EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK			EVENT GALLERY

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK -

COURTNEY FORCE MAKES HISTORY AS A FEMALE PRO WINS FOR 100TH TIME - With a chunk of drag-racing history stacked on her shoulders Sunday, Courtney Force beat Cruz Pedregon to the finish line in the Funny Car final round of the Kansas Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka to mark the 100th time a female has won in the NHRA professional ranks.

On a day in which her boyfriend, Graham Rahal, finished last in the Indianapolis 500 because of an electronic problem in his engine, Force was first all weekend long in her Traxxas Ford Mustang.

The No. 1 qualifier plowed past Dale Creasy Jr., Jeff Arend, and Tommy Johnson Jr., and then topped Pedregon with a 4.148-second elapsed time at 306.46 mph on the 1,000-foot course. Pedregon smoked the tires on his Snap-on Tools Toyota Camry and posted a 4.225-second, 250.60-mph effort.

She pulled into stage the car and double-bulbed Pedregon, something that was not part of her strategy but rather her heightened eagerness after her John Force Racing mate and brother-in-law, Robert Hight, denied her the historic distinction in the final last weekend at Atlanta.

Force apologized to Pedregon for the unusually quick staging and said, "I almost screwed myself up. I almost failed my job. I was so nervous. Pressure's through the roof. All I could think of is 'Cruz hole-shotted Robert [in the opening round] and I don’t want to lose on a holeshot. This is the biggest moment. I didn’t get it last weekend. There's a lot on the line. I apologized to him. I sure as heck wasn't trying to screw him up."

Force said "a lot of emotions" shot though her along the way to this milestone triumph, her fourth overall and first of the season in back-to-back final rounds. Among them was the notion that the chance to become Female Winner 100 had passed her by.

"You could see the emotions on my face after my loss in the final round last weekend. So it's a big deal. It's a milestone for women, and every girl out here wanted to get it," Force said minutes later. "It's tough. It wasn't like, 'It's a longshot – So-and-So's going to get it.' Every girl put her heart into it. I didn't know who it was going to be, especially after last weekend. I was crushed. I thought to myself, 'That opportunity will never come around again. That 100 will be gone forever.' I'm still trying to soak it all in right now. It's pretty unbelievable. I'm excited and shocked we got this win today."

"For all the females out there, we’re doing this one for you!" she declared after climbing from her car in the shutdown area. "We're proud to do it for all the girls out there."

Later she said, "It's for all the girls out there in any type of sport, any motorsport. It's an exciting day for us. It's an honor to be No. 100 on a list of the legends, like Shirley Muldowney, Angelle [Sampey] . . . There are so many names on this list: Melanie Troxel, Erica Enders[-Stevens], Ashley [sister Force Hood], Alexis . . . " She said, "Now I'm blanking" as she tried to name even more of the pro racers who preceded her.

They include Hillary Will Hines, Karen Stoffer, Peggy Llewellyn, Shelly Anderson Payne, Cristen Powell, Lucille Lee, and Lori Johns.

Force gave her crew members a hug as she celebrated on the spot. I'm so proud of my guys . . .  and I have to thank all my sponsors. They've given me a great race car. My team – all of our JFR teams . . . once my dad and Robert went out, you just see all those colors [of the different uniforms] come over in our pit area, working together and thrashing that car," she said. "We're in the winners circle – wooooo!

"We've hit 100, but there's 100 more to go," she said.

Enders-Stevens in Pro Stock and Force's older sister, Brittany, in Top Fuel reached the semifinals Sunday, adding drama to the "race" for the honor. Leah Pritchett in Top Fuel and Alexis DeJoria in Funny Car also had a shot at the historical prize.

"I got more and more nervous as the day went on," Courtney Force said. "But I saw for myself last week that you can be 'that' close and still not get it. I tried not to let it make me too nervous. All the girls out there, they had great race cars. I thought, 'It's going to be any of them. I'm there to support them and cheer them on.' I was cheering Brittany on, cheering Alexis and Erica on at the start of this weekend.

"Alexis texted me right before the final: 'You can do this! You got that 100!' It totally warms my heart. It's the coolest to see all these girls come together. Erica texted me after last weekend's final, and she said, 'I was really pulling for you.' It really goes to show you the women in this sport, we just want to win. Obviously, we’re trying to beat more guys than girls. It's just an honor to be a part of it," Force said.

Curiously, she said Sunday's crack at history was less stressful than previous chances.

"I thought, 'Heck, I already screwed up last week.  I cried in an interview. If I lose, we'll go on through it to next weekend," she said. "I didn't want to put that pressure on myself. I got too hyped up, too excited, last weekend, hoping, hoping, hoping. And I was let down. You could see it in my face. This time around, I thought, 'You know what? Go have fun. That's what Dad [Funny Car legend John Force] told me right before I got strapped in. He's like, 'You’re young to do a great job, but just go have fun with it.' "

She said she told herself, 'You can't take this so seriously. It's a fun sport. Brittany and I grew up watching Dad race out here, and we're just thankful to be a part of it."

Ashley Force Hood, who made her first practice runs in a Funny Car at Heartland Park Topeka the day after this race in 2005, said she was proud of both racing sisters, who made history Saturday as the first sister tandem to lead their respective nitro-class fields.

"To start with, when Brittany and Courtney both went to No. 1, I know this was already a special weekend. I thought it could be a really good race for both of them, since their race cars were running so well. They were both going rounds today and I started to get excited because sometimes you just have the magic," Force Hood – a four-time winner, 15-time top qualifier, and 2007 Rookie of the Year herself -- said. "I had a feeling that maybe this would be the day.

"It is pretty cool. I watched it on my computer with [niece] Autumn [Hight], [and sons] Jacob and Noah. I actually made a video. The kids were jumping up and down we were all really excited.," she said.

"The funny thing is it is so hard to get records, because our dad has so many of them and he has overcome so much to be so successful," Force Hood, whose husband Dan is one of Courtney Force's crew chiefs, said. "There are not many records out there for anyone in Funny Car. This is a record that he can’t get. I couldn’t get it because I wasn’t racing.

"I was really rooting for Courtney or Brittany. It just shows how tough this class is and how tough this sport is. Courtney had tough competition from women in all the pro classes. This wasn’t a situation where she was the only female out there racing for this record. It was very competitive and anyone one of the women could have won it," she said. "This was an historic moment, and I am glad one of my teammates was able to get this win.”

Courtney Force said Pedregon – who advanced from the No. 14 position by eliminating Hight, Tim Wilkerson, and Ron Capps -- is a tough customer.

"I grew up watching him race my dad and take my dad out plenty of times. And he took my teammate out, so that got me even more fired up," Force said. "Cruz is a tough one to beat, for sure."

This match-up was easily more than the 100th against a competitor named Force, the 28th time in a final he has raced a Force [including John and Ashley, as well], and the third time he and Courtney Force have reached the money round together.

He was looking for a little payback, too, in his first final-round appearance of the season, because Courtney Force ousted him in the opening round last weekend at Atlanta Dragway. He was going for his 35th victory, which would have tied him on NHRA's all-time list with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits.

His round-win Sunday against Hight was his 500th.

MASSEY'S SECOND STRAIGHT VICTORY CEMENTS DSR TOP FUEL DOMINANCE - Crew chief Phil Shuler said after the final round of the NHRA Kansas Nationals he had no idea how his driver and car, Spencer Massey in the Battery Extender Dragster, managed to win the Top Fuel trophy Sunday.

"I don’t have any idea.  We did as many things wrong as we could today," he said, not proud of that but pleasantly baffled at Massey's victory over current class champion Shawn Langdon at Heartland Park Topeka.

Massey's 3.871-second elapsed time at 314.02 mph beat Langdon's tire-smoking 4.278, 233.68 on the 1,000-foot course in the Al-Anabi Racing Dragster.
 
"It was a struggle that started with running [Don Schumacher Racing] colleague Tony Schumacher and every round after that," Massey said after earning his 16th overall victory and second in the Kansas capital.
 
"We kept trying to get the car to perform. Like everybody else, we were trying to run a (3).70, but the car just wouldn't do it. We'd give it more clutch, then more clutch again, then more motor. It kept running a .86 and then an .87.
 
Before the final round, Massey needled Shuler: "Am I going to put a dial-in on it, dial an .86, like a bracket car?"
 
The quick-witted – and confident -- Shuler, who gives as good as he gets in a verbal joust, told Massey, "No. If we do that, you’re going to break out."
 
Massey said his theory was "We didn't want to beat ourselves. We wanted to go down the track and let them try to beat us. If I can do my job on the starting line, hopefully it'll get the round-win."
 
That worked. But the car still didn’t cooperate, he said.
 
"It only went an .87. We were trying to run an .83."
 
Oh well.
 
"But I still got the win light," Massey said.
 
The Atlanta Dragway winner collected his second Wally statue in six days and recorded back-to-back victories for the third time in his career. He did it at Topeka and Englishtown, N.J., in 2011, and Las Vegas and Charlotte in the spring of 2012.
 
The victory was DSR's 225th total and sixth Top Fuel victory in the season's eight events as Massey also advanced past Terry McMillen and No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force, to reach the final round. In the process, he left Funny Car's Courtney Force as the lone female eligible Sunday to claim the 100th NHRA victory by a woman.

Massey improved in the standings from fifth place to third as the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series moves to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, where he won in 2011. In winning Sunday, he put himself in position to sweep the season's first three-race swing.

That consecutive-weekend string suits Massey just fine, he said.

"When you get your momentum going, it just seems to start clicking. Everything falls in place," he said. "I like these back-to-back-to-back races. I drive my motorcoach to the races, and it gives me time to breathe and think. The summer months are coming up and it will be hot. That's kind of our tune-up, our weather. I like it."

Langdon defeated Pat Dakin and the Kalitta Motorsports tandem of Doug Kalitta and JR Todd for the shot at his first victory of the year in his second final round. But he'll have to wait for his ninth victory

"We were just trying to make another good run in the final like we did in the other three rounds," Langdon said. "We weren’t trying to change too much, but the sun came out and made the track a little bit warmer than it had been.  The Al-Anabi car almost made it, but we smoked the tires.  At the end of the day, we have our problems figured out, and we made some very good runs this weekend.  We have our car back to how it was last year where it made great runs just about any time and responded to our changes.  We'll just go to Englishtown next weekend and get out first win of the season there."

Langdon is in fourth place, just seven points behind Massey.

Sunday's winner said boss Don Schumacher, along with Shuler and co-crew chief Todd Okuhara as himself, consider it a coup to beat an Al-Anabi car.

When you can take down [Al-Anabi team manager] Alan Johnson, it doesn’t matter who's driving the car," Massey said. "When you can beat Alan Johnson's race car, that's saying something – especially when you have Shawn Langdon in the seat. [He] cuts great lights. And you have everybody over there who makes a championship-caliber team. Whenever you can stop them from winning a race, that's what you want every time you line up against an Al-Anabi car."

JOHNSON TAKES PS TOPEKA TITLE - No matter what happened in the NHRA Pro Stock finals Sunday at the Kansas Nationals Team Mopar was going to win.

For the record, Allen Johnson edged his teammate a Jeg Coughlin at Heartland Park in Topeka.

Johnson clocked a 6.663-second lap at 207.18 mph to defeat Coughlin's 6.664-second effort.

Johnson took the lead at the starting line with an .028 reaction time and never trailed. Coughlin had an .048 reaction time.

"What a great relief it is when you get to the final with your teammate," Johnson said. "You feel like you have won either way. We've been struggling just a little bit lately and we finally got a handle on Jeggie's car at the last race (Atlanta) and second round (Sunday) we got a handle on mine. We get to these altitude tracks with a little bit of humidity like here, Vegas and Denver, and we excel."

This was Johnson's third win of the season and the 2012 world champ's 23rd career national event win. Coughlin, who won the 2013 Pro Stock world title, was victorious Monday in the rain-delayed Southern Nationals in Atlanta.

Johnson beat Larry Morgan, Shane Gray, Erica Enders-Stevens and Coughlin during his victory march.

"This team just keeps battling, it doesn't matter what it is, every single run we are just attacking the car and that's just the way this team is," Johnson said. "We have half the wins this year in our camp and that is a pretty good feeling. Any time I'm in the final with Jeg it raises my IQ about 50 points because he is that good."

When Johnson eliminated his good friend Erica Enders-Stevens it kept her from getting the 100th NHRA national event win for a female driver. Courtney Force went on to collect that milestone victory Sunday at the Kansas Nationals.

"She (Enders-Stevens) is just 20 something, sh** she can get the 200th," Johnson said. "It is sort of bittersweet because I really wanted her to get that, to be honest. Jeg kept her from getting it (in Atlanta) and I kept her from getting it this week. It is bittersweet because I did want her to get it, but like I said, she is a young lady and she has a big future ahead of her. I would rank her in the top five Pro Stock drivers ever - I would go out on a limb and say that. She is that good and that hungry. She will get her accolades, I will promise you."

Although Johnson was victorious Sunday he knows nothing will come easy the rest of this season.

"There are 10 cars every race that can qualify No. 1 and win the race, it is that close in Pro Stock," Johnson said. "It is going to be a year of the driver. It really is."

500 DAY – This 500 Day had nothing to do with the Indianapolis 500. Instead it was all about one of its hometown racers.

Cruz Pedregon, of Brownsburg, Ind., became the 14th driver in NHRA professional drag racing history to reach the 500 round win mark by taking out point leader Robert Hight.

“It means a lot to me,” said Pedregon. “It means a lot that we have been able to maintain a competitive car throughout the years with great owners Joe Gibbs and Larry Minor. We knew we needed this win to crawl back into this championship chase.”

IMPRESSIVE - When Courtney Force knocked off Tommy Johnson Jr., she ensured for the fifteenth race in a row that a John Force Racing team car would be in the final round.

ISSUE SOLVED – Shawn Langdon was the quickest driver on the day and was the only competitor to break into the 3.7s when he beat Pat Dakin in the first round with a 3.792 and Doug Kalitta in round two with a 3.777.  He then defeated J.R. Todd in the semifinals on the way to the final, where he fell to Spencer Massey.
 
“We definitely have found the problem that plagued us earlier in the year,” said the 2013 Top Fuel world champion.  “We felt like we had a dominant car all day similar to last year, but the track went away a little bit and we smoked the tires in the final.”

LOST FIRST ROUND BUT MADE HIS TWITTER GOAL - Rodger Brogdon accomplished one goal this weekend at Heartland Park Topeka. Unfortunately for him and his team, it did not involve anything on the racetrack.

Brogdon lost in the first round to defending NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series champion Jeg Coughlin Jr., ending a frustrating weekend on the track, but he did accomplish one goal: reaching 100 followers on his Twitter (https://twitter.com/Rodger_Brogdon) account, which he started last week.

Brogdon said he'd wear leather pants in Englishtown, N.J., next weekend if he reached that goal, but he changed his mind.

"I did get to 126 followers, but I'm not sure about wearing the leather pants," Brogdon said. "Nobody really wants to see that."

BEWARE OF THE $4 PART - A $4 throttle cable bracket cost Jack Beckman a chance at a second Topeka win in three years.

"When your opponent runs a 4.50, you have to win those rounds," Beckman said of opponent Jeff Arend's first round 4.504-second elapsed time. "You have to. You can't have stuff like this happen. We blew up everything at Atlanta and had to go to our spare injector and all that stuff goes with it. It actually broke the bracket that contains the throttle cable. You can't have those $4 parts cost you races.

"There's no silver lining to this. We ran solid in qualifying. We had a car capable of winning and we didn't get a single win light. This team is not going to be where it's supposed to be until we're in the winners circle."

YOU GO GIRL! – While her dad Del Worsham was racing at Heartland Park Topeka, Katelyn Worsham drove her Junior Dragster to victory on Saturday at Irwindale Dragway. Grandfather Chuck Worsham was the tuner of record.

DOWN GOES BROWN – Antron Brown left Heartland Park Topeka as a first round runner-up. Brown, who reached the semis last week after wadding up a race car in qualifying, lost by .015 to Pomona winner Khalid alBalooshi.

FINALLY, A ROUND WIN – Terry McMillen scored his first round win since last year’s NHRA U.S. Nationals when Steve Torrence popped the supercharger at the hit.

THE DREAM SEASON CONTINUES – Earlier in the week, the doctor delivered Richie Crampton’s first child, a baby girl. Crampton did a bit of delivering himself on Sunday, as he delivered a first round win to the Geico/Lucas Oil team. It was the team’s first since Pomona.

Crampton defeated Bob Vandergriff Jr with a 3.83.

BETTER THIS TIME AROUND – After a dreadful NHRA Southern Nationals last weekend, Tommy Johnson Jr. rebounded with a win and an intact Dodge Charger Funny Car body. Johnson used a quicker reaction time to eliminate Alexis DeJoria from the female 100th running by a 4.099 to 4.098 margin.

DEJORIA DETERMINED – Although Alexis DeJoria did well in qualifying, she was less than enthused about her race day performance.

“We did fairly well during qualifying and picked up some more bonus points, but it was another first round loss for us today, and the only one to blame is myself,” said a disappointed DeJoria. “I let Tommy beat me off the line, so that was the end of our day,” she said, speaking of her 0.146-second reaction time versus Johnson’s 0.090.

The team will leave Topeka Monday and travel on to Englishtown, N.J. for the final race of a string of three in a row races. “Going on to Englishtown, it’s a big race for us so I’m going to change some things- whatever it takes. This is unacceptable for someone in my position to be cutting lights like this. I let my team down and there’s no excuse for that.”

IT COMES IN THREES – Chad Head has a winning streak going on, kinda sorta. For the third race in a row, Head scored a first round victory and this time did so by beating Matt Hagan. Unfortunately for Head, he has a losing streak of sorts as well. With a quarterfinal loss to Tommy Johnson Jr., he extended his second round loss streak to three.

BIZARRE – Ron Capps looked more like a sprint car driver than a Funny Car pilot during his second round burnout against Bob Tasca III.

“It’s kind of strange because to do a burnout, you have to roll over a hump and the car just kind of freewheels like it’s on ice,” Capps explained. “The car turned sideways, and I had to be just like Steve Kinser and wait for it to straighten out. I was afraid I’d rolled the water too far. There’s this hump and it’s a bit scary.

“Then I’m getting ready to stage and I hear Tasca hit the throttle. It was like going back in time with Al Hofmann when the Funny Cars raced the dragsters. I don’t know what my reaction time was but it was a bizarre run from the get-go.”

A WINNING RECORD AGAINST 16X – Bob Tasca III extended his head-to-head record against John Force to 10-8. Force, in the last four races, has lost three times in the first round.

“IT JUST COUGHED” – This is how Jason Line described his engine as he sat on the starting line for nearly two-seconds as opponent Vincent Nobile speed away to a quarterfinal round victory. Line said as he went on the two-step for the race, the engine “coughed” leaving him temporarily stranded.

SECOND ROUND TIRE ISSUE – Spencer Massey’s Goodyear slick looked worse for wear following his second round victory over Terry McMillen.

“Part of the rubber peeled off of the cord,” Massey said of the right rear slick. “The run was perfect and it went right down the race track. As soon as I shut it off and hit the chute button, I felt a weird vibration in the rear end. I wondered if the tire was coming apart and what I was going to do if the tire disintegrated. Of course you don’t want that in your head when you are running 300 miles per hour. It’s part of the game. I’m very lucky that it didn’t come all the way apart.”

CAN’T CATCH A BREAK – Every time Matt Hagan appears headed in a better direction he gets broadsided.

Atlanta Dragway Monday in the rain-delayed Southern Nationals, Hagan advanced to the semifinals. The improvement continued Saturday night in the NHRA Kansas Nationals when he matched his best qualifying effort of the season with a time of 4.064 seconds at 312.21 mph to earn the No. 4 seed for Sunday's championship eliminations.

But his momentum slowed in the first round when he was upset by No. 13 qualifier Chad Head. Hagan's 4.157 seconds at 301.27 mph was not enough to get past Head's 4.093 (311.70), which was Head's best run of the three-day weekend at Heartland Park Topeka.

"It's tough, but it's drag racing. Sometimes you just throw your hands up and say it's unbelievable," Hagan said. "It is what it is."

 

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -

TOP FUEL

THE FIRST NO. 1 – Let the record reflect, John Force Racing now has a top qualifying dragster. Brittany Force drove to personal bests and track records with a 3.746-second lap at 329.75.

“I’m so excited,” Brittany said. “Really it just shows all the hard work of the Castrol Edge team is finally paying off. We struggled last year, so to be able to come out here and go to No. 1, I didn’t expect that. It is a brand new car so to be able to get it down the track and run like that, we’re excited and I’m so proud of my entire team.”

Brittany’s blistering 3.746-second lap was somewhat surprising considering the circumstances.

“It was a pretty crazy run,” Brittany said. “We actually didn’t get to warm up the car because the turnaround was so quick. I was suiting up on the drive up there. When we pulled up there I figured they are just trying to rush me to get me in the car. When we pulled up there, we were the next one on the line. I was throwing my stuff on and I jumped in the car and pulled right up there. I wasn’t expecting to run a 74, so I’m excited. I can’t even believe we ran like that.”

SISTER ACT - Brittany and Courtney Force will be trying to make more history Sunday when they try to give female competitors their 100th NHRA national event win. “I definitely have a list of goals I want to achieve this year,” Brittany said. “I don’t ever try to compare my goals to those of my sisters. I’m proud of them and everything they have accomplished. I’m in a different car and I have my own list of goals and that’s what I’m going after.”

DOUBLE SHOT OF GOODNESS – Richie Crampton is racing this weekend with a new status. He’s now a father.

Crampton and girlfriend Stephanie Laski welcomed their first child into the world Tuesday afternoon.
 
Emma Kathleen Crampton, 8 pounds, 13 ounces, was born at 3:59 p.m. at IU Health North Hospital. Both baby and mother are doing well.
 
"It’s amazing," said Crampton. "A lot of people told me how special of a moment it was going to be once I finally got to hold our child and words can’t really explain how special it is to become a parent for the first time. Definitely something I’m going to remember for a long time."

Just ten years ago, Crampton immigrated to the United States to pursue his dream of working with a nitro team in the United States. He’s since worked his way into driving a Top Fuel car and now finds himself a parent. 

"I always dreamed of both things but for both of them to happen in the same year is amazing," admitted Crampton. "It’s all happening at once. There's a lot of great things going on in my life right now so if you would have told me that I’d be standing here in this position 10 years ago I would have said that there was no way." 


SUBBING OUT – Assistant crew chief Ray Murphy and veteran tuner Lance Larsen were calling the shots on Terry McMillen’s dragster Saturday.

Crew chief Richard Hartman is back home in Williamston, SC, for the graduation of his oldest child.

“Richard laid out a game plan for the team,” said McMillen. “They are fine-tuning for the conditions we are facing.”

THE FASTEST OF THE PLATOON – Tony Schumacher was the quickest amongst Don Schumacher’s army of dragsters with a 3.771 elapsed time at 323.19 miles per hour. Schumacher landed in the No. 5 spot and will race teammate and recent Atlanta winner Spencer Massey in the first round.

"Tomorrow, we start out racing our teammate, which is always huge," said Schumacher, who will be going for his 74th career event title. "But we've got a good car, and I like the direction we've been headed.

"All in all, we're not in a bad spot. We're going down the track. We're getting closer to our goals. We're just not getting those early numbers and it's been tough to catch up."

FUNNY CAR

BEATING UP ON DAD - Courtney Force ran around John Force to grab the No. 1 spot in Funny Car for the second time this season. The youngest Force was in the third to last pair of Funny Cars and she blasted down the Heartland Park Topeka track in 4.009 seconds, the second quickest elapsed time of her career, to jump to No. 1. She had to wait for Alexis DeJoria, Tim Wilkerson, John Force and Robert Hight to run to see if she would hold onto the No. 1 spot.

“This is huge. The one thing you are looking for as a team is consistency. We seemed to have lost that at the beginning of the season. It felt good to go out there last week and go all the way to the final. I was hoping we really found something. To come out here and have consistent runs throughout qualifying is big,” said Force.

“We (lost a) run yesterday because of the rain. It feels good to get the Traxxas Mustang down the track run after run. We were running 4.0s and then that last run to run four flat was exciting to hear my crew chief come on the radio that we went four flat and were No. 1. I was in the staging lanes listening on the radio to my sister go No. 1,” said Force.

“That was cool. I tried to not get my hopes up. I hopped out of the car and I was thinking dad and Robert are coming up so you never know what is going to happen. They seem to ruin my day a lot lately. This Traxxas Mustang has been consistent this weekend and we will see what we can do tomorrow.”

This was the fifth No. 1 of Courtney Force’s career. She will face Dale Creasy Jr. in the first round. This will be the second time Force has faced Creasy in her career and she defeated the journeyman Funny Car driver in their lone meeting last year at the NHRA Kansas Nationals.

 

FORCE AND HIS HEADSTRONG GIRL – Losing his No. 1 qualifying spot was no big surprise to John Force. The 16-time champion knows how headstrong his baby girl is.

A father/daughter disagreement on Thursday evening confirmed what he already knew.

“Our biggest fight was over a steak yesterday,” said Force. “I’m just from the old world, when you order your food you eat your food. We went into the restaurant I said, ‘I want a steak, I haven’t eaten real food in a while because I’m dieting.” 

“I’ve got to have meat. We go in the restaurant, she orders her steak. She never eats steak … ever. ‘I’m going to eat steak because of you dad,” she says. 

“She orders a steak, and it was cooked wrong. She said I wanted it this way and I said well you tell the lady. The lady was great, came back, it’s going to be a few minutes late but we’ll fix it. Well they brought it back and somehow the guy just totally cooked it wrong. She took a few bites and said, ‘I can’t eat this’ and she shoved it away.”

Force admits her actions angered him.

“I was mad,” Force said with a smile on his face. “I don’t care, there are starving kids in China and in my home town of Bell Gardens. You’re going to eat that.”

Courtney refused.

“She reared up against me and her mother sat there and I said, first of all you never say no to your dad, ever,” Force said. “She said ‘I’m 26 years old - when do I get to be my own person?’”

Force recalled she went on to say, “You beat me up over Atlanta, you beat me up over a steak.’ I responded, “You’re going to eat that steak, we’re going to sit here all night.”

They sat for 40 minutes, Force admitted. And so did the unwanted steak, uneaten – the first major victory over her dad in Topeka.

FOLLOWING PEANUT - This weekend the team at CompetitionPlus.tv is hanging with Funny Car driver Dale Creasy Jr. at the NHRA Kansas Nationals in Topeka, Kan. Stay tuned as Creasy provides a run-by-run analysis of his event, and provides his insight from the cockpit.

IT’S FRAGILE – Chad Head’s major award just might be the most prestigious since the leg lamp in the popular movie “A Christmas Story.”

Head killed his first timing block in a year and a half of driving at last weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals. A few of his close friends helped him to commemorate the coming of age moment amongst Funny Car drivers.  The presentation transpired on Friday evening after qualifying was washed out at the NHRA Kansas Nationals.

Steve Torrence’s tuner Richard Hogan tracked down the foam block, and took it to Mark Denner of Tasca Racing who made a glass case to enclose the important keepsake. Head said he’s sure the gang at Kalitta Motorsports pitched in as well.

“It was bound to happen and I over drove the car, let the car get away from me a little bit and I think I was at half-track and my brain was at the finish line,” Head admitted of the Atlanta incident. “I was kind of not doing my job but it happens and it is very frustrating when it does.”

The presentation was probably the second biggest surprise for Head from the incident. The first probably came from his father Jim Head’s reaction.

The elder Head, who is known to be high spirited at times, gave his son a few instructions when he began licensing. He told Chad to keep the car in his own lane and not hit anything – both instructions he failed to follow on the momentous pass.

Jim appeared angry after the incident, and even walked to the spot of the infraction as track crews repaired the damage. Chad said his dad wasn’t the least upset with him.

“He’s been supportive since day one. He really has, other than red lighting a year ago in Atlanta,” Head said. “He’s really not got on me. He’s been very very supportive. Yeah, maybe a little surprised but no I’m not surprised. He knows how hard these things are to drive and he’s done it for 30 years or 30 plus years. No I’m not surprised. He’s a tough guy but at the end of the day he’s the biggest cheerleader I’ve got.”

Besides Big Jim couldn’t have topped the tantrum Chad pitched following the incident.

“I had to remove myself from public view and go behind the Mello Yello trailer and talk to myself for a couple of minutes because I was very very frustrated,” Chad admitted. “Very pissed off because I saw it coming I just didn’t do the right thing. My brain and my right foot weren’t talking.”

DHL DELIVERS – Del Worsham landed in the No. 7 spot with a 4.067, best in the final session. He will race Ron Capps in the first round.

WILK REBOUNDS STRONGLY – After getting bumped down to the No. 11 spot, Tim Wilkerson rebounded with a 4.066 to climb back up to the sixth spot. He will face Tony Pedregon in the first round.

"We were trying to run a little better than that in Q4, but I think it chewed up a piston during the run and it was slowing down on me at the stripe," Wilk said.  "We're okay, though, and I'm excited that we have a car that is pretty consistent this weekend, and it has a real aggressive feel to it. I'm happy to see my guys fired up, too. We'll give it our best on Sunday, you can take that to the bank!"

FRONT RUNNER – For the second straight week Alexis DeJoria has qualified in the top five after capturing number one qualifier honors a week ago in Atlanta. She gained two bonus points in Saturday’s final session with a 4.065. She will meet Tommy Johnson Jr. in the first round.

THE LONE WOLF - Matt Hagan recorded a best qualifying run of 4.064 seconds at 312.21 mph to earn the No. 4 qualifying spot, his best of the year. The run also marked the only DSR Funny Car in the top half of the field.

"Dickie and our Rocky team have been getting us close to where we all want to be, and it showed on that last run," said Matt, who has won 10 event titles in his career and the 2011 NHRA Funny Car world championship for Don Schumacher Racing.

Jack Beckman was ninth, Ron Capps tenth and Tommy Johnson Jr. was 12th rounding out the teams.

PRO STOCK

STILL THE ONE - Vincent Nobile’s effort on Friday of 6.601 seconds at 208.71 mph in his Mountain View Tire Chevy Camaro gave him his second No. 1 position of the season and fourth of his career. It is his first top qualifying effort at Topeka and he will meet Mark Hogan in the first round.

“When you run good it is definitely a confidence booster,” Nobile said. “We had three consistent runs so far and hopefully we can put in four tomorrow and take home the trophy. We’ve done pretty good this year and had a bunch of semifinal finishes. We’re out here to win just like everybody else. It kinda feels like a little bit of a struggle, and hopefully this weekend we can turn it around.”

SATURDAY PLAYER - Pro Stock points leader Erica Enders-Stevens posted the quickest run in each qualifying round today and qualified second overall with a 6.606 at 208.81 in her Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro. She will face Deric Kramer in the first round.

BACK IN WHITE – Greg Anderson returned to the white Summit Racing Camaro at this event, clocking a 6.651 at 208.42 mph as the team worked to become reacquainted with the Camaro that Vincent Nobile drove for the first handful of races this season but with a Mountain View Racing wrap. Anderson is currently No. 12 in the lineup.

"We were having a little trouble with the red car, and our teammate Vincent Nobile had some good runs on this particular car in the first four races of the season," said Anderson, referring to the Summit Camaro that Nobile raced to the No. 1 qualifying position at the season opener and took to three consecutive semifinals. "We really liked the runs it was making when Vincent was driving it, and we had the plan to bring it back out after it was updated to a 2014 model. It took a few races to get that done, and it just happened to be that it was ready before this race. Now we have three cars that are the same and we just need to keep nitpicking at this one. We'll get it going.

"I need to be faster, but thankfully the car isn't doing anything dumb – it's just not lighting up the scoreboard like we think it should," said Anderson, who will race Gaines for the first time on Sunday since defeating him in the first round of the NHRA Finals last fall. "The car is close, and it's making good runs and certainly not acting like the red car was, but it isn't where it needs to be just yet. We just need to squeak the last few couple hundredths out of it.”

HE WANTS MORE - Jeg Coughlin Jr. performed well through three rounds of qualifying but the five-time Pro Stock champion wants more.

Coughlin will be gunning for back-to-back victories from the No. 4 qualifying spot, and he hopes to find more speed out of his Dodge Dart.

"We're not done," Coughlin said. "We'll study this thing real hard and see if we can't find a little bit more E.T. and speed out of it. Going into Sunday, we feel pretty good about it. We'll remain aggressive behind the wheel and see if we can't turn a good qualifying effort into a good Sunday as well."

RAINY DAYS GET US DOWN - Fresh of the Water World experience at Commerce, Friday's qualifying was limited to one professional session and Saturday dawned with a fair amount of rain. Race officials see a small window large enough to get a session in on Saturday.

FRIDAY CARNAGE - Tp Alcohol Funny Car racer John Lombardo went bowling for cones during one of the two completed TAFC sessions on Friday.

 

 

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -

PERFECT – The entire first session of professional qualifying on Friday was run oil and carnage free without having to roll the Safety Safari trucks once.

TOP FUEL

COMING OUT SWINGING - In Friday’s rain-shortened qualifying JR Todd thundered to a 3.747 pass at 322.65 mph to claim the provisional No. 1.

"Connie's really good about reading the weather and what he thinks the track will take, and he’s not shy. He swings for the fence every time he can," Todd said. "We unloaded well and ran well the first session in Atlanta. They put us in the back of the pack for Friday night which that is where you want to be. We didn’t get to make the run due to Antron’s accident so that kind of sucked a little bit but we were going for it then. I’m sure we could have run .74 or close to that Friday night but it’s nice to rebound and come back here to Topeka this weekend and kind of pick up where we left off."


Todd believes the NHRA was lucky just to get any qualifying in on Friday. 

"Looking at the weather now we’re pretty fortunate to get that first session in," said Todd. "Driving for Conrad you never know what to expect. You expect to be in a quick and fast car, that’s for sure. He wasn’t shocked coming off the trailer with a 3.74. I think we went 3.00 to half-track, and that’s rolling for a Top Fuel car. I’m just honored to be driving his bad hot rod right now."

The run was a career-best for Todd, who has six career victories. 

YOU’RE NO LONGER THE NEW DRIVER - The new car smell of the Optima dragster has worn off for JR Todd, who replaced David Grubnic as driver back in April at the SummitRacing.com Nationals.
 
“As soon as I came on board with the team I had the confidence that we were and are going to win races,” Todd said. “All four (Kalitta Motorsports) cars have been running really well and looking at how well Doug (Kalitta), (crew chief) Jim (Oberhofer) and those Mac Tools guys have done, it makes me feel there is no reason our Optima batteries team can't go out and perform just as well. I feel extremely honored to be driving for (team owner) Conrad (Kalitta) and I want to get him in the winners circle as soon as possible.”

Todd has posted three round wins in the Optima Batteries dragster, already showing an impressive comfort level with the car. Todd, who has six career wins and became the first African-American to win a Top Fuel race in 2006, credited the hard work of the team for making the transition an easy one.

“My comfort level is great,” said Todd, whose last win came in 2008. “I love hanging out with everybody from all four teams. There are so many people within this group that I have known for a very long time and it's awesome to get the opportunity to work with them and call them teammates.”

TEAM TITLE TOWN TOPEKA - Team Kalitta has had remarkable success racing at Heartland Park Topeka over the years. The team has amassed ten Top Fuel titles in Topeka since 1993. The late Scott Kalitta won at HPT six times, which remains the most wins by any Top Fuel driver. Former Team Kalitta drivers David Grubnic (2) and Hillary Will (1) also posted victories in Topeka. Current Team Kalitta driver Doug Kalitta collected the Topeka winner’s trophy in 2006.

CHASING THE TUNE-UP - Shawn Langdon entered the weekend’s race in fourth place in the current NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel point standings, which is his highest points position of the season.  He trails third-place Steve Torrence by 42 points and leads fifth-place Spencer Massey by seven points.

“We’ve been chasing a couple of things in the Al-Anabi tune-up for the last few races, and we strongly believe we have addressed a couple of those problems now,” said Langdon. “With the exception of a couple of runs this past weekend when things came up with the weather and the track, we were able to make some strong runs when things went right for us.  So that’s definitely promising for the Al-Anabi team.  

“We still haven’t gotten that first win of the season yet, but we’re at a familiar track at Topeka where we’ve had a lot of success and going back as the defending champion.”

One year ago, Langdon, who was the No. 1 qualifier, defeated Pat Dakin, Steve Torrence, Spencer Massey and Tony Schumacher on his way to his second victory of the 2013 season.   The Al-Anabi Racing team also won at Heartland Park Topeka in 2009 with driver Larry Dixon.

“Right now, we’re getting all the bugs worked out and progressing.  It’s all about working hard to take these Al-Anabi cars to the next level,” said Langdon. “If you get complacent and become content with what you have, the competition will pass you.  We had a great year last year, and at times, the Al-Anabi car was dominant.  We’re trying to get the car that much stronger for the future.  Sometimes that’s a learning process where you have to take one step back so you can take two steps forward.  We’re definitely in that stage right now, but we still feel very confident that we are close to having our championship car back.”

NOT A GOOD START – Clay Millican failed to make the call for the Q-1 session. He suffered parts breakage in the pits and was unable to rebuild the engine in time for the session.

“We had a cylinder we could not make fire,” said Millican. “We had to take the engine apart and worked to get it back together in time to make the session.”

The team discovered a piece of o-ring in the No. 3 idle check, according to Millican.

“Once we pulled the motor, we knew our chances of making the session were not good,” Millican said. “We started up at the normal time but this bit us.”

AH LEAH! - Leah Pritchett has a “new look” Dote Racing Top Fuel dragster this weekend.
 
Pritchett, a past Nostalgia Funny Car world champion, ran five races with the Gumout livery beginning at Pomona, Calif., in February.
 
“We are excited to get back at the NHRA Mello Yello Series this weekend at Topeka,” said Pritchett, who reached the semifinals here last year.  “Gumout is still a very large part of our program and only continues to grow. They have helped us expand our race schedule to 15 events for this season, but we knew from the beginning of the year that these next couple of races we would not be running the bright red dragster.  I really like the look for the Dote Racing dragster paint too, which has actually been literally sitting under wraps until now.  We have been learning more with the car this year and I’m anxious to get to Topeka and try to advance in the rounds like last year.”
 
Pritchett will race the next five NHRA national events including Topeka, Englishtown, Bristol, Epping, and Norwalk.
 
MAKING PROGRESS - Khalid alBalooshi is experiencing his best season to date since joining the Top Fuel ranks.

In the first six races of the season, alBalooshi has a win, a runner-up finish and nine round wins and is fifth in points.  Last year at this time, he had two semifinal appearances, six round wins and was tied for sixth in points.  

Though he reached the final round last month at Royal Purple Raceway outside of Houston, the most recent event at Atlanta Dragway was a forgettable one.

“Our team did not have its best luck last week in Atlanta, but we did the best we could,” said alBalooshi. “The weather was hard on everyone.  The track was tricky.  We did our best, but it wasn’t good enough.  I am happy we are going to the race again this week because we have a good hot rod.  Our team does a good job in Topeka.”

At Atlanta Dragway, alBalooshi was the No. 12 qualifier and lost to Tony Schumacher in the first round of eliminations Monday morning.

GIMME A BREAK - Antron Brown, a three-time No. 1 qualifier at Heartland Park Topeka, has no problem in qualifying. Race day is another story.  

Brown has never advanced further than the semifinals since his rookie season. In his last five races at the NHRA Kansas Nationals, he hasn’t advanced past the second round of eliminations.

"We've always wanted to win at Heartland Park," Brown said. "I think the problem is we've always wanted to win there so bad. But we are going to go in there this year and try a little different method. We're going to take it one round at a time like we have at every race this year and hopefully some of the chips will fall our way. Hopefully we can sneak out of there with a little gold man from Topeka and a day later tell him 'we're not in Kansas anymore Wally.'"

GOOD PLACE TO BRING MOMENTUM - In drag racing, you’re only as good as your last win. Spencer Massey, who won last weekend at Atlanta Dragway, understands this point very clearly.

"It was really important that we got a win early in the season," Massey said of his 15th career NHRA win. "With the stretch of nine races in 11 weekends coming up we really needed to get some momentum going. It's just a huge boost in confidence for everyone with this Battery Extender team.

"We felt like we were stuck in a second-round slump and that's definitely over now. This is the time of year where our team gets stronger. In 2011 we won both Topeka and Englishtown (N.J.), so we'll be trying to repeat that and go for three in a row. That's definitely tough to do but I have a lot of confidence in this team that we can do it."

Massey earned his first win with DSR at the Topeka track in 2011.

"I like racing at Topeka," Massey, a two-time Heartland Park finalist, said. "It's a good racetrack and sees great fan support on the Memorial holiday weekend. I used to race a lot in Topeka because it wasn't too much of a haul from Dallas, so I've been going there for many years.

GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE - Steve Torrence is victimized by a car he describes as “too fast.”

“We’ve been working really hard at trying to back the car down in certain situations (in which use of the full complement of 10,000 horsepower simply is not feasible),” Torrence said  

“Our car just hasn’t responded well to going slower.  It’s just wanted to go faster and faster and faster, but I think we’re finally getting a handle on that.”

“We’ve got a d*** good hot rod right now and we’re just gonna try to ride this momentum as far as it takes us. We’ve been making small adjustments and fine-tuning our clutch set-up and the (clutch) discs we have and the configuration we’re running right now obviously is working.

FUNNY CAR

WHO’S ON FIRST? – John Force has started referring to his tuner Jimmy Prock as Babe. Prock’s first instinct was to ask Force, “What?”

“He’s like Babe Ruth, always swinging for the fence,” Force said.” That’s what he does. The car just hasn’t been there for us. We actually had a malfunction last week in Atlanta. I knew it on the burnout. I couldn’t hardly hold the clutch. It was over early. It was kind of fun pedaling it and pedaling it. I could have gone to the end of the track doing that. But if I had oiled it, they would have gotten mad.”

Friday night the super-aggressive tuner delivered an upper deck shot which accounted for both ends of the Heartland Park – Topeka track record.

Force posted a mark of 4.021 seconds at 318.84 miles per hour to snag both ends of the Heartland Park-Topeka track records.

“There was no intention to be that aggressive out of the box,” said Force. “Jimmy Prock makes a lot of power but we are either fast or almost not in. Jimmy’s working on it, that’s what he does. If you look back at the last few races, we’ve only had a few good runs. We screwed up in Houston and almost didn’t come back. Is he trying to run that fast today? No. He saw Courtney run an .07 and knew it was out there, and with our car, if you try to run like an .08, it runs faster. That is something we have discussed. We need to start looking at the numbers different. If the conditions say it will run an .07 we had better back it to a .10. Then it might run an .07. He told me he backed it up and it ran faster.

“We’ve got to learn the strategy with this power curve. It’s like a woman - if they don’t want to dance, nothing you can do about it. But today, she danced.”  

KEEPING FOCUSED - Robert Hight comes to Heartland Park Topeka on an incredible streak, advancing to the finals in six straight races, posting three straight wins. He is also a two-time Topeka winner.

“We have a lot of momentum and we want to make some history,” said Hight, who now has 33 career victories and also claimed his 300th round win in Atlanta. “I’ve won three in a row a few times, but I want to win four or even five in a row.  I want to see where we can go. We have to take it one round at a time and that’s what we’re doing; it’s a total team effort.”

Hight’s is no slouch when it comes to racing in Topeka. He’s won twice here (2010, 2011). He understands his best game plan requires as much attention on his mindset as on the car.

“We have to stay focused,” Hight said. “It gets harder the more you win. You get more texts and calls from people. There is more media. It is all worth it because we want to win every race. It can just distract you if you don’t focus on what is getting you the wins, which is working together with the team.”

ANYWHERE BUT ATLANTA - The Southern Nationals was just a bad dream. That’s what Tommy Johnson Jr. keeps telling himself. During two races on Monday, Johnson’s Funny Car backfired the supercharger, once turning the body into carbon fiber confetti.

Topeka is a different story.

"Heartland Park is just a neat track for me," said Johnson. ”A lot of cool things have happened there, and there so many memories. We've had some success in Topeka, and you can't help but enjoy the facility. It's a lot of fun with the fans that always come out to see us. After Atlanta, we're really looking forward to this fresh start.”

Among his accolades at the track, Johnson joined the exclusive Cragar Top Fuel 4-second club and in 1999 and 2005 was runner-up to John Force. For the most part, his return to full-time competition has been really good. Johnson has qualified fifth or better – three times he was No. 3 and he was the No. 2 qualifier in Phoenix, where he wheeled his way to the semifinals.

Johnson’s currently No. 6 in NHRA's Funny Car standings.

MIGHT NEED A NEW ONE – This was the end result of Chad Head’s Q-1 run. The engine backfire not only took out the injector hat but also the windshield of his Toyota Camry’s windshield.

U-G-L-Y - Any way he looks at it, Tim Wilkerson finds a challenge in declaring last week’s NHRA Southern Nationals a decent outing. Commerce was definitely a forgettable weekend.

In qualifying he blew a gaping hole in the side of his Levi, Ray & Shoup Funny Car and as if this wasn’t enough of a morale kick in the pants, Wilkerson lost despite a 1.3-second starting line advantage against eventual winner Robert Hight.

"It's a good thing we had some luck in round one down there in Atlanta, because had we lost that one it would've been nothing but bad," Wilkerson said. "I haven't even counted up what it cost us, in either time or dollars, but it's all part of the game. Anyone who has owned one of these things for any length of time has had a weekend where a whole lot of dollar bills flew away with one big boom, and I guess if there's a bright side it's that I'm not Don Schumacher. He had three race cars make all the Atlanta highlight shows for bad reasons. I only had one."

Wilkerson sports a 5-7 win-loss record thus far in 2014.

"Even though Robert Hight is powering through the class like a hot knife through butter right now, maybe that works in our favor in the end, as well. Heck, he's winning everything right now and is lapping the field in terms of points, but once Indy is over he'll be human again just like the rest of us. As long as he lets me win one, I don't care if he wins all the rest of them. It'll get fun when we tighten it all up again for the Countdown."

REMEMBERING THE REAL GOOD TIMES - Once upon a time Tony Pedregon and Heartland Park Topeka saw eye to eye. The two-time Funny Car champion races valiantly despite the challenges of finding sponsorship to run with the head of the pack.

A little over a decade ago, Pedregon was at the front.

Pedregon was once unbeatable at Heartland Park Topeka, having won three straight races at the facility, a feat matched by only one other driver in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car history.

“It’s considered one of the supertracks and Topeka was definitely a little ahead of its time when it was built,” Pedregon said. “The track surface is always good and it’s always been a quick and fast track. You always have tracks you’re partial to and you have a tendency to remember the ones where you’ve had success. I’ve had a lot of fond memories at Topeka.”

This season, Pedregon feels his team is already in a better place than it has been for the past two years. He picked up a round win in Las Vegas earlier this season and feels his performance and the car’s consistency continues to improve.

“It’s taken a while to rebuild my program,” Pedregon said. “My approach used to be to win at any expense but we’re not in a position to do that right now. But we’re working hard and have made a lot of improvements and we’re going to Topeka with a good car. In the last two years we’ve come a long way.”

THE RELATIONSHIP CONTINUES - Tony Pedregon Racing and Herzog Contracting Corp., specialists in heavy/highway and railroad construction, will partner for the NHRA Kansas Nationals.

The team is enthusiastic about having the longtime partner back on board, along with Associate sponsors Komatsu, Summit Truck Bodies, Brown Cargo, Wabash BBQ, and national construction leading associations of AGC of America, and AEMP for the eighth race of the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

“Herzog Contracting Corp. does an outstanding job engaging their customers and understand how to utilize access to one of the most exciting venues in racing,” said Tony Pedregon.

“Herzog and its industry partners are excited to partner with TPR for Herzog’s 9th year to be associated with the Pedregons,” said Dan Samford, VP of Herzog Companies. "This year at Topeka, in addition to our outstanding trade partners, we bring along two outstanding industry associations that exhibit the same professionalism that the Herzog & Pedregon name represent. We are looking forward to continuing our efforts to expose our industry to the benefits and excitement of NHRA drag racing.”

PRO STOCK
 
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - If Vincent Nobile has his way, the Mountainview Tire team might be fashionably late more often.

Nobile wasn't late on the track during the lone Pro Stock session at the NHRA Kansas Nationals as he topped provisional qualifying with a 6.601 elapsed time at 208.71miles per hour.

"Definitely a good start to the weekend," Nobile said.

The team arrived late due to hauler issues which left the team broken down in Atlanta, Ga.

"They left the track in Atlanta on I believe Tuesday morning and didn’t get five miles and had to stop," said Nobile. "The catalytic converter was goofed up or something like that, I don’t even know. For whatever reason the truck’s still there. They couldn’t get the part and they didn’t get in today until 12:30 in the afternoon."

A mad thrash of preparing the car and setting up shop ensued just three hours prior to qualifying."

Probably the best part of the situation was that the team didn't have the opportunity to overthink the combination on their only run of the day.

"A lot of the time, especially on days like today when you’re running at 4:30 you still get here at 8:30 in the morning because that’s when you wake up and you’re antsy to get to the track," Nobile said. "You make a decision early in the morning and then you second guess yourself and most of the time that seems to bite you in the butt. Today we didn’t get the opportunity to overthink ourselves so we went out there with what we thought was right and it was right, today anyways.”

ON THE CUSP OF HISTORY – Erica Enders-Stevens has fond memories of Heartland Park, for it was there as a 22-year-old that she claimed her first No. 1 qualifier.

"That was pretty cool," Enders-Stevens said. "I was a new driver back then, and I don't really think I understood how awesome that was to be that new and to be on top of such a competitive class. That was a neat accomplishment.”

Enders-Stevens has accomplished a lot since the momentous occasion.

Thus far in 2014 she has two wins -- not including her K&N Horsepower Challenge victory -- and one No. 1 qualifier in seven races, and she has a 110-point lead on the Pro Stock field heading to Topeka.
 
"We've got the car and the team to beat right now, and we’ve brought that car into Topeka,” Enders-Stevens said.

IF Enders-Stevens can win, she will be able to claim the 100th national event victory by a female this weekend. She scored wins No. 98 and No. 99, so getting No. 100 would be fitting.

"It would be awesome," Enders-Stevens said. "It's a huge milestone for our sport and would certainly be an added bonus for us to get that done for all the women. It would mean a lot to us, but regardless, we're going to do the best we can this weekend and at every race."

A CELEBRATION CUT SHORT - Jeg Coughlin Jr. won last weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals but the celebration was cut short because the event was extended a day because of rain. Last year, when Coughlin won here, his post-race celebration was drastically hastened by adverse weather, a common occurrence this time of the year in the Great Plains.

"There's no question we got cut short on celebrating last year with the weather that was coming in," said Coughlin, a six-time world champion. "It would be extra special to make it two in a row here and have an even bigger party come this Sunday night.

Topeka represents the second of three races in a row, always a challenging time for race teams because they don't have a chance to return to their home bases and reload.

"Things get magnified as we approach the summer months," Coughlin said. "We're in the middle of three straight with Atlanta, Topeka, and Englishtown, and then we've got four in a row and three in a row later this summer. But this is the kind of team you want behind you, one with championship quality and drive.

TO LEASE OR OWN? THAT’S THE QUESTION - Is it better to lease or own? For Pro Stock driver Rodger Brogdon, the answer is to lease.

Brogdon is running an engine leased from Elite Motorsports for the second race in a row. The Pro Stock racer from Houston, Tex., has his own in-house engine program but chose to lease an engine to see if his team's issues were horsepower or chassis related. 

A No. 5 qualifying position and his first win since Bristol 2013, answered his question. 

"We're going to run the same engine, so we've got a positive attitude," Brogdon said. "We know we can go out there and qualify in the top five and run good on Sunday and have a chance to win. That's the plan."

The Atlanta upswing moved him to within 36 points from 10th-place in the point standings.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR - Dave Connolly is no slouch when it comes to his Pro Stock racing credentials. He's got 23 wins to his credit and this year, he's been close ... but no cigar. 



"It's been frustrating," admitted Connolly. "Especially last weekend after we waited so long with the weather, and then to finally get to race but lose first round – it was disheartening for the whole team. But this weekend is all new, and every failure is a chance to learn something. We should be able to take that and turn it into something really good. Maybe even a win." 

Connolly has reached the semifinals twice and the quarters three times. The tour heads into Topeka at the right time for Connolly. He had three consecutive final rounds at the facility from 2005 to 2007, emerging victorious in 2006. He was the No. 1 qualifier in 2008. 



"Yes, we have had some good luck here, but lately it seems like luck hasn't been on our side," said Connolly, who has raced at the facility five times in his Pro Stock career, most recently in 2008. "Right now, we have a car that is very capable of winning. It's just a matter of time with our Charter Communications Camaro, and we're just going to keep going to every race knowing that we can win. Soon our luck is going to change."

TOPEKA TRIUMPHS - Larry Morgan last won in Kansas in 2008, and has reached the semifinals many times. This year would be a good time to experience past success.
 
"This season hasn't gone too great when you look at our results on paper. I know what kind of power we have under the hood; our luck just hasn't been there to help out. It's frustrating but I know we'll be all right and keep moving on."

Morgan likes to test when he can. This week didn’t afford the opportunity.

"I like to test whenever I can before a race, but there just isn't enough time this week," Morgan said. "Even if Atlanta hadn't taken an extra day because of rain, I still wouldn't have been able to test. The week was just too short to really make a test session worthwhile.”

THROWING HIS HAT IN THE RING - Jonathan Gray has competed in five events which automatically qualifies him for a nomination as Rookie of the Year.  This weekend’s event represented the fifth event for the driver who debuted back in March at the NHRA Gatornationals.

The experience has been a fast track learning experience considering Gray made his first-ever run in a Pro Stock car nine days before his national event debut. Prior to this experience, he’d never even performed a burnout in a 500-inch car.
 
Gray has qualified for each race he has attempted and has progressively gotten better each weekend starting 13th in Gainesville, 11th at the four-wide event in Charlotte, 8th in Houston, and most recently 6th at the Southern Nationals in Atlanta.
 
In Houston, Gray won his first round of eliminations on a holeshot over V. Gaines, and last weekend he reset his career best elapsed time to a 6.526 with brother Shane Gray in the opposite lane. Gray is currently just outside of the top 10 in NHRA's Pro Stock standings, despite only having attended four of seven events.
 
"Really, I just have to continue to do what I'm doing – learning every week," said Gray. "I've got some great teachers between my crew chief Tommy Lee and my brother. Shane is one of the best drivers out there when it comes to shifting these cars. He is really phenomenal at it, and I guarantee you there isn't anybody as good out there. I'm just lucky that I can go to him for guidance as I'm getting the hang of this deal.
 
"I know I still have plenty to learn, and there are a lot of little things that I need to work on and some bad habits I might have started forming that we need to correct – and we'll work on that in Topeka. But for having less than 50 laps in a Pro Stock car, I'm pretty happy right now. I'm not sure if I have a chance to be Rookie of the Year when this is all said and done, but I sure hope so. This has been quite a ride already.”