THE TEN: 2024 NHRA CAROLINA NATIONALS EDITION
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Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The NHRA Carolina Nationals in Concord, NC.
1 – BROWN FENDS OFF UPSET-MINDED FOLEY – Top Fuel’s Antron Brown took out both Torrences, Steve and Billy, for the first time since he won the 2021 Atlanta race. That, coupled with No. 1-ranked Justin Ashley’s second-round loss Sunday to Doug Foley, pushed Brown into the Top Fuel points lead with Countdown Race No. 3 of six starting just days from now in suburban St. Louis.
Brown earned his second straight victory, his fifth of the year, 79th overall, and fourth in the past seven races. That 63rd Top Fuel triumph, which follows his 16 in Pro Stock Motorcycle, moves Brown past Larry Dixon into second place behind Schumacher on the Top Fuel class’ all-time victories list.
In the final-round battle between the Nos. 10- and 12-qualified drivers, runner-up Foley put up a strong fight. Racing in his planned final appearance of the season, Foley posted a 3.86-second elapsed time that fell slightly short of Brown’s 3.84 on the zMAX Dragway 1,000-foot course.
Brian Corradi, Brown’s co-crew chief with Mark Oswald, said he knew that “if we get through [the first round], we can race this car.” And the Matco Tools Toyota dragster continued to win, giving Brown two wins in the first two events of the Countdown to the Championship.
“The job’s not done yet. We’ve got to keep marching, keep it rolling,” Brown said after inheriting the lead for the first time this season. “This is summertime racing, and you’ve got to be ready for anything. We had a rough day of qualifying on Friday, and then we got some runs that let us learn the racetrack on Saturday. And then today, this morning, we came out and just put our best foot forward, threw it out there, and we got that first-round win. And that's what started the transition where we're like, ‘Alright.’ They kept on picking on it, picking on it. We're learning, growing. And the good part is when you start making a car try to do the things you want to do and it starts responding, you're going to be a tough car to beat – and that's what Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald do really well.
“We just keep our head down, man, and we had a tough road,” Brown said. “And that’s one thing we always talk in our pit. We never quit. We never give up. You got to show up on race day. Stay humble and stay hungry.”
Foley is hungrier now more than ever after advancing to his second career final round – especially after eliminating class giants Tony Schumacher, Justin Ashley, and Clay Millican.
The Mooresville, N.C., resident experienced an engine explosion in his semifinal victory over former IHRA nemesis Millican but said he absolutely would be ready for the showdown. “Oh, we'll make it. I'm not worried about that. I mean, that's one thing great about drag racing: Even if you need help from another team, which I don't think we do, it's going to need one of everything. I can tell you maybe two of a couple things. I give all the glory to God. It's the only reason I'm here. And if anybody wants a blocker for the rest of the year, I'm available.”
Actually, Foley was incorrect about needing help to be prepared for the final. And he gladly accepted it from two teams his Foley & Lewis Racing team beat: Ashley’s and Schumacher’s teams, as well as from the Torrence/Capco team and the Salinas/Scrappers Racing outfit.
2 – PROCK TEAM ROLLS ON – Funny Car winner Austin Prock, fresh from a phone call with recuperating boss and drag-racing icon John Force, declared, “It's all good at John Force Racing” after recording his third consecutive victory, his seventh this season, and his 11th overall.
His takeaway from the conversation with Force was that “he sounds great. Love hearing from him. I know he is really proud of everything that's going on, and he thinks it's really cool that our family gets to work together and the success we've had.”
Prock, driver of the Cornwell Tools Chevy Camaro, said he has given away his last three Wally trophies.
“I don't have that many, as many as Force (who has 157), but there's a lot more important people that deserve these things than me. We got a great team behind us, and I just try not to mess it up. I just stab and steer,” he said. “This race car has won me a lot of rounds this year (42 of 51). I've just been trying my best. I've been more focused this year than I ever have in any category I've ever driven. I just feel so comfortable, and I love racing with my family. And I know how good this team is and how great it was when they told me I was going to get put in the seat. So I had high expectations for myself, because you don't want to be the guy that lets ’em down. I've done that a couple times this year, and it's the worst feeling in the world. They work so hard, and they study so much to produce the results that we have. I'm trying to put the same work in and just be a machine, so it's been working out.”
Despite his dominance in his first campaign in a Funny Car, Prock said he isn’t looking past the next three, or even four, races. “I just look at it one round at a time. The only way we're going to win this championship is if we're perfect every time we drag it up there [to the starting line]. So just one round at a time, and if we do that and everybody does their best, we'll be up on that [champions] stage. So, working hard. We're trying to get that 348-point lead back.” That was his advantage until the NHRA reset the points following the U.S. Nationals to launch the Countdown.
Matt Hagan was runner-up to Prock. He said, “It was a good weekend for JHG. We were trying really, really hard to get that guy [Jason Johnson] a win. Jason has been a loyal supporter of mine over the past few years, and especially at TSR. The win is coming. It’s just a matter of time with how hard this group works behind the scenes. I would have liked to have pulled the car in the winners circle, but we will get there.
“Overall, it was a good, healing moment for our guys. It’s been a minute since we had an opportunity to try and win one. I’m proud of my guys. They put a great race car underneath me. The car is responding to what they are asking it to do. It looks like we have a hot rod, so we will roll into St. Louis and see what we can do there.”
Hagan is in fourth place, 153 points off Prock’s pace.
3 – ‘GOT THE POINTS LEAD BACK – WOO-HOO!’ – Pro Stock winner Dallas Glenn put the brakes on Aaron Stanfield’s title run. Stanfield was starting to gain some traction, winning at Indianapolis and Reading, Pa., in impressive back-to-back victories and was hoping for a three-peat. But Glenn knocked aside reigning and six-time class champion Erica Enders in the semifinals to reach his class-best eighth final-round appearance. He emerged with his fourth victory. Afterward, he said, “Got the points lead back – woo-hoo!!”
Glenn said he and teammate Greg Anderson, who exited in the semifinal round Sunday, and Elite Motorsports headliners Enders and Stanfield are the Fab Four who are the most likely contenders for the 2024 crown with four races remaining.
“I think there's definitely four that are rising up to the challenge right now, and I don't think any one of the other groups seem to be trying to step up to match. So there's definitely a big four right now,” Glenn said. He noted that at both Reading and Charlotte, the top four in the standings qualified in the top four and advanced to the semifinals. “And I think it's probably going to continue. It's going to be a bloodbath.”
Glenn said he’s grateful to have this opportunity – and to see it continue. “I definitely knew I was capable of winning and trying to get a trophy, but being able to do that in four races is really tough. But these things are so much fun to drive. And I'm really, really happy that RAD Torque Systems decided to keep going and keep going and keep going. And everybody at KB Racing allowed me this opportunity and just everybody at the shop works their butts off on these engines constantly in the cars. So I really got to thank them. Without everybody at the shop, I definitely wouldn't be standing up here” on the winners podium.
“We're going to go [into St. Louis] with the momentum, and we're going to just try to keep doing what we're doing,” he said. “I'm hitting the tree good. I didn't drive the greatest today, but I felt like I was good on the tree all day. So if I can just keep doing that, try to drive as good as I can, I know these guys in the shop will give me the best car they can.”
Stanfield is second in the standings, followed by Enders and Anderson.
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4 – KING, N.C., NATIVE KING OF BIKE AGAIN – Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Matt Smith, of King, N.C., took a significant step Sunday toward an unprecedented seventh championship, defeating a red-lighting Richard Gadson in the final round to earn his 40th overall Wally statue and seize the points lead. It marks the first time since Smith claimed the championship in November 2022 that he has led the standings. It has been all Gaige Herrera’s to lose since then, but the Denso Buell owner-racer said, “We got a good bike this weekend. It’s a dream come true to win at your home track.”
Later, Smith said, “I want to get [Title No.] 7. I want to get seven. I want become the greatest of all time. And right now, I'm tied with Dave Schultz and Andrew Hines. If I can get seven, I'm not saying I will walk away, but I'm saying I do want to get seven. So that's my goal right now is push for the seven. Now we got a great team. We got four fast bikes (for his wife, Angie Smith, and their teammates John Hall and Jianna Evaristo), so hopefully we can still continue to do this.”
5 – UH, OOPS – Erica Enders is one victory away from her milestone 50th, and the most successful woman in all of motorsports said she can’t wait to get it behind her. She’ll have to haul that monkey on her back to St. Louis this weekend and hope to shake it off at the AAA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. She also wasn’t happy about how she lost Sunday, taking exception at opponent Dallas Glenn’s double-bulbing her at the starting line.
Glenn said it was accidental.
“I was just trying to get into pre-stage pretty deep, and I accidentally went a little too far. But if I did it on purpose, I would say I did it on purpose. But it was a hundred percent accident,” he said. “But I'll go with it, because it worked and I got lucky there. I think they shook a little bit, but I drove really terribly down track. I shifted very, very, very bad for me. Sorry about that, but, hey, I'll take ’em anyway I can get ’em. But it's a final round. We got Aaron Stanfield, who refuses to go down, so he's very tough. This is going to be a good race for the fans. I guarantee it.”
A disheartened Todd said, “Put ourselves in a hole first race out [at Reading]. You can't afford back-to-back early round losses, but that's kind of way our season's gone. Just not consistently going later rounds and qualifying at the top and putting ourselves in better positions. But either way, I mean, the guy’s .017 on the tree – you can't do s--- about that, so we'll go to St. Louis and try to qualify near the top and win the race. We're pretty much in a win-out position from here and got to have some help along the way.”
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“We’ve had success at St. Louis,” Torrence said, referring to his four victories in six final-round appearances and a 24-3 record there. "So, that’s good. I’m just glad we can go right back to racing and try to put this one behind us. [Sunday’s loss] really stung, because we ran a little quicker [than Brown]. I just didn’t get it done at the starting line, and Antron’s always really good on the lights.”
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9 – SUCCESSFUL DEBUT – Home-state hero Travis Harvey, filling in for Khalid al-Balooshi in the Bahrain 1 entry, captured the Pro Modified trophy, his first ever in NHRA competition in any class. Harvey said, “I just can’t believe it. I want to thank God for blessing me and keeping me safe, me and all the other racers.” Al-Baloshi is in second place in the standings, 19 points behind Ken Quartuccio.
10 – SPORTSMAN WINNERS – Joe C. Maynard (Top Alcohol Dragster), Sean Bellemeur (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Larry Pritchett (Comp Eliminator), Chad Taylor (Top Dragster), Ray Miller III (Super Comp), David Morris (Super Gas), Logan Belanger (Super Stock), Tim Barrett (Stock), Tyler Caheely (Top Sportsman).
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