug Kalitta and Tony Schumacher that is that Schumacher seized the 2006 championship at Kalitta’s expense with what’s commonly called “The Run.” He set the national elapsed-time record on that final pass of the year against Melanie Troxel to win the race and edge Kalitta for the series crown by 14 points. At that time, Schumacher’s crew chief was Alan Johnson – who happens to have become Kalitta’s tuner during this past winter. 

Mac Tools/Toyota Dragster driver Kalitta clearly has some more enthusiasm for this 25th season in drag racing. Part of the reason is Johnson’s presence in his Kalitta Motorsports camp, but he also has enjoyed great performances here at Pomona. Kalitta is tied with “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Tony Schumacher for the most Top Fuel victories at this racetrack (six). 

Four of those victories for Kalitta have come at the Winternationals. He’ll be seeking his third triumph at this race in four years. 

“I feel real good for taking that baby into Sunday,” Kalitta said of his car (which up until now he usually has referred to casually as “that thing”). “It should be good. I love running at this place. Just a lot of confidence in my team. We’ll go up there [to the starting line] and hope to have a great day tomorrow.” 

He said his communication with Johnson is clicking: “The new calls are good, and we're only going to get better. So, you know, we'll just keep at it. Looking forward to driving this thing, for sure, tomorrow.” 

PRACTICE TREE VS. REAL DEAL – Funny Car driver Jim Campbell, whose Jim Dunn Racing team doesn’t participate in testing, has no problem at all with using a practice Christmas tree to work toward cutting consistently quick starting lights. It’s a tool he uses, for sure. But he cautioned that it’s not necessarily realistic preparation for competition. 

The missing element, he said, is the human drama. 

“Practicing on a practice tree is nothing. That's just a mechanism to get your hand-eye coordination. There's not 10,000 other things going on. 

“Once you get the butterflies – and I don't care who you are, when you're in that car first couple runs, you want to make sure you do good and make sure I don't squeeze the throttle,” he said. “So if I just push it a little bit, then you wind up screwing up the throttle, trying to cut a good light. 

“It is human drama, the adrenaline, the butterflies, I want to win, let's go, let's have everything go right . . .  versus watching Seinfeld, going . . . [button motion].

Pilots get the simulator, which is a little more realistic. Once this car is lit and everything is going on around you, and you're doing this stuff, it's much [different] than sitting here and just going. . . [click . . . click . . . click]. You got anxieties: Which way are you going to point the car? Am I straight? Did I drop a hole at the hit? All the things that are going through your head of ‘what I'm going to do in case this happens’ in a short amount of time. 

“And then you can only do about 15 or 20 practice hits, because if you are cutting .040 or .050 lights, that's great. But then once you start doing that, then you start going for stuff that you shouldn't, like, ‘I'll see if I can get a .020 light.’ There's no roll-in. So again, there's another factor,” he said. “On a practice tree, yeah, it's going to be .040, but you don't know the roll-in and I can take that .040. That's still going to stay that way. But if I want to make a better light, I would have rolled it in three inches instead of one inch.” 

Qualifying passes come without consequence for a red-light, but of course, race-day runs with a red bulb on the Christmas tree mean a frustrating automatic exit. Campbell said, “On qualifying, my main thing is to make sure this thing stays straight. If I cut a .120 light, I don't want to do that on race day, but at the same time, I want to try to get better on my lights. 

“You get more amped up on race day. I mean, you do on qualifying, but race day is race day. You’re racing for the money. It's whoever turns the win light on first. This is just a matter of keeping straight, getting it down. If I didn't have a great light, it's not going to hurt me. If I have a good light, it makes me more consistent. Guys like JR [Todd], they're great on the tree. They're great on the tree all the time.” 

Campbell said he had just one red-light foul last season. So that isn’t an overwhelming concern. But he said in order to earn more round-wins, both the car and the driver need to be spot-on: “That's not up to me as the driver, but it's really up to the crew chief of the car of how they have it set up. I just got to be a robot inside, try to stay focused. That's what I'm working on most. It's just all about focus for me, just keep doing the same thing over and over and over. I get in the car the same way; everything is the same thing. My problem is, I have ADD, ADHD. 

“It's just a mentality thing. I've been doing it long enough now to where I've got it down pretty good,” he said. “I try to roll it in shallow. You accidentally roll it in an inch farther sometimes. We're all human. It's just like when somebody double bulbs somebody. Did you intend to do it? Did you not?” 

Tire shake is another sensation for a driver that fans in the stands or watching via TV don’t feel – but always are curious about. 

“What does tire shake feel like? How do I know I'm getting tire shake?” people ask. 

Campbell said, “Oh, it's nothing really brilliant. There's no magic hand that comes down and says, ‘Listen, the car’s shaking.” If you really want to know what tire shake is, be super, super nice to your local Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, wherever you go. [The clerk will let you] take your head and stick it in the paint shaker and then put your finger on the switch. I guarantee you at some point, you'll flip that switch off.” 

He said a more helpful instrument than a practice tree might be a simulator: “So if they could make a simulator that would shake you, it would be great, especially to practice for things like tire shake. If you're going to pedal the car, because tire shake is a quick slap, to where if it’s spinning the tires, you may have to squeeze into it because you have to let the tires quit spinning. So if they can make a simulator like that, we’d maybe blow up less cars.” 

Practice trees, tire shake, pedaling the car . . . They’re all part of the unpredictable sport that Campbell, of Huntington Beach, Calif., is diving into for his seventh season. He’s hoping to make the Countdown to the Championship for the second straight year. 

His inaugural Countdown appearance came with some criticism, not aimed at him but rather for the sanctioning body’s rule change that allowed non-top-10 drivers into the chase if they compete at every event on the schedule. Campbell qualified legitimately and earned his first top-10 finish, despite a 3-19 elimination-round record. 

Incidentally, all three of those round-wins came here at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, two in the delayed Winternationals last summer and one in the Finals in November, when he knocked out three-time class champion Robert Hight in the opening round. Campbell said that victory justified his inclusion in the Countdown.   

“When I went out and beat Robert in Round 1, that made it feel much better for me, much more satisfying. I don't ever want to be given anything,” he said. “We earned it by going to every race. We followed the rules. We did good at Pomona at the Winternationals. So, in that aspect, I'm just happy to be back and see if we can do better.” 

DRIVE FOR FIVE – Four-time and reigning Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence’s 60-9 eliminations record last year is the best in any pro class since 2008. The Capco Contractors/Torrence Racing Dragster driver has won 81.6 percent of his Top Fuel matches throughout the past five years (263-59). Of course, he’s the only driver in any class to sweep the Countdown to the Championship (2018). So what can he do as an encore this year? What more can he do to wow the sport’s observers? Well, he hasn’t dominated the Western Swing yet, not that doing so would give him any additional points. His team is calling this campaign the “Drive for Five.” 

And he knows it won’t be any easier this year than it ever has been. 

“There’s definitely guys coming after us,” Torrence said, “but that’s what makes it fun.  It’s all about the competition.  The longer you’re on top, the harder it is to stay there. And that’s our challenge this year – to stay on top. 

“But it’s not just me and Tony,” he said, proceeding to list his rivals. 

“Now that he has his own team, Antron will make a strong run, and since A.J. [Alan Johnson] landed over at Kalitta’s, you know Doug will be back in the hunt.  Brittany [Force] will be strong again and so will Leah [Pruett], Clay [Millican], and Shawn Langdon. Mike Salinas?  He was bad-ass last year, especially on the lights,” Torrence said of the man who finished third in the standings. “So, that’s a half-dozen really good drivers and teams before you even start talking about the Josh Harts and Justin Ashleys and Austin Procks of the world. It’s going to be a battle from the first week to the last.” 

KNOWN-QUANTITY HART SET FOR FULLTIME SEASON – This time last year, Josh Hart was an unknown quantity in the Top Fuel class. He was a former Lucas Oil Series Top Alcohol driver from Ocala, Fla., who had achieved some success, especially in winning the U.S. Nationals twice. But he was the toast of the Camping World Drag Racing Series after winning in his first weekend, at his home track at Gainesville and in the fall at Charlotte. 

He brought not only a quiet perseverance to the sport but also a handful of brand-new sponsors, including his current primary marketing partner, R+L Carriers. And for that, he gained the admiration of his peers, including Funny Car’s Cruz Pedregon and fellow Top Fuel team owner Antron Brown. 

Pedregon said Hart and Justin Ashley, who also has displayed the knack for attracting new sponsors, “are the right kind of guys. The guy that understands the business side of it – and if he can do the other part of it [with winning performances], that’s even better – I admire that. Those guys are going to be here. That’s what’s going to make the sport grow.” 

Three-time Top Fuel champion Brown said, “I have been amazed by Josh ever since he got into the Top Fuel ranks. It is not just his driving ability but his mindset of how he came out here. He assembled a good team, and he had instant success. I have never seen someone step into a Top Fuel dragster at their first race and come out and win it. I remember when I was a rookie in Top Fuel, we qualified No. 1, but it took us four races before we won. That was still fast, but to win at your first race, that just tells you this is in his DNA.” 

An appreciative Hart was flattered by the praise, but he didn’t get too puffed up. 

“Last year was awesome, and we learned a lot. I learned a lot, and we made some mistakes as a team, which is part of the process,” Hart said. “This year we are hoping to minimize those mistakes. Going into a full season for the first time, it will mean a lot more seat time. And I think that is going to turn on more win lights.” 

He has a pair of brand-new dragsters – and a third that has been front-halved and back-halved, making him one of the few (if not the only one) with three fully prepared cars on the property this weekend. After shaking down the two new ones last week at Chandler, Ariz., he is aiming for another season-opening victory – although this one isn’t in his backyard. 

“The new car is like a Cadillac.  The team has everything smoothed out for me. There are still a few little adjustments to make for the driver, in particular. We will get those ironed out and we will be ready to rock,” Hart said.

“I'm happy to be here, and it's 3,000 miles away from home. But it was nice to be out here in the fall, and you learn a lot. We're ready to go,” he said. “When we ended the season at Pomona last year, it was sublime, because it is so sentimental to everyone and there is so much history here. I am excited to race my first full season, and I think starting in California at the Winternationals will be awesome.” 

He said he doesn’t feel any different that the season kickoff is on the opposite coast. It’s race, and he wants to win it. 

“I don't really care who's in the other lane. I race myself every time,” he said. “We got a new car. Performed great in testing. So we're pretty confident. It is nice to open the cabinets and see a lot of new parts. We are getting a good handle on inventory, whereas last year we were just learning the basics. I think we have a great team, and all the same people stayed on board with us. That gives me a lot of confidence. Last season, Ron Douglas and I became business partners in addition to his crew chief duties, so I get a good feeling from his confidence level when it comes to the performance of the race car. From the driver’s perspective that is priceless.” 

During the winter, Hart purchased a Dodge Challenger Drag Pack to run in the Factory Stock Showdown class. But he’s not quite ready to dive into the deep end of that pool just yet. 

“I'm a collector of cars,” the owner of the sprawling Burnyzz All-American Horsepower complex at Ocala said. “So when I found out the scope of the work that needs to be done to get it ready, I'm just not 100-percent ready to cut that thing up. So they literally pull the engine, bore and stroke it. They throw the transmission in the trash. They throw the rear-end in the trash. There's a very extensive workload that it takes to get that thing ready for competition. It is literally a brand-new car. So I haven't been able to pull the pin on that quite yet. That seems like it'd be smarter to start off with a roller, which I saw Dodge/Mopar is now offering that. So that would be a better avenue in my opinion, than cutting up the one that I have.”

 

Pro Stock

WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING NEW CAR SMELL - Erica Enders has been waiting on a new car for a while. It’s not so much that there are supply chain issues, as it is every new team at Elite keeps helping themselves to her next ride.

“She’s very consistent,” Enders said of her car she has nicknamed Old Fancy. “She responds well to the input that my crew chief’s given her, but I’ve been on the list to have a new car every year.”

For those keeping score, when Aaron Stanfield came on, he got the car destined initially for Enders. Then, with Bo Butner coming aboard, he got the car also promised to Enders. 

“Rick Jones has one on the jig for me now,” Enders confirmed.

“We haven’t scored a whole lot of number one qualifiers here lately, but it’s a great way to start off the season,” Enders said.

Enders’ Friday 6.521 elapsed time held for her 25th career No. 1 qualifying effort.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY - While this year's NHRA Winternationals will serve as the 900th race for the Pro Stock division, the event also marks the 40th anniversary of the series introducing the 500-inch universal format displacement.

Greg Anderson, the winningest Pro Stock driver in the class, was an apprentice/crew chief with the late John Hagen in 1982. As he prepared for Friday's Q1 session, the accomplished veteran didn't realize it was four decades ago NHRA abandoned its pounds-per-cubic inch format for a more inclusive, common displacement engine platform. 

"My God, you know what that means? That means I've been along longer than 40 years because I was racing when that happened," Anderson said. "I was racing before that happened, so tells you how old I'm getting, I guess. 

"That's kind of cool that I've been able to stay out here that long and still enjoy what I'm doing, still have fun with it, and it's still 500 cubic inches after all these years."

Anderson was there when Hagan transitioned from a small block Plymouth engine to a wedge-head 500-inch big block. He was there when the steel roof and quarters morphed into the box standard. 

Anderson has been through several phases of the class, but the move into the 500-inch engines was the first significant rules adjustment.

"I'm not a big change type of guy, but when change happens, somehow, even though I hate change, it's worked out the better for us," Anderson said. 

Hagan and Anderson adapted well to the 500-inch change and ran strong until the veteran driver's death while racing at the 1983 NHRA North Star Nationals at Brainerd, Minn. 

One of NHRA's foremost Pro Stock team owners, Richard Freeman, was nine years old when the factory hot rods went to 500-inches. He accompanied his father, Royce Freeman, to the races. The elder Freeman had raced from Day One in the class. 

"That's when my father actually quit," Freeman said. "He just couldn't keep up with what was going on. I do remember that as a kid. This engine platform's been worked on for 40 some odd years. It's unbelievable."

Anderson agrees the 500-inch platform has served the class well but preferred to see the displacement bumped up a bit over the years. 

"I've been a proponent of finding a way to make the cars faster for a lot of years," Anderson said. "I've kind of lost my argument, lost my battle so far, but I still think that's what needs to happen. Somehow, some way, whether it's cubic inch or whatever it is, that's probably the easiest way; obviously, I think that should happen. I think these cars need to become faster, and I think fans love it when the cars increase performance every year. 

"Honestly, for the last four or five years, they really have an increased performance, so I understand how that's gotten a little bit stagnant. And I feel, the best way to change that is to open up the playing field a little bit, or increase the cubic inch, whatever, let the cars race a little bit faster, run a little bit faster."

Anderson and Freeman share a love for this style of racing but often find themselves on the opposite end of competition and sometimes debates. Changing the engine platform is one of those topics. 

"This engine platform's been worked on for 30 some odd years. It's unbelievable. Everybody said, 'Well, that's it. That's it. [It's finished]." 

"No, it's not it. We just keep making it better."

"Listen, there's a place for big cubic inch motors; I was a part of that; I think they're cool. But there's nothing like a 500-cubic-inch motor; it's unbelievable."

Matt Hartford agrees with Freeman that 500-inch displacement is still a winning proposition.

"The 500-inch rule definitely made the class consistent, which is what you need to have a really good successful class. You need to have enough rules to make it consistent, but it needs to be open enough that there can be room for development.

Frank Iaconio, who now builds engines in the class, was the first winner in the 500-inch era stopping the late Lee Shepherd.

ROOKIE EXPIRATION DATE? - Dallas Glenn was getting his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Pro Stock Camaro ready for Friday's qualifying session when a reporter cornered him with a pointed question.

“How long do you get to celebrate the Rookie of the Year accolades?” 

"I guess I get to celebrate it until they name the next one, right?" Glenn responded. 

Truth be told, Glenn admits he stopped celebrating the day the 2022 Camping World Drag Racing Series kicked off. 

"I'm just focused on trying to win a championship," Glenn said. "It's been a long off-season and said a lot of stuff happened during the off-season. So I think we're fresh and we're ready.

So now Glenn begins the arduous task of moving towards veteran status.

"Hard to consider myself a veteran when the guy that I share the pit with has 99 wins has been doing it for 17 years," Glenn said of his boss/teammate Greg Anderson. "I don't know if I'll ever really consider myself a veteran, at least compared to him. I do feel like I have more experience this year coming into this. I've at least been to every track or at least most of the tracks, and I'll feel like there won't be as many unknowns to experience."

Glenn laughs when he points out there's much more he needs to learn, such as new ways to lose. He's already learned how not to get intimidated. 

"I just try to keep them honest and just do the best that I can," Glenn said. "As long as I just go up here and do my job and then if I lose, it just means they did their job better is all. That's all I'm trying to do. I once told my wife that, 'I'm really not trying to be great out here, I'm just trying not to suck."

THIS IS NOT YOUR FATHER'S PRO STOCK - There's a handful of next-generation drag racers in Pro Stock, and the thought is often conveyed, "How would they have fared in their dad's Pro Stock. 

Kyle Koretsky, whose father Kenny Koretsky raced Pro Stock for almost decades, believes he could have held his own back in those days if time travel was possible. 

"I feel like I was kind of fit to be here," Koretsky said without hesitation. "I kind of got in the car, somewhat a little bit natural. I'd been racing in other classes. I think if you put me 10, 15 years ago when my dad was racing Pro Stock, I'd be right there with him. 

"We didn't have the power that I have now. I'm fortunate enough to have the power that KB gives me right now."

A significant part of the growth of Pro Stock has been the revolution of engine lease programs, which in the 1990s were tainted by allegations of team orders and race-fixing, has enabled youthful drivers to rent programs capable of winning.

"Without the rental programs these days that a bunch of these companies put out here, I definitely wouldn't to be in the spot, I would be," Koretsky said. "I don't have the knowledge; not going to say I have the knowledge to make the power and stuff that Greg has. And not just the knowledge, the funding, it takes a lot of funding, and they spent a lot of money on R&D, and without the rentals, I don't think half the people out here would be here.
 
"I think the class kind of would've went downhill, but they're offering a great rental package where someone can come in; if you bring a financial and they like you, I think you can be top runner, any day."

Aaron Stanfield wasn't old enough to race when his father Greg raced Pro Stock. He watched his dad work his fingers to the bone as a one-man band to fight for equal footing with the class' front-runners of the era. 

"He built his own program himself with a fairly low budget in comparison to some other big teams, and it's something he could be very proud of," Stanfield explained.

Just like Koretsky, Stanfield believes he could have held his own. 

"I think it was just a different era, for sure," Stanfield said. "From a driving standpoint, I think I could have made it, but as far as what he was able to accomplish, I think I could have done it with a lot of hard work and money."

TJ Coughlin, who is in the third generation of his family's Pro Stock endeavors, admits speculating how he would have fared in previous generations is a tough question to answer.

"Pro Stock was a lot different back then to where it is today," Coughlin said. "The cars are so awesome. I think, due to technology and the drivers and the two teams that we have between Elite and KB, I think the equipment's just absolutely phenomenal. So, I think us young guns, as we are called, have a major advantage. 

"Times are different. There's not as many cars in the field, but the ones that are here, they're extremely competitive."

 

LIKE RIDING A BICYCLE - Rodger Brogdon has become a successful businessman and drag racer by understanding his strengths and weaknesses. 

Brogdon will readily admit applying decals is not his strong suit. 

"That's why you put on just very few," Brogdon said. "I was just having this discussion with somebody else a while ago. Why would I put somebody's decals all over my car and maybe run 18 races a year all year long and not win? But you could go to the semifinals eight races in a row and not getting nothing out of it. So I put on the bare minimum. Let's put it that way.

For the record, Brogdon's car ran very well in Nitro Spring Training testing in Phoenix. 

"It went very good," Brogdon said. "I think it was probably the fastest. We only ran Thursday. We made six or six runs on Thursday. And far as I know, we were fastest on Thursday. And I do know the guys went faster on Friday and Saturday, but the air got a little better. 

"I hadn't been in a car, except for last week, since November, but it's almost like riding a bike. It comes right back to you."

Brogdon finished tenth quickest with a 6.573. He races rookie Camrie Caruso in the first round.

ATTABOY GIRL - For only the second time in the history of NHRA Pro Stock, two female drivers will start Sunday's eliminations together. 

Camrie Caruso, a third-generation drag racer, entered Friday's qualifying as the eighth quickest and, with a 6.553, climbed to seventh. 

Caruso readily admits she and crew chief Jim Yates made more test runs behind the wheel of the Pro Stocker than she made in all of her previous racing endeavors to this point. 

"I am excited to get my rookie year of Pro Stock started and I really appreciate Powerbuilt Tools coming on board for my first two races as a primary sponsor," said Caruso. "Powerbuilt Tools will be an associate sponsor the rest of the season. I have a lot of confidence in my racecar knowing it will be put together and serviced between rounds with their tools. I am excited to get the season started and take the experience I have picked up in testing to an actual race."

Caruso advanced from Top Alcohol Dragster, then to Elite Top Dragster and Pro Outlaw 632 on the PDRA circuit. The team's 632 car was a naturally aspirated, clutch-equipped former Mountain Motor Pro Stock GXP that is very similar to an NHRA Pro Stock car. 

One of Caruso's staunchest supporters has been fellow Pro Stock racer Matt Hartford. Their bond began to form in Phoenix during testing. 

"In Phoenix, I just walked up to her and I just said, 'Listen, I think it would be good if we ran as a pair out there to give you a little bit of seat time," Hartford recalled. "And I said, 'Because the last thing I want you to do is show up at Pomona having never had a car in the other lane. And it's up to you if you want to do it." 

"She said, "Absolutely." 

"And she was excited to do it. And then I walked up to her right before she fired the car here and I reached in the car and I just gave her a tap and said, 'Hey, good luck. You're going to do great." 

Hartford said the need for Caruso and other new drivers is important for the long-term health of the class. 

"We need new blood into sport and our entire Total Seal team is a family, Pro Stock is a family, and she's new to the Pro Stock family," Hartford said. "So let's welcome her and let's try to make sure she succeeds."

 

NICE PLACE TO VISIT, BUT NOT TO LIVE - While many of their counterparts were running to the quarter-mile in Bakersfield, a fair share of Pro Stock drivers participating in the Nitro Spring Training session at Wild Horse Motorsports Park were only running to the 1,000-foot mark. 

Dallas Glenn usually runs to the 1,000-foot mark in his test sessions, so the shortened distance wasn't anything out of the ordinary.  

"I've done testing before, so that's just kind of what we usually do for testing," Glenn explained. "Every now and then, we'll go a little bit farther, but the track prep was set up for Top Fuel in the last week, so a thousand feet was just fine with me. Going to the quarter-mile was starting to get a little questionable, so it's totally fine. I mean, we're in high gear anyway. And that last 320 feet is just wear and tear on parts that we didn't need."

Rodger Brogdon made all of his testing runs in one day, last Thursday in Phoenix. He gladly returned to the quarter-mile in Pomona. 

"We made six or six runs on Thursday," Brogdon said. "Thousand foot wasn't too good for me. And 1,005 feet was dangerous. I ran mine a little bit deep one time, and I went from the left lane to the right.

Glenn might be accustomed to running to the nitro finish line but he, just like Brogdon, have zero interest in making this shortened distance the norm. It didn't mean the experience didn't pique his interest. 

"I was asking some of the guys here. I was like, 'Wonder how fast we could get them if we had to swap to a thousand?" Glenn pondered. "The whole gear ratio and everything would change. We'd be changing a lot of different stuff on the car to get it to the 10 five rev limiter quicker and everything. So I was curious at how fast, but I think we could pick up a few hundredths, but I don't think we'd pick up that much. It's still a quarter-mile. That last 320 feet, even though it's a lot of wear and tear, it is a lot of fun."

BACK IN THE SADDLE - It was love at first clutch. Well, not exactly the first clutch for Bo Butner, as he made his triumphant return to Pro Stock, this time as a driver in the Elite corral of cars. 

"Felt good," Butner said." I've always hopped in and out of them, but to have our own new car built around me, for me, Rick Jones knocked it out of the park. Very good car, but this is our first time also being on a prepped track."

The 400-pound gorilla in the room, leaving KB Racing for Elite was the baseball equivalent of leaving the Yankees for the Red Sox or vice versa. 

"I have all the respect for the KB team," Butner said. "They work hard. I know them guys like they're my brothers, the whole team, but this team here, as well. It took me about one test run to realize, hey, these dudes are legit. I was driving two cars in a test session, but everybody worked together. 

"It looks like a lot of fun from the outside looking in, but these guys take this serious and they all take it to heart, which is different than what I expected. I knew they had good stuff and they had the nicest stuff, but it's really awesome to see them all work together."

If it seems like Butner has a drag racing addiction, he readily admits one is present. 

"I'm an addict for whatever I jump into," Butner said. "So whether it was when I was doing things I shouldn't do in life, or maybe doing some good things, but yes, I'm an addict."

Butner is racing this season with sponsorship from Jason Johnson, an automobile enthusiast with a passion for classic metal vehicles. 

Johnson is the driving force behind Johnson's Horsepower Garage.

 

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT - Deric Kramer had a decent 2021 NHRA campaign, finishing 10th in the season points standings.

One runner-up effort and three semifinal appearances wasn’t exactly what Kramer was looking for last year. He wants more success.

Kramer heads into tomorrow's final eliminations as the No. 5 seeded entry and will John Cerbone in the first round. 

“This is  my 10th year in the class, so I'm a grizzled old veteran at this point,” said Kramer, who lives in Denver. “So, it was pretty much knocking the rust off in testing and then start fine-tuning and honing everything in, so we can be ready for Pomona. We usually try and make ... When I first started, we were making 11 runs a day in testing. Now, we're making six runs a day and calling it good."
 
Kramer will continue to get horsepower from Ken Black. He has partnered with KB Racing since 2018.
 
 “Absolutely, yeah,” said Kramer when asked about enjoying his relationship with KB. “It's the best thing I've done in Pro Stock. They're the top notch in the class for a reason, right? They've been up at the pinnacle of Pro Stock for a number of years, and their work ethic is beyond reproach. There's no question that if there's anything to be done with those guys, they're going to work on it and make sure that it happens.”

Kramer has won four career NHRA national events in the Pro Stock class, his last two coming in 2019 in Chicago and Charlotte (N.C., in the fall). - Tracy Renck 
 

 

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - HAGAN GETS TONY STEWART RACING OFF TO EXCELLENT START, HOW ABOUT SOME DRIVER KARAOKE? RUSSO FAMILY BACK ON TRACK WITH AREND, FORCE TWEAKS MARKETING APPROACH 

NHRA Funny Car racer Matt Hagan got the newly formed Tony Stewart Racing off to a stout start Friday at Pomona, Calif.’s Auto Club Raceway, grabbing the No. 2 slot in the provisional order. 

He had said before the season started officially, even unofficially, that “my thought, my hope is is that we’re going to come out, hit the ground running, and start sprinting. It’s just a matter of everybody kind of clicking and knocking the dust off. We already have a championship-caliber team that we’ve kept together over this last off-season. It’s just a matter of keeping things moving forward. 

“This is brand-new for Tony. What we’re going to try to figure out is how well Tony does as a leader,” Hagan said. He’s a great driver. He’s a great owner on the NASCAR side of things and the dirt stuff. This will be a new venture for him. But I think it all comes down to how he handles our guys, how he handles the crew chief [Dickie Venables], how he handles dealing with when things aren’t great. I mean, everybody does well when things are great and we’re winning races and going rounds. But how he handles the situation and comes in and how he motivates our guys to bring them back up. Or is he one of those guys who chews on you and pushes you into the ground? That’s still to be seen, but what I can tell, everything has been great. I’m excited about it.” 

Hagan said he got a glimpse of Stewart’s managerial style back when he was still racing for Don Schumacher. 

He said Stewart “is pumped up about the sport and brings a lot of notoriety to the sport. Before he even owned the team, he was crawling up underneath my car in the [staging] lanes and was like, ‘Come on, man, let’s go do some driver stuff.’ He’s like, ‘Get up on the wheel’ . . . Just gets you pumped up. That kind of stuff, to me, goes a long ways. This dude’s showing how invested he is already, and he [didn’t] even own it.”     

Hagan is on track to qualify for his 296th career Funny Car start and his 26th at Pomona. Six of his 39 victories have come at this facility (the 2011, 2013, and 2014 Finals and the 2015, 2017, and 2018 Winternationals). His elimination-round record here is 41-19 and 6-2 in final-round appearances. 

Hagan said, “We’re coming up on my 15th year of racing and, honestly, it does feel different. Our team’s morale and charisma is different. These guys are super-excited to be here, and Tony Stewart has been great to work for. It’s laid back, but business as usual for us. We know what we have to do. I’ve won multiple championships out here and have won a lot of races along the way. Our core group of guys between my crew chief, my assistant crew chief, my car chief and myself, we know what we have to do to get it done in our Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car. Out here, everyone gives 100 percent, no matter what. There’s not a day where you can ask for any more from anybody because everyone is trying as hard as they can. I think Tony as a racer and competitor, he sees that.” 

BACK HOME AGAIN IN CALIFORNIA – Top Fuel racer Leah Pruett is returning to the place she calls “ground zero for NHRA drag racing” – and actually, “ground zero” for her own career that began at age eight and shifted to Top Fuel at the 2009 Winternationals. The native of nearby Redlands (about 35 miles to the east) – who stood in the tower as a young girl and sang the national anthem – knows just about every inch of this Auto Club Raceway at Pomona property: “It’s surrounded by palm trees, purple mountain majesties, and an incredible Mexican food joint on the corner there at opposite end of the NHRA museum.” She said she used to spend time “hanging in the bleachers as a teenager with my friends” and “roaming the pits, excited if I knew anyone on a team or got to take home a clutch disc or connecting rod. That was my life. And those memories came from Pomona. 

“Professional drag racing is rooted in Southern California, and Pomona has been the foundation, literally, of generations of drag racing legends,” Pruett said. “SoCal may no longer be the physical center of the highest tier of drag racing as it once was – as that is now Brownsburg, Indiana – but the magic of its location and the heritage it holds is still undeniable.” 

How she incorporates her new experience into that is a fresh adventure in itself. 

“I’ve won here before in Top Fuel [twice, in 2017 and 2021], and I didn’t think it could get any bigger than that moment – but that was because of what I didn’t know. With what I know now, if we can duplicate that same success in our Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel Dragster, it will be a new milestone for me at Pomona, no doubt.” 

That’s partly because, along with Matt Hagan, she is ushering in the era of newly wed husband Tony Stewart’s involvement in the NHRA. 

“I haven’t felt any two seasons feel the same at the start of the year, but this one is most definitely the largest difference: a new race car, a new group of crew members, a new co-crew chief, Neal Strausbaugh’s first season as a crew chief. I’m used to change so all these things bring comfort in their newness. What I’m not used to, but have always had a desire for, was to race with my spouse. This one happens to be my team owner, but also the new feeling has been operating in the management structure of this organization and taking on and sharing new responsibilities. To say it’s business as usual would be far from correct.” But she said before the event that until she slips on her helmet for the first time during a race event, she wouldn’t know “exactly what will be different, but I already know it will be, and I expect to enjoy our successes even more than before.” 

The nine-time Top Fuel winner has a 16-12 round record and is undefeated in her two final round appearances here. This also is where she recorded her career-best elapsed time (3.631 seconds) Nov. 10, 2018, in the final qualifying session of the Finals. She’s going for her 15th Top Fuel start at her home track. 

Although she is working to achieve the same result as the last time she was here, she is seeing much different conditions. Last year’s version of the Winternationals took place in June because of a COVID-related postponement, and it was scorching-hot. This time, too, the track surface is freshly ground and repaved. 

“We’re back to our regularly scheduled Winternationals programming,” Pruett said. “So that’s ideal for us. We prefer the cooler, drier conditions for making maximum horsepower, and that’s what it looks like we’ll get this weekend. The new Pomona surface will take some time to get worked in, which is why they had cars starting to run on Wednesday. Pomona has a reputation for creating world-record conditions, and I think the new track surface will help that. This weekend we will be running in the afternoon instead of at night, which is really where those record conditions are at.”

Pruett is on the bump spot, No. 16, but she has two qualifying sessions to climb to a higher starting position for Sunday’s eliminations. 

‘WHY, OH, WHY, DELILAH’ – NASCAR captivated a TV audience of nearly 4.3 million households Feb. 6 for its Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles and 50,000 fans in the grandstands. Rapper Ice Cube provided the halftime entertainment for the younger, avant-garde clientele the stock-car racing executives are hoping to hook, as the 150-lap event on the unique, purpose-built track was divided into 75-lap segments. NASCAR hired music-industry entrepreneur DJ Skee to perform during all caution breaks. 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced Thursday that superstar DJ/producer Martin Garrix will headline a lineup of global electronic music artists May 29 at the Race Day concert at the Snake Pit at the Indianapolis 500. Among the performers will be deadmau5, Galantis, Steve Aoki and Yellow Claw. And the venue is charging between $45 and $150 for tickets for the separate-admission event (and a package that includes both the general admission to the Indianapolis 500 and Snake Pit for $85, and a VIP package for $190). VIP amenities will include access to a raised viewing platform located beside the stage, a private cash bar and private air-conditioned restrooms. 

Those motorsports entities have captured ways to add entertainment/broadcast value and monetize that in significant ways. So what might the NHRA glean from that level of innovative promotion to draw more spectators and a larger TV audience? 

Independent Funny Car owner-driver Alex Miladinovich, figuring that “they’ve tried the T-shirt cannon guys and the dancing bears – they need to try something different,” had an idea how to keep the crowd in their seats during oildown cleanups. 

During the preseason testing a week ago at Phoenix,, Funny Car owner-driver Alex Miladinovich mused about how the NHRA might rip a page from NASCAR’s playbook for a blockbuster crowd, or at least for an entertaining show for the fans, even during the inevitable oildowns. 

“I could come up and sing!” he volunteered. “I’m tone-deaf and out of key, but I’ll do it. We could do Driver Karaoke. I love Tom Jones!” (That’s in spite of the fact wife Marcie – the inspiration for the Hot4Teacher logo on the sides of his Toyota Funny Car – “doesn’t like it when I do karaoke.” She’s not Hot4Singer.) 

He hones his – ahem – “vocal craft” at the Elks Lodge in his hometown of Orange, Calif. It’s kind of cheesy, but after a couple of drinks, I’m like, “I’m singing Tom Jones! ‘Why, Oh, Why, Delilah?’ . . . that’s my song. And yes, I did get up on the tables.” 

It’s no surprise that Miladinovich exuded a spirit of fun and camaraderie. He said fans “just want to come out to the races and have a good time. So that’s why if someone comes out, I’m going to make sure they get their money’s worth when they come to the drags. I don’t work on the car at the track. I’m always available to anyone who wants to talk. I’ve got friends I just haven’t met yet.” 

What made Miladinovich an instant hit last year when he debuted at the Winternationals is his fun-loving energy and his approachability, his humble style. 

He runs the operation (“the car and clutch stuff”) out of his backyard detached garage in Orange, just a few miles from this venue – and his brother Robert preps the engines at his garage nearby. Ron Ver Steeg keeps the hauler at his home. 

As they banged on some equipment and kidded one another about their Everyday Joe approach to racing, one of Miladinovich’s crew members (referring to the elite nitro racers with the big shops at Brownsburg, Ind.) quipped, “I’m sure this is how they do it in Brownsburg.” 

Miladinovich said, “We kind of outsource everything, at someone’s house or yard or whatever. I don’t have the big, polished, shiny shop. It’s at my house. I got low overhead. You come over, we clean up after the dog, move the bikes. When we’re done, we’ve got to put all the bikes away. It’s fun. I’ve got cool neighbors. We’re regular people. Lots of barbecues.” 

Don’t think, though, that Miladinovich is goofing around on the racetrack. He wants to win. 

“Our goal right now is just to focus to shoot for that No. 10 [Countdown] spot,” he said. “I know I can’t outrun the guys with the 3.90s and the 3.89s, but it’s our goal for this year. Still chasin’ money, always have a few things brewing. All the current sponsors are glad to help keep us going. 

“We’re planning to hit five races this year, and after that, I’ve just got to be a better salesman,” he said. “If we get the numbers, that’ll get us there, and statistically the odds will be in our favor. We’ve just got to keep this ball rolling. I’ve been kicked in the teeth harder than that.” 

One point in his favor is his new car this season. He brought it out at the Finals at Pomona last November and put three runs on it. And that was all the seat time he had in the car before preseason testing at Phoenix. He took it down the track Friday night, and his 6.859-second elapsed time was good enough for No. 14 in the provisional lineup, ahead of Paul Lee and Cruz Pedregon, as well as the still-unqualified John Force and Bob Tasca. 

“This is Chassis No. 5 in our arsenal of cars we’ve built, and we’re building No. 6 right now,” Miladinovich said. “We’re really happy with the way it turned out, and we’re finally tuning a race car. We got the new DSR clutch last year, and there’s a huge learning curve on that. We think we have it figured out. We did my career-best, 4.21 [seconds], at Pomona [last fall].” 

A GOOD’AY, MATE - Two years, two months, and 10 days – that’s how long the car had been in the trailer.  

The Russo couple, Peter and Helen, were part of the NHRA racing community for several years, but things changed after the 2019 season. 

The Russos, who live in Melbourne, Australia, couldn’t leave their country for the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which became prevalent in March of 2020. 

Well, the Russos are back. 

Veteran Jeff Arend is driving their Chevy this weekend. 

“Yeah, it is good to be back in the seat,” Arend, who has driven on a limited basis for the Russos since 2016, said. “The last time we ran the car was the end of 2019 at the World Finals here. It’s been a long time. And then, of course, since then, there’s been a lot of updates. Had to put body tethers in the car, a titanium plate behind the seat, different ignition system, and all that stuff.  

“They just got here a couple weeks ago, or a week and a half ago. And it has been a thrash. So,” it’s been a thrash to get all the parts and get all the car up to date and all that stuff.” 

When Arend received the call from the Russos, he went into inventory mode to see if the team could compete at the Winternationals. 

“When they decided they could come, because it was the last minute, (I) just had to make sure to get all the parts and all that stuff,” Arend said. “Then, they’ve all been busy at the shop getting the car together. So, it’s one of those things, I think, we’ll probably make one run on Friday and one run on Saturday. And if we qualify, great. And if we don’t qualify, great. Let’s give it our best shot.” 

As for now, Arend said the Russsos don’t have any definite plans after competing in Pomona. 

“Maybe if we do OK here, it might go to Phoenix [the next race on the Camping World Drag Racing circuit],” Arend said. “But nothing for sure yet. And then they’ll probably come back at the end of the year like they usually do and run Vegas, Pomona, or something.” 

Competing in the season opener made sense for the Russos since their United States race shop is in Colton, Calif., 45 minutes from Pomona. Arend lives in La Verne, a mile from the track. 

Arend drove the Russos’ Funny Car to a 4.092, 287.23 during Friday’s opening session. – Bobby Bennett 

BROWN’S OWNERSHIP DEBUT KICKS OFF 25TH SEASON – Three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown has won three times at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona but never at the Winternationals. He has been runner-up three times, though. 

A victory here this weekend at the Lucas Oil Winternationals would be like scoring a hat trick. It would be his first at the February classic. It would give him the points lead for the first time since a two-week stretch in late July to mid-August 2018. And it would christen the premiere of his new, independent team. 

Actually, Brown owned and operated his own Pro Stock Motorcycle team before switching to the Top Fuel class in 2008. But this new enterprise, which officially began Dec. 1, 2021, “feels very surreal” to Brown as he celebrates the start of his 25th anniversary season in the NHRA. 

“This has been a long time coming, not just for me, but for my entire team and all of our wonderful sponsors who have joined us on this new adventure,” he said. “All of the members of this operation have a vested stake in it, and we’re all doing this together. It feels so good to open a new chapter and have a fresh start here in 2022.” 

Brown said he’s encouraged with Ron Capps, Buddy Hull, and Tripp Tatum also launching their single-car operations this season, as well as Josh Hart expanding his dragster schedule to all 22 races and Tony Stewart Racing debuting with Top Fuel’s Leah Pruett and Funny Car’s Matt Hagan. 

“It’s great that so many have the ambition to strive to better themselves and create new opportunities for themselves and their families,” the 68-time winner and proud new owner of the Matco Tools/Toyota Dragster said. “To see all of these new teams joining the fray in ’22, it’s definitely the new norm in NHRA. The sport is cultivating the next crop of owners, and that’s important in order to continue to grow the sport and keep it progressing forward to new levels. It’s a vision I’ve had for a long time, and the more people to take the leap with me, we can lean on each other and help each other to grow.” 

He said the long-term goal for AB Motorsports is to become a multi-car organization and to support other teams to achieve their goals. He said, “If we all grow, the sport grows together.” 

Brown’s hallmark is hard work, and he acknowledged that “we have to work hard and put the hours in. We have to keep learning.” He said, “We made some great strides at the end of 2021, and we need to stay up on all of the new technologies and parts and pieces available to help us win. We want to be at the forefront of that, and we’ll have to do that to stay very competitive with the great competition we’ll see in the nitro ranks this season.” 

His team core – co-crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald and car chief Brad Mason – remains with him, as do additional marketing partners Sirius XM Radio, Hangsterfer’s, Darton Sleeves, Lucas Oil, and Summit Racing Equipment. 

“We’re so grateful to all of our partners who have helped us reach this point,” Brown said. “The team is in high spirits coming off of a really good test session where we learned a lot. We’re amped up, we’re motivated, and we feel like we can compete with anyone out there. We’re ready to kick off our season on a high note.”

MARONEY LOOKS TO INCREASE APPEARANCES – Phoenix-area privateer Jim Maroney, who’s 10th overnight in the Top Fuel lineup with two Saturday chances to improve, said “This year we're going to try to run more races than we've run with as our own team. I'm going to try to do eight races this year. Hopefully, COVID doesn't put a stop to that. He said he knows that “doesn't sound like a lot. But right now, we're completely self-funded. So, that's about all we can handle. 

“Who knows? If things go a little better or we pick up a dollar or two here or there, we might go to Topeka, or we might go to Dallas, or we might pick up an extra race if it's not too far away. I would love to go to Indy and do Indy and St. Louis and Dallas on the way home, hit three races and make one trip. But you figure it's going to cost you 20 grand to get the operation there,” he said. 

“I've put my nostalgia stuff on hold completely. We've been racing sprint cars, too. My son [Colton], the driver of the sprint car, just went to work on Austin Prock’s car. He's doing racks and cylinder heads. So I'm excited for him. That's great,” Maroney said. “But that kind of puts a damper on the sprint-car racing. But that'll save a little money. So hopefully we can pick up an extra couple races. I’m going to spend it - don't get me wrong. It just won't be at a dirt track. It’ll be at an asphalt track.” 

FORCE RESTRUCTURES MARKETING PLAN – Starting to come back stronger from his 2020 pandemic-caused hiatus and encouraged by a season that netted him three victories in five finals, John Force has tweaked his four-team program a bit this year.

For one thing, he has hired his own in-house team of sponsorship-procurement specialists. 

“I’ve realized it’s time to build my own marketing team, not go with an agency,” the multiple-car team owner said. “And it’s costing me. Took money out of my savings to hire them. I brought some guys from basketball. I brought some guys from IndyCar and NASCAR to chase money. Racing is a rich man’s sport. That’s why the Torrences can do it; that’s why [Connie] Kalitta and [Don] Schumacher, people with money, can do it. I’m a truck driver. That’s where I come from. And I have to have sponsors to make it. 

So we have to work those deals, seven days a week. People think we take the winter off for Christmas. I worked every day. On Christmas Day, I’m on the phone. So is Robert [John Force Racing President and three-time Funny Car champion Robert Hight]. It’s what we do to keep it alive.” 

Force said his new marketing hires volunteered to help with the transition since team manager Kelly Antonelli left John Force Racing to start working down the street on Southpoint Circle in Brownsburg, Ind., for the newly formed Tony Stewart Racing. But Force told them simply “to focus on finding money.” He said, “Let’s don’t forget why we came. When you’re up to your ass in alligators, don’t forget you come to drain the swamp. You guys do what you do and deliver that, and this company will be strong.” He said, “It’s all about selling. That’s what I do every day, and Robert runs this company for me. I can’t have Robert without a ride. I’ve got to keep him in the game. 

“I do what I do because I’ve got these big ol’ machine shops and paint shops and still try to run ‘em on half-crews. But I’m starting to sell some parts. I’m getting out there and selling ’em to people. That’s the business I’ve got to head into the future – and I will,” Force said. “But now the four teams will make it financially to afford that stuff.  Each teams pays into the machine shops and the chassis shops and paint shops. It all helps make it work.” 

He took a major hit with the advent of the pandemic. And he said, “If I lose it again, I’ll probably head toward two Chevrolet Funny Cars. I stayed in the dragster business because that’s where my daughter wanted to be. But the day Brittany says, ‘I’m done,’ unless the sponsor money is there . . . Some years it’s a struggle, because I have to pay into the budget. I’ve got to take sometimes a couple million dollars. I pay in to keep my teams funded. You build up money over the years if you work it financially. That’s why Robert is so important.” 

And Force has changed his ask: “I’m looking at chasing multiple sponsors on a car instead of just one.” 

On the track, he constantly has to make adjustments. 

Force crossed the center line in Friday evening’s qualifying session, and his run was disqualified. He said following the run that he would be taking a look at the steering. “I just didn’t want it to get loose. I wish I could have done better, but I let it get away from me. Didn’t drive it too far. I’ll have to fix it, come back for all the sponsors, and make this thing run tomorrow.” 

‘NOT TOMMY’S TEAM ANYMORE’ – Cruz Pedregon, owner-driver of the Snap-on "Makers and Fixers" Dodge SRT  Hellcat Funny Car, established one rule back in December. 

“We’re not going to call this Tommy’s team anymore,” he said, referring to the fact he hired Tommy Johnson Jr.’s entire crew from Don Schumacher Racing when that Make-A-Wish Dodge team dissolved along with its funding at the close of the 2020 season. 

Crew chief John Collins, his assistant Rip Reynolds, and their band of mechanics brought the two-time class champion close to his third title last season and blended in seamlessly with Pedregon maybe more than any group ever has. As Pedregon starts his 30th year in the NHRA’s elite ranks (and 25th  with Snap-on as his primary marketing partner), he’ll be seeking his 12th top-five finish. 

"I love the fresh energy I feel with this team, even as a seasoned driver,”he said. It was a big decision to bring J.C. [Collins] and Rip on last year, and man, has that investment paid off. We finished fourth overall in 2021, with two great wins and some really close finishes. We took what we learned from our first year together and are improving on what we know works. 

"If you take a look at the results from testing, where all our runs were threes [with elapsed times in the three-second range] and the best was 3.92, we can see that we're chipping away at getting the Snap-on Dodge in the consistent place we need it to be. It's a really exciting place to be.” 

The team added former Don Schumacher Racing employee Austin Hord and nitro newcomer Nate Hamm during the offseason. 

For those who keep track (and it’s fun to), Pedregon’s Funny Car “Makers and Fixers” bodies are the same as last year’s, the ones Pedregon nicknamed Gato Malo (bad cat), Gato Loco (crazy cat), and El Conquistador (The Conqueror). 

DE JORIA HOPING TO CARRY OVER MOMENTUIM – Bandero Toyota Supra Funny Car driver Alexis De Joria appears to be picking up where she left off at the end of the 2021 campaign. She reached the semifinals or better at eight of the 20 events but really poured on the coals in the final three races, with one victory in two final rounds and a pair of No. 1 qualifiers.

Other than six runs during preseason testing at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports  Park near Phoenix and front-halving their chassis during the winter, the DC Motorsports team has adopted the attitude of “If it ain't broke, don't fix it,” DeJoria said. “we did so well in ’21.” 

Team owner Del Worsham said after he “sent both of our new Supra bodies down the track” that “our goal of testing wasn’t to go out there and lay down a bunch of fast hero runs. We already know we have the performance. Our whole reason for testing was to get runs on both of these new bodies. All were planned early shutoffs, and on each pass, we were pleased with the incremental numbers – they were right where they needed to be. I’m excited for this season. We’ll continue to get more data and build upon our program, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t be right there running with the best of them, and hopefully, be a part of the title conversation when we get to the Countdown.” 

The two-time nitro champion (who has titles in both Top Fuel and Funny Car) would know. He and Nicky Boninfante tune the car. 

“This will be our third season competing together, and each year, we get better and better,” De Joria said. 

She indicated she’s comfortable inside the new body by Toyota Gazoo Racing. She said, “The visibility of this new Supra body is just incredible. It also has more downforce and less drag. Excellent job by the team at Toyota.” 

Right now, she said she’d focused on repeatability: “Consistency is key. We know we can get down the racetrack and run competitively. We just need to be more consistent. We need to stay in the mix and get hot at the right time of year, in late summer and the Countdown. We want to continue to make sure we qualify well so we set ourselves up for a long day of going rounds on Sunday, and if we can do that and win some races, the points will take care of themselves.”
 
This is a perfect time for the Austin, Texas, resident and California native to return to her home track. It was at the Winternationals, in 2014, that she became the first woman in the Funny Car class to record a sub-four-second pass (3.997 seconds, during qualifying). Then she’ll head back to Chandler, Ariz., next weekend for the Arizona Nationals, where (also in 2014) she earned the first of her six victories. But she’ll be gunning for her first triumph at Auto Club Raceway this weekend. 

BUSINESS-SAVVY ASHLEY MIXES FUN AND A RUN – Justin Ashley had some fun Friday afternoon at a pit-area meet-and-greet to introduce executives from his newest marketing partner, Phillips Connect. One didn’t really need much of an introduction – Executive Vice-President Jim Epler has plenty of experience at the dragstrip. Epler owned and operated a Funny Car for 20 years and might be best remembered as the first Funny Car driver to break the 300-mph barrier in the quarter-mile (October 3, 1993). He has five national-event victories, including the 2000 U.S. Nationals and one as the owner of a Top Fuel team.  

Phillips Connect joined Vita C, Auto Shocker, KATO Fastening Systems, and Baked in Brooklyn as marketing partners in the spotlight Friday. Ashley also celebrated his relationship with Toyota Gazoo Racing North America and Lucas Oil Products, who are underwriting his pit-side hospitality. 

But all that fun turned to serious business for Ashley an hour or two later, as he had to take to the racetrack for Friday’s lone qualifying session. 

“I think this is possibly one of the most competitive Top Fuel fields in the last decade or so,” he said. “It is healthy for the sport, and it is good for us as competitors. I think it is going to be a dogfight just to win races and could be chippy early in the season. You are going to have to fight to qualify in the top half of the field. You will see everyone’s game rise out of necessity. This could be one of the closest championship battles we have seen in years.” 

On board officially is title-winning crew chief (with Matt Hagan) Tommy Delago. He worked with the crew at the Finals here last November. 

“Tommy is an elite resource for us and will help get our team that much closer to the ultimate goal. We are excited to welcome our newest marketing partner, Phillips Connect, and look forward to continuing to expand upon our technical and marketing alliance with Antron [and Toyota].” 

Ashley got in his first full season – and a second victory (at Dallas) – last year, and he got a strong idea about what it will take to win a championship. Compared to his COVID-shortened 2020 rookie season that ended with NHRA Rookie of the Year honors in a truncated season, the 2021 campaign provided Ashley with a blueprint for success, even if he has to contend with a competitive and crowded Top Fuel field. 

“Everyone is used to starting the season on the West Coast at the Winternationals. As an East Coast guy, you want to escape the winter weather and enjoy that California sun,” Ashley said. “We had a great weekend, testing in Phoenix, and we will see similar conditions this weekend. I am excited to see what our team can do. The season is a marathon not a sprint, but you want to get off to a good start. Last year at the first race we reached the semifinals, and of course we plan on creating plenty of momentum for the rest of the season at the first race. 

“It is always nice to race a few races in a row especially when you start with a strong test session,” he said. “As a team, we want to feel good and comfortable with the race car, and as a driver I want to feel the same way in the race car. You get to test and then go right to Pomona and Phoenix, which is a benefit. As a driver you want to be in the car, making laps.” 

He made an outstanding one Friday night – a 3.676-second elapsed time at 331.45 mph to take the tentative No. 1 starting spot. 

DID YOU KNOW? – Here are some curious little facts folks might not know:

Tony Schumacher’s primary sponsors this season are the Maynard Family and Scag Power Equipment/Lawn Mowers. But at the Arizona Nationals, his Top Fuel dragster will sport the name of a new marketing partner, Kaizen Collision. The collision repair/auto glass/paint shop centers, which stretch from California to Arizona (where it’s based at Scottsdale) on to Nebraska and Iowa, met Schumacher through his vested interest in credit-card merchant processing firm RAC Financial. (So even when Schumacher raced with Global Electronic Technology livery, he was a partner in RAC Financial. “We have our own processing company. We've been doing it for years,” he said.

“That's how Scag came up,” Schumacher said. Scag was a very tough deal. I went, okay, big-game races. Every race was East Coast, because that's where they're big. They want where there is grass, because grass sells lawn mowers.” That’s why “Kaizen Collision Centers” will be on the dragster at Phoenix rather than Scag. “Want to sell lawn mower? Have a lawn. It's hard to mow these rocks. Unless you've got a rock breaker, Scag doesn’t need to be here,” Schumacher said.

His association with Kaizen Collision began with the owner telling Schumacher, “I own a bunch of collision centers." And, Schumacher replied, “I do credit card processing. If I save you 70 grand, you send it to me. I put your name on the car. You're already spending it in credit card processing, so give it to me. It's free advertising, and you'll see it here and you'll see it in Vegas. So we can start doing that. It's business."

Call it redirected funds. “We just move it over from an expense to advertising. It's the same dollar figure, but they get something for it other than [just paying for a service],” Schumacher said. “We're just redirecting. We save them money. We saved them all this money that someone was making on the credit card processing. We cut that out, right? We can lower that fee so far that they then have this pile of cash they didn't have yesterday. They were spending it on credit card processing, merchant service. Now, we save them money, and they call and they go, ‘OK.’ That's where you go with these things. Simple stuff – money, business, business to business operations out here. It took me three years to get it working. But I met them through that.” 

The name of Alex Miladinovich’s racing team officially is M12 Racing. Its roots are in military jargon – the practice by which a person with a long surname uses the initial of his last name followed by the number of letters it contains. “Miladinovich” translates to M12. 

Top Fuel owner-driver Buddy Hull used to be the Executive Vice-President of LA Fitness nationwide chain of gyms. As a young adult, he also used to be the tire-wiper and gofer for Funny Car owner-driver Tim Wilkerson. 

For Austin Prock, his John Force Racing Top Fuel team (the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist Dragster) is a family affair. Work with him on the crew this weekend are brothers Thomas and Sam. Of course, dad Jimmy Prock still tunes Robert Hight’s Auto Club Chevy Camaro. 

Tripp Tatum has traded in his snow-removal equipment for a Top Fuel dragster.  For years he owned a large snow-clearing service in Maryland but has moved to the Indianapolis area, where his team is based. “You get those big East Coast storms and things like that. That did very well for me for a while. But I don't want to regret not trying [to have a successful drag-racing career]. So I made that step, and it's been a journey. Now we're here where we are.” 

Del Worsham’s DC Motorsports, one of the last teams to operate from the Southern California cradle of drag racing, has moved its headquarters to Northeastern Indiana, to Auburn. It’s the home of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum – the home of John Fink, Worsham’s longtime business associate and entrepreneur. Their shop is the same one Fink provided for their Checker Schuck’s Kragen Funny Car team in the early 2000s. 

Gary Densham is driving the Midwest Factory Finishes Ford Mustang Funny Car this weekend in place of son Steven Densham. The younger Densham carefully considered the traditional Winternationals schedule (which was shifted again this year, to a later-than-usual date in February) as he planned as early as two years ago to go with life-long friends on a 40th-birthday-party vacation to Costa Rica. So Dad is filling in, as he did at the preseason testing last weekend at Chandler, Ariz. His crew shut off his car – as did the team of fellow California Jason Rupert – as the two lined up for the opening qualifying session late Friday afternoon.  

Scott Farley, of Ellington, Conn., did a commendable job in his NHRA debut Friday, earning the provisional No. 12 spot with a 5.754-second pass at 103.31 in Terry Haddock’s Top Fuel dragster. 

Longtime NHRA photographer Gary Nastase scored two images in the Justice Brothers 2022 Caldendar. Paul Lee’s Silver Sport Transmissions-branded Dodge Funny Car is the feature for March, and reigning Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson highlights the September pages with his KB Racing/HendrickCars.com Chevy Camaro. Popular NTT IndyCar Series driver Helio Castroneves is represented on the cover.
 

PRO STOCK 

FIRING HER SHOT - The magnitude of this weekend's historic 900th NHRA Pro Stock race is not lost on four-time NHRA champion Erica Enders. The veteran driver of the Elite Motorsports Camaro drove her way to the top of the provisional qualifying list with a 6.521-second elapsed time at 210.44 miles per hour. 

Winning this weekend's Pro Stock race will also come with a special edition Wally created by Cold Hard Art. 

"It would be huge because, for one, I've never won the Winternationals. We won the World Finals, and there's just a handful of races on the tour that we haven't been able to win a Wally at, and this is one of them. Being that it's the 900th event here, I think that it would be killer. Eighteen years ago this month, I rounded the corner for Q1 in Pro Stock for the first time ever, and I will never forget the feeling that I had.

"Yeah, it was a long time ago, but I get goosebumps talking about it, coming around the corner and looking in the grandstand at all the fans and TV cameras stuffed in your face. It's just one of those surreal moments where, 'Holy crap, my dreams are coming true." 

"To have made it last this long, I think, is a feat in itself. I've only been able to accomplish that because I've been surrounded by really great people. I'd like to park it in the Winner's Circle for the 900th, for sure."

After winning back to back titles in 2019 and 2020, Enders admitted losing the championship in 2021 lit a fire underneath her. 

"I feel like I definitely left some on the table last year," Enders said. "I don't ever say that I, as a driver, I left some on the table last year. Greg had the superior performing car all season long. I don't remember the number, but quite a few number one qualifiers, the significant amount and still barely won the championship. 

"I had two crucial rounds in the Countdown. Had they gone the other way, we would've hoisted the trophy and secured our fifth world championship. So, it's a long year and it takes a lot of help from a lot of people to make it all happen. I feel like we definitely have something there."

And Enders, who admits she's conditioned herself not to get emotional, said winning No. 900 might qualify for an exception.

"You might see a little tear if the flash hits me right,"  Enders admitted. "I try my best not to cry. I'd rather you punch me in the mouth than me have to cry in front of the camera, but I am female and it does mean a lot to me. As I get older and just look back at the things that we've been able to do and accomplish, I've packed a whole lot of life into my 38 years and I'm thankful for that. I'm just going to keep enjoying it as long as the ride lasts." 

THE PRO STOCK PATCH? - Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, Ca., has long been known as a showcase facility for nitromethane racing for over a half-century. After last week's pre-Pomona test session, Pro Stock team owner Richard Freeman is all but ready to deem a new purpose for the facility best known for the March Meet, a Pro Stock facility. 

"Yeah, we made that a Pro Stock track," Freeman said with a smile. "Man, what a place. Blake Bowser and his group of guys are phenomenal. That track was awesome."

Freeman and his team elected to go to Bakersfield instead of Phoenix, largely due to new teams, a new program and the desire to pace themselves in the acclimation process. 

"It worked out well. I am so glad we went there," Freeman said. "We had three days of just a really good time and getting everybody in their place and ran well, we think. And excited.

Guys have been working really hard on power, we needed to work on the cars and it really couldn't have been better, I mean, we only made two runs when Erica's car, unload it, made two runs. Bo's car being brand new ran really well. TJ's car ... We all had all of our cars run within thousands.

“Blake Bowser and his team really did a great job for us.” 

UNCHARTED TERRITORY - The Quadra Family had their cars there as well. 

"They run really, really well and super excited for them to help them with their program," Freeman revealed. "We're embarking on something different; we're working with Frank Iaconio so we got two different motor programs and it's something nobody's ever done. And I think it's key to making Pro Stock and continuing to keep it growing."

Freeman confirmed Elite and the Quadras will be aligned, along with engine builder Frank Iaconio. 

The Quadras have purchased a shop in Oklahoma; one Freeman says it has been dubbed as El Shoppo. 

SIX IS NICE BUT ONE’S MORE FUN – Troy Coughlin Jr. finished a career-best sixth place in the 2021 Pro Stock standings. But he’s aiming much higher than that this season. The JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro driver said he has his sights trained on the championship.

But he said his strategy is “no real secret,” that he and his team “have to run at the top level, every member of the team needs to stay focused, and we need to be persistent and consistent every race weekend. That's all. You want to put yourself in the best position possible to have a chance at the end of the season.”

And a stellar performance at these Winternationals would lay the perfect foundation.

"We want to set a routine, starting right now at this weekend's race, where we create a winning attitude with a winning car. As a driver, I need to be as competitive as I can be without being too emotional. There's a long season ahead and there will be lots of twists and turns. It's up to me to find the right path and try to be at my best at all times," he said.

Coughlin Jr. advanced to the final round at the 2021 opener at Gainesville, Fla., was a  finalist at the 4-Wide Nationals at Charlotte, qualified No. 1 at Topeka, Kan., and pro-longed the title chase to the last race with a first-round upset of eventual champion Greg Anderson at the penultimate race, at Las Vegas.

"We can write our own story, just like last year," Coughlin said. "With crew chief Mark Ingersoll leading us, [car chief/co-engine builder] Kyle Bates at his side, Ricky Calloway on the clutch, and Kelly Murphy working the back-half, I have a ton of confidence in our capabilities. We're ready to get it all started and have some fun."

GO AHEAD AND MAKE MY DAY - Even though Aaron Stanfield, a third-generation drag racer, just turned 26-years old, he's perfectly fine being categorized as a young gun in Pro Stock. 

Stanfield raced his way to the second quickest elapsed time of Friday's qualifying, a 6.527-second elapsed time at 210.37 miles per hour. 

Stanfield knows his role. 

"The sport; it's going to take youth for it to carry on," Stanfield said. Definitely, I'm good with the young gun. I think I'm still young in my career and young in age, so."

Stanfield isn't sure when he will officially roll into veteranship. 

"That's a tough question there," Stanfield said. "I would have to say that I don't know. I don't think I can answer that one. I don't think I can answer that for myself. I can't classify myself as that."