Past PDRA Extreme Pro Stock world champion Cary Goforth secured his second series title when he beat Jeff Dobbins in the final round. Both drivers ran identical 4.055s in the semifinals, but the final round would be decided on the starting line, as Dobbins left the line .007 too soon. Goforth was ready for a race, though, as he recorded low et of eliminations, a 4.051 at 177.95. 

Pineville, North Carolina-based logger Terry Leggett added a race win to his illustrious GALOT Motorsports Park history. Leggett, who was the low qualifier at the GALOT spring race, drove his screw-blown Leggett Logging & Trucking ’71 Mustang to a 3.548-second pass at 217.53 mph in the final round. His opponent, Mattias Wulcan, left before the tree activated. 

One year ago during qualifying for the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Funny Car driver Ron Capps’ NAPA Dodge sailed off the end of the track and into the sand trap deeper than he ever had gone in 19 years in the cockpit. It flipped into the catch net. One or both of the car’s extruding body latches became tangled in the net, and as he was suspended upside down in his seat, he said he feared a fire, despite the highly professional Safety Safari’s best rescue efforts.

“They couldn’t get those [latches] out of the net. They couldn’t pull me back, nor could they turn me over,” Capps said. “The bodies are latched so well on the front and the back that it stayed on the way it’s designed to stay on. Unfortunately, with our only way out [obstructed] and me being upside down, I was trapped. There’s no kicking a window out. There’s no unbuckling and trying to kick a side window out. The side window’s so small our helmet won’t fit.

Multi-time Australian Top Doorslammer champion John Zappia had quite the interesting run on Friday.

Team Liberty Racing’s Cory Reed and Angelle Sampey announced today that they will be taking time off the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing circuit to focus on their engine program and will return to Pro Stock Motorcycle competition at the end of October for the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
“We decided as a team to take a step back to regroup and get ready for next year,” Team owner and 2016 Rookie of the Year Cory Reed explained. “We have a lot of shop plans while we take this break. Our dyno is on the way and we’ve got a bunch of little things to do that we haven’t been able to do while on the road. It sucks not to race because we’re racers and that’s what we want to be doing but sitting out these next few races will benefit us in the long run.”

Greg Anderson turned some heads in the third qualifying session as he raced up to the No. 1 qualifying position Saturday night with 6.561-second time at 210.11 mph in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro.

That run left him in the No. 1 qualifying spot heading into Monday.

But, during his runs, he didn’t participate in the “Pro Stock Battle Of The Burnouts: Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em” initiative that was introduced by NHRA at the U.S. Nationals.