Brittany Force’s co-crew chiefs David Grubnic and Mac Savage like to swing for the fence in qualifying.

The duo hit a home run Friday night as Force and the Flav-R-Pac Monster Energy team snared the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot at the Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals with a 3.694-second elapsed time at 329.42 mph.

Ron Capps’ 2021 trend of qualifying well continued Friday night at the Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals.

Capps, who drives the Pennzoil Synthetics/NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for Don Schumacher Racing, captured the provisional No. 1 spot with a 3.897-second elapsed time at 328.78 mph.

Pro Stock racer Matt Hartford came out of the gate swinging Friday night, as he drove the Total Seal Pro Stock Camaro to the provisional No. 1 spot at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, the ninth stop on the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. His 6.533, 209.92 pass was enough to edge Kyle Koretsky by .008.

"We thought we could probably go somewhere in the neighborhood of definitely low .54 maybe a mid .53," Hartford explained. "The car just transferred so well, and 60-foot was great. It transferred well, and the 6.533, I'd say we got all of it.

If anything, Friday's provisional No. 1 run for Andrew Hines was a personal victory in that, provisionally, he was able to throw a monkey wrench into Matt Smith's plans for total domination of the NHRA Sonoma Nationals. 

Hines ran a 6.761, 201.67 in Friday's lone session to edge the defending series champion Smith's 6.769. Smith didn't come away empty-handed as he secured a 203.28 top speed, the third-fastest in the history of the class. 

Ron Capps impressed under the lights on Friday at Sonoma Raceway, powering to the provisional No. 1 spot in Funny Car at the 33rd annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

Brittany Force (Top Fuel), Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also provisional No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the ninth race of the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season and the second of the famed three-race NHRA Western Swing.

Just the thought of what he was about to do Friday evening at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway made Mike Salinas' eyes well up with tears.

Friday evening, as qualifying kicked off for the ninth stop on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, there was a sense of pride for Salinas as his dragster rolled forward. The Top Fueler carried the livery of Travers Tools, the sponsor for the late Blaine Johnson, younger brother of his tuner Alan Johnson.

NHRA and Hot Wheels have been making history together since the 1970s when toymaker Mattel began sponsoring the race cars of NHRA legends Don "the Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen, and now NHRA fans have some new collectible diecasts to enjoy.

Dana and Diana Casto race a 1964 Ford two-door they rescued from a creek.

They forked over $200 to purchase the Falcon, winched it out of its resting -- rusting? -- place and hauled it home to the outskirts of (believe it or not) Ripley, W.Va. And that’s how a four-year restoration project began -- a mission that now finds Diana, a rookie drag racer, behind the wheel in Southeast Gassers Association competition.

“I told Diana we heard banjos about three miles before we got to the turnoff for their road, and then drove another five miles,” Dana said. “They had parked the car out of the way at some point, and I guess they kept parking it further and further away from the house because they had so many other ‘lawn treasures’ that they had to make room for, and it just ended up that it was in the creek. 

Former Top Dragster World Champion Tom Martino of Martino Motorsports fought through a tough field of PDRA Lucas Oil Elite Top Dragster competitors this past weekend at the 2021 PDRA Summer Shootout at Virginia Motorsports Park to bring home another victory for the City of Champions’ famed mantle in Youngstown, Ohio.

Even with tricky weather conditions and hot track temperatures dealt throughout the rare three-day event, Martino ran right on his dial-in three of his four rounds of Lucas Oil Elite Top Dragster eliminations taking out championship contenders Peter Maduri, Larry Roberts, Chase Beverly, and Nick Hamilton along the way.

Accident?

Oh, that.

That’s about how much Alexis De Joria dwells on her wall-banging crash five years ago this Aug. 1 at Sonoma Raceway that left her with a broken pelvis.

“I had an incident [when] I raced there in 2016,” she said, as though she vaguely remembered that her Funny Car made a violent left turn shortly after the launch and rammed the guard wall. “But that stuff happens. I don't even think about it. You just move on. You can't let that stuff bother you. Win, lose or crash, you have to put it behind you and move on to prepare for the next race.”