Ten water-cooler topics from the NHRA Menard's Nationals in Topeka.

1 - Tasca Goes Back-to-back - Bob Tasca III’s family is Ford royalty. So when he convinced them to return to NHRA because he’d deliver wins, he scored a big one on a rain-delayed Sunday in Topeka, kan.

For Tasca and his team, there was nothing easy about this one.

“It was a hard-fought day, I tell you,” Tasca said. “I give all the credit to the guys, I tell you. I don’t know. Every time we warmed up the car, there was something wrong, like from a fuel leak to couldn’t get the [engine containment device] on one run. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to miss the race because we can’t get the diaper on.'

“They just fought through it. The car shut off in the first round, car shut off in the second round, car shut off in the third round. And we were struggling with putting cylinders out and having the safety box shut the car off. And I just said to these guys, ‘I mean, look at the incrementals.” You could see the car was trying to run ridiculous ETs. We need all eight (cylinders) this run to beat Hagan, and we had all eight. And that run was a monster run.”

Tasca emerged victorious by defeating points leader Matt Hagan in the final round, boasting a run of 3.885 seconds at 332.26 mph in his BG-sponsored Ford Mustang. 

“We’re going into Brainerd, going into Indy,” Tasca said. “My goal was to be in the top five. I think everyone wants to be No. 1 leaving Indy. But the truth be told, if you’re in the top five leaving Indy, you got a really good chance to win the championship. I think we’re fourth or fifth leaving here. We get two big races to go before the point reset, and this car can go in any race and win, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been able to say that before.”

 

2 - Ashley wins another one - With Jim Epler fielding questions about his milestone first 300-mph run in a Funny Car, he always ended every interview by stating because he never won at Heartland Park; that he believed he was carrying around unfinished business for a long time. Sunday, Epler got his closure thanks to Justin Ashley. 

Epler, who was the driving force behind Ashley’s Phillips-Connect sponsorship and is a partner in Maynard - Ashley Racing, finally got his Topeka win thanks to a barn-burning performance from the driver he endorsed years ago. 

Ashley won his sixth national event of the season and extended his points lead over Steve Torrence by beating Brittany Force in the final round.

Ashley, who is one of the most focused drivers in the category, said Sunday’s recurring weather delays challenged him.

“I think just staying focused, especially with the layoff, was tougher than ever,” Ashley admitted. “It’s hard enough to stay focused throughout the day on a normal race day, but we really didn’t know what today was going to bring. Every driver, every team was under the same circumstances. We understood that, but with conditions changing, not knowing when and if we were going to get a race in — let alone four rounds today, which really speaks volumes to the Safety Safari, to be honest with you — was probably the biggest challenge of all. You’ve got a lot of confidence as a driver when you have the kind of Phillips Connect team that we do.” 

3 - Enders Wins A Driver’s Race - There are racers where a driver can out-horsepower the competition, and then there are others where the driver plays a larger role in the equation. Sunday’s performance proved Enders, who only had one win to her credit to this point in the season, still could outdrive the competition.

Enders pulled to within two victories of surpassing Angelle Sampey as drag racing’s winningest professional racer by beating Greg Anderson in a final round where the conditions were not the greatest for the factory hot rods.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Enders said. “They work so hard in the engine shop. They work so hard on the race car. There’s so many things, so many parts and pieces that go into this, aside from horsepower, chassis setup, shocks, all of the things. But being able to turn the beacon on because I did my job every once in a while is pretty nice.”

Enders, while promptly pointing out that all of her wins were tough, said without a doubt beating Dallas Glenn in the second round was challenging.

“They gave him the nickname after one year of racing, ‘Double-Oh Dallas.’ And we were ‘Double-Oh EE’ way before he even arrived, so we had to show him up a little bit, and I was glad to be .009 against him and turn that win light on. That was super important. But my crew chief said, ‘This is the race that will determine the race. So, you win here, we’re winning this whole thing.’” 

 

 

4 - Mother Nature Makes her presence known - Let the record reflect that Mother Nature was an attendee at the final Menards NHRA Nationals on the final weekend of NHRA competition at Heartland Motorsports Park. While she often gets credited for the wet stuff, she also brings along the heat. 

The temperature went as high as 96 degrees Friday and cooled slightly to 93 on Saturday. The relative humidity was around 55 percent. Reportedly the Heartland Motorsports Park medical center treated at least 50 patients for heat-related issues. 

NHRA officials moved Sunday’s start time up to 10 a.m. Central when Mother Nature was expected to bring thunderstorms in the night. She did. And she kept on storming into the afternoon. Sunday’s start time was delayed by 5-1/2 hours. 

NHRA got in two rounds of nitro competition before the anticipated rain hit almost on time. After a 30-minute delay, racing resumed with the quarter-finals of Pro Stock. 

Rain hit again after the nitro semifinals pushing completion into the early evening hours.. 
 

5- Hunter Green gets his Wally - Hunter Green, the son of nitro Funny Car racer Chad Green who drives an injected nitro car for Randy Meyer, scored his first career win, beating Shane Conway in the final round. Green scored the final Top Alcohol trophy at team owner Randy Meyer’s home track.

“All I know is me and my dad have worked hard to get here,” Green said. “He’s doing good [in nitro Funny Car]. I’m doing good with Randy Meyer now. It’s been a lot of hard work. It’s a long time coming. We started in Pro Modified and graduated to Funny Car. 

“I just started driving a few years ago. We’ve been out here for a while, and things are going well for us. It’s been a long road to get here. It’s been a long, hard weekend.”

The elder Green was understandably proud.

“It feels so awesome,” Chad said shortly after the win. “Nothing better than watching your kid win like that. It’s better than myself winning; that’s awesome.”

While Chad hasn’t won in a nitro car, he does have an NHRA Pro Modified victory to his credit, beating Jason Scruggs in the final round of the postponed 2020 Lucas Oil Summernationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. 
 

6 - Let the speculation begin - One could call it the Antron Brown Traveling Warm-up Tour. In Denver, Brown opened the cockpit of his Matco Tools dragster to Kenny Bernstein. On Saturday, twice he provided Angelle Sampey, his former Pro Stock Motorcycle teammate, the opportunity to warm the car.

While expressing an interest in nitro racing, Sampey is adamant that nothing is in place for her to move forward. 

Brown said he’s working on it.

“The coolest part of it is that she’s got some interest in doing some other things,” Brown said. “I just wanted her to see what this fuel racing is all about because I’ve told her for many, many years, I think she’ll be great in a fuel car because she rode those motorcycles like no other, winning three championships. And one thing is she’s always been a headliner in our sport for riding Pro Stock Bike. Get that picture: Imagine Angelle racing a Top Fuel car. Period.”

Sampey confirmed she’s warmed up a nitro car now eight times. It sounds like preparation to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 - Torrence Ends #2Fast2Ashley Streak - Let the record reflect; the streak lasted 11 rounds. Steve Torrence stopped Justin Ashley in the final round of the #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Shootout on Saturday. Ashley had won all five of the events he participated in. 

“Justin Ashley has shown himself to be a fierce competitor, and he’s got a good team over there,” Torrence said.

The win was Torrence’s third consecutive in the specialty event.

Also winning titles were Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock).

 

7a - Palmer gets his upset - On paper, Tony Schumacher looked like the overwhelming favorite to beat Scott Palmer in their first-round match. Palmer didn’t get the memo, and though Schumacher left first by a slight margin, his later tire smoke enabled Palmer to drive by for the win. 

Only two Top Fuel drivers won from the bottom half of the ladder, Palmer and Austin Prock (Doug Kalitta).

“It was a good run; I got out there and pulled it back to keep it safe,” said Palmer, who benefited from tuning help by John Stewart and the CAPCO Top Fuel team. “It’s hot out here, and that’s something crew chiefs don’t like to hear.”  

 

8 - Factory Experimental Fizzles - After a significant build-up, the Factory Experimental concept was expected to debut at the Menards NHRA Nationals. Numerous construction delays with building the cars, primarily due to parts availability, left the entry list with only one car. 

9 - The Battle of the Retired Consultants - When Paul Lee and Cruz Pedregon met in the first round, it represented a battle between the two teams employing past championship tuners who gladly enjoy their time as consultants. 

Lee, who hired John Medlen as a consultant for his McLeod Clutches team, won first round in two consecutive races after going the first five of his part-time season without a round win. 

Lee has openly admitted he hired Medlen after seeing the success Lee Beard brought to Pedregon’s team. 

The two left side-by-side, but Lee pulled away when Pedregon lost traction.

10 - Say What????!!!???

“Admittedly, we’ve not been the CAPCO boys of the past, and so we’re doing the best we can to get back to that. I think that at some point, we might’ve given some of these guys a false sense of hope that we weren’t the team that we used to be. - Steve Torrence, following his #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel win on Saturday 

“I don’t know if someone hexed me. But I’m going to get some sage, and sage my whole pit.” - Alexis DeJoria following her car’s shutoff in Saturday qualifying. 

“I can’t lie, everybody red-lighted the whole entire day. And here I am.” - Super Stock winner Mike Cotten to NHRA announcer Joe Castello on the secret to his victory.