Atron Brown watched as Ashley Forced ran her way to the top spot in Funny Car qualifying and knew he needed
raise the bar on his Matco Tools dragster. Brown literally blew the bar
away with a 3.841 second pass, 315.71 mph, that left the field sucking
the hot Topeka air.
 
'The run went perfect,” said Brown. “We went for a top three spot. We
just put our heads down, the car was a little on the edge but it stuck
right down. I felt it bow up in the middle of the race track,
everything just got tight around me. My butt cheeks squirmerred up and
I just held on. When I went through the finish line I just held on.”

It was all Forces, all the time Friday night at Heartland Park-Topeka as Ashley Force Hood snatched the
provisional No. 1 qualifying position away from her father with a
jaw-dropping 4.107 second, 295.59 mile per hour effort that put her in
position to start her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang from the front for the
third time in four races.
 
 The 26-year-old phenom, who entered the 21st annual O’Reilly Summer
Nationals presented by Castrol GTX in fourth place in Full Throttle
points, had the best car by a ton in a night session that made up for
Friday afternoon performance futility.  Only two cars made it to the
finish line under power in a Friday afternoon qualifying session run on
a 120-plus degree racetrack.

On a day typical of the deep Midwest, one of the region’s finest Pro Stock drivers turned in what has been a typical performance for him this season.

Mike Edwards ran a 6.674 elapsed time at 206.29 miles per hour. If his
numbers hold, it will mark his fourth consecutive No. 1. Including
eliminations, Edwards has been the quickest car in ten consecutive
rounds of qualifying and eliminations.

“Any time we can come to the racetrack and have two runs with sunshine
that’s a good thing,” Edwards said. “We made a really nice run tonight.
We made a nice run the first pass too.”

Elon Werner, who usually plies his trade as crack PR rep for John Force
Racing, spent the weekend getting in touch with his feminine side at
the annual Texas Giant dance recital at the Cedar Hill Community Center.
 

If first impressions are everything, the drivers of the Get Screened
America Pro Mod Challenge are very impressed. The skies were sunny and
clear and the stands were full for the O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals
in Topeka, Kansas, marking the first time the Challenge has raced at
Heartland Park Topeka. A baker's dozen of cars took to the quarter-mile
and Matco Tools driver Joe Baker took the provisional bragging rights
for the class.
 
"This is an awesome facility," Baker said as he reveled in his number
one spot. The 2008 Rookie of the Year blasted to a 5.995/241.76 in the
first round and backed it up with a 5.974/241.63 in round two, with his
crew chief Chuck Ford breathing a sigh of relief.

It was a night of firsts at the IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals Friday night in Crandall.

From the first competitive passes of each of IHRA’s 10 racing
categories to the first 300 mile per hour run, Dallas Raceway provided
plenty of thrills in its opening night.

And highlighting it all was the first round of professional qualifying by the world’s fastest cars – IHRA Top Fuel.

After a bit of a slow start to the season, Edmonton, Alberta native Tim
Boychuk showed why he was the hottest driver at the end of last season
with the low E.T. Friday night to top Top Fuel qualifying and claim
Friday’s Last Man Standing with a 4.811 elapsed time at 296.96 miles
per hour.

Ashley Force Hood held off her father and NHRA legend John Force to
claim the provisional No. 1 spot in Funny Car at the 21st annual O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

Antron Brown and Mike Edwards also took the provisional top spots in
their respective categories at the ninth of 24 events on the NHRA Full
Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Force Hood drove her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a 4.107-second pass at
295.59 mph to become the provisional top qualifier in Funny Car. If it
stands it would be Force Hood’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season,
sixth of her career and second consecutive No. 1 qualifier after taking
the No. 1 qualifier two weeks ago in Bristol.

If Bob Glidden is going to be a part of Larry Morgan’s forthcoming Ford
Pro Stock program he’s not aware of it, yet. In fact, Glidden says, the
two have never discussed the possibility.

Glidden, who remains friends with Morgan, told CompetitionPlus.com that
on the Monday following the recently completed NHRA Thunder Valley
Nationals, he wrapped up his tour of duty with the Lucas Oil-sponsored
Pro Stocker.

“My deal was to get Ronnie Humphrey to where he could get down the
track,” Glidden said. “I think we accomplished that and he did a great
job of that in Bristol.”

Humphrey currently leases a car and engine program from Morgan.

Next test to likely transpire after Norwalk …

What might have appeared to be an exercise in futility was exactly the opposite when it comes to describing the post-Bristol nitro spec testing session conducted by the NHRA, this according to the sanctioning body’s nitro liaison Dan Olson.

In the first run, the engine lost the burnout throttle stop causing the engine to over-rev. The second produced a tire-smoker at the 330 foot mark. A proposed third run never came to fruition.

The average spectator might have drawn a negative conclusion.