FINAL INSIDER - IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY!

Ron Capps put everything into perspective at the finish line when he said after winning, “This is the best car I’ve ever had.” Ya think? He’s won, like, a bajillion races in a row thanks to exceptional driving – and tuning. The NAPA Dodge made eight straight three second runs in Norwalk even though one of them was tossed by NHRA under questionable circumstances (RELATED STORY - CAPPS Q-3 RUN BOUNCED). In the changing conditions that made up the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, that’s impressive. And no, it’s not too early to start talking about Capps possibly winning his first-ever championship, one he richly deserves.

In the on-going “race” between DSR and JFR – you do know who we’re talking about, right? – an interesting point was brought up by several observers this weekend. There may be a subtle yet important difference in the way the headers are configured on the Schumacher cars as opposed to the Force rides. We’re merely speculating here, but in today’s highly sophisticated drag racing world tiny differences make big differences, and this could be one of them.

Capps downed Courtney Force-Rahal in the finale (while Courtney’s husband was coming home third in the IndyCar race in Wisconsin), but really, this was Capps’ race from start to finish. He and tuner Rahn Tobler are on a roll now, and you know what happens when someone starts to put things together like they’re doing.

The other good comment at the finish line came from Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Eddie Krawiec after his Harley-Davidson had to be pulled out of the sand trap for the second time today. “It’s a dirt bike!” he grinned, not realizing that his teammate, Andrew Hines, was rolling up behind him while throwing his gloves at him. Krawiec was oblivious to everything but his Wally.

He acknowledged that he let the clutch back out as the bike neared the sand trap. “That’s gonna do some damage,” he said, “but the Wally was worth it.” Yeah, the Harleys are tough to beat.

Uh, guess who was in the Pro Stock finale. Time’s up. Did you pick Jason Line and Greg Anderson? You’re a winner – and so are they. The real excitement? When Anderson’s car momentarily balked at starting prior to the semifinals against Shane Gray. The guys ripped the front clip off the car, hit the balky part and voila, the car was good to go.

The best race was between Line and Vincent Nobile (who is driving the Camaro Erica Enders-Stevens drove to the title last year) in the other semifinal. Line won with a 0.057 R.T. combined with a 6.675/208.62 to Nobile’s 0.031 R.T., 6.762/207.69.

We said those tiny little things matter earlier, and in Pro Stock what we’re hearing is that the advantage enjoyed by the Summit cars, and sometimes by Bo Butner as well, is the result of someone’s highly sophisticated fuel delivery and ignition “mapping.” Supposedly – and this is nothing more than a rumor at this point – the magician is a friend of Butner’s who’s been helping the trio of racers. That’s a rumor people, not a fact, so treat it as such.

Would you like to have this kind of record? Three races; one win, one runner-up and one DNQ. That’s Billy Glidden’s marks since he began driving a turbocharged Camaro in Pro Mod. It would be difficult to find anyone more dedicated and hard-working than Glidden, and in the Precision Turbochargers machine he may have finally found his rightful place – the winners circle. Glidden spent a long time fighting his way to the forefront of Pro Mod, working with bad cars and sometimes less than completely helpful “sponsors.” There were occasions when he agreed to what turned out to be disadvantageous deals, but he never wavered and never reneged on an agreement. It’s good to see him win a big one.

Doug Kalitta may have dominated Top Fuel qualifying, but on race day the accolades went to teammate J.R. Todd and Shawn Langdon, who made the final round. Todd dumped Kalitta in the semifinals while Langdon was defeating Brittany Force, much to the dismay of the fans. Yes, the Force name, regardless of the category of competition, remains magic.

Todd had to be the angriest loser at the top end, although he didn’t toss his helmet, kick the car or start spouting four-letter words, but it was obvious he was upset by the car’s having spun the tires just slightly – enough to cost him the race. The happiest winners had to be Capps and Glidden, but that’s not to say others weren’t pumped by their victories. It’s just that some people let their emotions out and others don’t.

In retrospect one wonders if moving this race off the July 4th weekend might not have been the best plan. Visually, at least, the crowd appeared to be smaller than last year’s, but we’re almost always notorious for being way off in our crowd estimation (I feel the presence of six people standing behind me as I write this in my hotel room.). The one thing we can say for sure is that, hot and humid though it may have been, every fan we overheard while we were walking to our cars had had a good time and was looking forward to more. “More” in this case appears to be the Night Under Fire on August 13th, when drag racing’s most insane one-day show takes place at Norwalk and yes, we’ll be here. So what if it’s a thousand miles from home? It’s worth the trip.

The last month has been a grind for the race teams – four weekends, four races. That takes a toll on men and hardware, but the professionalism of today’s drag racers is readily evident. What’s broken they fix or replace. Rest is when and where they can manage it. The road is always in front of them, the next race is just a week or two away. It will be that way from now until November, but you can count on every racer posing for a selfie with you, and he or she will sign your hero card, your T-shirt or even your bare skin. That’s just how things are on the NHRA Mello Yello Series trail.

SATURDAY INSIDER - ANOTHER GLORIOUS DAY IN OHIO

Yes, it got warmer in Northern Ohio today, and that slowed the cars just a bit, but that’s to be expected during the hot summer months. It’s not only a fact of life, it’s a fact of racing life. Unfortunately for those who love drag racing visuals, i.e., long burnouts and the like, this kind of weather conditions often result in markedly shorter burnouts because the tuners understand that the track is already hot, and so are their tires, to some extent, so they try to avoid over heating everything but cutting down on the burnout.

Ya know, it really is a shame the tuners are so smart, smart enough to try and avoid that overheating thing. We kinda liked it when a tune-up was considered a success if the car went from here to there without catching on fire – and the burnouts went from here to there almost every time. Oh, well. Maybe we should consider this the downside of technical advancement.

Yesterday we suggested that Angie Smith could do better on her Victory Gunner, and she did just that, jumping into the field in the 12th position with a 6.955 – but the two Harley-Davidsons remain at the top of the list. Positions didn’t change all that much, but the fans definitely benefitted from the more than full field, because qualifying was actually meaningful. Karen Stoffer, who’s done remarkably well after losing her Geico Insurance sponsorship at the end of 2014, failed to make the cut, which was kind of a surprise.

There are the two Victory Gunners of the Smiths, the two Harleys, five Suzukis and six Buells in the field, so there’s obviously a nice mix of brands, but we continue to question the exclusivity granted the Harley-Davidsons. Even though the AHDRA – All Harley Drag Racing Association – has long since folded its tent, it’s hard to believe that there aren’t more Harley racers out there who would like to compete in the NHRA Mello Yello Series, but as long as H-D has NHRA's ear you can expect things to remain as they are. In 2011 the title we chose for our coverage of the Hemi Challenge at Indy was “Ban The Westcotts!” It was really an homage to their dominance of the race that they’d repeatedly won, but in typical fashion, someone told someone who told someone who told Charlie Westcott, Jr. The only problem was that Westcott had apparently not read the story, and neither had those who told him of the title. He was reportedly super-angry, believing we’d actually been serious, when we couldn’t possibly have been more tongue in cheek. Regardless, Mr. Westcott is now trying his hand in Pro Stock, and after a disappointing outing at Englishtown he made

a couple of decent runs in Norwalk, and will start from the back of the pack with the Ford Mustang he purchased from Jim Cunningham. Westcott is up against it in the sense that Ford has professed no interest in professional drag racing, so he has no help from Dearborn, and with no other Ford runners out there he doesn’t have anyone he can turn to for help, but even though the road in front of him is all uphill, he has the skills to climb to the crest and get over the top.

Uh, yeah, the two Summit juggernaughts remain up front, with Anderson first and Line second. And you expected what else, exactly?

When it comes to putting on a show, there just aren’t any doorslammers better than Pro Mod – and we’ve been ignoring it for far too long. That it should probably become a regular professional category should be obvious just from the sheer number of entries it attracts, but we’ll let others worry about that.

The final qualifying session for those cars had everything a fan could possibly ask for. Wild wheelstands, cars sashaying across the centerline and yes, even one careening through the lights on its roof. Luckily, Mustang driver Chris Juliano wasn’t seriously injured, but the same couldn’t be said for his car which was, well, bent.

Bob Rahaim remained at the top of the list in his ‘Vette, with Jim Bell’s Camaro on the bottom. The elapsed time spread was from 5.828 to 5.984 – a very nice show.

In the first round all eyes were on Billy Glidden’s turbocharged Camaro, and he delivered the quickest pass of the day in 5.880 seconds in defeating Eric Latino. Close to Glidden was Von Smith with a 5.887 over Michael Biehle, while Rickie Smith (5.909) and Troy Coughlin (5.922) were also pretty darn close. Tomorrow’s racing promises to be good, if not great.

We ended up with 15 cars each in Funny Car and Top Fuel, so as we wrote yesterday, running was all about positioning. But, in conditions like these it was also about getting ready for Sunday, so there were a number of aborted runs due to tire smoke and the like. You can’t blame the competitors for doing their best to win, and if that means overpowering the track Saturday to learn how to stick like glue on Sunday, so be it.

Mr. Worsham remains on top in Funny Car, with the late-arriving Jeff Diehl on the bottom with a seven second run. Ugly would be the appropriate word for the way the car ran. Brandon Welch, running a Check Beal combination, ended up 14th in an ancient Monte Carlo in 4.519 seconds. Everyone else produced competitive elapsed times, but none were as strong as they were last night.

Doug Kalitta stayed Number 1 in Top Fuel, meaning Kalitta Motorsports cars topped both fields. We used that word “ugly” to describe the way Jeff Diehl ran in Funny Car, and the same could be said for Luigi Novelli’s “best” of 13.639 seconds in Top Fuel. It’s no secret that we need more race cars, and take our word for it, there are already concerned racers muttering about 8- instead of 16-car shows, and that would really be disastrous. NHRA Drag Racing lost a ton of fans when they shortened the track to 1,000 feet. Well, cutting the fields in half will only serve to drive more people away, and that won’t help anything.

There are some overdue drivers in the pro categories that could turn their seasons around on Sunday, so we’re looking forward to another great Norwalk race. Will tomorrow be the day when the Summit Camaros are untracked? Will Doug Kalitta prove to have feet of clay? For that matter, will a guy named Clay win his first NHRA race? Will John Hale in Big Jim Dunn’s Dodge become a first time winner? Will John Force start another charge to the top? If you can’t be here in person, check back here Sunday evening for a full report.

FRIDAY INSIDER - WE ARE HALFWAY HOME 

The Summit Racing Equipment Nationals contested at the famous Ohio facility that now bears that corporate name marks the halfway point of the NHRA Mello Yello Series points chase, and thus is an important “landmark,” if you will, in drag racing’s year. But there’s more to Norwalk – and let’s be honest here, that’s what everyone calls the track and the event – than it just being the halfway point of the season. There are reasons the competitors look forward to coming here, and it has everything to do with both the facility and its management, the Bader family. When track operators respect the racers and act accordingly, the racers not only know it, they appreciate it. There aren’t many facilities on the tour where the racers have those feelings, but this is definitely one of them. It may be the only track on the tour where the manager, Bill Bader, Jr., knows just about every racer on a first name basis, and it has to be the only track on the tour where the senior member of the clan, Bill Bader (recently named the Grand Marshall of the NHRA nostalgia race at Bowling Green), is on a “hugs” basis with all the competitors. And when we say “competitors” we mean everyone from Top Fuel to the bracket drivers parked way down in a field on the west side of the track.

Friday’s crowd wasn’t the biggest ever seen at Norwalk, but it was more than decent. And, as usual, they were enthusiastic observers of almost all the on-track action. Yes, the fans continue to walk away when the motorcycles and Pro Stock cars are running, but a surprising number of them stayed in their seats for Pro Mod, and they got their money’s worth. There are 27 cars competing in Pro Mod and just 18 in Pro Stock, but before you start sighing, an 18-car field in Pro Stock is huge by 2016 standards and yes, we realize that isn’t particularly good.

One factor that helps make Pro Mod “work” are the speeds and elapsed times recorded. Among the top 16 there was one car at 250 MPH (Troy Coughlin’s turbocharged ‘Vette), and only one that ran slower than 240, and that was Jim Bell’s turbocharged Camaro in 16th at only 226 MPH. Don’t even ask, ‘cause everyone ran deep into the fives, with the top 11 all in the five-eighties. Yes, Myrtle, these cars put on one helluva show.

Meanwhile, in Pro Stock the usual suspects topped the list, so what else is new? Nothing in this class, believe me. There is no reason whatsoever to fault Greg Anderson (6.565) or Jason Line (6.569) for their dominance. It’s not their fault that the other guys can’t seem to catch them. And before you even start whispering that they’re doing something wrong, we’d like to think that NHRA has been over those cars on an almost hourly basis, because dominance like they’ve demonstrated has seldom been seen.

If the “usual suspects” are sitting on top of the Pro Stock list the same could be said of Pro Stock Motorcycle, where the Harleys ridden by Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines are on top and yes, Krawiec also set a new track record in 6.822 seconds. In all, eight riders are in the six-eighties out of a total of 20 entries.

So, you’re seeing a pattern here, right? Plenty of entries in Pro Mod, plenty in bike and not enough in Pro Stock – or the fuel classes. People, this is a problem, but Hall of Famer Mark Oswald had it right when he said this afternoon, “I’ve seen this before. It’s a cyclical thing. In the old days there’d be plenty of Funny Car and not enough dragsters, then the next year it would be reversed. Over time these fields will fill up, believe me.” Okay, Mark, we do – but when?

The one thing you can depend on this year is the shattering of track records in the fuel classes, and it happened again here on Friday when Del Worsham eclipsed both ends of the Funny Car standards with a 3.875/328.70. Four cars were in the three-eighties (Ron Capps, Robert Hight and Courtney Force) along with Worsham, while five more were in the ‘nineties. John Force failed to make the top 12, but with only 15 cars on the grounds it’s obvious that, once again, everyone’s just running for position because everyone’s going to run on Sunday.

The man on fire in Top Fuel, Doug Kalitta, also broke the track E.T. mark with a 3.719, but with half the field in the three-seventies along with Doug well, this could be a terrific race on Sunday. Too bad there are only 13 cars to battle it out with the former sprint car driver and current jet pilot. Yeah, in everything but his personal habits, Doug Kalitta does indeed live a very fast life!

The only car in the fours is Luigi Novelli’s flame- and parts-throwing machine with a 4.566. If only someone would hand Luigi a few hundred thousand dollars, a new chassis and some engine tips the guy could become, as Marlon Brando said in On The Waterfront “..a contendah!” Oh, well, that’s Hollywood, and this is the real world.

If there’s another facility on the NHRA tour that’s as immaculately groomed as this one always is, we haven’t yet been there. If there’s another facility on the NHRA tour where every employee understands and believes in the term “customer service,” we haven’t yet been there. There are longer tracks, there are wider tracks, but few have the kind of long “teeth” that Norwalk sports. There are reasons why this race is so terrific – and we haven’t really dug into everything.

The weather’s going to continue to be terrific – and so is the racing. We can’t wait for Saturday to start (in, like, an hour or so!). We’ll see you in the pits.