Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA New England Nationals from Epping, NH..
FORCE, TODD, ANDERSON PREVAIL; SPEED MARKS FALL IN TOP FUEL; DRAMA PLENTIFUL IN ALL PRO CLASSES
1 – SEMIFINAL SCARE FOR BECKMAN – Going against Spencer Hyde for a spot in the final round against J.R. Todd, John Force Racing’s Jack Beckman survived a sudden and serious crash just after the launch. His PEAK Chevrolet Camaro shook the tires, lurched left, and slammed hard into the opposite-lane wall closely behind Hyde. The right-rear tire popped off on impact, only one indication of the extensive damage to the car. Beckman stood atop the car and signaled to the crowd that he was unhurt. NHRA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Phil Surface released Beckman after examining him on site.
Beckman said, “It started to shake. I pedaled, and it was one of those deals where when these things shake violent enough, your vision kind of shuts down for a second. And as soon as I pedaled it just hooked left – and you’re a passenger at that point. I’ve seen a lot of those, and, clearly, I’d like a redo on that. And I wouldn’t have pedaled that way. But sometimes these things just do some really unpredictable stuff out there, and that was one of them.
“It’s a shame. That was a great race car, and that’s a lot of extra work for us, especially with our first back-to-back [races] of the year,” he said. “But we will unload our spare, which was last year’s race car, so we’ll be ready to go for Bristol [next weekend]. I mean, as a driver, this is the last thing that you want to do. And we had a car that could win the race. [We] struggled a little bit today, and that one, it kind of reared its head again and just lost traction. So, we’ll go to work.”
Beckman, the Chicago winner, was seeking his second straight victory. Had he won that semifinal round, he would have replaced JFR teammate Austin Prock as the points leader. Prock, the No. 1 qualifier, lost in the opening round to No. 16 starter Buddy Hull.
2 – KEEP AN ERASER HANDY – Top Fuel racers took turns resetting the New England Dragway speed record this weekend. They did it seven times, twice in the first round of eliminations Sunday and once in the semifinals. Winner of the scramble was Brittany Force. She topped Doug Kalitta’s 338.34-mph Sunday-morning performance just three pairings later, barely missing the 340-mph mark with her 339.87. She made up for that in her semifinal match against Kalitta with the second-fastest pass in NHRA history at 341.42 mph. Force had set the fastest clocking, 341.59 mph, in April at Charlotte – and she posted yet another 340 in the final round (340.39) in defeating Tony Stewart.
3 – FORCE BACK IN FORCE – Top Fuel points leader Tony Stewart was seeking his third victory in his fifth straight final-round appearance. But he knew that would be a tough task against Brittany Force, who twice during eliminations Sunday already had reset the track speed record and registered the second-fastest pass in Top Fuel history. “We’ve got our hands full here,” he said. Boy howdy. Stewart came within seven-thousandths of a second of halting her day’s domination, but she clocked yet another 340-mph blast to hold him off.
Cheering her on to win the specially designed buoy trophy from New England Dragway was her father, John Force. He claimed the most recent of his NHRA-leading 157 victories at this event one year ago and has been sidelined because of injuries he sustained last June 23 at the Richmond, Va., race. She said her second victory here – she won in 2017 – “is just a big one. His last win, the last time I stood in the winner circle with him, was here at this racetrack. So, coming into this racetrack, I wanted to win here for him. This win right here is dedicated to him.
“Everything he’s done over the last year, it’s been really tough,” she said, choking back emotion, “and we’re so proud of him. And I’m just happy to have him out here with me. I need him out here with me. He’s my biggest support system.” She thanked her Monster Energy team “for standing by us. I knew we’d get back to this winner circle. I’m so proud of all these guys. We got back to the winner circle here in Epping.”
The victory was the 18th of her career and tied her with the legendary Shirley Muldowney for most Top Fuel victories by a woman.
Stewart, who extended his points lead, said, “Brittany deserved to win the race. They threw down in the semifinals and made a pass that got them lane choice in the final, and that definitely helped them. We fell a little short in the final. Brittany and Grubnic [her crew chief, Dave Grubnic] did a great job today. It was impressive to see how great they ran. I was baffled by it, so it was cool to see big numbers like that and be part of it. We all want to win every time we go up there, but having two wins under our belt helped to soften the blow a little bit.”
4 – TODD’S FUNNY CAR WIN MEANINGFUL – Funny Car rookie Spencer Hyde and veteran J.R. Todd had a lot riding on their final-round duel.
For Hyde, it was the chance to make a statement for himself and for Jim Head Racing. After all, Head had said that this is the best team he has had in 45 years. And Hyde, with only 43 runs in the 2020 Ford Mustang, had used only his fifth start to knock off Matt Hagan in the opening round and reach his first Funny Car final.
Todd’s motivation ran even deeper emotionally. Not only did Todd want to rebound from Saturday’s significant engine explosion that kept his DHL Toyota Supra crew working into the wee hours of the morning to give him a new car for eliminations, he also wanted to honor the memory of fallen racer Scott Kalitta and toast new tuner Dickie Venables. The entire Kalitta Motorsports organization dedicated the weekend to remembering Scott Kalitta with a seafood spread, and salty and sentimental stories about the two-time Top Fuel champion.
Todd claimed his first victory in 448 days – since his Gatornationals triumph that opened the 2024 season 26 races ago. He more than made up for his team missing the annual Lobsterfest, and he even got to take home the “Lobster Lounger.” That’s the rocking chair made from lobster pots that was at the center of the fun and gimmicky “No. 1 ‘Clawifier’” contest during Friday night’s qualifying session.
“This whole weekend is about Scott, because we celebrate Scott in true Scott fashion,” co-crew chief Jon Oberhofer said. “We blew the thing up Saturday night, and even though we didn’t qualify No. 1, we still get [the chair]. Got everybody a lobster. It’s really important. The guys are just so badass here. They battled back. We started the thing up after that blow-up, and there was not one loose line, not a drip of oil, nothing. Everything was good. The guys did great all day. It’s just a pleasure to be here and finally win this race.”
Relaxing in the Lobster Lounger, cradling his Wally trophy, Todd – who had said drag racing will test one’s patience – said, “You want to talk about patience? I pretty much ran out on the starting line. I flinched probably three or four times and did everything but red-light. The tree comes on and I’m like, ‘Oh s—, I’m late.’ I never saw him. Next thing you know, I’m over by the wall and I ain’t lifting until the win light comes on. And sure enough, it came on. But this is for [Scott]. We had the celebration last night in Scott’s honor. There’s a handful of us in the lounge last night, telling some stories that can’t be repeated. And this one’s for him. I got to thank Connie [team owner Connie Kalitta] for giving me the chance to drive his car. And my guys, they’re the best in the business. I say that all the time, but I truly believe that I have the best crew out here. They dig deep and work their ass off, and they deserve this.”
5 – ANDERSON WINS CLASSIC PRO STOCK CLASH – Pro Stock-savvy New England Dragway fans saw a classic Erica Enders-Greg Anderson / Elite Motorsports-KB Titan Racing match-up: their 59th overall meeting and 12th in final rounds. He has made four finals in five Pro Stock class appearances this season, and he turned this one into his 109th victory.
Anderson set the elapsed-time record at the Epping, N.H., quarter-mile at 6.469 seconds in the HendrickCars.com Chevy Camaro in the final round. He also became the most successful NHRA Pro Stock racer at this facility with three victories, breaking a tie with Enders, who still is one victory away from her career milestone 50th.
Even though Enders was runner-up Sunday, she said her performance represented “a very important turnaround that Elite Motorsports needed” after watching Anderson and his KB Titan Racing team ruling all year. Dallas Glenn and Anderson have three victories apiece in the six Pro Stock races now in the books. But Anderson moved ahead of Glenn in the standings as the series heads to Bristol, Tenn., next weekend (June 6-8).
Amid the hoopla about his own achievements, Anderson gave credit to the Elite team: “They’re back in the game. That’s what this class is about. No one gives up.”
6 – PROCK STUMBLES – A string of improbable results marked Sunday at Epping, N.H., and reigning class champ and points leader Austin Prock’s first-round exit ranked among the most startling. Actually, it was his third opening-round defeat this season, but Prock said his loss to Buddy Hull left him “frustrated.” He said, “We all are. That was the last thing I was expecting, and I guarantee you that was the last thing my team was expecting. We don’t blow the tires off at the hit. I can’t tell you the last time it did that but got it to recover and it just wasn’t enough. So we’ll regroup and go to Bristol. But this stinks, for sure. We had a great race car this weekend. The weather conditions were falling into our favor to go to another final round, and we screwed it up. So it’s a shame for our partners.” Prock shifted his focus to Top Fuel teammate Brittany Force and Funny Car mate Jack Beckman, saying, “At least Brittany’s going on [to the quarterfinals]. Hopefully Jack can do the same for John Force Racing and carry the torch.”
Hull’s boss, “Big Jim” Dunn, knew his team had gotten lucky. Dunn said of Prock, “He made a mistake, and we profited from it.”
Meanwhile, Hull was less celebratory than usual. Instead, he was emotional, remembering Jim Livingston, the former Woodburn (Ore.) Dragway operator who passed away Friday. “I can’t cry here,” Hull said, calming himself. “That’s my wife’s grandpa, Jim Livingston. [In the] drag racing community, everybody knows him. He owned Woodburn Dragway up there in Oregon. So sorry … I get choked up. Anyway, God bless Jim.”
Quebec business mogul Dan Mercier, the No. 11 starter, started the surprises in just the second pro pairing of the day, knocking out No. 6 qualifier (and No. 2-ranked) Shawn Langdon.
7 – BREAK-OUT FOR BURKART – Headlining Dana Hard’s Northeast-based privateer Funny Car team, Phil Burkart capped a successful weekend with a first-round upset over fellow Northeasterner Bob Tasca III.
It was Burkart’s first round win in 16 years – since the 2009 Finals, when he advanced to the final round but lost to Robert Hight.
Burkart said his goal Sunday morning was “to get down through there, A to B, and just make a good, clean run out here [in this] first race with me in the car and all that.” He said, “All Dana Hard’s crew that they’ve put together … Mike Smith and Jay Lewis, they’ve done a great job and all the crew guys throughout the whole weekend. The car’s bolted together right. Makes my job easy.”
In the quarterfinals, the happy story ended. “The Hard Guys” 2018 Mustang had a hard time on the burnout, refusing to go in reverse. Even Dan Wilkerson, who had been eliminated, pitched in and pushed Burkart’s car back to the finish line and off the track, guaranteeing J.R. Todd a free pass into the semifinals.
8 – REMEMBER THAT, KIDS – Perhaps it was an omen. In the first round, a couple of hours before his semifinal accident, Funny Car ace Jack Beckman, the 2012 dispensed some advice: “Kids, if you want to grow up to be a Funny Car driver, some days it starts with the first three letters, and it is fun. There’s other days it starts with the first two letters.”
9 – ‘I’VE BEEN CORRADI’D BEFORE’ – Neal Strausbaugh might have earned a new nickname: “The Corradi’d Kid.” After dismissing current and four-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown and his tuner, Brian Corradi, in the semifinals, Tony Stewart’s crew chief indicated he wasn’t buying any of Corradi’s aw-shucks kind of talk. Strausbaugh said, “You never know racing Brian Corradi. He comes up here smiling about, ‘Oh, I don’t know if we can go down the racetrack in the left lane.’ But I’ve been ‘Corradi’d’ many times before in the past. So, great drag race. Just glad we ended up on the right side of it.”
10 – ENDERS MAKES STRIDES – Pro Stock’s Erica Enders, who secured her first victory with Elite and tuner Chase Freeman in 2017, had wanted so desperately for a number of reasons to win this event. It would have checked the box for her career 50th victory (counting her early-career Super Gas win). It would have delivered on her long road back to a final round. (“It feels like we haven’t been in a final in 27 years,” she said.) It would have been a terrific birthday present for crew chief Mark Ingersoll, who recently returned to the dragstrip after recovering from a double lung transplant. And it would have been her first victory of the season. She said, “We lose a lot of races we should win, and it rarely works out that you win when you shouldn’t.” While she was hoping for the latter, she nevertheless stepped up to break the streak of all-KB Titan final rounds.
