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

EVENT GALLERY

 

SUNDAY

BROWN KEEPS ROLLING TO WIN TF CROWN AT ST. LOUIS - Whether Antron Brown wins his second Top Fuel world championship this season is unknown.

Brown, however, has put himself in the forefront of the title conversation by winning the first two races of the Countdown to the Championship.

Brown, who pilots the Matco Tools Dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, won his latest race Sunday at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, clocking a 3.721-second run at 325.92 mph to edge Dave Connolly’s 3.753-second lap at 328.94 mph.

“To get a win here, it was just an incredible day,” said Brown, who won the 2012 world championship. “It leaves you kind of speechless, especially when I think about the kind of team I have from (crew chiefs) Mark (Oswald) and Brian (Corradi) and all of our Matco boys, they do an incredible job. We are marching right now and we have to keep marching. You have to go out there and get as many points as you can to try and get yourself ahead of the game, so you have a chance the last race to win a championship.”  

This was Brown’s sixth win of the season and the 53rd of his career, combining Pro Stock Motorcycle and Top Fuel. This was Brown’s 37th career Top Fuel victory.

Brown now has five career victories at Gateway Motorsports Park, including four in a row, which extended his track record. Doug Kalitta and Gary Scelzi are tied for second on Gateway Motorsports Park Top Fuel victory list at three wins each. Brown’s other victory at St. Louis came in 2009.

Brown remained atop the point standings with a 2,320-point total, followed by second-place Tony Schumacher at 2,243 points.

“I’m just truly blessed,” Brown said about all his success at Gateway. “To Curtis Francios to Chris Blair, and this whole staff here at Gateway when they brought this track back, they brought it back here better than ever. The track hasn’t missed a beat. The weather is always right and the fans are filled up in the stands. Then if you look at the track surface from the first qualifying session to the last run down the race track, it was just incredible.”

Brown defeated Terry McMillen, Shawn Langdon, Billy Torrence and then Connolly in his memorable Sunday.
“The way the class is right now you have to throw everything you have at it, and if you don’t you are going home,” Brown said. “If you ran a high (3) 70 (Sunday) you were going home.”

Outside of Brown, the semis included three non-race winners in Torrence, Connolly, and Brittany Force.

“When you make it down to four cars left, it’s anybody’s game,” Brown said. “It just comes down to it where our team has been in a lot of these situation before and we just keep on giving all that we have and every time we know we have to give a little bit more.”

Brown then to take a moment to address the level of competition now compared to how it was when he won the world in 2012.

“It is extremely tougher,” Brown said. “When we ran the championship before it was still a battle and we were battling our teammate Tony Schumacher back then. Back then, I would say you probably had about eight great race cars and you had probably another eight good race cars. Now, brother, you probably have 14 to 16 great race cars. You can get taken out by No. 16. The competition is just stout. The thing I can honestly say is you have to be great on every single level to win a race. You can’t have a great race car without a great driver, and you can’t have a great race car without great team members. Every crew member has to be great. The crew chiefs have to be great. The drivers have to be great and your supporting cast and all the parts you put in the car better be the best available. If you don’t have the whole pie you are not going to be turning on win lights every round.” Tracy Renck

WORSHAM WINS IN DRAMATIC FASHION WITH ENGINE DETONATION JUST SHY OF FINISH LINE - When it is meant to be, it is just meant to be.

On a weekend where everything just seemed to go right, despite feeling like it was all going wrong, veteran Funny Car driver Del Worsham came out of an odd weekend with a race win, a new NHRA national record and a comfortable 90-point cushion in the Countdown to the Championship.

Not bad for a man that many didn’t even consider part of the championship conversation entering the playoffs.

Worsham capped his wild weekend with a victory over Matt Hagan in one of the strangest victories of the year, blasting through the traps on fire and unable to see following an engine detonation just shy of the finish line. Despite the wild ride, Worsham crossed the stripe with a 3.964-second pass at 320.13 mph in the DHL Toyota Funny Car, just enough to hold off Hagan who had a 3.983 at 324.20 mph.

Sunday’s other winners at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park were Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Drew Skillman (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

“I would say, in my 25 years in racing, I don’t know if I have ever driven a car that has made that many good runs or been that fast,” said Worsham, who has now won back-to-back playoff races after going winless through the regular season. “I am not going to call it dominant, but predictable. Connie Kalitta, with the team they have assembled and the parts and the tuneup that they have given us, has just been unreal. When I came back to Funny Car racing, this was how I dreamed it.”

Worsham and Hagan entered the final as the top two qualifiers following a spectacular night of qualifying on Saturday. The pair produced the very first side-by-side 3.8-second Funny Car passes in NHRA history and Worsham reset the national ET record in the process at 3.899 seconds. Still, it was Hagan who took the top qualifier award and seemingly had all of the momentum entering eliminations.

With the Wally on the line, Worsham and Hagan produced nearly identical reaction times, but Worsham began to pull ahead by the 60-foot mark and never looked back. Just shy of the finish line, however, Worsham’s car erupted in a fireball as a moment of celebration quickly turned into a rush to get the car stopped.

“When you get that far down there, you don’t expect anything big to happen. I remember it made a hard dart to the right and I had to wheel it back to the left and I was looking for the finish line and right before I got there it was just kaboom,” Worsham said. “Thankfully, in today’s racing, the chutes deployed themselves so I was slowing down right away, but I couldn’t see where I was going. So I grabbed the brake and it veered over to the left toward the guardrail so I got off of it really quick and got it back over. I kept thinking, we still have to race this thing in five days.”

No matter how it was accomplished, back-to-back wins over the top two teams throughout the 2015 season has breathed new life into the Kalitta Motorsports entry as Worsham extends his lead to 90 points between himself and Hagan

“We lost an awful lot of races early in the season. When we came into this final round, I told them like I told them last week, ‘if you have one thousandth of a second you can pull out somewhere, pull it out or we are going to lose,” Worsham said. “These guys are going to throw everything they have at us. (Hagan) is a great driver and they are a great team. Fortunately, we were able to come out of here with a win.”

Worsham recorded wins over Cruz Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson and Tony Pedregon, all in uneventful fashion, on his way to his 35th career national event win. While Hagan advanced to the final, helping keep him within breathing distance of the points lead, the number one seed entering the playoffs, Don Schumacher Racing’s Jack Beckman, failed to make it out of the first two rounds for the second race in a row, dropping him to fourth in the championship behind Worsham, Hagan and Tommy Johnson Jr.

With only four races remaining, Worsham is thrilled to be on top of the Funny Car standings after entering the Countdown fourth with no wins during the regular season. Now, Worsham has back-to-back wins and will take plenty of momentum with him to next weekend’s NHRA Keystone Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway.

“This was my best day in a Funny Car. A lot of hard work went into this car. When I came over and started driving this car, we were just a building team and we were barely making the top 10 and we were fighting for everything we could,” Worsham said. “They have built us into, what I believe, is a championship caliber team. If we don’t get too excited and keep doing our job, hopefully come Pomona time, we can race for this championship.”

And for anyone who wonders if he will be ready for next week’s race following his engine failure, Worsham had this to say.

“The chassis is not damaged, and Connie Kalitta provides us with plenty of parts, so everything that was damaged here today can be replaced. In five days, we will be back on that starting line.” Larry Crum

APPRENTICE DEFEATS MASTER: SKILLMAN GETS FIRST CAREER PRO STOCK WALLY IN WIN OVER ENDERS - You never forget your first time.

While Drew Skillman is certainly no stranger to an NHRA winner’s circle or the weight of a Wally in his hand, those wins came at the sportsman level. It is a much different animal in the world of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and, up until now, he had never experienced a win in the professional ranks despite four final round visits in 2015.

That is, until now.

Skillman, a 27-year-old rookie from Indiana, raced to his first career professional win Sunday at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park, besting his teammate and current Pro Stock points leader Erica Enders to collect his first professional Wally and etch his name in the history books as a Pro Stock national event winner.

Skillman was joined in the winner’s circle by Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Del Worsham (Funny Car) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

“Every Wally means a lot of you. Every race your remember, every place you were at you remember, but this is huge,” Skillman said. “It is an honor just to be here with these great people. My team, they killed it all weekend. Everyone around us has been positive and gave me the opportunity to do this.”

Skillman’s first career victory could not have come against a more formidable opponent as he found himself matched up with Enders, who is enjoying a season for the ages in 2015 with seven national event victories already to her credit.

But on Sunday, it was Skillman’s turn.

With Enders already up one in their head-to-head final round meetings this season, Enders got the jump with near-perfect .003 light, but the car began to violently shake and made a quick move toward the centerline before she clicked it off. Meanwhile, Skillman, in the Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, had yet another fantastic run, racing through the stripe with a 6.529-second pass at 211.63 mph to earn the win.

“Erica has been absolutely insane on the tree and I knew we had to step up a little bit. Thankfully, a little luck went our way and we got it done this weekend,” Skillman said. “We are teammates, but at the end of the day, we are both racers. We are both very competitive and we are here to win. There is no ‘let me win this time, you win next time.’ We both want to win every time we show up.”

Skillman collected his first Wally off of the strength of a fast and very consistent afternoon. The young rookie had runs of 6.529, 6.528, 6.525 and 6.530 in wins over Enders, Allen Johnson, Deric Kramer and V. Gaines respectively, mixing that with a little luck along the way. Both Kramer and Johnson had red lights and Enders suffered tire shake, but after four previous visits to the final round coming up short, Skillman felt it was just his time.

“Luck was on our side, which is huge in drag racing. Everything is so close,” Skillman said. “We had two red lights against us and then Erica shook down low. But when it comes down to the final, you need a little luck.”

Sunday’s win was also crucial in the battle for the championship. Skillman jumped from ninth up to fourth in the Countdown to the Championship, 160 points back of Enders. Enders, meanwhile, extended her championship lead to 113 points over Greg Anderson. And, ironically, it is Enders herself that Skillman credits most of his early season success as she has acted as a mentor in his first year.

“From day one she has been there. She spent a week with me teaching me how to drive. I had to learn all over going from sportsman into this,” Skillman said. “There are different procedures, different ways you stage, different ways you carry yourself in the race and she taught me all of that.”

Now, Skillman will return home with a shiny new Wally in tow and a new confidence, even if he was a little lost immediately following turning on the win light.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Skillman said with a laugh. “I didn’t know what to say or what to do. I am still new at this.”

Up next is a trip to Maple Grove Raceway for the NHRA Keystone Nationals, the third of six races in the 2015 Countdown to the Championship. Larry Crum

HECTOR ARANA JR. TOPS DAD AT ST. LOUIS - This time father didn’t know best.

In an all-family affair, Hector Arana Jr. beat his father Hector Sr. in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final of the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals Sunday.

Arana Jr. clocked a 6.860-second time at 196.50 mph to defeat his father’s 6.932-second lap at 195.03 mph.

“That win was a very sweet win,” said Arana Jr., who pilots a Lucas Oil Buell like his dad. “When he won in the semis and then I went ahead and got the win light in the semis, that’s when we won this race. After that, it was to see who could take home the Wally and it was definitely bitter sweet because I wanted to see him win and I know he wanted to see me win. It was good to get the win, it was something we needed to do to move forward in the championship. We dug deep and we tuned both bikes and I was able to get the win.”

This was Arana Jr.’s 11th win of his career and second this season to go along with his Chicago victory July 12.

Arana’s victory parade consisted of victories over Jim Underdahl, reigning world champ Andrew Hines, Steve Johnson and then his father. This was the second time Arana Jr. faced his father in a final round – the other being Chicago 2014 – and the second time he came out the victor.

“Those Harleys, they have it figured out and the Suzukis are running strong, so it was definitely a big move to get everything figured out (Sunday),” Arana Jr. said. “We struggled at the last race (Charlotte) really bad and we even struggled in qualifying (at St. Louis) and we were taking swings going back and forth, but by doing all that we were able to come up with a tune-up for (Sunday). I put my first tune-up in round one and didn’t even touch it and just went some rounds, and it was a hard road.”

With the win, Arana Jr. moved into second in the point standings – 34 points behind Hines.

“I got real nervous and I thought we lost a shot to win the championship, and we knew we had to perform at this race and I had the perfect opportunity when I had to race the points leader Andrew Hines in the second round and I knew if I wanted to win the championship I had to beat him and we were able to dig deep and get that round win,” Arana Jr. said.

The win capped an unforgettable week for Arana Jr. On Monday night, he proposed to longtime girlfriend Nicole Nobile at their home in New York, and it continued at Gateway when he was reunited with younger brother Adam, who raced here after getting a weekend pass from his service in the United States Coast Guard.

“Monday, I pulled the trigger and I asked my beautiful girlfriend to marry me, and we got engaged and then I got the win and that was like the icing on the cake,” Arana Jr. said. “It was a great, great week. I don’t know if I could ask for anything more. It was a great week and I look forward to do many more weeks like that and I can’t wait to keep doing that.” Tracy Renck

 
SATURDAY NOTEBOOK – A RECORD-SETTING DAY ENDS WITH A BANG

TOP FUEL

WHEN FRONT MEETS BACK - Steve Torrence nailed the top spot in Top Fuel dragster at 3.718 seconds at 328.22 miles per hour on the last of his four qualifying attempts.  He now has posted the four quickest runs of his career in the last three months.  His best previous effort was 3.732.  He also had run 3.733 and 3.734 this year.  

Today's performance shouldn't come as a surprise with championship tuner Alan Johnson servicing as an extra set of eyes for tuner Richard Hogan. In two days, Torrence points out that Johnson's consultation role has proven beneficial although he wouldn't credit that solely for the top performance.

"That run was a culmination of an awesome first half and an even better second half coming together," Torrence explained. "We've run good numbers to the half track and we've never gotten them together. That time it came together and provides us with excellent data. Our team has really stepped up their game.

"I will say this, I would rather race with Alan [Johnson] than against him."

With Johnson in camp, Torrence cannot help but exude confidence.

"My confidence as a driver has gone up a lot," admitted Torrence. "St. Louis has always been good to me although I have never won here. I am confident I will have a good hot rod for tomorrow. We have taken a step in the right direction and the car will continue to get better. We have not been representative of the caliber team we have."

CRAMPTON COMES ALIVE IN FUNNY CAR? - Richie Crampton won last season's NHRA Rookie of the Year by making driving a Top Fuel dragster look like a piece of cake. The Australian native understands if he had jumped behind the wheel of a Funny Car as his entry level ride, he might have faced a sharper learning curve.

Crampton admits he'd like to give Funny Car a try one day.

"It’s something I’d love to do at some point," Crampton admitted.  "Growing up and racing all kinds of different stuff, from eight years old drag racing was all I’ve wanted to do.  It’s kind of like you go out and practice your golf swing, well, that’s what I’ve been doing for thirty years."

If his entry level machine had been a flopper, Crampton would have put in the work to master his craft.

"I think whether it was a Pro Stock car or a Funny Car, I would’ve tried to learn as quickly as I could no matter what type of car it was," Crampton said.  "I’d like to think I’d have adapted to either one but you never know.  I think Funny Car is definitely one of the hardest categories that you can learn to drive in."

Crampton admits a dragster was where he envisioned himself all along.

"Dragster was kind of the natural progression for me because I had driven more alcohol dragsters rather than alcohol Funny Cars so dragster definitely seemed like the starting point," said Crampton. "I think jumping into a Funny Car would’ve been a bit more challenging but dragster was a good place to start."

ANTRON BEST OF Q-3 – After opening the day with the quickest run of the third session, a 3.763, Antron Brown returned in the final session to throw down his best run of the weekend, a 3.736.

“Today, we did two quality runs and just made up for pressing a little too hard Friday night when the track didn’t hold it,” said Brown, who will be vying for his fourth consecutive and fifth career Gateway event title Sunday. “But the good part of it is we moved up to a great qualifying spot and it sets up tomorrow for a good plan of attack. That’s what we want to do, just qualify well at each of these Countdown races, be in the top half of the field and go into Sunday and attack round one.

“That’s our goal for tomorrow – to attack round one and take it from there. Let’s see what the track will give us tomorrow. It should be conditions similar to today. We just want to go out there and make solid runs. Rotating the earth isn’t going to get it done tomorrow, but knowing we can do that, too, if we need to, makes us feel pretty good about where we’re at right now.”

 

NOT THE BEST SATURDAY - J.R. Todd, driver of the Jimi Hendrix Foundation Top Fuel Dragster, knows how to make moves in the Countdown. Last season, Todd advanced from tenth to second in just six events and continued that momentum this season in Charlotte.

Today hasn’t been exactly the kind he was hoping for.

“Not the Saturday we were looking for with this Jimi Hendrix Foundation dragster,” said Todd. “It is going to be a little warmer tomorrow, so we have to get the set-up right especially with the tough opponent we will face first.”

Todd completed Saturday's qualifying with a 3.776 best to land No. 8, where he will face Dave Connolly.

MCMILLEN’S LAW – Murphy has a law, Terry McMillen and his Instigator team has theirs. Neither seems to work in the Elkhart, Indiana driver’s favor.

McMillen, the topic of conversation last weekend in Charlotte over oildown fines, caused a race stoppage, much to his chagrin.

NHRA had to roll the Safety Safari to clean up a mess on the track during Saturday's Q-3 session at the AAA NHRA Midwest Nationals when his dragster leaked absorbent out of the containment device.

"It was absorbent, but it did look like we had run over a chicken," admitted crewchief Rob Wendland. "A lot of teams had mentioned putting an absorbent inside of the diaper."

Wendland and the team had believed whenever they had an engine failure, the containment device, or diaper, was functioning properly but a vacuum situation was actually sucking the oil out of the containment device and onto the track.

Saturday's run proved their intuitions correct.

"It became clear what was going on because what we put in the diaper came flying out," explained Wendland.

Wendland said the team will reconfigure the way the car's containment device is mounted, all the while maintaining use of the absorbent material inside as a means of containing the oil.

"We're going to make sure this doesn't happen again," Wendland said. "We didn't oil it down, which is good, but we sure did diaper it down. That's some kind of first, I think."

MARKED IMPROVEMENT - After the Sandvik Coromant team wasn't satisfied with their performance at the NHRA Carolina Nationals last weekend near Charlotte, they opted to test near Indianapolis on Tuesday before this weekend's NHRA Midwest Nationals near St. Louis. The team hasn't won a round dating back to the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, NH.

Led by crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler, the team appears headed in the right direction by qualifying seventh for Sunday's eliminations at Gateway Motorsports Park with a time of 3.776 seconds at 328 mph.

"It was a really good decision to take the Sandvik Coromant dragster to test at Indy," driver Shawn Langdon said. "Three out of the four runs we made there were really good runs. Basically, we just needed to get a baseline, and we were able to obtain that.

"We came out here to St. Louis and right off the bat made a good run and we have just been steadily improving the car on each run. It was very important for us to improve on each lap and we accomplished that."

NOT HAPPY – Tony Schumacher was less than enthused when he made what appeared to be a strong run alongside of Richie Crampton, only to have the scoreboards come up blank during the final qualifying session.

“That was certainly a freaky turn of events,” said Schumacher, a two-time Gateway event winner who lost the opportunity for bonus points. “There’s really no right answer for what happened. Should we get to run again? Absolutely. It wasn’t our issue, it was a track issue. Would it upset every other driver? Probably. But I say it may not ever happen to me again, but it’s not fair to whoever it does happen to the next time. It does change things.”

NHRA officials determined no one would get bonus points for qualifying during the session, either. This was of little consolation for Schumacher who entered the weekend nine points out of first.

"So, they threw out the bonus points that round, but I’m getting just two points for my qualifying position rather than wherever we would’ve ended up in the order based on that last run. Man, this is 2015, get the clocks to work. When our car doesn’t work right, we figure it out. There are issues, there are glitches, this is not something that somebody did on purpose, but this kind of thing really could dictate the outcome of a championship at the end of the year. It’s not like this one should make the difference this year, but what if it did happen at Pomona?

"It’s a ridiculous thing to not say, ‘Guys, it’s our fault, get back up there and run again,’ and so it’s fair to everyone involved. I’m not complaining because it happened to me. There just really needs to be a precedent set so there’s a way to make good on these things, somehow, in all fairness to the drivers and teams and sponsors involved."

Schumacher ended the day as the No. 11 qualifier and will face Clay Millican in Sunday’s first round.

FUNNY CAR

GETTING BOLD - Sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone. This was the course of action championship tuner Dickie Venables took to derail the Jimmy Prock-tuned Jack Beckman express train which appeared to roll through qualifying on Friday and into Saturday.

Venables' driver, Matt Hagan, thundered to the quickest Funny Car elapsed time with a mark of 3.883 seconds at 330.47 mph to earn his first No. 1 qualifying position since July and fifth of the season. Hagan also became the first driver to reach 330 mph and his speed is now an official world record.

Hagan has the most runs under 3.9-seconds with the 3.883 today and his 3.879 from Brainerd.

"Dickie has made some big drastic changes since the Western Swing, and it takes a lot of courage to do that," Hagan said. "Everybody was watching (Prock) and asking how are we going to catch this guy."

Venables also realized he had to change his game plan.

"We had a good car at the first of the year that would run low 4s and it won several races," he said of when Hagan won four of the season's first 11 races. "After the Western Swing the bar was raised. Between Beckman and Prock, they raised the bar.

"We were forced to make changes; I was content with the car because we were winning. We had to make changes."

OH WHAT A FEELING, 2015 STYLE - Just how good has the weekend been for Toyota driver Del Worsham? On three consecutive passes, he registered personal bests. Opening with a 4.033 baseline run, Worsham's DHL team thundered to a 3.959, 3.935 and a 3.899.  

“That was an amazing run for the DHL Toyota – and we improved each of the last three sessions,” said Worsham. “Right before us, Jack Beckman had just run a 3.90 and I’m thinking, that’s a heck of a run.  I knew we had a really good run going and the crew radioed back to me, ‘you ran a 3.89, that’s the good news’, I radioed back ‘what’s the bad news’ and they said, “Matt Hagan ran a 3.88’.  Either way, we’ve been battling it out with Hagan, Beckman and all the DSR guys. But this was qualifying and tomorrow’s race day and we’re just going to take what we learned and try to apply it to race day.”

TEN OF THEM – For the first time in NHRA Funny Car history, Sunday’s final eliminations will include ten of the sixteen qualifiers in the three-second zone.

NEVER GIVE UP - Tommy Johnson Jr. never gave up hope, even when the future looked bleak. Then he met Terry Chandler, and she rescued him from hopelessness when it came to his racing future.

"My situation looked grim from the outside, but it didn’t grim to me from the inside," said Johnson. "I think two years ago in Charlotte, I was doing the commentating for ESPN.  I was holding the microphone, interviewing people, and I wanted to be doing their job.  You do whatever it takes to get back to where you want to be.  That was a different career path, a break that I didn’t want to have.  

"People were asking why I’d quit racing there for a while and it’s pretty simple, I didn’t have any money to race, didn’t have the right driving job, didn’t have a sponsor to bring to the table.  You do whatever it takes to get back to where you want to be."

Johnson entered the weekend just six points out of first place

AN EMOTIONAL MOMENT – The Make-A-Wish Funny Car, funded by Terry Chandler as a donation to the charity, had a big moment prior to Saturday’s qualifying facilitated by NHRA and Don Schumacher Racing. The made a special presentation on the starting line to 10-year old Wish Kid Luke.

Joining Luke on the starting line was his parents, Gwynn and Matt, were on the starting line for a presentation. Beside them were Johnson, Don Schumacher, and Terry Chandler, as well as Make-A-Wish Missouri staff including Carol Burcke, Chief Development Officer; Caroline Schmidt, Chief Operating Officer; and Andi Malick, Volunteer Manager.

Luke, who resides in St. Louis, determined his wish in March of this year. All Luke wanted was to "meet the USA Men's Soccer Team," and Make-A-Wish Missouri has confirmed this weekend that they will be granting his wish in the very near future.

"Through the generosity of Terry Chandler, who funds our Make-A-Wish Dodge, we've been able to raise awareness for Make-A-Wish and all they do for these kids," said Johnson to a near full-capacity crowd at Gateway Motorsports Park. "We get to have Wish Kids from the local chapters out to the racetrack each Saturday, and this past Thursday we actually got to meet and have dinner with a few kids from the Make-A-Wish Missouri chapter, one of them being Luke."

Luke was then presented with a United States Men's National Soccer Team jersey and ball by Terry Chandler and Don Schumacher before Johnson continued.

"Luke, on behalf of Make-A-Wish Missouri, Terry, Don, and my entire Make-A-Wish team, we want to let you know today that your wish has been approved. You're going to meet the U.S. Mens Soccer Team," said Johnson.

The crowd cheered wildly, and smiling broadly with TJ right beside him and the entire Make-A-Wish team behind him, Luke could only say four words.

"This is so cool."

SHOWING OFF - On the side of Cruz Pedregon's Toyota Funny Car is nine-year Snap-on Tools dealer Jade McAllister. McAllister chose to bring 60 people with him over the weekend after having attended the Four-Wide Nationals earlier this season.

McAllister said he plans to start a tradition of traveling to at least one race outside his home market every year.

Today McAllister's favorite driver put on quite the show.

Pedregon also ran a career-best today with a 3.942-second pass in his Snap-on Tools Camry, good for sixth as 10 Funny Cars registered passes of 3.998 or better in qualifying.

 

PRO STOCK

ANYBODY’S GAME - Greg Anderson claimed his 79th No. 1 qualifying position of his career courtesy of a 6.492 at 213.27 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro. This is his third consecutive No. 1 qualifying position and the fourth of the season. Anderson entered the event second in Pro Stock points will face Mark Hogan in the opener

“Things are going well; my car is great blast to drive,” Anderson said. “It is fast and consistent and smooth. I told my guys thank you so much. Now just keep doing what you’re doing. Any time you can get all the bonus points that are available that’s a great weekend so far. Now, I just have to do my job on Sunday.”

Anderson entered the event trailing points leader Erica Enders by 83 markers. He led all four qualifying sessions and picked up 12 valuable points.

As much as Anderson would like to say he's the car to beat, he cannot make the statement with solid authority.  

“To be honest there are probably 10 or 12 cars that absolutely could win this race tomorrow and no one would be shocked,” Anderson explained. “We just have to learn to be aggressive. We had cloud cover today and when that happens all the cars get happy; not just mine. You can’t be shy in the playoffs so we’ll up the ante a little bit tomorrow. I know the track will take it. I’ve got the horse underneath me I just need to ride it like it should be ridden.”

QUICK STUDY - Drew Skillman would love nothing more than to get a Pro Stock win in his rookie season. He's been close three times with final round showings in Pomona, Indy and Norwalk.

“We’re fighting to get that win,” Skillman said. “We’ve been so close three times and we would really like to get it done in the Countdown. How much bigger could that be, getting your first win in the Countdown? Our goals headed into this season were to win one race and finish in the top 10. I really believe we’re going to meet all of those goals.”

Skillman, led by crew chief Mark Ingersoll, made the move from sportsman racing to the Pro Stock ranks requiring a level of adjustment.  He's proven a quick learner and many of those lessons from teammate Erica Enders.  

“This season has exceeded all my expectations greatly,” Skillman said. “I’ve learned a ton, and learning all the nuances is different. I went from running 8.20s to 6.50s right out of the box. There is a huge learning curve but I love being part of this team. It’s special being around a group of people who are so passionate.”

 

 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
 

ALL HEART, GATOR MAN - Make no mistake, Jerry Savoie is gunning for a world championship, and after making a couple of low qualifying efforts, has made his intentions crystal clear.

Savoie also has a special part he's running on his bike that no one can buy - his heart, and the heart of his White Alligator Racing. He recalled a conversation with his team at dinner after securing the provisional No. 1 in Charlotte on Friday.

"I said fellas, you know what? We don’t have anyone sponsoring us, except a few but I mean money wise and we don’t have any pressure on us, God gives it to us," Savoie said. "We’re here to have some fun and at the end of the season we’ll see how it plays out.  So it’s all heart.  I’m out here because of this, money ain’t a thing and I couldn’t care less. I’m out here because I want to race and I want to win."

Savoie is entered the weekend third in points, and picked up six bonus points on Friday.

Savoie often times wears his emotions on his sleeve, and did so in winning the U.S. Nationals. He recalled a conversation he had with his wife which essentially said if he died at the moment, he's lived life to the fullest.

Winning a championship is something he cannot imagine.
 
"For 32 years I sat back and watched everything," said Savoie. "I didn’t really know if I was good enough to do this so to be in a position where we could run for a championship, with the help of a few people, and it really was not on my bucket list.  My bucket list had on it to win one professional race and after we got that one race I could quit at any time.  Anything can happen from here out, it doesn’t matter.  I take it day by day and by the grace of God we’ve gotten here."

Savoie claimed his first No. 1 qualifying position of the season and second of his career with his Friday run of 6.832 at 196.50. He will face Scotty Pollacheck in the first round of eliminations.

 

JOHNSON MAKES LEAP – Steve Johnson entered the Q-3 session as fifth quickest and leaped two spots to third with a 6.852.

Johnson’s third seeding, marks his best starting position of the season, and will face two-time world champion Matt Smith in the first round of eliminations.

 

 

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – ACTION HEATS UP BENEATH THE ARCH

TOP FUEL

WHICH WAY TO THE PRESS ROOM? – Yes, Larry Dixon honestly didn’t know. Dixon has won 62 NHRA Top Fuel events, none of which have been at the track located in the shadow of the St. Louis Arch.

‘In 20 years of racing here, I have never been to the press room,” admitted Dixon. “I love racing here, just don’t have any hardware to show for it.”

In fact, Friday’s two qualifying runs were the first time he’s raced here in four years. He wasted no time in the re-acclimation process with a 3.756 elapsed time. His 328.06 speed established a new track record.

“I didn’t know if it was going to hold with Tony and Antron still waiting to run,” said Dixon. “I figured the worst I would be is third. I would have been all right with that. It worked out well.”

What worked out even better were the three bonus points which went along with Dixon’s top effort in the Q-2 session.

“I’ve lost a championship by two points,” Dixon said. “Those points could come in handy.”

NO. 2 AGAIN - Last weekend, JR Todd drove his way to a runner-up finish in Charlotte. He was Friday's provisional qualifying runner-up with the second quickest run, a 3.776 elapsed time.

 

AB GOES A to B - Antron Brown wasn't the quickest of Friday's qualifying but his 3.792 elapsed time put him solidly in the show at fourth.

“We were really good in the field and why not press and go for it. The track right there looked really good," said Brown. "We were pressing, and that’s what you’ve got to do, what you need to do. We just missed a little bit but that’s fine. We’ll go tomorrow and it’ll be cool and cloud-covered for tomorrow and we’ll just keep on hitting it just like we’ve always been doing. But it feels good to go out there and have a really great qualifying run like we did in the first round today.

"That’s the way the conditions are going to be when we’re out here on race day Sunday. We love racing here and want to just keep having fun. We always love coming here and the track is really, really good here. We know what’s out there and we felt good even though we just missed it a little bit that last run.”

ON THE OUTS - Six cars headed into Saturday's final two sessions without an elapsed time on the list. Kyle Wertzel, Terry McMillen, Billy Torrence, Luigi Novelli, Richie Crampton and Jenna Haddock will have to start from scratch.

Crampton's Q-1 run was disallowed because his dragster turned up light at the scales.

PLEASE DON’T BOO ME - Careers are built on one's ability to throw a baseball in a Major League Baseball game. For Top Fuel driver Brittany Force, there was so much more at stake. She didn't want to get booed.

"I got booed before which is why I said that I will never sign up for this again." admitted Force, of her experience at a minor league first-pitch experience in Indiana.

Force might have been unwilling to throw another first pitch again, but this memo never made its way to her promotional team, who booked her in to throw the ceremonial first pitch at Thursday's St. Louis Cardinals baseball game before they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 7-3.

One could imagine the response Force gave when team publicist Elon Werner informed her of the monumental promotional opportunity he'd arranged for her, unaware as he was of the previous experience.

"No, Elon ... I am NOT doing it," was Ms. Force's response.

Then Force explained how during her last experience she made the cardinal (no pun intended) sin of one-hopping the ball to the catcher.

“The whole crowd booed," Force said. "I had my sunglasses on and I was like, 'Get me out of this place and then I had to go to an autograph signing with all the people that booed me."

"I told myself that I was never doing that again."

What Werner forgot to tell her this time was that her first pitch experience would likely be in front of ten times more people.

Force went to work early in her preparation, visiting the stadium well ahead of time and making practice throws in a hallway inside of the stadium. She found an accommodating photographer, National DRAGSTER’s Marc Gewertz to serve as her catcher, and marked off the yardage only after they had Googled the proper distance.

Will Patterson, a member of the St. Louis Cardinals staff, reassured Force that even if her throw was terrible she wouldn't get booed.

"That made me feel better even if I didn't believe him, and I went with it," Force said.

Force was no Cy Young-quality pitcher, but she was no one-hop artist either.

"I think I threw it the best that I could," Force said. "I got cheered; I didn’t get booed like I did before."

BAGGING THE PRIZE - Steve Torrence uses his drag racing downtime to go big game hunting. More recently he killed an eight-foot Grizzly Bear but even this prize pales in comparison to what he bagged earlier this week.

Torrence successful hunted down one of the most coveted nitro tuners in drag racing - Alan Johnson. And right now, Torrence understands the value of snagging an 11-time championship tuner.

"Any time you can bring someone on to your team with such crazy credentials and experience, I’d go so far as to say this guy is one of the best if not the best crew chiefs out here," said Torrence.  "It’s very humbling; it’s kind of surreal."

Torrence confirmed Johnson's presence is already paying dividends.

"He’s already pinpointed and brought out a lot of things that will improve our car," Torrence said. "I haven’t been the best leader as of lately and just haven’t represented myself well.  I think there were some things that we found in the car that were more than my foot mashing the pedal.  That does take some things off of me.  I haven’t ever had someone like this on my team."

Torrence is quick to point out Richard Hogan has done an exceptional job getting the team to this point, and is still very involved.

"I don’t think that Alan is going to come in and wave a magic wand and just make us win a championship," Torrence said. "The dominant teams have multiple sets of eyes looking over all the data every run and we’ve lacked that.  Anytime you can add that to the equation, it’s beneficial.  Being those experienced set of eyes that he’s got, I think it’s even better for us, it’s definitely a confidence booster for everyone here and a welcome invitation."

Is anything less than the championship a disappointment?

"No, not at all," Torrence said. "AJ brings a lot of credentials with him, but I don’t expect it to turn into an absolute free-for-all and we’re going to win the championship.  Any team that wins a championship out here, it wasn’t just because of one guy.

"We’re going to do the best we can.  The best we’ve finished ever is 6th so we’d like to improve on that and if it happens to be No. 1, that’d be even better. We’re just going to keep our heads down and do the best we can."

UNDERSTANDING HIS ROLE - Alan Johnson is quick to point out he's not tuning Steve Torrence's Top Fuel team. And, the 11-time champion says, he doesn't need to either.

"I’m not really tuning over here," said Johnson. "These are customers of mine at AJPE, who just wanted me to come out here to consult and find the areas they could improve on.  [Richard Hogan] knows how to run that car and for me to come in here and change the way they run their cars, there’s no time to be doing any of that.  I’m just coming in here and overseeing what they’re doing and see if I can pick out some stuff that they can improve on."

Adjusting to a managerial role as opposed to one of a player is going to take a little getting used to for Johnson.

"It’s frustrating being out here and not having a car," said Johnson, who parked his team prior to the Countdown.  "It’s difficult to get to that level of excitement when it’s not your car."

Johnson said there was no selling point to pull him into Torrence Racing, as he was already going to be out here at the six stops on the Countdown because of his role as President of PRO.

"I was going to be out here anyway, so I might as well help my customers," Johnson said.

Johnson said he and his sponsorship team are busy working on potential deals for 2016.

"It’s just a process you know," said Johnson. "You work on it, work on it, and work on it and every now and then you stop to check if it’s there.  It’s so difficult to get the kind of money that we want or require to run one of these on the championship level that it takes a really complex program to get that done. It takes time to do it."

SETTLING IN - Shawn Langdon, driving for the second week in DSR's Sandvik Coromant/Red Fuel dragster, is qualified sixth with a time of 3.802.

FUNNY CAR

THE THROWAWAY - For those who thought Jack Beckman's run of fortune was over after last weekend's NHRA Carolina Nationals loss, he provided a 3.946-second reminder during the Q-2 session.

There's never a good time to lose, but if Jack Beckman had to get an early dismissal slip, it probably worked best for the 2012 series champion that it happened during the opening round of the Countdown.

"People ask what’s it going to take to win the championship, and the answer is I don’t know," said Beckman, who was Friday's provisional No. 1 with a 3.946. "Could you lose first round at two of the races and still win?  I don’t want to be biting my nails 3rd round at Pomona.  That’s just so much pressure.  I think that going into the Countdown first in points, even though our points lead shrank to 30 points, maybe did give us a luxury stubbing our toe one time, and we only fell to third.  It could have been way worse for us at Charlotte."

Beckman said it was easy to label Charlotte as a different kind of racing surface, thus making the sting of the early loss less painful.

"We got out of there with minimal damage and that’s a throwaway race for us," said Beckman.  "There’s no reason to panic, and I said that after the race.  That race was just so different for our tune-up, and we just need to rip those notes up and move on."

"We just left Charlotte, and nobody was upset, nobody was mad we were just like 'hmm, that was an interesting one.”

"We learned something that if the conditions are like that at a different track but we know moving forward we’re going to race back in the tracks and have them cater to our tune up."

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN - Ask Del Worsham when the last time he led the Funny Car points, and immediately the Villa Park, Ca.-based driver drifts into a state of thought.

"I think maybe Phoenix of 2009... maybe," Worsham says with a large degree of uncertainty. "If not, you have to go back to St Louis of 2004 I believe."

Worsham ascended as high as a tie for second place in 2009, when he drove a Funny Car for Al-Anabi Racing. Before then, Worsham last led the points in May 2004. This year he's already led the points twice.

"The only cool thing about the No. 1 position is if you have it after the Finals," said Worsham, who did hold the position as a Top Fuel racer in 2011. That's what I’m here to try and do and race for - that position. I’ve led the standings on and off throughout my 25 year career and basically it only matters at the last race of the season."

Point lead or not, Worsham said he is having more fun than he's had in a while. His secret is nothing more than having his dad at the track more now than in the past.

"It’s fun to have him and his car and to just spend time with my dad," Worsham admitted. "To have his car out here, whether they make all the runs or they don’t make all the runs, hell even if we don’t qualify, I get to hang out with my dad and he’s a fun guy.  He makes me happy and he’s a guy I want to hang out with, see him, talk, it just kind of reminds me a little bit of where I grew up and hung out at."

Worsham was even happier in Friday's Q-2 session when he ran a personal best 3.95.

HOMER DOES GOOD - Tim Wilkerson is an Illinois boy, so who better than him to record the first-ever three-second Funny Car run at Gateway International.

"I told my guys that it's crazy the car will run threes now even on imperfect passes," said Wilkerson who ended the day as seventh quickest.  "We had it soft in the middle, and it chewed on a cylinder head a little, but it still went out there and ran a three."

Wilkerson had a feeling his three-second run would be the tip of the scale in a barrage of three second runs.

"Once we all figure out the formula to run a three, then you know how to do it," said Wilkerson. "It took us a while, but now it does it on runs that aren't even close to perfect. Strange deal, but good for the fans."

Ironically Wilkerson was the first of seven to run a three on Friday, but ended up the slowest of them all.

 

 

THE OUTSIDERS - Chad Head, Brian Stewart, Tony Pedregon, Dale Creasy Jr. and Joe Bojec head into Saturday's qualifying with no elapsed time on record.

SLICK FORCE - John Force said last season he was chasing Corporate America, and thanks to a healthy line-up of sponsors, the 16-time champion has caught it. This weekend in St. Louis, Force is running the colors of Slick Mist, a product under the Lucas Oil banner. For two weeks in a row, Force has unveiled a new look on his Camaro Funny Car.

“We are promoting Lucas Slick Mist this weekend and I have to thank the Lucas family for sponsoring me this race and growing our program. Forrest Lucas and his family have done so much for this sport and I could not be prouder to race this Chevy with his name on the side. This race is sponsored by AAA Insurance, which is another one of our sponsors and we will be battling for all our sponsors this weekend,” said Force, who has two wins in 2015.

So far this season Force has been racing with a brand-new crew and new crew chief Jon Schaffer. The winningest driver in NHRA history has been very pleased with his young team’s performance and by his own admission the 16-time champion feeds off of the enthusiasm.

Force is looking for his 144th career Funny Car win and third of the season. He has raced to four final rounds this season and he will finish this season in the Top Ten for the 30th season in a row. That streak is something Force appreciates but it wasn’t the goal when the former truck driver first got behind the wheel.

“In the beginning winning rounds wasn’t just to prove I could beat somebody," said Force. "It was to get that round money to pay for Goodyear tires, to pay for a room or plane ticket or diesel fuel. Everything had a reason. Every step was an improvement. We had a one-car team, and we lived that life seven days a week. We went to a two car team then three and now four cars. I wouldn’t be thing big if it wasn’t for my family. Drivers like Robert Hight, Ashley, Brittany and Courtney and now looking at the future with my grandkids Autumn, Jacob, and Noah,” concluded Force.  

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES - Last year Courtney Force qualified in the No. 4 spot for the third consecutive year at St. Louis and picked up her fourth Funny Car win of the season, a record for a female Funny Car driver. She beat Bob Tasca III, Del Worsham, John Force and Matt Hagan to move from the No. 4 spot in the Funny Car points to the No. 2 position, right behind her father. It was her seventh career victory and she became the first female to win back-to-back Funny Car races (Dallas and St. Louis). It was also her fourteenth final overall.

“We've qualified 4th every year at St. Louis and we hope to keep the streak going," Courtney said.

Courtney's 2014 St. Louis win created a stat in drag racing's history books, it marked the first time a father and daughter have been No. 1 and No. 2 in Mello Yello Series point standings.

“Last year was a huge win for me at Gateway Motorsports Park because it was the first time a female Funny Car driver had won back-to-back races and I became the winningest female in a single season," she said. "There have been a lot of great things to happen at this track so we hope the positive vibes continue this weekend.”

PRO STOCK

HOT HAND LEADS THE PACK - Four-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson remains the hot hand in qualifying with the provisional No. 1 spot and a track record 6.492 at 213.20 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro. Anderson, who won at Gateway Motorsports Park in 2004, sits second in points with four wins in seven final round appearances this season. He has 78 career No. 1 qualifiers and is chasing his fourth of 2015.

“Today was a great day,” said Anderson. “This is a great racetrack. It seems to be right up the Pro Stock alley. We like to test here, and we really run good at this track. If this holds, it will be my third [No. 1] in a row. Our crew is doing a fantastic job with the car. It’s a dream to drive. It’s almost silly how good it is. I’m having a ball, but I have to parlay that into some-round wins. We’ve been dropping the ball on Sunday, and I can’t let that keep happening.”

ELITE RUNNERS - Pro Stock newcomer Drew Skillman sits second with a 6.510 at 212.23 in his Ray Skillman Chevrolet Camaro. Skillman’s teammate, defending Pro Stock world champion and two-time event winner Erica Enders powered her Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to the provisional third qualifier with a 6.511 at 212.43.

NOBILE CONFIRMS NEW ELITE ALLIANCE - Vincent Nobile admits he was the last to know of the switch.

The switch, Nobile said, was the switch in engine providers from KB Racing to Elite Performance.

“It’s true and we are pitted next to those guys this weekend,” Nobile said.

Nobile is driving the same Camaro his new teammate Erica Enders drove to the 2014 NHRA championship.

“That was the only car they had available for this weekend,” Nobile confirmed. “The rumors are indeed fact.”

Reportedly the switch is one the Mountainview Tire team had been mulling for the last few races.

“As far as I know, this is the start of a relationship that will carry over into next season,” said Nobile. “I don’t know every detail, I’m just the driver – I get in the car and drive. Nick Mitsos handles all the business affairs.”

 

 

 

THE OUTSIDERS - V. Gaines, Aaron Strong, Alex Laughlin, Steve Schmidt, Mark Hogan and Dave River missed Friday's top twelve and will start over on Saturday.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

GATOR, GATOR - Jerry Savoie grabbed the qualifying lead with a 6.832 at 196.50 on his Savoie’s Alligator Farm Suzuki. Savoie, who raced to his first career victory at this event one year ago, currently sits third in points with two wins this season. The Louisiana alligator farmer is two sessions away from his second career No. 1 qualifier.

“All week I said that whatever you leave Charlotte with is what you’re going to have coming in here, and we have some good momentum,” said Savoie. “I’ve found that on these bikes, the fastest passes are the smoothest. After our first run, I told (crew chief) Tim Kulungian that we had more left because the bike was not graceful. On the second run, I hit third gear and I said to myself, ‘Boys, we’ve got us a motorcycle now.’”

 

 

IN FOURTH - Hector Arana is fourth with a 6.902 at 194.35.