Cory McClenathan knows how to win the NHRA ranks.

McClenathan has won 34 Top Fuel national events in 65 final rounds and qualified No. 1 an incredible 38 times. Yet he had not won since the 2010 season while driving for Don Schumacher Racing.

That changed on April 2.

McClenathan won the Legends Funny Car title over an eight-car field of Nostalgia Funny Cars at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

When you've been mentored as Daniel Wilkerson has, success becomes a natural byproduct. Along with sophomore Funny Car driver Chad Green, the second-generation tuner who sometimes makes cameo-driving appearances is a chip off the old block.

Wilkerson serves as Green's tuner and team manager, who, except for a Sunday snafu in Pomona, has been running and winning like a seasoned veteran team.

Saturday afternoon, while racing in the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca., Green drove to victory in the Funny Car portion of the race-within-a-race.

It was a simple exchange that happened almost like clockwork every evening at 6:30 PM EST or 30 minutes after quitting time in the Central time zone.

Rickie Smith's phone would ring, and on the other end of the conversation would be the same question, "What's for supper?"

Like the 5:10 Amtrak train rolling through town, Smith's friend, who happened to be his race car chassis builder, Jerry Bickel, would dial the King, NC-based drag racing champion's phone and make the all-important inquiry.

No, Bickel wasn't coming over for supper but knowing how important the meal is in the southern culture, he knew the importance of this piece of data.

Gary Densham will readily admit one thing. He’s a much better race car driver than a writer. But this didn’t stop the former school teacher from putting his so-called thinking cap on and pecking out a revelation on his computer.

Once he typed the title, WHY I LOVE DRAG RACING, it all began to flow with the intensity of a three-second nitro Funny Car run.

Chassis builder Jerry Bickel considers the 1969 Chevelle he built for Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson some of his shop’s finest work. It’s hard to argue the point with this Top Sportsman entry that recorded a 6.706 elapsed time at 206.54 miles per hour in the first outing at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals. 

“It’s been five years since I’ve raced, very happy with my car,” Snyder-Ellingson said, speaking to the media in Pomona, Ca. “Absolutely love it and really can’t wait till the next race. Beautiful machine by Jerry Bickel chassis and amazing paint. We can’t wait to see the car on track as often as is possible.”

This weekend was the first time Snyder-Ellingson had raced at the Pomona facility since her family’s In-N-Out Burgers brand had taken over as naming rights for the legendary Pomona Fairplex drag strip.

 Angelle Sampey’s seat on the Vance & Hines Suzuki has gone to Gatornationals winner Gaige Herrera this year. But she is Mission Foods’ ambassador for its new #2Fast 2Tasty Challenge, bestowing medals on the winners of the Saturday qualifying-bonus-race winners. But once the regular season is over, don’t be surprised if the three-time champion and all-time victories-by-women leader returns to the racetrack on a Pro Stock Motorcycle.
 
“I will be at all 12 Mission #2Fast 2Tasty NHRA Challenges. I’m going to be the spokesperson and the ambassador of that race,” Sampey said Friday. “So I am obligated to work the races and not compete on a motorcycle. So the 12 races that the challenge is at, I cannot race, but they have decided to let me compete in the Countdown races. So the six Countdown races, which we don’t have the challenge at, I’m free to do what I want.
  
“Of course, I’m already trying to put the feelers out there, put the word out that I would like to compete,” she said. “I think it would be a totally different thing for me. It would be racing on my own terms. Trying to win a championship would be off of the plate. So I think the pressure would be off of me. There’s always going to be pressure to want to win, because that’s just who I am. It’s human nature for me to be competitive.” 

Competition Plus’ Water-Cooler Topics From The Lucas Oil Winternationals

1. NEVER TOO EARLY TO THINK OF TITLE - Top Fuel winner Justin Ashley recognizes that the 2023 Top Fuel champion will be crowned here at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip – but not until November, not at this Winternationals appearance.
 
However, the class’ first two-time winner of the season said, “It is important to know the championship’s a long way (off), but it's important to start collecting points now, because you want to be in the best possible position once that Countdown starts. Goal No. 1 is to make the Countdown. Goal No. 2 is put yourself in a position to win the championship. And those points add up. The points that we accumulate now count just as much as the points that we accumulate in Indy before the Countdown starts. It's never too early to start thinking about the championship.

Now, that’s an encore.

A week after winning the Arizona Nationals, Justin Ashley qualified No. 1 at the Lucas Oil Winternationals, won the Mission 2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge on Saturday and won $10,000, and then capped things off Sunday by taking the title at the Winternationals.

Ashley clocked a 3.713-second elapsed time at 327.43 mph to defeat Austin Prock’s 3.762-second lap at 327.43 mph in the finals in Pomona, Calif.

Ashley left Pomona with his seventh career Top Fuel national event win, his third No. 1 qualifier, and his first 2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge victory, a new program that debuted in Phoenix.

Matt Hagan certainly didn’t look like he had the dominant nitro Funny Car heading into race day at the Lucas Oil Winternationals.

However, the Tony Stewart Racing driver found his grove on Sunday in his Dodge Direct Connect Charger SRT Hellcat.

By late Sunday afternoon, Hagan clocked a 3.967-second time at 328.06 mph to defeat reigning world champion Ron Capps’ 4.303-second lap in the finals at the In-N-Out Burger Pomona (Calif.) Dragstrip.