EVENT RESULTS EVENT NOTEBOOK POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL SPORTSMAN RESULTS

FRI. GALLERY SAT. GALLERY SUN GALLERY

 

 

SUNDAY

 

 

MIKE SALINAS MOVES INTO TOP FUEL POINTS LEAD WITH NORWALK VICTORY - Mike Salinas has showed signs of greatness in his Top Fuel career but now he’s showing he’s the best driver in the NHRA Camping World Drag Series.

Salinas won for the fourth time this season when he took the victory at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Sunday in Norwalk, Ohio and moved into the season points lead.

Salinas clocked a 3.706-second elapsed time at 333.58 mph in the finals to beat Josh Hart who clocked a 3.783-second elapsed time at 325.37 mph.

This was Salinas’ seventh win of his career, and he now has won races in Phoenix, Charlotte, Epping, and Norwalk.

Salinas beat Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta, Leah Pruitt, and Hart, after a rain delay, on Sunday during his victory parade.

“The team, (crew chief) Rob Flynn brought a calm to the team and what I really love about him is everybody on the team has a voice,” Salinas said. “They see things that he can’t see all the time so they will share things with him. After this win, he will have a sit down with all of them and ask them ‘What did we learn?’ ‘What did we see?’ ‘What can we do to improve?’ That’s what makes this team a real team. They have a say so. I think that is unprecedent and it makes everybody on the team feel like they are the crew chief. That’s what I like to see on the team.

“Today was a crazy day. I was happy to get through first round. We deal with things one at a time and try not get too far ahead of ourselves and make sure we are doing what we supposed to be doing.”

Salinas did address the doubters who would have never thought he would have won four of the first nine races of the 2022 season with Flynn as his crew chief.

“I spent a full day with Rob before we hired him,” Salinas said. “We went to the Nitro Revival and from Vegas we rode in the car, and we talked, and I already had a whole list of runs I had questions on. What amazed me is that I would ask him about a run from four years ago and he knew exactly what happened. He knew what the timing was, and he knew what everything was on the car. What most people don’t realize is he has like a photographic memory. He is pretty darn amazing. I looked at it like this guy is awesome. Everything I asked he had an answer for.”

Salinas, who owns his Scrapper Racing team, made his Top Fuel debut in 2011 and he won his first two races in 2019 and one last year. He became emotional when talking about the state of his team now.

“Basically, we have a lot of racing left,” Salinas said. “The media stuff can get a little cocky and a little crazy. That means stay humble and show them on the track. You don’t have to tell people how good you are. Just show them on the track. If we are holding the championship trophy that means we were meant to be here and earned the right to be out here. I have been working at this a lot of years, and I’m sorry I’m getting emotional, but you start to think how hard it was to get here.

“We earned the right to be up here. We belong here. It is a good thing because we have a great group, great team and I’m learning how to drive again. We are just having fun. My guys are going crazy because this has been there best year ever and they been in the sport a long time. It is really cool.” Tracy Renck

HIGHT FINALLY GETS HIS NORWALK WIN - Robert Hight has won a lot of races. He has won at a lot of different racetracks.

But the one blemish on an otherwise impressive resume that has spanned 57 victories over 17 years has been a win at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. That is, until Sunday.

Hight, a familiar face at the Bader family-owned facility in northern Ohio, having competed regularly at the national event and the annual Night Under Fire each year at the facility, finally collected the win he coveted most when he crossed the finish line first ahead of Bob Tasca Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.

“This is big. I’ve never won here. We come here just about every year and race the Night Under Fire which is their big match race. I look forward to it every year. It is amazing and it is so much fun to come here in front of all of these fans and I’ve won that thing a lot. But I’ve never been able to get it done at the national event. I’ve been in the final a few times, but never got it done,” Hight said. “Being able to cross this one off, this is big. To do it and get the points lead back? It is like, who would think coming here that you would have three wins and you wouldn’t be the points leader? It just shows you how tough this class is. Either way, this was a big day for us.”

Hight had to wait nearly three hours to check a win at Summit Motorsports Park off of his bucket list when a heavy downpour between the semifinal and final rounds delayed the championship tilt. But the shower and cooler temperatures played right into the hands of Hight and his John Force Racing team.

Hight earned his fourth win of the season, and the 57th of his career, in a tremendous final round matchup with Bob Tasca, who himself was looking for some redemption entering the weekend winless on the year. Hight got away first and ran a steady 3.944-second lap at 327.51 mph in his AAA Ohio Chevrolet Camaro, dispatching of Tasca and his 3.962 at 330.63 mph.

“The conditions kind of came to us. We didn’t have the best 130 degree racetrack car. When it gets a little cooler with the clouds, you are not going to beat Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham,” Hight said. “It actually cooled down in the semis. We ran our best run in the semis with an 89. The rain didn’t hurt anything, but the NHRA did such an amazing job getting this track ready to go and back up to speed for all of these cars.”

The win was not without some drama, however. While the team relished the opportunity to race on a cooler track in the final round, the wet conditions threw a bit of a curveball for Hight and his crew that they were forced to address prior to the deciding round.

“We had the engine together and we knew it was going to rain, but then we took it apart because the water went way up,” Hight said. “Jimmy wasn’t about to risk going up there and dropping a cylinder. If we wouldn’t have taken the heads off and changed the compression, that is exactly what we would have been fighting.”

Hight advanced to his 90th career final round, and his sixth final in 10 races this season, with wins over Jim Campbell, Alexis DeJoria and J.R. Todd. The former champion had strong showings in rounds one and two with a 3.903 and a 3.997 as his opponents ran into trouble, but a great side-by-side battle with Todd in the semifinal set the stage for Hight’s first Norwalk trophy.

Hight won that matchup with the quickest lap of eliminations - a 3.890 at 328.06 mph. Todd, driving his DHL Toyota Supra for Kalitta Motorsports, had an equally stout 3.916 at 329.75.

While he wasn’t victorious, Tasca’s final round visit was like a victory. With zero final rounds and back-to-back first round losses coming into this weekend’s event at Summit Motorsports Park, Tasca was looking for something - anything - to get his Ford Motorcraft-backed team back on track.

With his back against the wall, Tasca went three masterful rounds on race day ending with the close loss to Hight and his powerhouse John Force Racing team. Tasca faced the three winningest drivers this season in back-to-back-to-back rounds, winning two out of three. He collected round wins over Mike McIntire Jr., Matt Hagan and Ron Capps on the strength of bracket-like passes of 3.921, 3.941 and 3.933 respectively, before falling to Hight in the final.

After a busy week traveling with his family, Hight is excited to take this special Wally back home as he now prepares for one of his favorite times of the year - the famed Western Swing of tracks on the West Coast.

“I am so proud of this team. They have worked so hard. This shows that we are legit out here and that we are here to win,” Hight said. “We’ve got two weeks to get ready for Denver and go out there and try and sweep the swing and that is exactly what this Auto Club team is going to do. I’ve had so much fun this week being with my family on the road and I am not ready for it to end.”

With the win, Hight retakes the Funny Car points lead over Matt Hagan who was defeated in the second round. So as the veteran racer approaches the halfway point of the year, how does he grade his performance so far?

“I give our team an A for the first half of the season. We have done a great job. We have to get an A for the second half if we want to win a championship,” Hight said. “I only have a narrow points lead and we are not even halfway through the season yet. There are a lot of good cars and it is not going to get any easier from here forward. We just have to work harder and want it more than the rest of them. Hopefully we can come out on top.” Larry Crum

ENDERS WINS ELITE MOTORSPORTS TRILOGY FIGHT AT SUMMIT MOTORSPORTS PARK - In boxing, a trilogy fight is oftentimes considered the pinnacle of the sport.

Fighters get to know each other intimately over the course of multiple engagements. They learn each other’s tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. And, somehow, a trilogy seems particularly tidy.

On Sunday, Erica Enders impressed in a trilogy fight of her own, coming out on top as the veteran racer took two out of three from her Elite Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield in their third-straight final round matchup at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

“Aaron is awesome. I joke and say that the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree,” said Enders in reference to Stanfield’s father, former Pro Stock racer Greg Stanfield. “These guys are competitors through and through and I know exactly what he is capable of. We look at each other's runs, our crew chiefs work together up there. There are no weird games going on. Aaron is just awesome. He is hungry and he is a tremendous wheelman. He has had a really fast car at the beginning of this year and I am proud to have him as a teammate and get to race with him.”

After watching her shot at four-straight victories - quite literally - go up in smoke one week ago at Bristol Dragway when she had an engine let go in the final round, Enders got back to her winning ways on Sunday. In the trilogy bout, Enders got away first and drove to a 6.658-second pass at 207.15 mph behind the wheel of her Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro after a nearly three-hour rain delay between the semifinal and final rounds.

Stanfield, in his fifth final round of the season, earned the runner-up spot with a 6.658-second pass at 207.15 mph in his Janec Brother’s Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

Enders has now extended her points lead to nearly triple digits not even halfway through the season as she adds to what has arguably been one of her most dominating season starts to-date. And she doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of slowing, taking the pole, fastest lap of the weekend and the win with a backup motor after last weekend’s engine failure.

“I think we started off on the right foot in Pomona at the beginning of the year. We qualified on the pole and won the race. After we exploded in Bristol last week, the guys rallied and put in a new bullet that we have been hauling around with us as a backup and, as it turns out, she performed pretty flawlessly,” Enders said. “We mowed the scoreboard over on Friday night and threw up some pretty decent numbers on race day. I am really proud of my guys. They have worked so hard and put in some long hours and they deserve to reap all of the benefits. I attribute all of my success in the cockpit to them.

“This morning I said that if I have a mistake-free day we can end up in the winner’s circle and I feel like we did that.”

Enders collected her fifth Wally in six final round appearances this season. She also extended her round record to an impressive 23-3 on the year. Moments after climbing from her car, Enders was reflective of her journey from an afterthought on the tour to one of its most decorated drivers, earning her 38th career Pro Stock win in the close contest.

“You go back to the old days and you remember how long this journey has been. This is my 18th year in Pro Stock and I am sure some of the viewers are sick of this Melling Performance Chevy being parked in the winner’s circle,” Enders said. “But we went seven years winless. I drove for multiple teams and struggled to find money. But I finally have a home here at Elite Motorsports. These guys believe in me more than I do and I don’t have to question anything. As a driver, that clears my mind and it makes me a better driver. I cannot be more proud of these guys.”

Enders was once again the most dominating car on the property this weekend, sweeping nearly all benchmarks at the northern Ohio track. She solidly placed her Chevy on the pole position on Friday night with a 6.537-second pass - light years ahead of second place - and lit four win lights on Sunday in collecting her third win at Summit Motorsports Park. Enders also had wins at the track in 2021 and 2014.

“It always seems that wherever we have won the previous year we seem to do well the next year,” Enders said. “Winning here in Norwalk is significant to us for what the Bader family does for the sport. We love getting that ice cream scoop trophy.”

On Sunday, Enders had wins over Fernando Cuadra Jr., Matt Hartford and Deric Kramer to reach her 67th career final round.

Her 6.597-second pass in round one against Cuadra was the low elapsed time of race day. She also had easy wins over Hartford and Kramer, recording times of 6.635 and 6.611 to advance to her fifth final round in a row.

Stanfield had wins over Troy Coughlin Jr., Mason McGaha and Kyle Koretsky to reach his 11th career final round. He also had an exciting semifinal matchup against Koretsky as he almost threw away a shot at the finals when he smoked the tires at the hit, but his opponent lit the red light by .015. Stanfield limped across the finish line with a unique winning time of 16.957 seconds at 49 mph.

Prior to the season, Enders said that she set a goal for herself to win five races this year and, after Sunday’s victory, now has five wins with more than half of the season remaining. Can she record double digit wins this year?

“If the trend continues, it is definitely possible,” a confident Enders said. “We had a crazy awesome year in 2015 where we had nine wins and 11 final round appearances and locked up the championship in Las Vegas. We still have a lot of racing left to do, and there are a lot of really fast hot rods, but I think we have thoroughly pissed off the rest of the class this weekend.

“They are going to go and get back to work, but so are we. Just because we are a couple hundredths ahead right now doesn’t mean that we are going to go kick our feet up and sit on the beach.” Larry Crum

ANGELLE SAMPEY GETS HER FIRST PSM OF SEASON IN NORWALK - Angelle Sampey knows how to win.

Sampey is a three-time Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion – 2000-2002 and she found her way back to the winner’s circle Sunday.

Sampey, on her Vance & Hines Suzuki, clocked a 6.861-second elapsed time at 197.13 mph in the finals to defeat Joey Gladstone who came in with a 6.928-second lap at 194.60 mph at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Sunday in Norwalk, Ohio.

This was Sampey’s 46th career victory adding to her legacy as the winningest female in the sport. Sampey defeated Ron Tornow, Matt Smith, Jerry Savoie, who beat her in the finals in Bristol, Tenn., June 26, and then Gladstone in the finals.

“The internal battle I was going through since last week was huge,” Sampey said. “I threw it away. I gave it to Jerry. I knew I had and I let it slip through my fingers. So, starting Monday I started thinking how to prepare for this race (in Norwalk). Starting on Friday, I started to dig deep. I’m going to be honest with you and tell you that 20 years ago I would have never to do what I had to do mentally this weekend. Twenty years ago, no one could beat me. In my head, I just couldn’t be beat. It seems like my biggest competitor these days is myself.

“I’m going to cry. I thought I had figured this out. I had to figure out how to stop beating myself. Friday morning, I started working on a few things and it was a lot of work. I had to pull out everybody of faith in my team and myself and the Lord and I did it one round at a time. I made a couple of little mistakes along the way and I came out on top. I give God all the glory. I prayed really hard all weekend. I really did have to put a lot of trust in my Vance & Hines Mission Suzuki team, Andrew (Hines) and myself.”

Sampey acknowledged capturing a Wally these days in NHRA is not like it used to be.

“It is so hard to do that these days,” Sampey said. “Erica (Enders) is like making it look so easy. I’m following her these days. Follow her coolness and her calmness. That fire breathing dragon she is now. I’m trying to find that in myself like I had it 20 years ago.”

With her 46th Pro Stock Motorcycle career win, Sampey passed the late great Dave Schultz. Shultz won six Pro Stock Motorcycle world titles and won 45 national events.

“That was the only goal I had not achieved in my whole career, and I did that today,” Sampey said fighting back tears. “Of course I wanted to the winningest Pro Stock Motorcycle racer and I’m still trying to reach that, but Andrew (Hines) I have said a million times, that goal is kind of far out of my reach. I don’t know how much time I have left in my career to beat what Andrew has done, but Dave Schultz was the G.O.A.T. and to pass him up after 25 years of trying is pretty special for me.”

Hines leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle victory list at 56.

“It is very hard,” Sampey said. “There is a lot going on with a Pro Stock Motorcycle from the starting line to the finish line. We are shifting six gears in under five seconds. It very rarely takes off the way you want it and when you have a crosswind like that and coming off what happened in first round, I crossed over into Ron’s lane after the finish line and he flew by me so close it really, really scared me.

“My life flashed before my eyes right there and I just knew I had to do something better. I had to figure out how to get down that track and fortunately Andrew was so awesome at reading my body language on the motorcycle. We watched the videos, and he can do it without me even talking to him. That was where the mental part came in and I had to trust him and trust the bike and trust my ability to get it down there.”

Sampey is second in the points standings, 52 points behind leader Steve Johnson. Tracy Renck

SATURDAY

GET YOUR ICE CREAM! - The Indianapolis 500 may have the milk, but the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals has the ice cream.

A tradition at Summit Motorsports Park for decades, the now-famous pound of ice cream for a dollar has had fans from around the country flocking to the track during national event weekends. To accompany that tradition, a few years ago the facility added a special trophy to forever memorialize a unique tradition in the sport.

Winners at Summit Motorsports Park receive a special billet ice cream scoop, symbolic of the popular ice cream served at the track, in addition to a Wally trophy from the NHRA.

And the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series driver with the most ice cream scoop trophies? None other than four-time Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence. Torrence has won three of the last four races at Summit Motorsports Park and, if he can win again this weekend, will tie Andrew Hines for the most wins all-time at the facility in the professional categories.

“It is just a great place to race. We have had a lot of success here and the whole Bader family just puts on a spectacular show for all of the fans. It is icing on the cake, or in this case, ice cream on the cake,” Torrence said with a laugh. “Having the opportunity to win that big ice cream scoop in addition to a Wally is a great tradition, and we have been fortunate enough to do it three times.”

Just for the record, the ice cream of choice for Torrence when visiting the track? “I am a simple chocolate and vanilla guy,” he said.

While Torrence has won three of the last four here, the Texan is on an uncharacteristic slump behind the wheel of his Capco Contractors dragster, failing to win a race this deep into the season for the first time since 2015.

“We’ve been working on some stuff and some would say that we are struggling, some would say that we are trying to figure it out,” Torrence said. “It is showing promise and we are working toward (success). It is not missing a piece. We’ve got the same consistent racecar that we’ve had for the past five years, at this point we are just trying to make it better.”

Thanks to those three wins here, he has as much confidence as anyone based on the success he has enjoyed here in the past.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to win at all of the racetracks on the circuit, so it gives you some confidence going into it,” Torrence said. “But when you’ve had the success we’ve had here in Norwalk, it definitely builds that confidence anymore.”

TSR VS. DSR - Matt Hagan has raced for two individuals during his 13-year career with the National Hot Rod Association. Don Schumacher and Tony Stewart.

That is not a bad group of guys to have had as your boss.

Both are motorsport legends, though in different arenas within the sport. Schumacher is an NHRA national event-winning driver and was previously owner of the largest and most dominating multi-car racing team within the NHRA. Stewart, on the other hand, is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Earlier this year, their two worlds collided when Stewart announced that he was trying his hand in the straight-line game by becoming a multi-car team owner himself, tagging Leah Pruett in Top Fuel and Hagan in Funny Car as his drivers.

While it is not lost on Hagan that he has now had an opportunity to compete for two iconic team owners, the differences between the two teams to this point is night and day and one that completely took Hagan by surprise.

“Tony is so hands-on and the energy that he brings to the table is tremendous. It is not so serious. You would think Tony would be super serious about everything, but he is kind of turning it into a fun thing more than anything,” Hagan said. “You can see it in your crew chief and you see it in your crew guys. There is no bad blood with Schumacher and I am not knocking anything that I accomplished over there, I enjoyed driving his race car. We won three championships and got more trophies than I can put on the wall. But at the end of the day, it was about keeping my core guys together and being able to bring them over here with TSR. They wanted to make a move so we made a move along with our sponsors. And the results have spoken for themselves.”

When Hagan says that the atmosphere is loose within the pit area of his Dodge Power Brokers team, he is not exaggerating. One stop by the trailer and you will find team members cutting up, having fun and even playing a few games. It is in stark contrast to the business-first approach that Hagan was previously accustomed to.

“Tony is up in the trailer and they have a power ranking for who whips towels the hardest,” Hagan said with a laugh. “He comes out and his arms are black and blue. You don’t expect that from a guy that has accomplished so much. I think that he sees how team camaraderie is a big part of what we do. Making these guys feel good and secure about what we are doing is important. And then we go out and we have one common goal together, and that is to win races.”

While Hagan will admit that things are certainly less intense than they were at Don Schumacher Racing, that doesn’t mean that the drive for perfection is any less prevalent. In fact, he says that the drive to win may be even stronger. That is evident in the success the team has already enjoyed, visiting six final rounds in nine races with three trophies at Gainesville, Houston and Epping.

“You come into work bouncing around and goofing off a little bit, but when you pull down the straps in the race car you know what is at stake and how serious it is. Just look at how much money it costs to be out here. At any one race these sponsors are spending from $130,000 to $150,000 and you realize that is someone’s home around these parts, so you do take it very seriously. As much fun as it is to goof off and cut it up, at the end of the day when you put your mouthpiece in you have a job to do and I think that is what is expected of us.

“Tony knows what we are capable of, he has seen it,” Hagan explained. “I think that is why he wanted to bring this team over. We have a real opportunity to run for a championship this year. I think we can win eight or more races this year. We have already won three and I think we can win another three and maybe two or three in the Countdown. That is our mentality and that is what we are trying to do.”

Of course Hagan would not be in the position he is in today without an incredible team around him, a realization that was not lost on the three-time world champion when he did everything in his power to keep the band together during a tough past two years. As the Covid-19 pandemic ravished the country financially, Hagan made a promise to his team during the shortened 2020 season that helped keep them together. Now, they are in the best position imaginable as the newest and hottest team on the NHRA tour.

“I felt like we did a good job keeping our four guys together - Mike (Knudsen), Dickie (Venables), Alex Conway and myself. People don’t know this because I don’t talk about it much, but back when we won the championship during Covid, my guys were taking pay cuts and things were tough and I gave my bonus to keep my guys here, that is how much they mean to me,” Hagan said. “I told my guys, ‘don’t quit on me, stay with me and if we win this thing I’ll give you whatever I win as far as bonus money’ and I did. I was never going to make a move if my guys didn’t want to make a move too. It was a group effort to decide to come over this way.”

While Hagan’s three wins and championship lead in the Funny Car class is a testament to that team-first attitude, Hagan still has a hard time believing that he was hand-selected by Stewart to drive one of his cars in the team’s inaugural season. Though having a NASCAR hall-of-famer has certainly taken some of the pressure off when it comes to signing autographs.

“Everybody wants to get his autograph, so that does take some of the pressure off of me,” Hagan said. “I feel very honored to be here. Tony could have picked a bunch of different drivers to drive for him and here I am. It says a lot about his thoughts toward me as a wheelman and our team we have built here together.”

 

 

VIDEO GAMES, NEW TEAMS AND A SPONSOR SIMULATOR: A FEW GOOD MINUTES WITH ANTRON BROWN - The last time the National Hot Rod Association debuted a video game for the masses, Antron Brown was competing on a Pro Stock Motorcycle.

That was nearly 15 years ago.

Brown was in that game, titled, “NHRA: Countdown to the Championship” and still remembers the excitement of being a part of a game that touched fans around the world and brought them closer than ever to the sport of drag racing.

“I remember back when we ran the bikes and they did it, I think the coolest part was that people who could race against you and truly felt they could compete against you,” Brown said. “And maybe they could.”

Last weekend, the NHRA announced that it would return in video game form with the release of “NHRA: Speed for All” on August 26 on all major game platforms. And Brown is excited to once again be able to share the experience with fans who will have an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of drag racing including how to tune cars, stage and make a competitive run.

“This new game coming out has been a long time coming,” Brown said. “I think that it is really going to help capture a lot of the younger audience even more and bring new eyes to the sport. You have some kids in school that are Junior Dragster racers who are going to be telling their friends to play the game and do what they do. It is interactive, which is the coolest part about the sport. We can bring them in to what we do, in the pits and now in a game, and give them a little piece of what we do on a daily basis, from the tuning aspect, to how to build a career, how to hunt for sponsorships and how to win.”

While a video game about drag racing will certainly help bring in new fans by putting them in the shoes of real NHRA superstars, Brown suggested taking it a step farther by truly showing fans what it is like to be a driver - adding in a sponsor simulator.

“I joked that in the career mode they need to put it in the game where you have to go out and chase sponsorships and how to do it. How you have to put together your own portfolio, put together your own resume, and put together your own PowerPoint presentation and pitch. That is how you get sponsors in the game,” Brown joked. “Then they would have all aspects of it and show them what we do. Honestly, I do think this game is going to help grow our sport.”

A game about speed and winning? Of course. A game about PowerPoints and sponsor pitches? Maybe not.

Away from the virtual world, Brown is in the midst of the biggest challenge of his racing career as he navigates life as an independent team. The three-time Top Fuel champion broke from Don Schumacher Racing at the end of last season with the blessing and plenty of advice from his former boss.

It is not an entirely new concept for Brown, who helped manage the ins-and-outs of the Pro Stock Motorcycle program for DSR many years ago, but outside challenges have thrown a few wrenches into the plans - namely a worldwide pandemic, which delayed Brown’s new team by a full year.

“A lot of people don’t realize that, for a lot of years, I ran a lot of the team ops wherever I was at. Even when I ran the Pro Stock bike team. I owned my own team for two years and then I helped run the Pro Stock Motorcycle operation when we were at Schumacher Racing,” Brown said. “So I am comfortable with that part of this deal. What caught us off guard is that we are in different times now. We went through Covid, all of the Covid protocols and the fact that it all shut the country down.

“This is three years in the making. I went through Covid trying to do this. It set our plans back for over a year. This wasn’t supposed to happen in 2022, it was supposed to happen in 2021. And with that, a lot of things caught us off guard. The supply chain and not being able to get parts, not being able to do certain things we wanted to do, it made us structure and plan differently. Thank God for all of our partners that stuck with us and Don Schumacher for being gracious to keep us going for another year. We had to weather the storm and it made us stronger in a lot of areas that we never knew we were weak in.

“It makes you understand how to evolve and adapt to all kinds of different situations. You are either going to fail or you are going to stumble and get through and we have done plenty of both. It has helped me start getting comfortable in these circumstances.”

The other big challenge for Brown and his team is learning how to lose graciously. A 68-time winner in NHRA competition, Brown has been humbled by the start to this season that has seen only five round wins in nine races, a DNQ and zero final round appearances. But after a trip to the semifinals one week ago in Bristol, Brown feels he is starting to turn the corner and said he is focusing on getting things right in time for the U.S. Nationals in August.

“Right now we are starting to turn the corner. We struggled in the beginning of the year and, by struggling, I mean all of the new stuff, the normal stuff,” Brown said. “When you start from scratch with brand new everything it is a challenge. It is not like we have been trying to race, we have been trying to test. We have essentially been testing for the last seven races to land on something that we like. This year we have really only had two races with the same combination on our car. Now we are landing on where we want to be and now we are going to start polishing.

“Our main focus is to get ready and have our stuff hopefully tried and true by the time we race the U.S. Nationals and then we can run for the Countdown to the Championship.”

 

A LOT OF LAPS - A lot of drivers have turned a lot of laps at Summit Motorsports Park over the years.

Names like four-time event champion Andrew Hines, three-time winner Greg Anderson and 2014 national event winner and multi-time Night Under Fire participant John Force might be first to come to mind, but it is actually a driver that doesn’t have a win at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals that might actually have that distinction.

Clay Millican’s history with the crown jewel race track in northern Ohio actually predates the 2007 NHRA debut of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. While Millican was at that inaugural race, placing his Top Fueler second on the ladder before falling in round one to Hillary Will, Millican had already racked up several trophies at the facility dating back to his days as a multi-time IHRA champion when the Norwalk, Ohio, facility was the flagship track for the series.

In fact, Millican counts among his most prized possessions a 2005 trophy from the IHRA World Nationals, a day where he upset NHRA competitor Cory McClenathan in the final round.

In those days, NHRA drivers would regularly invade IHRA races and try their hand at racing against the likes of Millican, Bruce Litton, Bobby Lagana Jr. and others. And the race at Summit Motorsports Park was one of the tracks that attracted a lot of attention from NHRA competitors.

While McClenathan had the quicker car that day as the No. 1 qualifier, it was Millican that came away with the trophy with a 4.752 to a 4.901 in the quarter-mile final.

“One of my favorite wins was here in 2005. There was a lot of chatter leading up to the World Nationals that year that Cory Mac was coming and they were going to kick our butt. That was a big deal and we ended up racing him in the final and we won,” an excited Millican said. “It is crazy thinking back on that now. Those memories are huge. Being able to win that race was massive against Cory Mac and the Fram boys, obviously there was a little bit of IHRA history there. But there have been so many memories even dating back before Top Fuel. My first IHRA national event final round was here in Modified Eliminator and I soundly got my butt kicked by Anthony Bertozzi.

“The memories here are incredible. I have made a lot of runs and won a lot here. This track is special and the Bader family is special. Bill Bader Sr. had a lot to do with who I am as a driver today.”

Because of that history with this facility, Millican is especially glad to be back racing this year after two years away from the track. There was no race held here in 2020 due to the pandemic and 2021 was marred by a scary incident when Millican became dizzy in the car during the first qualifying session and was forced to relinquish his ride for the weekend to Austin Prock. Millican was later diagnosed with a deep ear infection.

When Millican made his first pass of the day on Friday, he admitted he had some nerves when he hit the throttle as the memories of last year came flooding back. Once the pass was behind him, Millican was just glad to be back in action at the facility he holds in such high regards as he tries to add a coveted NHRA trophy from the track to his collection.

“To tell you the truth, I had a ton of anxiety on that run. A lot of people out here, their ego wouldn’t allow them to say that. We are supposed to be tough race car drivers, but the moment I got in the car all I could think about was what happened last year,” Millican explained. “I always have butterflies on the first qualifying run, but I had pterodactyls (Friday) because of what happened the last time I was here. I don’t drink at all, but I know why you can’t drink and drive now. I felt like I was drunk. Essentially my equilibrium was out the window the moment I stomped on the loud pedal. I think just years of making runs in these things was pure instinct because I was as dizzy as dizzy could be. Luckily, I shut the car off and everything was fine.

“Afterwards, emotionally, it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do as a driver, coming back and telling everybody on this race team that I can’t drive this car. I’ve driven with stitches. I’ve driven with broken bones. I’ve even driven back in the IHRA days with an IV bag from being dehydrated. That run (Friday) was huge. It was huge for me to get that behind me at a race track that I have been so successful at.”

‘I LIVE MY LIFE A QUARTER-MILE AT A TIME’ - For more than 50 years, races in all categories within the National Hot Rod Association were run at a standard distance of 1,320 feet, also known as a quarter-mile.

It was as ingrained in the hearts and minds of drag racers and drag racing fans as anything else in the sport. There were songs about it. Books about it. And then, one day, an accident changed everything.

Only July 2, 2008, following the death of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta, the NHRA announced that race distances for the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes would temporarily be reduced to 1,000 feet from the traditional quarter-mile. The measure was intended to be temporary while safety solutions were explored; however, the races have remained at 1,000 feet since Kalitta’s death.

What many don’t know was that the final quarter-mile race ever held in the nitro categories of the NHRA took place right here at Summit Motorsports Park in the summer of 2008. In that race, Doug Herbert and Tony Pedregon would go down in the record books as the final quarter-mile nitro champions in NHRA competition. Two weeks later in Denver, Colorado, the sport was changed forever.

On the other side of that Funny Car final against Pedregon was none other than Robert Hight, who will forever be remembered in random NHRA trivia as a finalist at the final quarter-mile nitro race to-date.

“I remember thinking that weekend, ‘are we going to know that we need to drive it to 1,000 feet? Are we going to be able to see it? Are we going to screw up and drive to the quarter-mile? Really what I remember the most from that weekend was that I came out on the wrong end of that final,’” Hight said. “I was for it because, to slow us down, there would have been a lot of restrictions and I think that would have been really costly to the team. I think it was needed and I don’t think we would be where we are today if we hadn’t done that. It was a good thing.”

Amazingly, nitro cars today are running even faster in 1,000 feet than they were at the quarter-mile distance, but that little bit of extra track to slow the cars down has helped make the sport a little bit safer for the drivers.

While Hight doesn’t dwell too much on the thought of quarter-mile racing these days, one thing that does stand out in his mind from that fateful day was just how close he came to picking up a coveted Wally trophy from Summit Motorsports Park, one of the few tracks on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series tour that Hight does not currently possess a win.

“We have won a lot of races here at the match races during the Night of Fire, but we have never won a national event,” Hight said. “I really want to get this one and check it off the bucket list.”

FIRST ROUND MADNESS - There are two very juicy matchups on tap for the first round eliminations Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. The first is Austin Prock vs. Clay Millican in a showdown of two drivers that have a little bit of history at the track.

When Millican was forced to miss this race one year ago due to illness, Prock filled in and drove Millican’s dragster all the way to the semifinals. One year later, the pair are matched up on the ladder.

The second showdown needs little in the way of a setup - Steve Torrence will battle his father Billy Torrence in round one. It will be the first time the father-son duo will square off head-to-head on the strip this season.

THE FAST MOTOR - Before coming to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals this weekend, Eddie Krawiec’s son asked him if he had the “fast motor” in the bike this weekend.

As it turns out, he did.

Krawiec earned the 50th top qualifier award of his career Saturday at Summit Motorsports Park, driving his Vance & Hines Suzuki to the top spot during Q3. Krawiec leapt from sixth after Friday’s session up to first with a 6.798-second pass at 199.17 mph in the heat.

“My little boy just loves this stuff and he called it this weekend,” Krawiec said. “Everybody back at the shop that is working on this stuff, they are the reason we were able to get this done. We struggled during the early part of the year trying to find a tuneup on the Suzuki and for me to get this, shows I can ride this thing. Now I just have to roll into tomorrow and turn on four win lights.”

Krawiec’s previous best qualifying effort this season was third back in Houston, but he was steadily falling down the order until Saturday’s blistering pass. He will face Jianna Evaristo in round one on Sunday.

A SHINY NEW COAT OF PAINT - Drag racing is expensive.

Tires. Fuel. Parts. Travel. It can all add up in a hurry and that point is magnified by thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, for competitors in the professional ranks of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.

Some drivers have wealthy team owners that help offset those costs. Others have large, corporate sponsors that help foot the bill. And then there is a small breed of drivers that compete race-to-race on support of smaller sponsors that help bring in just enough to keep the tires turning and the nitro burning. They use their grit and determination to sell themselves to potential sponsors, hoping to scrape together just enough for a new blower, a fresh clutch and other parts and pieces to help make their car more competitive.

One perfect example of the prototypical journeyman driver, the kind of driver that helped pave the way for the megateams of the sport today, is Krista Baldwin. Baldwin is the granddaughter of legendary nitro racer Chris Karamesines and, at just 28 years of age, Baldwin is competing with the titans of the sport in her grandfather’s dragster, making the best of what she has on the biggest stage in the sport. It is not an easy task, but it is a challenge she enjoys.

“The biggest thing is trying to show people that this program does have the potential to go up there and win these rounds and get the notoriety that you need, especially this weekend during a live Fox broadcast,” Baldwin said. “Anytime we have new sponsors come onboard it means so much. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to buy the parts I needed for this weekend. I am very grateful for everyone that believes in what we are doing out here.”

At the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Baldwin is welcoming a new company as primary sponsor on her nitro rail, IT consulting company IGTG. IGTG is a nationwide architect-level IT consulting company. They join Mainline Sales and Breen Engineering on the roster of associate sponsors on her machine.

While a new sponsor may not be earth-shaking news in the grand scheme of the sport, it is new sponsors like IGTG that allows Baldwin to turn another lap, and in the case of this weekend, buy the parts needed to post quicker and faster times.

“After Charlotte we knew that we needed to make this program better, so our team put our heads together and we are making some changes in the clutch, we put some new heads on it, put a new blower on it and got a new fuel pump. So far all of that is coming together,” Baldwin said. “I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings and it is all possible thanks to these sponsors that believe in me and this team.”

After making her Top Fuel debut last year in Gainesville, Baldwin won her first career round at Charlotte later that year in the four-wide format alongside Antron Brown. This year, Baldwin has made two starts, falling in the first round at Gainesville and failing to qualify for Charlotte.

But that one round win less than a dozen races into her Top Fuel career meant the world to her and the team and has set the stage for what she hopes are many more to come. And to get to do this alongside the same drivers that she grew up idolizing just makes the experience that much more special.

“To lineup against people that I have watched my entire life is absolutely outstanding,” an excited Baldwin said. “One of the coolest moments was last year at Charlotte. The first person to come over and congratulate me was Doug Kalitta. I told him I used to like him when I was a kid. It was wild. I love the sport and I love every competitor out here. And I just love driving this car. I am going to try my hardest to do the best that I can.”

Unfortunately, Baldwin was not able to turn those new parts into success during qualifying as she failed to qualify on Saturday, placing her dragster 21st of the 21 Top Fuelers on the property.

JUST IN - With a strong 21 Top Fuelers on the property this weekend, Kyle Wurtzel earned the distinction of being the final competitor to race on Sunday, earning the final spot in the field when he placed his nitro-burning rail 16th on the ladder with a 3.900 at 295.01 mph.

AVOIDING BOREDOM - Erica Enders has won a lot.

She has four world championships. She has 37 career wins. She has 400 round wins.

And this year, she might be having her best start yet. The 38-year-old driver from Houston, Texas, has four wins and five finals in seven total races. She has a commanding points lead. And this weekend, she has already spanked the competition in qualifying.

So how does a driver of her skill and stature stay motivated when nearly every run is routine, and more often than not, another win?

“The motivation part is easy because it is all that matters to me. That is all that I want to do is just be great at this job,” a confident Enders said. “I never have a problem with motivation. My guys have worked really hard to be on top and to stay on top and, while we always give credit to the engine department, the guys in the race car shop work equally as hard with my Rick Jones chassis. My motivation is them. I love what I do and I do this for my team.”

As scary as it might seem, Enders’ motivation may be even stronger in 2022. After undergoing surgery on her arm in the offseason, it looked like she might miss the first race of the season in Pomona, California, leaving her behind the eight ball to start the year. When she got the green light to compete at the Winternationals, she vowed to never take for granted again an opportunity to get behind the wheel - a scary thought for her competition.

“I said this year when I came back after surgery on my arm in the offseason, when I wasn’t sure I was going to get to drive in Pomona, I said I am going to make every round count,” Enders explained. “That is the mentality that I should always have. I wanted to come out this year swinging because you never know when it might be your last. I just want to make it all count.”

While much of this season has been routine, there was nothing routine about last weekend’s final round matchup with teammate Aaron Stanfield. In that final both Elite Motorsports competitors shook the tires and tried to get back in the throttle, but moments after getting things straightened out the engine on Enders’ Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro let go, filling the track - and the inside of her car - with smoke. Stanfield went on to collect the win.

After getting the car stopped, Enders escaped the machine under her own power, but it was a scary incident for the four-time champ and one that quickly reminded her of another smoke-filled ride she took here at Summit Motorsports Park a few years prior when her Pro Mod caught fire during the run.

“When I unclutched it we shook just like Aaron shook. He aborted the run and I pulled second and made it through. That is when the engine let go in third gear,” Enders said. “I did not see Aaron next to me, but I had no more go-go juice, the rods were hanging out of it and then the car started to fill up with smoke. I thought I am just going to coast and stop when I can because I wanted to get there first, but it got really dense in there and I wasn’t able to breathe or see anymore so I stopped as quickly as possible just past the finish line.

“It is just one of those deals. When you go through something like that, first and foremost, you want to be safe and keep your equipment intact. When the engine let go I did the best I could with what I had. I didn’t get the win, but I saved the car. It reminded me of my Pro Mod fire here a couple of years ago. Fortunately for me, it was just oil smoke and not fire smoke. The key in those crazy situations is to just remain calm. All I could hear was my dad’s voice telling me the key to speeding up is slowing down and getting out of the car under your own power without freaking out.”

While this season has been one all about renewed motivation and a drive to win, Enders said that her number one goal this season is to not let it all become routine.

She still remembers those early years behind the wheel when she was lightyears behind the competition and was hoping just to qualify for races. That, she said, is her new motivation.

“When we won in Epping, I think it had been two in a row, and my boss was like, ‘hurry up, we need to get out of here because it is a long flight home.’ I was like, ‘do you remember not that long ago we were just hoping to qualify and win a round? Now we are rushing through winner’s circle pictures.’ I said ‘no, we are going to treat this like it was our first race,’” Enders said. “I definitely think about that. I think about how thankful I am for the journey. I didn’t step into state-of-the-art equipment when I first came out here. It was just a different time in Pro Stock. It cost a lot of money back then to run a program and now it is as affordable as it possibly can be.

“All of that taken into consideration, I remember the journey and the first seven winless seasons to get to this point. I just try to enjoy all of those moments and take it all in. At the end of the day, I am living a dream. I get to do what I love for a living. It is sometimes a pinch-me moment and I try to take it all in.”

A REBUTTAL FROM DALLAS - While all of the talk this season in the Pro Stock category has centered around Erica Enders and the Elite Motorsports team, they aren’t perfect in 2022.

The lone blemish? Dallas Glenn.

Glenn won the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainsville back in March, defeating his KB Racing teammate Kyle Koretsky in the final. So far, it is the only win outside of the Elite Motorsports grouping this year. So how do they keep it going?

“We just need to keep trying to hit the tree well and keep making good runs and shifting good,” Glenn said. “Hopefully we can outrace them a little bit more. They have big horsepower right now so we just keep working back at the shop trying to build horsepower and making good, clean runs and hopefully we can get a little bit of luck.”

Glenn placed his Chevrolet Camaro sixth on the ladder after four rounds of qualifying with a weekend-best 6.582-second pass. Glenn will face Mason McGaha in round one.

If nothing else, Glenn has bragging rights that he has kept the Elite gang from being perfect this season.

“At least I can say I am the one that has broken them up a little bit,” Glenn said. “I want to keep breaking it up. I want to get a few more.”

 

KID CHAOS - It was another strong weekend of qualifying for the driver best known as “Kid Chaos” as Kyle Kortestky placed his Lucas Oil machine second on the ladder 6.570-second pass - amazingly .033 off of top qualifier Erica Enders. Kortesky will face Bo Butner in round one.

SCARY CLOWNS - Toyota Racing’s beloved Sponsafier campaign will make a return for the 2022 season. Three new commercials will begin airing nationally as part of NBC and Fox’s NASCAR and NHRA telecasts this weekend. Additionally, Sponsafier will once again feature the opportunity for fans to design their own car to be featured in the Toyota Racing Experience later this season.

The commercials will feature two drivers that were part of the original campaign - two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin - and two new drivers - former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch and NHRA Funny Car champion J.R. Todd. Toyota Racing worked with a North Carolina company on all three pieces.

The Busch brothers are featured in a commercial entitled “Aliens” in which an alien hunter designs a scheme that highlights her passion. The piece was filmed, in part, at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway. “IT Help,” which features Hamlin, showcases a father and son relationship, where the father struggles with technology and Hamlin is there to help. Finally, Todd is the star in the first-ever NHRA Sponsafier clip called “Bad Clown.” Todd’s all-new Toyota GR Supra has been turned into a “Funny Car” to much chagrin from the former NHRA titleist.

“It was something they did years ago with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin and they decided to bring it back and involve the NHRA this time,” Todd explained. “It was like a movie set in Pomona on the Monday after the World Finals. I got to have some fun with the crew guys and I am excited to finally get to show the fans what we did. It was a lot of fun to put together.”

The clip shows Todd admitting his fear of clowns before cutting to a terrifying clown designing his own “Funny Car” complete with magic elements, a whoopie cushion in the driver’s seat and a giant image of the clown on the nose of the car. The video ends with Todd hoisting a balloon trophy in the winner’s circle.

“It was an all-day shoot from morning until dusk. It is crazy how many scenes and cuts and edits there were just to make that 30-second commercial,” Todd said. “It is cool when you can show the fans a little bit of your personality.”

So, the commercial begs the question, does Todd actually have a fear of clowns? “No, I definitely don’t have a fear of clowns,” he said. “Well, maybe now with that crazy one from the commercial.”

Most exciting about the national campaign for Toyota is the added spotlight it will place on the sport of drag racing and one of its drivers, something that was a regular occurrence when Todd was growing up. And Todd is honored to help carry the torch for the sport.

“It is good to have the NHRA on the national stage like that. You don’t see too many of us nowadays getting to be in national commercials,” he said. “When I was a kid, drag racers were superstars. Snake (Don Prudhomme) and Kenny (Bernstein) and John Force, they were on every commercial back in the day on TNN and other channels. It is nice to have sponsors like Toyota allowing us to do things like this and getting to be on the big stage with the NASCAR guys and other forms of motorsports. Hopefully it gets a good reaction from the fans and we can do more things like this for the sport.”

As part of Sponsafier’s return, fans once again will have the chance to design their own scheme. They can register to win this opportunity on www.sponsafier.com from June 25 through August 31, with the winner being unveiled in mid-September. The winner will get to design a scheme on either a Toyota Camry TRD NASCAR Cup Series car or a Toyota GR Supra Funny Car. The scheme will be unveiled at Toyota’s display area, the Toyota Racing Experience, later this season.

A TITANIC MATCHUP - NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Steve Johnson will have a monumental task on his hands in round one on Sunday when he goes up against the most recent national event winner in the class Jerry Savoie. Johnson qualified sixth with a 6.824, while Savoie was 11th with a 6.893.

HOT TRACK SETUP - John Force had the quickest and second quickest passes in the heat during qualifying on Saturday, showing that Force is going to, no pun intended, be a force to be reckoned with on Sunday. Force placed his nitro-burning Camaro second on the ladder with a 3.903 at 330.15 mph. If he can translate that performance to another hot session on Sunday, Force may have a shot at his second title at Summit Motorsports Park.

NEWFOUND STARDOM - It is not very often that a temper tantrum leads to your big break in life.

But that may just be the case for NHRA Funny Car competitor Bobby Bode.

In a now infamous act of frustration and anger, a grief-stricken Bode chucked his racing helmet at his disabled Funny Car following an explosion in the final round of the NHRA SpringNationals in Houston earlier this year that left him just shy of winning his very first NHRA race. In a moment captured by Fox television crews and replayed across social media - both for the explosion and his reaction - Bode has found some newfound fame among the racing community and casual fans alike for his visible passion for the sport of drag racing.

“Has that day led to more attention for the team? I would have to say it has,” Bode said with a smile. “I honestly think it is at an all-time high right now. The phone calls, the people that have stopped over, people that usually don’t stop over, it is all pretty cool and surreal.”

Most famous among the calls, texts and visits to his pit area was the verbal recognition of Bode and his talent behind the wheel by new NHRA team owner and NASCAR hall-of-famer Tony Stewart. Steward famously pledged to get Bode a new helmet to replace the one he launched at his car and even paid a visit to the young racer in his pit area shortly after.

“Tony Stewart was probably the coolest thing,” Bode admitted. “I used to always watch him and play with his diecast cars and then, after my explosion, he was just sitting in the pit area waiting for me and, just to come back and see that, was like a wow moment for me.”

Bode is back in action this weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals for the first time since the final round loss to Matt Hagan and he admits that the increase in attention for his tiny team has been a major confidence booster for himself and the rest of his crew.

“Yes, it gave me a lot of confidence,” Bode said. “I think we showed that day that we have a competitive race car that can actually do some damage and win some races.”

ONE FAST BIKE - Angelle Sampey, who has qualified in the top two at every race this season except one, did so again on Saturday. Holding down the top spot after two rounds of qualifying on Friday, she slipped one spot on Saturday to second when Eddie Krawiec jumped the veteran rider. Sampey’s 6.801-second pass at 197.94 mph put her comfortably in second where she will face Ron Tornow in round one.

FRIDAY

FORCE FANTASTIC - Brittany Force made the biggest splash of them all Friday night at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, placing her Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster on the provisional pole with a new track elapsed time and speed record.

Force placed her John Force Racing machine first with a 3.666-second pass at 333.08 miles per hour, holding off a hard charging Justin Ashley who was second with a 3.707 at 330.96 mph under the lights at Summit Motorsports Park.

“(David Grubnic and I) always chat right before going into the run. After that run earlier, I knew we had a shot,” Force said. “We were back in the field and we knew we could watch all of the other cars go ahead of us. We did some fine tuning in the staging lanes, I figured we would run a 68 or 69, and we had that beautiful run. It was a great way to end the night.

Force was also at the top of the field during the first qualifying session of the day with a 3.798 in the heat of the day, showing the continued consistency of her team. If the time holds, it will be Force’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season.

WHERE ARE WE NOW? – For only the third time this season, all four professional categories are in action this weekend as the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series makes its annual pilgrimage to Norwalk, Ohio, for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.

The NHRA has been coming to the small northern-Ohio town located 60 miles west of Cleveland since 2007. Prior to that, the track was a flagship facility for the IHRA where it regularly hosted the World Nationals for the series.

Defending race winners at Summit Motorsports Park include Steve Torrence, Cruz Pedregon, Erica Enders and Matt Smith who will all be looking to repeat this weekend, though this is not a track that has played host to many repeat winners. In fact, for a facility hosting its 15th national event, it has been surprisingly void of multi-time winners.

Andrew Hines leads the all-time win list at the facility with four in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category. Fellow PSM riders Matt Smith and Eddie Krawiec have three wins at the track. The other three-time winners at this race include Greg Anderson in Pro Stock, Jack Beckman in Funny Car and Torrence, who has won three of the last four races here, in Top Fuel.

After nine events on the 2022 NHRA tour, the championship leaders in the four professional classes are Brittany Force, Matt Hagan, Erica Enders and Steve Johnson, but that could all change this weekend.

Enders holds the largest championship lead of the four major classes, bringing a nearly triple-digit points advantage into this weekend’s race. Enders has been red-hot this season with four wins in seven races, nearly adding a fifth victory last weekend in Bristol until her car uncharacteristically faltered in the final round. Her Elite Motorsports teammate - and the winner of that ill-fated final round - Aaron Stanfield remains the only other driver within 200 points of the leader in second. He has two victories in 2022.

Kyle Koretsky, Dallas Glenn and Greg Anderson round out the rest of the Pro Stock top five, with Glenn being the only other driver to break through with a win against the tough Elite duo. Enders is also the defending race winner in Norwalk, holding two Wally’s from the crown jewel facility.

While the Pro Stock category has been mostly a two-horse race, Top Fuel has been a different story.

A class known for its own runaway championships – with Steve Torrence easily dispatching of the field to the tune of four-straight Top Fuel world titles – this year has not gone according to plan. Last season Torrence won 11 of a possible 20 races, including right here in Norwalk, but this year the Texan sits fourth in the standings and is winless on the season.

Instead, his closest rival over the past few years, Brittany Force, has filled the void where Torrence has left off. Force has three wins this year at Las Vegas, Houston and Virginia, though she has cooled off a bit as of late. After winning at Virginia Motorsports Park a little over a month ago, two-straight second round exits has cut into the young drivers championship lead.

Mike Salinas, off the strength of his own trio of victories at Phoenix, Charlotte and New England, is second in the standings, while Justin Ashley (two wins), Torrence and Austin Prock round out the top five.

The Funny Car category has been uncharacteristically lopsided this season, with Matt Hagan, Robert Hight and Ron Capps all taking turns atop the mountain. Hagan currently leads the class with three wins (Gainesville, Houston, New England), while Hight sits second also with three wins (Pomona, Phoenix, Virginia). Capps, the most recent race winner in Bristol, is third.

John Force, the only other driver with a win in the class this season, is fourth, while Cruz Pedregon is fifth. Pedregon is the defending race winner in Norwalk.

Rounding out the weekend is the two-wheel category lead by two-time race winner Steve Johnson. Johnson won back-to-back races in Houston and Charlotte and has compiled a 12-3 round record to open up a sizable lead over Karen Stoffer. Matt Smith, Angie Smith and Angelle Sampey round out the top five.

PUTTING ON A SHOW - At this point in the season, Erica Enders is just showing off.

Enders cleared the field by a massive margin Friday night at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park, taking the provisional top spot by nearly four-hundredths of a second. To put that into perspective, the gap between Enders and second place Kyle Koretsky is the same margin as Koretsky back to ninth place.

“As soon as we unclutched it I knew we were on a run,” Enders said following the run. “We struggled during the first run and for this entire team to throw down like that after that huge explosion last weekend, it showed this team has a no quit mentality and they perform perfectly every time. I am glad to be their driver and I am having fun. I love racing here.”

The defending race winner at this event, Enders ran a 6.537-second pass at 210.11 mph to place her Melling Chevrolet Camaro first on the charts. Kyle Koretsky was second with a 6.570 at 207.88 mph.

100 REASONS TO CELEBRATE - Greg Anderson has a lot of wins.

99 of them to be exact. And of those 99 wins, three have come at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park for the previous driver of the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet for KB Racing.

So what would it mean for the former flagship driver for Summit Racing Equipment to finally get over that hump and collect his 100th career win in NHRA Pro Stock competition at the track that he has quite a bit of history?

“The Summit Racing Equipment event is one of the nicest tracks we go to and I have a lot of history with that facility,” Anderson said. “That’s been a good race for us, a good race for me personally, and I would really like to have a get-well weekend there for this team.”

Anderson will be piloting the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet this weekend, coming into the race without a single final round visit while sitting fifth in the standings. Instead, the rival Elite Motorsports team has gobbled up six of the seven Pro Stock races this season, leaving few scraps for the former champion.

But Anderson is not one to throw in the towel this early in the season.

“I haven’t exactly shown my colors, but I felt in Bristol I was about to hit my groove,” Anderson said. “It’s not to the point where I’m panicking yet. We’ve got great equipment and we’ve got a great car, we’ve got great crew chiefs on this race team. I feel like we have progressed at each and every race, and it’s close if we keep what we’re doing. I’ve got confidence in this race team and I’m just going to keep focused on what we’re doing. We know we’ve got power and we’ve definitely made some gains, and we’re ready to get down to the grind of racing every week and go the distance now.”

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON – Justin Ashley remembers it like it was yesterday. The taste of ice cream. The booming of fireworks high overhead. And the joy on his father’s face as he hoisted his first major trophy in NHRA competition.

The year was 2007 and Justin Ashley was just 12 years old, learning the ins and outs of the drag racing business for the very first time. But an inaugural trip to a track that had just switched sanctioning bodies to the National Hot Rod Association and was hosting its very first national event, that July afternoon in 2007 changed everything for Ashley and his outlook on the sport he would later come to love.

That afternoon, Ashley’s father, Mike Ashley, won his first of three NHRA victories in the Funny Car category, defeating Kenny Bernstein in the final at Summit Motorsports Park at the inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.

“I remember so much about that win because it was the inaugural NHRA race at Norwalk and the first time I saw my father win a Funny Car race in person,” Ashley said. “I remember watching the fireworks on Saturday night, the pounds of ice cream being eaten throughout the weekend and seeing the pure elation from my dad at the top end of the track after he won the event.”

Nearly 10 years later to the day, Ashley got his own taste of the fast life making passes in Anton Brown’s Top Fueler to earn his professional license. So what would it mean for Ashley to win at the same track his dad won at all those years ago?

“A win at Norwalk would mean the world to me,” Ashley said. “Watching him win this event is a memory that will forever be ingrained in my mind. It was the moment when I saw all the energy, effort and commitment from he and his team come to fruition. A win at that same track 15 years later would be incredibly meaningful for my father, my family and I.”

Ashley already has one special moment with his family from earlier this week when he earned a Father’s Day victory over Shawn Langdon at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals a few days prior in Bristol. With two victories already this season behind the wheel of his Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster, adding another at the season-opening Winternationals, Ashley will look to start a winning streak this weekend in Norwalk.

“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to win races and put ourselves in a position to win a championship by securing a spot in the Countdown. We have a lot of work to do but our four finals appearances and Winternationals and Bristol wins have resembled the start we envisioned,” said Ashley, a four-time national event winner. “We are going to keep working hard and focusing on being successful every weekend. The competition out here is incredibly tough. There were no easy rounds (last week) against a lot of tough competition which made winning on Father’s Day with my dad at the race that much more special.”

Off the strength of four final rounds in seven races, Ashley has climbed to third in the standings as he looks to put himself into the championship conversation for the first time in his young career.

“I do feel confident this weekend, but this sport will humble you in a hurry,” Ashley said. “I just want to keep getting better as a driver and working with the team to give us the best chance to win. Mike (Green) and Tommy (Delago) are doing an amazing job. The team Dustin Davis has
assembled is tremendous and we are having a lot of fun.

4 TIMES THE FUN - It may seem like a minor occurrence, but this weekend will mark only the third time this season an NHRA race will feature the previously standard four qualifying sessions.

In an effort to cut back on costs and other outside factors, the NHRA began limiting qualifying sessions to three in a weekend in 2020 and that tradition has since carried over to many of the races on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Tour. So far this season, only the pair of four-wide events at Las Vegas and Charlotte have featured four qualifying sessions, previously a regular staple of NHRA competition in the professional categories.

So with one extra hit at the track this weekend, are there any major differences with one additional qualifying session during a race weekend?

“I’ve been dreaming of these Fridays to come of having two rounds on Friday,” said Leah Pruett, driver of the Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel machine for Tony Stewart Racing. “It is so advantageous as a driver because you want to see that Christmas tree in your car and get acclimated as many times as possible. It’s also our happy place. The first run sets the standard for the entire weekend - a zero below or above. Once you get that first run, you see where you’re at and you’re hopeful to be able to improve upon that for your Friday night session, which is most likely going to be the quickest of the entire event.

“It’s almost a pre-qualifier for your qualifier. When we only have three sessions, it’s very easy to get behind the eight ball, and that’s not a place we like to be. We cherish the number of runs we get to have, especially as we’re starting to go rounds and gather data. It’s my favorite thing, and I also really enjoy it for the fans that they get to see a lot of action on Friday if they can’t make it to the track the whole weekend.” 

Pruett enters this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals 12th in the standings as she has struggled to go rounds with only three total round wins on the season. On a positive note, two of those three round wins have come in the past two races and Pruett is confident that she can turn things around as the team enters the dog days of summer.

“Although our altitude and weather conditions will change at Norwalk, we are in what I would call our second phase of the season weather-wise,” Pruett said. “Back-to-back between Bristol and Norwalk, it is hot. What we learned in Bristol, we will be able to utilize in Norwalk. From a mental standpoint, everything is fresh in your brain.”

TRYING SOMETHING NEW - Bo Butner is tying something new this weekend after a few weekends that have felt short of expectations.

Butner, driving the Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Chevrolet Camaro, saw an uptick in the performance of his Pro Stock car, but with a first-round loss on the books, he’s made some suggestions that the team is taking into account.

“Our power is good,” Butner evaluated. “We outran (opponent Dallas Glenn) a hundredth from here to here. We’ve gotten better, but I’m very impatient. I’m used to going a lot of rounds, and so expect it overnight. But it’s not going to happen overnight, because we’re still learning with this car.”

So what is the big change coming to the team? An old trick from his days compiling round wins in the sportsman ranks - though he wouldn’t go into much detail.

“I’m going to try something I know from bracket racing and sportsman racing,” Butner explained. “It’s a whole different way to run the car, and they agreed to it - but I had to agree not to stage deeper. I told them, ‘let’s just do one race like that and see if we learn something.’”

Only time will tell if the new way of handling the car will turn into round wins. To-date, Butner has only four of them on the season with zero final round visits.

 

I WANNA ROCK – Everyone loves a good reunion tour.

From legendary rock bands to revered solo artists, there is nothing quite like seeing those legends of yesteryear that provided the soundtracks of our youth in concert after years away from the limelight.

In a lot of ways, 2022 has felt like much of the same for the winningest driver in NHRA Top Fuel history.

Back behind the wheel on the Camping World Drag Racing Tour full-time for the first time since 2018, Tony Schumacher is visiting many of the tracks for the first time since he was last contending for wins and a championship. That also goes for this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals where Schumacher is hoping that a little heat and an unpredictable racetrack will equal success.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend. I live in Austin, Texas, and it’s been 106 degrees there, so I’m used to the heat. It’s supposed to be hot like that this weekend and I think that our car is meant for the heat; we’ve got a ‘hot track tuneup.’” Schumacher said. “I haven’t been to Norwalk in years, and the Midwesterners, those are my people, man. I was raised in Chicago and I love visiting that area. The Bader family gives us an awesome facility in the Midwest, and I love it because I get to see all of my old friends and family.”

Schumacher has his own history at the Norwalk, Ohio- based facility, winning the inaugural NHRA event here in 2007. Since then, he is 0-for-11, with only that one win at the track counting among his 85 career Wally trophies.

Schumacher comes into this weekend 11th in the standings, steadily dropping from a high of seventh after failing to get out of the first two rounds at the past five races. But this weekend, the eight-time world champion is hoping to have a little extra luck on his side with the heads of Scag Power Equipment – sponsors of his nitro-powered rail – visiting an NHRA race for the very first time.

“It’s the middle of the season and it’s time for our team to get going. We haven’t performed to the level that we’re used to, but the guys have been working day in and day out, and I feel that a win is coming, and Norwalk would be a great place to do that,” Schumacher said. “I look forward
to seeing all of our wonderful fans there, and I’m also excited because Scag’s CEO and CFO will be coming out and checking out an NHRA race in-person for the first time so it would be an epic time to go out and do what we do best, and that is win races.”

UNFINISHED BUSINESS - A lot can change in a year.

At this race one year ago, Austin Prock was without a ride after some downsizing at John Force Racing left the young driver on the sidelines and one of the most revered free agents on the market.

So when Top Fuel driver Clay Millican was forced to step out of his seat at this race last year after an ear infection left him dizzy, Prock was one of the first names to come to mind. And boy, did he deliver.

Strapping into the car for the very first time within just a few hours of getting the call, Prock qualified Millican’s dragster in the top half of the field and drove to a semifinal finish, falling to eventual race winner Steve Torrence in the penultimate round.

That race once again proved the skill level of the young racer as he is once again paired with JFR for this season behind the wheel of the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster. But while this race a year ago was a launchpad back into the spotlight, Prock feels he has some unfinished business after tasting so much success in someone else’s car.

“I’m excited for this weekend. I have some unfinished business here. I was able to fill in for Clay last year and made it to the semis. I feel like that opportunity put me back on the map from a driver aspect,” Prock said. “I’m looking to go all the way this year. To get a win here would be an
awesome story. I think we have the team to do it and we’re going to come in swinging.”

Prock is coming off two strong semifinal performances that included a career best elapsed time 3.672-second pass at the Virginia NHRA Nationals and, despite a first-round loss last week at Bristol, the third generation drag racer remains fifth in points. Backed by crew chiefs Joe Bariam and Rahn Tobler, Prock is bidding for his second tour victory after winning at Seattle in 2019.

FAREWELL TO A FRIEND - The motorsports world lost a dear friend and a racing icon on Wednesday with the passing of famed track operator and promoter Bruton Smith. He was 95.

Smith was the owner and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns and manages auto racing facilities across the United States. From humble beginnings as a local track promoter in his home state of North Carolina to owner and operator of some of the world’s most prestigious race tracks, Smith was revered for his impact on multiple areas of the racing world.

Smith was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016 as his impact on that sport has been felt for more than 30 years. He was best known as a showman, taking an already exciting sport and making it into a must-see experience with the addition of world-class amenities and entertainment options.

While Smith was best known for his work in NASCAR, he also had a pronounced role in the drag racing community as owner of NHRA tracks in Bristol, Tennessee, Charlotte, North Carolina, Las Vegas, Nevada and Sonoma, California. Notably, Smith was one of the driving forces behind the entertainment-driven four-wide races in Charlotte and Las Vegas.

After learning of his passing, messages began pouring in from drivers, team owners and others within the motorsports community lauding the legendary track owner and promoter for his impact on the sport. One of those drivers, 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, expressed just how much Smith meant to him.

“I’m really sad to hear about the passing of Bruton Smith,” Force said. “He was a personal friend of mine. Everyone knows what he’s done for motorsports, NHRA and NASCAR, building the Bellagio of drag racing and the Four-Wide. He was like a second father to me, I first met him when he opened Bristol. I sure loved him and I’m going to miss him. His legacy will live on.”

To commemorate the life and legacy of the legend, the John Force Racing teams are sporting special stickers on the side of their machines this weekend that read “Bruton Smith - a true legend, a true friend.”

“That is a small thing we are doing this weeken d. I knew the guy and I loved him dearly,” Force added. “To me, he was the P.T. Barnum of drag racing. What he did for us helping our sport grow to the top level was unbelievable and now we have to keep it there.

“He was an innovator and he wanted to be the best, not just because he wanted to make money, he liked to do that too, but it was about the racers. He liked (Dale) Earnhardt and (Richard) Petty and (Jeff) Gordon and he liked all of us out here. He wanted to make it great and he did just that.”

For Force, perhaps his most lasting legacy on the sport of drag racing is the debut of the four-wide format in 2010 at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C. Force won the inaugural four-wide event over his daughter Ashley Force-Hood, Ron Capps and Matt Hagan.

“He built the four-wides. To go see 40,000 horsepower at one time on a race track is something everyone should see at some point,” Force said. “I won the inaugural race and it was just unbelievable. He was always creative and doing stuff. He just loved motorsports and drag racing. He is going to be missed.”

AN EXPERIMENTAL WEEKEND FOR THE ALLIGATOR MAN - There are busy race weekends. There are crazy race weekends. And then there are weekends like the one experienced by Pro Stock Motorcycle competitor Jerry Savoie last weekend in Bristol.

After advancing to his first final round since 2020 at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, the 2016 PSM champion was left scrambling when the team had to do an engine swap before the final round. The team was able to successfully make the switch and Savoie drove to his first victory in nearly two years atop his White Alligator Racing Suzuki when final round opponent Angelle Sampey went red. Savoie also left too soon, but Sampey’s .052 red light handed the victory to Savoie.

The win was the 14th of his career.

“Last weekend was a mad rush,” Savoie recalled. The whole team did well. It was cool. It had been more than a year and, at my age, you never know when it is your last one.”

So coming into this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, you would think Savoie would be riding high coming off of a race win just a few days prior. But when the team found out that there was not going to be a testing session on Monday following this weekend’s race, Savoie was once again left scrambling and suddenly had a decision to make - race a proven bike or do a little testing.

“This weekend we had a choice. We were going to race the other bike, the one we won on, and then test on Monday, but they are not testing here on Monday,” Savoie said. “We have the very first plain bearing crank ever created for Suzuki, so we want to run it this weekend and the only way to do it was to run this bike.

“We don’t know what to expect. We are just going to do our best. The way I look at it, unless you are testing, evolution never becomes a possibility, so we chose to focus on this bike and do what we can do and make the best of it.”

White Alligator Racing is developing a one-piece, plain bearing crankshaft for Suzuki NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycles. The part is intended to replace roller bearing cranks based on the stock Suzuki GS part, a known reliability problem for bikes in the class.

 

BIG DEBUT - This is quite the exciting weekend for Chris Sweeney.

Sweeney, a chassis builder, a swimming pool business owner, and racer for his years is now adding a new line to career resume – NHRA Pro Stock driver.

Sweeney is making his debut at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Friday through Sunday in Norwalk, Ohio.

“Oh, my gosh. The excitement and the nerves, I can't tell you which is more right now,” Sweeney said Friday morning. “This will also be my first time racing in Norwalk.”

Sweeney is driving John Gaydosh’s Camaro and has engine power from Chris McGaha.

“We’ve tested three or four times,” Sweeney said. “I made some full runs, and they haven’t been really clean and they’re getting better. This ought to be something today. So, I'm a chassis builder, small town chassis builder individual and I've done some work with some other guys. And I've had a few cars and I bought was going to buy a car from John (Gaydosh) five or six years ago, probably eight years ago when he sold his GXP, and we became friends. And I've always wanted to get in a Pro Stock and unfortunately, John got hurt and he offered the car for sale to me. And I'm not kind of in the position right now to buy it at this point, soon but I soon will be.

“Then I said, ‘Well, how about we run the car and you crew the car?" And he came back and asked me, he said, ‘Do you want to get in it?’ And I said, ‘I'll get in it. I'm definitely interested. Let's try it.’ So, that’s kind of how it went.”

Sweeney took a moment to describe his career racing path.

“I've done some Pro Mod stuff,” Sweeney said. “It's been probably 10, 15 years ago since I did
any Pro Mod stuff. I ran probably half a season in that. Then I started getting into a lot busier
with this no-prep stuff cars for customers and went that direction, testing with those guys.

“I was supposed to run at Bristol, Tenn., last weekend, but I had some trouble getting my physical to NHRA. FedEx lost it. In fact, we weren't even sure, we got here this weekend, I didn't get my license until yesterday. I’m good to go now. We plan on making all four qualifying passes. I think the first run's going to be my nerves and it's always that way. Any car I've ever been in, it's always been, once I get down the track, then I'm kind of OK. I know where I'm at. Let's get this done. My nerves are going to in Q4 see if we are going to make the field. My expectations are to get into the field.”

After Norwalk, Sweeney is going to race at a PDRA event July 14 in Richmond, Va. Sweeney’s  next NHRA event will be the U.S. Nationals, Aug. 31-Sept. 5, in Indianapolis, Maple Grove, Pa., Sept. 15-18, and Charlotte, N.C., Sept. 23-25.

“I expect to make a sponsor announcement somewhere in mid to late July that will put us in all
the races for next year,” Sweeney said. - TRACY RENCK

DREAM COME TRUE - Every young racer just starting out in the world of motorsports dreams of one day being able to compete for a win on the biggest stage.

That was especially true for a young Mike McIntire Jr. who grew up watching his father, Mike Sr., make blistering passes and compete for wins at racetracks across the country. Mike Sr. cut his teeth racing nostaglia machines on various tours, making famous the now-recognizable orange
and back “McAttack” moniker that his son now carries on his big show nitro Funny Car.

So when the younger McIntire survived two rounds of tricky competition in the four-wide event at zMax Dragway in Charlotte earlier this year, reaching his first career final, it was a moment that signaled that he had finally arrived in the sport. And while he wasn’t able to walk away with the win that day, finishing fourth among a trio of titans in the sport in John Force, Robert Hight and Ron Capps - with a combined 280 wins between them - McIntire finally felt at home in the sport. “Charlotte was a dream weekend for the team,” McIntire said. “Qualifying wasn’t great, but going to the finals at our first outing of the year was something I’ll never forget. Especially running Force, Hight and Capps in the finals. It was amazing.”

While the second outing of the year wasn’t as productive for the part-time driver, falling in a first-round matchup against Capps at Virginia Motorsports Park, McIntire is looking forward to trying his hand at a second final round this weekend.

“Richmond was a big disappointment for us,” he said. “There were some tough conditions and we had zero success going down the track in four runs. Coming off a weekend like Charlotte and then having that weekend was very disappointing. But we are excited to bounce back here in Norwalk.”

Making this weekend even more special, Summit Motorsports Park is a true home track in every sense of the word for McIntire. The young driver lives a touch over an hour east of the track in Chesterland, Ohio, and looks forward to returning to the track where he made his first professional start with his entire family by his side.

“Being this close to home is awesome. I wish we could race here five times a year. It is super easy travel and a world-class facility,” McIntire said. “It doesn’t get much better, honestly. Our team is made up of family and long-time friends who are our family. Being in Norwalk is great because not only will my wife and kids be here, but most of the guys’ families will be here as well. There will be kids running around and lots of people hanging out in our pit which just makes for a great weekend in itself.”

Since making that first start at this track in 2019, McIntire says he feels he has learned a lot competing sporadically over the past few seasons and hopes to be able to put those lessons to work in front of a crowd dotted with friends and family.

“I feel a lot more comfortable in the car. At least as comfortable as you can be in a Funny Car,” McIntire said. “We have made some good runs and got a lot more experience with different scenarios. I think we have progressed quite a bit considering the limited runs we make a year.

“We want to go down the track clean every run. Consistency is the goal. Whatever happens after that is a bonus.”

FULL FIELD - The Top Fuel category has one its best field counts of the season this weekend in Norwalk, Ohio, as 21 machines are on the property. On Friday, Kyle Wurtzel snuck into the field after two qualifying runs with a 3.900 at 295.01 mph and will look to hold on to that position and make the final field with two more passes on Saturday.

WELCOME BACK - Veteran NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Chip Ellis is back competing again.

Ellis confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com he will be riding a second Buell for Ryan Oehler’s Pro Stock Motorcycle team at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Friday through Sunday in Norwalk, Ohio.

“Brad McCoy, who has been helping him tune the motorcycles, he lives just up the road from me (in Cleveland, N.C.), and I've known Brad for probably 20 years or more,” Ellis said. “He sent me a message. He wanted me to run Bristol (Tenn.) last week because, I guess, Michael Ray's been riding their bike.

“They were just trying to get some data, and I couldn't go to Bristol last week because we were boat racing, so I said, ‘Well, what about Norwalk?’ So, we just put a little deal together and off we go. They've been having some issues with the clutch, and I'm going to try to help them with that stuff. It will be practice and qualifying all at the same time for me at Norwalk.”

Ellis last competed in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class last season running a limited schedule on one Matt Smith’s Buells. Back in 2018, Ellis ran a third Harley-Davidson for Vance & Hines in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Charlotte, Las Vegas and Pomona, Calif. He qualified No. 1 in St. Louis and made it to the finals in Charlotte before losing to Matt Smith.

Being a rent-a-rider doesn’t bother Ellis, who has won seven career NHRA national events in  Pro Stock Motorcycle.

“I definitely don't want to get back full time, so it's nice to get up there every once in a while, and pop the clutch,” Ellis said. “I'm getting older now, so to see if I can still do it, kind of prove a little something to myself. Right now, I feel pretty good. I've been exercising a lot, and not just because of this deal with Ryan, but just because I'm getting... I was so out of shape. I went dirt bike riding a couple months ago, and I couldn't even hardly hold onto the motorcycle, so I said – I better start doing something. So, I feel good, and I'm looking forward to it. It'll be a fun deal. I don't know Ryan well, but I know they're a good bunch of guys, and they certainly work hard. I admire that. That's the biggest thing that I like about Matt is that man, that guy is just a hardworking dude. And Ryan's the same way. He's got 10 things going on and trying to keep this motorcycle program going. I admire him for that.”

Ellis believes McCoy is a key ingredient to have in his camp.

“He's really good with the Pro Mod stuff, and he's on the learning curve with the Pro Stock stuff,”  Ellis said. “So, each race he's been... We've been texting back and forth and whatnot. I've been trying to help him via text and whatnot, but it's tough to do that. Unfortunately, Brad won't be here this weekend. He's got a Pro Mod race in this weekend in the PDRA this weekend.

“Well, I've been a hands-on type of guy and working with some of the best in the business, so hopefully I can help Ryan. It's always tough to do this, but it seems to have worked out in the past, so we’ll see how it goes.”

When Ellis isn’t competing in the PSM ranks, he lives in Mocksville, N.C., and he runs his Chip Ellis Racing shop there where he builds stainless steel headers for cars and motorcycles. Mocksville is an hour from Charlotte.

Ellis also keeps busy as tuner for his daughter, McKenzie, 20, who is a boat racer.

“We have our schedule pretty full of boat racing this year,” Ellis said. “She won last Saturday in South Carolina. “She runs what they call 1400 EFI. So, it's basically 1400 pounds, fuel-injected Mercury outboard is what we run. She is something else in this boat, man. It's amazing to watch. I don't even know how she does it, but she's certainly got a good feel for it.”

Ellis said his daughter’s next boat race is July 23 in Summerville, S.C. He also mentioned his daughter has done some drag racing on a Suzuki Hayabusa.

“We built that for her, and she's been learning,” Chip said. “She's run through the track, testing it, just making runs so she can learn how to ride it. She's actually done really well on it too. We've only run 1/8-mile stuff, but the engine is stock and everything like that, and she's running well.” - TRACY RENCK 

TRICKY, TRICKY - Tim Wilkersn debuted a new look on his Ford Mustang Funny Car this weekend with a specialty Trick Flow Specialties design.

The 22-time Funny Car national event winner, who most recently earned a runner-up finish at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, switched from his familiar green and black Levi, Ray & Shoup livery to Trick Flow’s dynamic blue and orange for the race at Summit Motorsports Park.

Wilkerson will be chasing his second win at the track, last winning here in 2010.

“We are trying something different, trying to promote another Summit company. We have a great relationship with Summit Racing Equipment and Trick Flow Specialities is a great partner,” Wilkerson said. “We talked about maybe one of their vendors, but they came up with this idea which I think is a good one. It is a cool looking car. Hopefully we can go some rounds with it.”

So far this season, Wilkerson has a semifinal finish at the NHRA Arizona Nationals and a final round appearance at last weekend’s race at Bristol Dragway. The team owner, driver and crew chief has guided his team to eight qualifying starts from the top half of the field through the first eight races. The problem, Wilkerson quickly diagnosed, he had some unlucky matchups on race day.

“We’ve had a good car the last four or five races, we just had to race the wrong people,” he said.“The luck gods finally took a little better care of me last weekend. I guess we will see if they do the same this weekend. It is drag racing so anything can happen.”

“Trick Flow Specialties manufactures aluminum cylinder heads, intake manifolds, top end kits, camshaft and valvetrain components and other performance parts. They are located in nearby Tallmadge, Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A tradition at Summit Motorsports Park for decades, the now-famous pound of ice cream for a dollar has had fans from around the country flocking to the track during national event weekends. To accompany that tradition, a few years ago the facility added a special trophy to forever memorialize a unique tradition in the sport.

Winners at Summit Motorsports Park receive a special billet ice cream scoop, symbolic of the popular ice cream served at the track, in addition to a Wally trophy from the NHRA.

And the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series driver with the most ice cream scoop trophies? None other than four-time Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence. Torrence has won three of the last four races at Summit Motorsports Park and, if he can win again this weekend, will tie Andrew Hines for the most wins all-time at the facility in the professional categories.

“It is just a great place to race. We have had a lot of success here and the whole Bader family just puts on a spectacular show for all of the fans. It is icing on the cake, or in this case, ice cream on the cake,” Torrence said with a laugh. “Having the opportunity to win that big ice cream scoop in addition to a Wally is a great tradition, and we have been fortunate enough to do it three times.”

Just for the record, the ice cream of choice for Torrence when visiting the track? “I am a simple chocolate and vanilla guy,” he said.

While Torrence has won three of the last four here, the Texan is on an uncharacteristic slump behind the wheel of his Capco Contractors dragster, failing to win a race this deep into the season for the first time since 2015.

“We’ve been working on some stuff and some would say that we are struggling, some would say that we are trying to figure it out,” Torrence said. “It is showing promise and we are working toward (success). It is not missing a piece. We’ve got the same consistent racecar that we’ve had for the past five years, at this point we are just trying to make it better.”

Thanks to those three wins here, he has as much confidence as anyone based on the success he has enjoyed here in the past.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to win at all of the racetracks on the circuit, so it gives you some confidence going into it,” Torrence said. “But when you’ve had the success we’ve had here in Norwalk, it definitely builds that confidence anymore.”

TSR VS. DSR - Matt Hagan has raced for two individuals during his 13-year career with the National Hot Rod Association. Don Schumacher and Tony Stewart.

That is not a bad group of guys to have had as your boss.

Both are motorsport legends, though in different arenas within the sport. Schumacher is an NHRA national event-winning driver and was previously owner of the largest and most dominating multi-car racing team within the NHRA. Stewart, on the other hand, is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Earlier this year, their two worlds collided when Stewart announced that he was trying his hand in the straight-line game by becoming a multi-car team owner himself, tagging Leah Pruett in Top Fuel and Hagan in Funny Car as his drivers.

While it is not lost on Hagan that he has now had an opportunity to compete for two iconic team owners, the differences between the two teams to this point is night and day and one that completely took Hagan by surprise.

“Tony is so hands-on and the energy that he brings to the table is tremendous. It is not so serious. You would think Tony would be super serious about everything, but he is kind of turning it into a fun thing more than anything,” Hagan said. “You can see it in your crew chief and you see it in your crew guys. There is no bad blood with Schumacher and I am not knocking anything that I accomplished over there, I enjoyed driving his race car. We won three championships and got more trophies than I can put on the wall. But at the end of the day, it was about keeping my core guys together and being able to bring them over here with TSR. They wanted to make a move so we made a move along with our sponsors. And the results have spoken for themselves.”

When Hagan says that the atmosphere is loose within the pit area of his Dodge Power Brokers team, he is not exaggerating. One stop by the trailer and you will find team members cutting up, having fun and even playing a few games. It is in stark contrast to the business-first approach that Hagan was previously accustomed to.

“Tony is up in the trailer and they have a power ranking for who whips towels the hardest,” Hagan said with a laugh. “He comes out and his arms are black and blue. You don’t expect that from a guy that has accomplished so much. I think that he sees how team camaraderie is a big part of what we do. Making these guys feel good and secure about what we are doing is important. And then we go out and we have one common goal together, and that is to win races.”

While Hagan will admit that things are certainly less intense than they were at Don Schumacher Racing, that doesn’t mean that the drive for perfection is any less prevalent. In fact, he says that the drive to win may be even stronger. That is evident in the success the team has already enjoyed, visiting six final rounds in nine races with three trophies at Gainesville, Houston and Epping.

“You come into work bouncing around and goofing off a little bit, but when you pull down the straps in the race car you know what is at stake and how serious it is. Just look at how much money it costs to be out here. At any one race these sponsors are spending from $130,000 to $150,000 and you realize that is someone’s home around these parts, so you do take it very seriously. As much fun as it is to goof off and cut it up, at the end of the day when you put your mouthpiece in you have a job to do and I think that is what is expected of us.

“Tony knows what we are capable of, he has seen it,” Hagan explained. “I think that is why he wanted to bring this team over. We have a real opportunity to run for a championship this year. I think we can win eight or more races this year. We have already won three and I think we can win another three and maybe two or three in the Countdown. That is our mentality and that is what we are trying to do.”

Of course Hagan would not be in the position he is in today without an incredible team around him, a realization that was not lost on the three-time world champion when he did everything in his power to keep the band together during a tough past two years. As the Covid-19 pandemic ravished the country financially, Hagan made a promise to his team during the shortened 2020 season that helped keep them together. Now, they are in the best position imaginable as the newest and hottest team on the NHRA tour.

“I felt like we did a good job keeping our four guys together - Mike (Knudsen), Dickie (Venables), Alex Conway and myself. People don’t know this because I don’t talk about it much, but back when we won the championship during Covid, my guys were taking pay cuts and things were tough and I gave my bonus to keep my guys here, that is how much they mean to me,” Hagan said. “I told my guys, ‘don’t quit on me, stay with me and if we win this thing I’ll give you whatever I win as far as bonus money’ and I did. I was never going to make a move if my guys didn’t want to make a move too. It was a group effort to decide to come over this way.”

While Hagan’s three wins and championship lead in the Funny Car class is a testament to that team-first attitude, Hagan still has a hard time believing that he was hand-selected by Stewart to drive one of his cars in the team’s inaugural season. Though having a NASCAR hall-of-famer has certainly taken some of the pressure off when it comes to signing autographs.

“Everybody wants to get his autograph, so that does take some of the pressure off of me,” Hagan said. “I feel very honored to be here. Tony could have picked a bunch of different drivers to drive for him and here I am. It says a lot about his thoughts toward me as a wheelman and our team we have built here together.”

ANOTHER CAP IN THE HAT FOR ENDERS - While Erica Enders has been money on race day this season, she hasn’t been as consistent in qualifying. Before Saturday, Enders had only one pole this season, way back at the Winternationals in February with none since.

But on Friday, Enders threw down the hammer and it stuck on Saturday, driving her Melling Performance Pro Stock Camaro to a dominating lap of 6.537 seconds at 210.11 mph. She will start from the top spot on Sunday and will face Fernando Cuadra Jr. in round one.

THE FORCE IS WITH HER - Brittany Force earned her third No. 1 of the season and the 35th of her career Saturday at Summit Motorsports Park as her 3.666-second pass at 333.08 mph from Friday night held up after two more rounds of qualifying. The current points leader will face Kyle Wurtzel in round one.

VIDEO GAMES, NEW TEAMS AND A SPONSOR SIMULATOR: A FEW GOOD MINUTES WITH ANTRON BROWN - The last time the National Hot Rod Association debuted a video game for the masses, Antron Brown was competing on a Pro Stock Motorcycle.

That was nearly 15 years ago.

Brown was in that game, titled, “NHRA: Countdown to the Championship” and still remembers the excitement of being a part of a game that touched fans around the world and brought them closer than ever to the sport of drag racing.

“I remember back when we ran the bikes and they did it, I think the coolest part was that people who could race against you and truly felt they could compete against you,” Brown said. “And maybe they could.”

Last weekend, the NHRA announced that it would return in video game form with the release of “NHRA: Speed for All” on August 26 on all major game platforms. And Brown is excited to once again be able to share the experience with fans who will have an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of drag racing including how to tune cars, stage and make a competitive run.

“This new game coming out has been a long time coming,” Brown said. “I think that it is really going to help capture a lot of the younger audience even more and bring new eyes to the sport. You have some kids in school that are Junior Dragster racers who are going to be telling their friends to play the game and do what they do. It is interactive, which is the coolest part about the sport. We can bring them in to what we do, in the pits and now in a game, and give them a little piece of what we do on a daily basis, from the tuning aspect, to how to build a career, how to hunt for sponsorships and how to win.”

While a video game about drag racing will certainly help bring in new fans by putting them in the shoes of real NHRA superstars, Brown suggested taking it a step farther by truly showing fans what it is like to be a driver - adding in a sponsor simulator.

“I joked that in the career mode they need to put it in the game where you have to go out and chase sponsorships and how to do it. How you have to put together your own portfolio, put together your own resume, and put together your own PowerPoint presentation and pitch. That is how you get sponsors in the game,” Brown joked. “Then they would have all aspects of it and show them what we do. Honestly, I do think this game is going to help grow our sport.”

A game about speed and winning? Of course. A game about PowerPoints and sponsor pitches? Maybe not.

Away from the virtual world, Brown is in the midst of the biggest challenge of his racing career as he navigates life as an independent team. The three-time Top Fuel champion broke from Don Schumacher Racing at the end of last season with the blessing and plenty of advice from his former boss.

It is not an entirely new concept for Brown, who helped manage the ins-and-outs of the Pro Stock Motorcycle program for DSR many years ago, but outside challenges have thrown a few wrenches into the plans - namely a worldwide pandemic, which delayed Brown’s new team by a full year.

“A lot of people don’t realize that, for a lot of years, I ran a lot of the team ops wherever I was at. Even when I ran the Pro Stock bike team. I owned my own team for two years and then I helped run the Pro Stock Motorcycle operation when we were at Schumacher Racing,” Brown said. “So I am comfortable with that part of this deal. What caught us off guard is that we are in different times now. We went through Covid, all of the Covid protocols and the fact that it all shut the country down.

“This is three years in the making. I went through Covid trying to do this. It set our plans back for over a year. This wasn’t supposed to happen in 2022, it was supposed to happen in 2021. And with that, a lot of things caught us off guard. The supply chain and not being able to get parts, not being able to do certain things we wanted to do, it made us structure and plan differently. Thank God for all of our partners that stuck with us and Don Schumacher for being gracious to keep us going for another year. We had to weather the storm and it made us stronger in a lot of areas that we never knew we were weak in.

“It makes you understand how to evolve and adapt to all kinds of different situations. You are either going to fail or you are going to stumble and get through and we have done plenty of both. It has helped me start getting comfortable in these circumstances.”

The other big challenge for Brown and his team is learning how to lose graciously. A 68-time winner in NHRA competition, Brown has been humbled by the start to this season that has seen only five round wins in nine races, a DNQ and zero final round appearances. But after a trip to the semifinals one week ago in Bristol, Brown feels he is starting to turn the corner and said he is focusing on getting things right in time for the U.S. Nationals in August.

“Right now we are starting to turn the corner. We struggled in the beginning of the year and, by struggling, I mean all of the new stuff, the normal stuff,” Brown said. “When you start from scratch with brand new everything it is a challenge. It is not like we have been trying to race, we have been trying to test. We have essentially been testing for the last seven races to land on something that we like. This year we have really only had two races with the same combination on our car. Now we are landing on where we want to be and now we are going to start polishing.

“Our main focus is to get ready and have our stuff hopefully tried and true by the time we race the U.S. Nationals and then we can run for the Countdown to the Championship.”

BACK ON TOP - Ron Capps held on to the top spot and earned his fourth top qualifier award of the season Saturday at Summit Motorsports Park. Capps’ 3.901-second pass at 328.38 mph from Friday night placed the driver of the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Supra in first for the first time since the SpringNationals in Houston. He will face Dale Creasy Jr. in round one on Sunday.

A LOT OF LAPS - A lot of drivers have turned a lot of laps at Summit Motorsports Park over the years.

Names like four-time event champion Andrew Hines, three-time winner Greg Anderson and 2014 national event winner and multi-time Night Under Fire participant John Force might be first to come to mind, but it is actually a driver that doesn’t have a win at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals that might actually have that distinction.

Clay Millican’s history with the crown jewel race track in northern Ohio actually predates the 2007 NHRA debut of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. While Millican was at that inaugural race, placing his Top Fueler second on the ladder before falling in round one to Hillary Will, Millican had already racked up several trophies at the facility dating back to his days as a multi-time IHRA champion when the Norwalk, Ohio, facility was the flagship track for the series.

In fact, Millican counts among his most prized possessions a 2005 trophy from the IHRA World Nationals, a day where he upset NHRA competitor Cory McClenathan in the final round.

In those days, NHRA drivers would regularly invade IHRA races and try their hand at racing against the likes of Millican, Bruce Litton, Bobby Lagana Jr. and others. And the race at Summit Motorsports Park was one of the tracks that attracted a lot of attention from NHRA competitors.

While McClenathan had the quicker car that day as the No. 1 qualifier, it was Millican that came away with the trophy with a 4.752 to a 4.901 in the quarter-mile final.

“One of my favorite wins was here in 2005. There was a lot of chatter leading up to the World Nationals that year that Cory Mac was coming and they were going to kick our butt. That was a big deal and we ended up racing him in the final and we won,” an excited Millican said. “It is crazy thinking back on that now. Those memories are huge. Being able to win that race was massive against Cory Mac and the Fram boys, obviously there was a little bit of IHRA history there. But there have been so many memories even dating back before Top Fuel. My first IHRA national event final round was here in Modified Eliminator and I soundly got my butt kicked by Anthony Bertozzi.

“The memories here are incredible. I have made a lot of runs and won a lot here. This track is special and the Bader family is special. Bill Bader Sr. had a lot to do with who I am as a driver today.”

Because of that history with this facility, Millican is especially glad to be back racing this year after two years away from the track. There was no race held here in 2020 due to the pandemic and 2021 was marred by a scary incident when Millican became dizzy in the car during the first qualifying session and was forced to relinquish his ride for the weekend to Austin Prock. Millican was later diagnosed with a deep ear infection.

When Millican made his first pass of the day on Friday, he admitted he had some nerves when he hit the throttle as the memories of last year came flooding back. Once the pass was behind him, Millican was just glad to be back in action at the facility he holds in such high regards as he tries to add a coveted NHRA trophy from the track to his collection.

“To tell you the truth, I had a ton of anxiety on that run. A lot of people out here, their ego wouldn’t allow them to say that. We are supposed to be tough race car drivers, but the moment I got in the car all I could think about was what happened last year,” Millican explained. “I always have butterflies on the first qualifying run, but I had pterodactyls (Friday) because of what happened the last time I was here. I don’t drink at all, but I know why you can’t drink and drive now. I felt like I was drunk. Essentially my equilibrium was out the window the moment I stomped on the loud pedal. I think just years of making runs in these things was pure instinct because I was as dizzy as dizzy could be. Luckily, I shut the car off and everything was fine.

“Afterwards, emotionally, it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do as a driver, coming back and telling everybody on this race team that I can’t drive this car. I’ve driven with stitches. I’ve driven with broken bones. I’ve even driven back in the IHRA days with an IV bag from being dehydrated. That run (Friday) was huge. It was huge for me to get that behind me at a race track that I have been so successful at.”

‘I LIVE MY LIFE A QUARTER-MILE AT A TIME’ - For more than 50 years, races in all categories within the National Hot Rod Association were run at a standard distance of 1,320 feet, also known as a quarter-mile.

It was as ingrained in the hearts and minds of drag racers and drag racing fans as anything else in the sport. There were songs about it. Books about it. And then, one day, an accident changed everything.

Only July 2, 2008, following the death of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta, the NHRA announced that race distances for the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes would temporarily be reduced to 1,000 feet from the traditional quarter-mile. The measure was intended to be temporary while safety solutions were explored; however, the races have remained at 1,000 feet since Kalitta’s death.

What many don’t know was that the final quarter-mile race ever held in the nitro categories of the NHRA took place right here at Summit Motorsports Park in the summer of 2008. In that race, Doug Herbert and Tony Pedregon would go down in the record books as the final quarter-mile nitro champions in NHRA competition. Two weeks later in Denver, Colorado, the sport was changed forever.

On the other side of that Funny Car final against Pedregon was none other than Robert Hight, who will forever be remembered in random NHRA trivia as a finalist at the final quarter-mile nitro race to-date.

“I remember thinking that weekend, ‘are we going to know that we need to drive it to 1,000 feet? Are we going to be able to see it? Are we going to screw up and drive to the quarter-mile? Really what I remember the most from that weekend was that I came out on the wrong end of that final,’” Hight said. “I was for it because, to slow us down, there would have been a lot of restrictions and I think that would have been really costly to the team. I think it was needed and I don’t think we would be where we are today if we hadn’t done that. It was a good thing.”

Amazingly, nitro cars today are running even faster in 1,000 feet than they were at the quarter-mile distance, but that little bit of extra track to slow the cars down has helped make the sport a little bit safer for the drivers.

While Hight doesn’t dwell too much on the thought of quarter-mile racing these days, one thing that does stand out in his mind from that fateful day was just how close he came to picking up a coveted Wally trophy from Summit Motorsports Park, one of the few tracks on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series tour that Hight does not currently possess a win.

“We have won a lot of races here at the match races during the Night of Fire, but we have never won a national event,” Hight said. “I really want to get this one and check it off the bucket list.”

FIRST ROUND MADNESS - There are two very juicy matchups on tap for the first round eliminations Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. The first is Austin Prock vs. Clay Millican in a showdown of two drivers that have a little bit of history at the track.

When Millican was forced to miss this race one year ago due to illness, Prock filled in and drove Millican’s dragster all the way to the semifinals. One year later, the pair are matched up on the ladder.

The second showdown needs little in the way of a setup - Steve Torrence will battle his father Billy Torrence in round one. It will be the first time the father-son duo will square off head-to-head on the strip this season.

THE FAST MOTOR - Before coming to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals this weekend, Eddie Krawiec’s son asked him if he had the “fast motor” in the bike this weekend.

As it turns out, he did.

Krawiec earned the 50th top qualifier award of his career Saturday at Summit Motorsports Park, driving his Vance & Hines Suzuki to the top spot during Q3. Krawiec leapt from sixth after Friday’s session up to first with a 6.798-second pass at 199.17 mph in the heat.

“My little boy just loves this stuff and he called it this weekend,” Krawiec said. “Everybody back at the shop that is working on this stuff, they are the reason we were able to get this done. We struggled during the early part of the year trying to find a tuneup on the Suzuki and for me to get this, shows I can ride this thing. Now I just have to roll into tomorrow and turn on four win lights.”

Krawiec’s previous best qualifying effort this season was third back in Houston, but he was steadily falling down the order until Saturday’s blistering pass. He will face Jianna Evaristo in round one on Sunday.

A SHINY NEW COAT OF PAINT - Drag racing is expensive.

Tires. Fuel. Parts. Travel. It can all add up in a hurry and that point is magnified by thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, for competitors in the professional ranks of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.

Some drivers have wealthy team owners that help offset those costs. Others have large, corporate sponsors that help foot the bill. And then there is a small breed of drivers that compete race-to-race on support of smaller sponsors that help bring in just enough to keep the tires turning and the nitro burning. They use their grit and determination to sell themselves to potential sponsors, hoping to scrape together just enough for a new blower, a fresh clutch and other parts and pieces to help make their car more competitive.

One perfect example of the prototypical journeyman driver, the kind of driver that helped pave the way for the megateams of the sport today, is Krista Baldwin. Baldwin is the granddaughter of legendary nitro racer Chris Karamesines and, at just 28 years of age, Baldwin is competing with the titans of the sport in her grandfather’s dragster, making the best of what she has on the biggest stage in the sport. It is not an easy task, but it is a challenge she enjoys.

“The biggest thing is trying to show people that this program does have the potential to go up there and win these rounds and get the notoriety that you need, especially this weekend during a live Fox broadcast,” Baldwin said. “Anytime we have new sponsors come onboard it means so much. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to buy the parts I needed for this weekend. I am very grateful for everyone that believes in what we are doing out here.”

At the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Baldwin is welcoming a new company as primary sponsor on her nitro rail, IT consulting company IGTG. IGTG is a nationwide architect-level IT consulting company. They join Mainline Sales and Breen Engineering on the roster of associate sponsors on her machine.

While a new sponsor may not be earth-shaking news in the grand scheme of the sport, it is new sponsors like IGTG that allows Baldwin to turn another lap, and in the case of this weekend, buy the parts needed to post quicker and faster times.

“After Charlotte we knew that we needed to make this program better, so our team put our heads together and we are making some changes in the clutch, we put some new heads on it, put a new blower on it and got a new fuel pump. So far all of that is coming together,” Baldwin said. “I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings and it is all possible thanks to these sponsors that believe in me and this team.”

After making her Top Fuel debut last year in Gainesville, Baldwin won her first career round at Charlotte later that year in the four-wide format alongside Antron Brown. This year, Baldwin has made two starts, falling in the first round at Gainesville and failing to qualify for Charlotte.

But that one round win less than a dozen races into her Top Fuel career meant the world to her and the team and has set the stage for what she hopes are many more to come. And to get to do this alongside the same drivers that she grew up idolizing just makes the experience that much more special.

“To lineup against people that I have watched my entire life is absolutely outstanding,” an excited Baldwin said. “One of the coolest moments was last year at Charlotte. The first person to come over and congratulate me was Doug Kalitta. I told him I used to like him when I was a kid. It was wild. I love the sport and I love every competitor out here. And I just love driving this car. I am going to try my hardest to do the best that I can.”

Unfortunately, Baldwin was not able to turn those new parts into success during qualifying as she failed to qualify on Saturday, placing her dragster 21st of the 21 Top Fuelers on the property.

JUST IN - With a strong 21 Top Fuelers on the property this weekend, Kyle Wurtzel earned the distinction of being the final competitor to race on Sunday, earning the final spot in the field when he placed his nitro-burning rail 16th on the ladder with a 3.900 at 295.01 mph.

AVOIDING BOREDOM - Erica Enders has won a lot.

She has four world championships. She has 37 career wins. She has 400 round wins.

And this year, she might be having her best start yet. The 38-year-old driver from Houston, Texas, has four wins and five finals in seven total races. She has a commanding points lead. And this weekend, she has already spanked the competition in qualifying.

So how does a driver of her skill and stature stay motivated when nearly every run is routine, and more often than not, another win?

“The motivation part is easy because it is all that matters to me. That is all that I want to do is just be great at this job,” a confident Enders said. “I never have a problem with motivation. My guys have worked really hard to be on top and to stay on top and, while we always give credit to the engine department, the guys in the race car shop work equally as hard with my Rick Jones chassis. My motivation is them. I love what I do and I do this for my team.”

As scary as it might seem, Enders’ motivation may be even stronger in 2022. After undergoing surgery on her arm in the offseason, it looked like she might miss the first race of the season in Pomona, California, leaving her behind the eight ball to start the year. When she got the green light to compete at the Winternationals, she vowed to never take for granted again an opportunity to get behind the wheel - a scary thought for her competition.

“I said this year when I came back after surgery on my arm in the offseason, when I wasn’t sure I was going to get to drive in Pomona, I said I am going to make every round count,” Enders explained. “That is the mentality that I should always have. I wanted to come out this year swinging because you never know when it might be your last. I just want to make it all count.”

While much of this season has been routine, there was nothing routine about last weekend’s final round matchup with teammate Aaron Stanfield. In that final both Elite Motorsports competitors shook the tires and tried to get back in the throttle, but moments after getting things straightened out the engine on Enders’ Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro let go, filling the track - and the inside of her car - with smoke. Stanfield went on to collect the win.

After getting the car stopped, Enders escaped the machine under her own power, but it was a scary incident for the four-time champ and one that quickly reminded her of another smoke-filled ride she took here at Summit Motorsports Park a few years prior when her Pro Mod caught fire during the run.

“When I unclutched it we shook just like Aaron shook. He aborted the run and I pulled second and made it through. That is when the engine let go in third gear,” Enders said. “I did not see Aaron next to me, but I had no more go-go juice, the rods were hanging out of it and then the car started to fill up with smoke. I thought I am just going to coast and stop when I can because I wanted to get there first, but it got really dense in there and I wasn’t able to breathe or see anymore so I stopped as quickly as possible just past the finish line.

“It is just one of those deals. When you go through something like that, first and foremost, you want to be safe and keep your equipment intact. When the engine let go I did the best I could with what I had. I didn’t get the win, but I saved the car. It reminded me of my Pro Mod fire here a couple of years ago. Fortunately for me, it was just oil smoke and not fire smoke. The key in those crazy situations is to just remain calm. All I could hear was my dad’s voice telling me the key to speeding up is slowing down and getting out of the car under your own power without freaking out.”

While this season has been one all about renewed motivation and a drive to win, Enders said that her number one goal this season is to not let it all become routine.

She still remembers those early years behind the wheel when she was lightyears behind the competition and was hoping just to qualify for races. That, she said, is her new motivation.

“When we won in Epping, I think it had been two in a row, and my boss was like, ‘hurry up, we need to get out of here because it is a long flight home.’ I was like, ‘do you remember not that long ago we were just hoping to qualify and win a round? Now we are rushing through winner’s circle pictures.’ I said ‘no, we are going to treat this like it was our first race,’” Enders said. “I definitely think about that. I think about how thankful I am for the journey. I didn’t step into state-of-the-art equipment when I first came out here. It was just a different time in Pro Stock. It cost a lot of money back then to run a program and now it is as affordable as it possibly can be.

“All of that taken into consideration, I remember the journey and the first seven winless seasons to get to this point. I just try to enjoy all of those moments and take it all in. At the end of the day, I am living a dream. I get to do what I love for a living. It is sometimes a pinch-me moment and I try to take it all in.”

A REBUTTAL FROM DALLAS - While all of the talk this season in the Pro Stock category has centered around Erica Enders and the Elite Motorsports team, they aren’t perfect in 2022.

The lone blemish? Dallas Glenn.

Glenn won the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainsville back in March, defeating his KB Racing teammate Kyle Koretsky in the final. So far, it is the only win outside of the Elite Motorsports grouping this year. So how do they keep it going?

“We just need to keep trying to hit the tree well and keep making good runs and shifting good,” Glenn said. “Hopefully we can outrace them a little bit more. They have big horsepower right now so we just keep working back at the shop trying to build horsepower and making good, clean runs and hopefully we can get a little bit of luck.”

Glenn placed his Chevrolet Camaro sixth on the ladder after four rounds of qualifying with a weekend-best 6.582-second pass. Glenn will face Mason McGaha in round one.

If nothing else, Glenn has bragging rights that he has kept the Elite gang from being perfect this season.

“At least I can say I am the one that has broken them up a little bit,” Glenn said. “I want to keep breaking it up. I want to get a few more.”

FORD POWER - Bob Tasca equalled his best qualifying effort of the season on Saturday, placing his Ford Motorcraft Mustang fourth on the ladder with a weekend-best 3.908-second pass at 331.12 mph. He also qualified fourth back at the SpringNationals in Houston, though he is hoping for a better result after falling in round one at that race. Tasca will race Mike McIntire Jr. in round one.

KID CHAOS - It was another strong weekend of qualifying for the driver best known as “Kid Chaos” as Kyle Kortestky placed his Lucas Oil machine second on the ladder 6.570-second pass - amazingly .033 off of top qualifier Erica Enders. Kortesky will face Bo Butner in round one.

SCARY CLOWNS - Toyota Racing’s beloved Sponsafier campaign will make a return for the 2022 season. Three new commercials will begin airing nationally as part of NBC and Fox’s NASCAR and NHRA telecasts this weekend. Additionally, Sponsafier will once again feature the opportunity for fans to design their own car to be featured in the Toyota Racing Experience later this season.

The commercials will feature two drivers that were part of the original campaign - two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin - and two new drivers - former Cup Series champion Kurt Busch and NHRA Funny Car champion J.R. Todd. Toyota Racing worked with a North Carolina company on all three pieces.

The Busch brothers are featured in a commercial entitled “Aliens” in which an alien hunter designs a scheme that highlights her passion. The piece was filmed, in part, at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway. “IT Help,” which features Hamlin, showcases a father and son relationship, where the father struggles with technology and Hamlin is there to help. Finally, Todd is the star in the first-ever NHRA Sponsafier clip called “Bad Clown.” Todd’s all-new Toyota GR Supra has been turned into a “Funny Car” to much chagrin from the former NHRA titleist.

“It was something they did years ago with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin and they decided to bring it back and involve the NHRA this time,” Todd explained. “It was like a movie set in Pomona on the Monday after the World Finals. I got to have some fun with the crew guys and I am excited to finally get to show the fans what we did. It was a lot of fun to put together.”

The clip shows Todd admitting his fear of clowns before cutting to a terrifying clown designing his own “Funny Car” complete with magic elements, a whoopie cushion in the driver’s seat and a giant image of the clown on the nose of the car. The video ends with Todd hoisting a balloon trophy in the winner’s circle.

“It was an all-day shoot from morning until dusk. It is crazy how many scenes and cuts and edits there were just to make that 30-second commercial,” Todd said. “It is cool when you can show the fans a little bit of your personality.”

So, the commercial begs the question, does Todd actually have a fear of clowns? “No, I definitely don’t have a fear of clowns,” he said. “Well, maybe now with that crazy one from the commercial.”

Most exciting about the national campaign for Toyota is the added spotlight it will place on the sport of drag racing and one of its drivers, something that was a regular occurrence when Todd was growing up. And Todd is honored to help carry the torch for the sport.

“It is good to have the NHRA on the national stage like that. You don’t see too many of us nowadays getting to be in national commercials,” he said. “When I was a kid, drag racers were superstars. Snake (Don Prudhomme) and Kenny (Bernstein) and John Force, they were on every commercial back in the day on TNN and other channels. It is nice to have sponsors like Toyota allowing us to do things like this and getting to be on the big stage with the NASCAR guys and other forms of motorsports. Hopefully it gets a good reaction from the fans and we can do more things like this for the sport.”

As part of Sponsafier’s return, fans once again will have the chance to design their own scheme. They can register to win this opportunity on www.sponsafier.com from June 25 through August 31, with the winner being unveiled in mid-September. The winner will get to design a scheme on either a Toyota Camry TRD NASCAR Cup Series car or a Toyota GR Supra Funny Car. The scheme will be unveiled at Toyota’s display area, the Toyota Racing Experience, later this season.

A TITANIC MATCHUP - NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Steve Johnson will have a monumental task on his hands in round one on Sunday when he goes up against the most recent national event winner in the class Jerry Savoie. Johnson qualified sixth with a 6.824, while Savoie was 11th with a 6.893.

HOT TRACK SETUP - John Force had the quickest and second quickest passes in the heat during qualifying on Saturday, showing that Force is going to, no pun intended, be a force to be reckoned with on Sunday. Force placed his nitro-burning Camaro second on the ladder with a 3.903 at 330.15 mph. If he can translate that performance to another hot session on Sunday, Force may have a shot at his second title at Summit Motorsports Park.

NEWFOUND STARDOM - It is not very often that a temper tantrum leads to your big break in life.

But that may just be the case for NHRA Funny Car competitor Bobby Bode.

In a now infamous act of frustration and anger, a grief-stricken Bode chucked his racing helmet at his disabled Funny Car following an explosion in the final round of the NHRA SpringNationals in Houston earlier this year that left him just shy of winning his very first NHRA race. In a moment captured by Fox television crews and replayed across social media - both for the explosion and his reaction - Bode has found some newfound fame among the racing community and casual fans alike for his visible passion for the sport of drag racing.

“Has that day led to more attention for the team? I would have to say it has,” Bode said with a smile. “I honestly think it is at an all-time high right now. The phone calls, the people that have stopped over, people that usually don’t stop over, it is all pretty cool and surreal.”

Most famous among the calls, texts and visits to his pit area was the verbal recognition of Bode and his talent behind the wheel by new NHRA team owner and NASCAR hall-of-famer Tony Stewart. Steward famously pledged to get Bode a new helmet to replace the one he launched at his car and even paid a visit to the young racer in his pit area shortly after.

“Tony Stewart was probably the coolest thing,” Bode admitted. “I used to always watch him and play with his diecast cars and then, after my explosion, he was just sitting in the pit area waiting for me and, just to come back and see that, was like a wow moment for me.”

Bode is back in action this weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals for the first time since the final round loss to Matt Hagan and he admits that the increase in attention for his tiny team has been a major confidence booster for himself and the rest of his crew.

“Yes, it gave me a lot of confidence,” Bode said. “I think we showed that day that we have a competitive race car that can actually do some damage and win some races.”

ONE FAST BIKE - Angelle Sampey, who has qualified in the top two at every race this season except one, did so again on Saturday. Holding down the top spot after two rounds of qualifying on Friday, she slipped one spot on Saturday to second when Eddie Krawiec jumped the veteran rider. Sampey’s 6.801-second pass at 197.94 mph put her comfortably in second where she will face Ron Tornow in round one.