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

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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - ENGLISHTOWN

McMILLEN’S GATOR HAS BITE, BRITTANY FORCE MAKES MOVE IN STANDINGS, RACEWAY PARK REMAINS DIFFICULT FOR JOHN FORCE AND HIS TEAM, UNDERDOGS SPARK PRO STOCK COMPETITION, BUTNER NOTCHES FIRST ROUND-WIN, ENDERS HOPES AGAINST HOPE, ‘HERE, LARRY, HAVE A CARAMEL’ 

TOP FUEL’S BROWN: 50th VICTORY ‘DREAM COME TRUE FOR THIS CHESTERFIELD KID’ - The busy little kid from Chesterfield, in nearby Burlington County, tagged along with his father and uncle to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park at Englishtown, N.J.

And when he wasn’t watching them compete in the cars they worked on faithfully in their spare time, he would wander around under the bleachers, playing with toy race cars in the dirt. Sometimes he pretended to find buried treasure. And he thought he had – until his mother scolded him to “put those cigarette butts down!”

Today Antron Brown, now 39, is still playful, still curious and full of energy. But he means business on the dragstrip as a Pro Stock Motorcycle racer turned Top Fuel dragster champion, driving the Matco Tools/Toyota/U.S. Army Dragster and working to maintain his points lead.

Those same grandstands Sunday were full of cheering NHRA Toyota Summernationals fans, maybe some little boys with his same story, witnessing him earn his 50th victory and his first in a dragster before the hometown crowd.

“It’s a real dream come true for this Chesterfield kid,” Brown said after defeating Brittany Force in the final round for a third time.

That put him 10th on the NHRA’s all-time list, two behind Joe Amato, another Northeast Top Fuel hero. Brown broke his tie with drag-racing legend Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, who split his victories between the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes.

He and Funny Car’s Matt Hagan teamed to bring Don Schumacher Racing its 48th multiple-victory race. They joined Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Jerry Savoie (Pro Stock Motorcycle) in the winners circle.

Brown, the top qualifier, got there with a 3.843-second elapsed time at 318.47 mph against Force’s 5.398, 150.16.

“I came to this racetrack back in 1986. I remember it like it was yesterday,” Brown said. “We all came out here for the Summernationals. I spent a lot of hours at the track.” 

That year sticks out in his mind, he said, because “that was the year ‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits flipped over on the racetrack. And when the car came down and he got out, I thought he was the coolest stunt driver. I didn’t know back then. I said I wanted to be like him.

“I never thought I would be out here, being a professional racer. I always wanted to, but you never know if you’ll get the opportunity to. And to be out here in the sport’s premier class, in Top Fuel, and to be in a final round and win your 50th race at your hometown track with all your family, all your friends . . . man, you couldn’t write a better script,” he said.

He said, “I give all the glory to God, and he saved a fair bit of praise, as well, for crew chiefs Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald, each crew member, his grandmother, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and fans. He said, “To have four generations of the Brown family out here is definitely a blessing. All you fans, without you we wouldn’t be out here. We love each and every one of you.”

For Brown, the momentous nature of this visit home – where he won twice in the bike class (2002, 2005) – was not lost. He simply tried to submerge it.

“We knew what was at stake when we came in here,” he said. “I put everything of what this race means to the side. And that’s what the crew did.”

The team reinforced all during eliminations (as he dispatched Jenna Haddock, Doug Kalitta, Dave Connolly, and finally Force) a “just another round” mentality.

“We put the hard work in. We’ve been testing the wheels off that Matco car. And we’re reaping the benefits of that right now,” Brown said.

It was a smart move to stay focused, because the Top Fuel class is strong and constantly surprising.

“This weekend if you ran a (3.)76 or .78, you’re in the bottom half of the field,” Brown said. “That shows you how incredibly fast and phenomenal this Top Fuel class is right now.”   

What the fans took home Sunday was a vision of goal-setting, hard work, and perseverance – and evidence that it pays off. Hopefully they left any cigarette butts under the grandstands.

HAGAN BACK IN WINNER’S CIRCLE FOLLOWING GRUELING AFTERNOON, TAKES BACK CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD - Winning races in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is never easy. Winning races against each of the top three teams in the series in a single day? Now that is just downright brutal.

Reigning Funny Car champion Matt Hagan did just that on Sunday at the Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., defeating the top dogs from John Force Racing, Kalitta Motorsports and his own Don Schumacher Racing to collect his 17th career Funny Car Wally and third win of the season.

“We were able to beat a lot of really tough race cars out there, a lot of good drivers. Funny Car is, I think, the most competitive class out there and it just gets tougher and tougher every weekend,” Hagan said. “When you go out there and run 3.99 and you are sitting fourth, you are thinking, ‘man, what do I have to do.’ All of these cars are running really good. You just have to go up there and get mentally focused.

“I mean, my lights weren’t where they needed to be this weekend. I was 70s and 80s and I should have been 50s and 60s like I usually am. Thank goodness we had a great car. I just left enough time to turn the win light on.”

Hagan’s victims on Sunday included John Force, teammates Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps and Alexis DeJoria in the final. The final proved one of the greatest races of the afternoon, as the pair produced nearly identical reaction times and traded the lead twice before Hagan nosed ahead at the finish line, taking the victory by less than a car length.

Hagan, wheeling the Mopar Express Lane/ Rocky Mountain Boots Dodge Charger R/T recorded a 4.132-second pass at 299.53 mph, while DeJoria, in the Patron XO Cafe Incendio Toyota, ran a 4.138 at 298.40 in the championship bout.

“I could definitely hear her over there and I thought, honestly, I was so late on the tree. I saw the light come on and I was like, oh, I need to go,” Hagan said. “I thought she just handed me my rear end, but it looked like the lights were pretty close and ETs were pretty close so it was a good race. It is always tough because you are always looking over (at your opponent) like, where are they at, and sometimes you need to be looking more at the groove.

“Alexis, she is doing a great job. She is doing a phenomenal job as a wheelman driving that thing down through there. It is like anything, it doesn’t matter who you are racing, you have to go up there and race your race and turn the win lights on.”

While Hagan’s victory over DeJoria handed him the race win, it was his semifinal victory over teammate and points leader Ron Capps that proved most important in the overall Funny Car picture. Entering the race five points back of Capps, Hagan’s victory over the driver of the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car put Hagan back in the points lead by 39 points.

“That is a big one. Actually, I thought we had the win when he smoked (the tires) against Cruz (Pedregon) and I thought, ‘now it is time to go make up some ground.’ When I got back in my tow vehicle, everybody was like, no, Cruz red lit,” Hagan said. “Now I have to go race Capps. That is always a tough deal because Capps has got a pretty good record against us. Dickie (Venables) and Rahn Tobler, they grew up together and they are battling it out. They handed us our rear end more times than I would like to admit.

“Anytime you can load a teammate up, you know you have done something.”

Even more exciting, Hagan is happy to be back on pace. After opening the season with two straight victories in Pomona and Phoenix, he recorded two consecutive first round exits, a pair of second round losses and then a pair of semifinals. If history continues, he sees no reason he won’t be hoisting his fourth Wally of the season this time next week in Epping.

“When we won two races to start the season, Dicki Venables said ‘all right kid, we got a little points lead here, let’s go try something new.’ So he put the six-disc in and it has been in a kind of test mode,” Hagan said. “We tested several times with it before we ever went to it, but finally everything just started clicking here this weekend. The clutch has been looking great. Mike Knudsen has been doing a really great job with it. Dickie was just trying to get the motor to come to it.

“With everything there is a learning curve and man Dickie just put a great car underneath me this weekend.” Larry Crum

ELATED ANDERSON TAKES SIXTH CAREER ENGLISHTOWN VICTORY, TAKES OVER POINTS LEAD - For the longest time, Greg Anderson wondered if he would ever win again.

With his first 74 career victories coming with relative ease, a nearly two-year drought began to implant just the tiniest seed of doubt until a victory at Gainesville earlier this year turned things around for the KB Racing driver. And on Sunday, Anderson again confirmed to both himself and the rest of the Pro Stock field that he is not quite done just yet.

Anderson won for the 76th time in his career and sixth time at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park on Sunday, defeating Allen Johnson in the final at the Toyota NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown, N.J. Afterwards, a clearly overjoyed Anderson sheepishly admitted that he wasn’t quite sure where the media center was at the track he has won at so many times, but he was glad to be back nonetheless. 

“When you win as often as we used to win back in the day, and then you go through a dry spell like we did, you wonder if you ever will win again,” Anderson said. “You really, really appreciate all of those wins you had. You think to yourself, ‘if I can ever do it one more time, it will be the greatest feeling ever.’ And it is.”

Anderson had a clean sweep of the Pro Stock category over the weekend in the Summit Racing Equipment Camaro, taking the top qualifier award on Saturday and going four solid rounds on Sunday. Anderson, in his fifth final of the year, completed the sweep with a wire-to-wire victory over Johnson in the final, running a 6.504-second elapsed time at 214.31 mph to take the Wally. Johnson, in his first final round of the year, ran a 6.537 at 213.87.

“I had a great weekend. When I got here the car ran great right off the trailer. A chimpanzee could have driven my car today,” Anderson said. “It was awesome. All I could have done is screw it up.”

Under warm and sunny conditions, Anderson drove to relatively easy round wins over V. Gaines, Bo Butner and Val Smeland on his way to the final, recording passes of 6.499, 6.503 and 6.493 respectively. 

“It is great to be back. It is just a neat feeling to have a race car that can win a race if you just pilot it down the racetrack,” Anderson said. “That is all a driver can ever ask for. I had it this weekend and I hope I can get it many more times this year.”

With the win, Anderson takes over the Pro Stock points lead as both Erica Enders and his KB Racing teammate Jason Line - first and second in the standings entering Englishtown - fell out in the first round. Enders, the reigning Pro Stock champion, fell to Alan Prusiensky in the opening round as her car ran into trouble at the hit, while Line fell to Gaines on a holeshot - a 6.538 to a 6.510.

“It is going to be a great battle as we go forward and I feel great about our chances and our future,” Anderson said. “It is certainly not going to be easy. It is going to be a heck of a battle and I am looking forward to it. The best part is, I really truly believe I will be a part of it this year. I will be a part of the championship chase in that fight to the end.”

But while the battle for the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series championship is still a few months away, Anderson is just glad to be back in the winners circle. With his sixth career win at Englishtown, Anderson ties Don Prudhomme, Joe Amato and Larry Dixon with the most wins at the New Jersey track.

“There are a lot of things I look to about this track. It has always been a great Pro Stock track. The weather is always great for making power and running fast. All kinds of records have been set here,” Anderson said. “We look forward to it every year because you might get a chance to set a record. When you can run fast, when you can run quick times, that is cool. That is what we love.

“We’ll take any conditions we can get, but the fun ones are the ones in which you can run fast and this is always a track for that. Englishtown is the pinnacle of the Pro Stock tracks as far as I am concerned.”

More than anything, Anderson is just glad to once again be competitive and looks forward to a rejuvenated season ahead. 

“It is just a great feeling when you finally do win because of the competition we race against. People ask us all of the time, why do we race this class? It is because of the competition. It is so hard to win, but that is why we do it,” Anderson said. “It is everything you work for, everything you live for. I am not trying to fake it when I put a smile on out there.

“Every win I get feels like the first win. I really hope I never lose that feeling.” Larry Crum

SAVOIE GETS BACK TO PSM WINNER’S CIRCLE - Jerry Savoie seemingly is always flying under NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle radar.

On Sunday, the alligator farmer from Cut Off, La., was standing in the spotlight at the Summernationals in Englishtown, N.J.

Savoie clocked a 6.794-second time at 197.71 mph in the finals, and won at the starting line when Jim Underdahl recorded a redlight at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Savoie, who made his Pro Stock Motorcycle debut in 2011, was the first Suzuki rider to break the 6.7-second barrier in NHRA competition. 

“We didn’t think so in the beginning,” Savoie said about his motorcycle at Englishtown. “We had a rough week, we broke an axle on the trailer, and Steve Johnson was nice enough to let us pit with him this weekend, a great guy. Friday’s runs were OK, and I kept telling my crew chief this thing is not ripping. This isn’t the bike it was last year, not at all. We beat on it again Saturday morning and decided Saturday afternoon to try a different engine and that’s when we went the (6) 80 and we actually hurt the engine. That’s when we went back to our ‘A’ engine, which is the one we were running Friday and we just happened to put the same tune-up in it that we put in the other one and it liked it, and it liked it a lot.”

This was Savoie’s second career national event win – his other came at St. Louis in 2014.

“The driver goes from zero to hero, but I’m not a selfish person, it all goes to my crew, those guys work really hard,” said Savoie, who also had had four career runner-up finishes.

Savoie’s victory was surprising considering his performance at the season’s first three races. Savoie lost in the first round at Gainesville, failed to qualify at Charlotte, N.C., and was defeated in the opening round at Atlanta.

Savoie qualified No. 2 at Englishtown (6.804 seconds), and ousted Joe DeSantis, Eddie Krawiec, and Hector Arana Jr., before edging Underdahl in the finals.

Before Englishtown, Savoie had never ran a 6.7-second pass. At Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, he clocked a 6.798, and a 6.785 in second round and in the semis and added another 6.7-second pass in the finals.

“The biggest thing is Vance & Hines,” Savoie said. “You are running against a group of guys who have sponsors and want to win really bad, just like I do, and to give you the power and tell you, hey you have to find it, but it is there and compete with them, they are a great company, hats off to Vance & Hines.”

Savioe acknowledged a 6.7-second lap wasn’t at the forefront of his mind at Englishtown.

“The first thing on our mind was 200 (mph),” Savoie said. “We have really been struggling since Gainesville. The new fuel really put us in the dark. We really struggled. We knew the 70s could be done, but we didn’t think it would be done this weekend. To run a 78 over here, in really good weather, it is going to be fast, stay tuned. I would like to thank Racers for Christ. They give you the confidence and the security to go down that track and do something really amazing that a lot of people can’t do and dream of doing. What a great organization.” Tracy Renck

McMILLEN REACHES SEMIFINALS – Terry McMillen reached the Top Fuel semifinals with his Amalie Oil/UNOH Dragster for the sixth time in his career and the second time in three races. And that was a significant confidence-booster for the owner-driver known as “The Insti-Gator” with the alligator scheme on his car. In qualifying he overcame a first-session explosion that knocked the supercharger off, only to experience his first oildown of the season – which cost him five points and $1,000. He ended up the No. 15 starter, with a first-round meeting with No. 2 qualifier JR Todd.

But McMillen’s luck started to turn Sunday. Todd smoked the tires of his Kalitta Air Dragster, and McMillen chugged past him to win with a 3.887-second elapsed time at 306.40 mph. His next assignment came against No. 7 Spencer Massey, and again he benefitted from his opponent’s traction trouble, winning in 5.016 seconds at 195.34 mph. So with the slowest winning times in each of the first two rounds, McMillen advanced.

“It’s been a heck of a weekend,” he said after beating Todd. “We’re pickin’ at it. It had its tongue hanging out down there at the end, but I didn’t really care. It’s all about the win on Sunday. It’s our day. Let’s keep on rockin’.”

Following his second-round victory, he said he could hear Massey in the other lane and figured Massey could hear him.

McMillen smoked the tires against Brittany Force in the semifinals, helping her reach her fifth final round.

MONSTER PERFORMANCE – Brittany Force and her Monster Energy Dragster not only carried the banner for John Force Racing as all three of her Funny Car teammates lost in the first round, but she also made a big move up through the Top Fuel standings.

She entered the weekend eight points behind No. 10 Steve Torrence in the standings, 11 behind Clay Millican, and 27 behind JR Todd. Torrence, Millican, and Todd all lost in the first round.

By the end of the quarterfinals, all of the drivers ranked second through 10th were out of competition. Antron Brown, the points leader and top qualifier, was the only semifinalist in the top 10. The other three – Terry McMillen, Dave Connolly, and Force – had entered this event below the Countdown cutoff line. Connolly had one of three upsets in the first round of Top Fuel action to give Bob Vandergriff Racing a 1-1 score. (Larry Dixon lost to Shawn Langdon early in the opening round.)

By the end of the day, she had advanced to her fifth total final round – her first since last October at Reading – and improved to eighth place in the standings. This marks the first time she has been in the top 10 since April 11. It was her third final against Antron Brown, and he has won all three times (including at Phoenix and Chicago last season). Force is the second woman this year to appear in a Top Fuel final, after Leah Pritchett, who lost at Atlanta, also to Brown. Her accomplishment was the first for a Monster Energy-branded car since Kenny Bernstein lost to John Force in the Funny Car final Aug. 12, 2007, at Brainerd, Minn.

MAC BACK ON ATTACK - Cory McClenathan is entered for the Bristol, Tenn., race, which will complete the three-races-in-three-weekends “Eastern Swing.” He’ll return to NHRA competition a winner. With Lee Beard tuning, McClenathan won the Fuchs Winternationals at Australia’s Willowbank Raceway this weekend in a Rapisarda Autosport International dragster.

FORCE FUNNY CAR TEAM STUMBLES – John Force, as No. 13 qualifier, found himself paired with his newest nemesis, Matt Hagan, in the first round of Funny Car eliminations. Although he had a slim 14-12 advantage over Hagan in their previous meetings, Hagan has had the upper hand at Englishtown. Hagan beat Force in both of their two previous meetings, in 2011 and last year, both in the first round. And Hagan had little trouble making it three against Force here.

They kicked off Funny Car eliminations, and that defeat for Force set a domino effect in motion for the team’s trio. In the fourth set, Tommy Johnson Jr. dispatched Robert Hight, and No. 11 qualifier Tony Pedregon pulled off an upset over No. 6 Courtney Force in the sixth pairing. That was Pedregon’s first elimination-round victory this season and fist in nearly a year – since the quarterfinals of the June 2014 Bristol race, in which, ironically, he beat Courtney Force.

Today marked John Force’s 34the consecutive start at Englishtown, where he said he “grew up, basically.” Force never has failed to qualify at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. However, his 13th position in the order represents his second-worst start. In 2002, he qualified 15th and lost in the first round to Tim Wilkerson. 

Oddly, Force, the most successful driver in NHRA history, has been less productive at Englishtown than at any other venue on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule at which he has made at least five starts. Force has gone to the finals 10 times in 33 previous appearances, with four wins for a 12.1-percent winning percentage here, versus 21.8 percent overall for his career (142 wins in 650 starts). He’ll have to figure in one more disappointment.

However, the owner-driver of the Peak Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro, gave a shout-out to the Raceway Park fans.

“I enjoying racing here at Englishtown, and I love the fans. They are absolutely the best,” he said. “I have been racing here for 35 years, but I am here with new colors and new sponsors. The fans are still trying to find me in the Peak blue and white and the Lucas Oil red and white. My daughter Brittany has those new Monster Energy colors.” (He pointed out proudly that Monster Energy also had a sponsorship stake in Thoroughbred Triple Crown winner American Pharoah at Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.)

“When I’m out here and I see a crowd, that really excites me. NHRA needs to grow. We need the growth in this sport. Bring your kids. That’s what it’s all about,” Force said. He added that the sport has “a lot of great teams out here. All the teams love all of you for being here, and so does NHRA. So God bless you and thank you.”

As for his own performance, Force said, “We’ve got a struggle, but we’re coming around. We just got a lot of work cut out for us – new personnel, just re-adapting to the world. That’s what makes it fun for me. We are going through a process with new engine combinations. We are learning how to race with a new budget, and we are still focused on winning and safety. We aren’t making any excuses. We just aren’t where we want to be right now.”

WINS FIRST RACE IN FUNNY CAR – Nitro Ninja Toyota Solara driver Dom Lagana made his Funny Car debut memorable with a first-round victory over tire-smoking No. 2 qualifier Chad Head. His magic-carpet ride lasted only one more round. He lost in the quarterfinals to Alexis De Joria. Lagana has followed family tradition by making his name in the Top Fuel class.

BUTNER BREAKS ICE - Sportsman-rank graduate Bo Butner, who first raced a Pro Stock car at the May event at Atlanta, earned his first professional elimination round-win Sunday. He used a 6.549-second elapsed time at 212.63 mph in the KB/Summit Racing Camaro to defeat Vincent Nobile, who was having his own issues in the Mountain View Camaro.  The unhappy news for Butner, of Floyds Knobs, Ind., was his next opponent was teammate Greg Anderson, who had run low E.T. of race day. Anderson prevailed and went on to the final round.

UNDERDOGS SPICE PRO STOCK’S ROUND 1 – These days, V Gaines is less likely to be considered an underdog anymore. But the veteran racer from Colorado was qualified in the bottom half of the Pro Stock ladder, at No. 12, and had to meet No. 5 Jason Line. Gaines didn’t worry that Line had won here in three consecutive years (2004-06) or that Line had enjoyed a 27-11 advantage against him. Gaines used a .025 reaction time for a 6.538-second, 212.36-mph holeshot victory. Line exited with a 6.510-second pass at a 215.17-mph speed that was fastest of the meet for the class. Gaines won by .0116 of a second, or about four feet.     

Longtime racer Kenny Delco, of East Setauket, N.Y., recorded his first elimination round-win since 1992, beating higher-qualified Chris McGaha (No. 4). Delco, starting from the No. 13 position, had some high-profile help in Frank Iaconio and Jim and Jamie Yates. “We’ve been struggling,” Iaconio said. “We ran a different car last year. We got this car over the winter. We picked up a little power. It’s coming around pretty good. Things are progressing.” Before Delco lost to Gaines in the next round, he said, “We’re trying to get a little bit faster and go to some more races. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get a sponsor.”

Alan Prusiensky, making only his third start (after Gainesville and Atlanta) and seeking his first round-win, won when reigning series champion Erica Enders had something break in her engine and had to abort her run. The Rockaway, N.J., racer had set career-best time and speed (6.615, 201.50) in qualifying, and he built on that with this first-round achievement. “I began racing at this track 20 years ago,” Prusiensky said. “I don’t know what to say. To beat Erica, the best, how it happened . . . It happened. We’re thrilled.”

HAD HOPED FOR GIFT - Evidently the engine trouble Erica Enders experienced didn’t catch her by surprise.

"I could hear something was off in the motor on the burnout," she said. "I radioed the guys and they said to go ahead and stage to see if the other guy would red-light and give us a gift. I had a pretty good feeling we couldn't make any sort of run, so that was the best hope we had."
 
Team owner Richard Freeman told her to stage the Elite Chevy Camaro, and she even recorded an outstanding .016-second reaction time (much better than opponent Alan Prusiensky's .042-second launch). But she said she could sense her motor was laboring, so rather than risk further damage she pushed in the clutch and ended the run.
 
That made just the third time in the past two seasons she lost in the first round.
 
"Fortunately we came into this race with a cushion at the top of the points, so if we have to give away a race, this is as good a time as any," Enders said. "Our lead will be gone by the end of the day, but we'll regroup and be back to full strength by next weekend's race."
 
Pro Stock winner Greg Anderson took the points lead.
 
NO. 48 FOR DSR - Antron Brown in Top Fuel and Matt Hagan in Funny Car combined for victories to give Don Schumacher Racing its 48th multiple-win performance at a single event.

CAR’S SO GOOD A CHIMP COULD DRIVE IT - Pro Stock winner Greg Anderson gave his car the credit, saying, “A chimpanzee could have driven my car today. All I could do is screw it up. Thank goodness I didn’t,” he said.

SAVOIE GRATEFUL - Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Jerry Savoie had all kinds of problems swirling around him at this race. To start with, his hauler broke an axle and he took Steve Johnson up on his offer to pit with him, Then he had engine swaps to deal with. “This thing’s not ripping,” he said early in the weekend. But he ripped off four winning runs Sunday to make the trip from Cut Off, La., worthwhile. After the race he expressed more faith in his Suzuki, the first ever to run in the 6.70-second range. “It’s going to be real fast. Stay tuned,” he said. Savoie made a special point to thank Racers For Christ. “They give you confidence and security to go down the track,” Savoie said.   

ANOTHER GLIDDEN MOMENT – Billy Glidden claimed a piece of Englishtown’s rich history Sunday afternoon when he defeated Donnie Walsh and earned the Pro Modified trophy. With his 5.923-second elapsed time and 243.24-mph speed, Glidden recorded his first NHRA Pro Mod victory. His father, NHRA Pro Stock legend Bob Glidden, closed his illustrious career here at Raceway Park 20 years ago.

SPORTSMAN WINNERS – Earning Wally trophies Sunday were Arnie Martel (Comp Eliminator), Larry Miller (Super Stock), Steve Calabro (Stock), Tom Stalba (Super Comp), Dan Northrop (Super Gas), and Jeff Brooks (Top Sportsman).

AT LEAST HE GOT A CARAMEL – Now that Larry Morgan finally has a car that’s capable of winning rounds and races, he said he’s “bummed” that he doesn’t get to realize his potential at every event. But the FireAde Chevy Camaro Pro Stock driver got a sweet treat to take the bad taste of losing out of his mouth at this 600th NHRA appearance.

"My dentist, Jim Daniels, is from up here, and he came over to say goodbye," Morgan said. "The people at the E.T. shack gave me a bag of caramels, and (Daniels) looked at me and said, 'Have a caramel. That'll make you feel better. Your dentist encourages it.' "
 
Morgan left the starting line .002-second too soon against Allen Johnson, and as far as Morgan is concerned, the result is worth at least a pout.
 
"I'm just bummed out about it," Morgan said. "We could've gone some rounds today. I can be mad because we could've gone rounds. I'm mad over that, because I had a chance to do well, but I'm not mad because I red-lit. I've got such a fast race car that I'm bummed out when things go wrong. I'm not going to change a thing, because you know what? If you're not on top of that tree, you're not going to go anywhere, anyway.
 
"It just happens. It's that close. It could've gone either way, you know? Two-thousandths is nothing,” he said. “But stuff happens. Nobody is going to be perfect every run. I'd rather do what I did than be dead late. No one out here is a pushover, so you have to be ready every time you go up there."
 
In all, he wasn’t complaining.
 
"The fans have been fabulous," Morgan said. "I've got a lot of support out here. We've got a lot of people pulling for me, and that's great. I sure appreciate it. All I can do is go to the next race.”
 
SMOKING GUN - Morgan Lucas, who has dropped to part-time racing status, might call his Sig Sauer/Lucas Gun Oil Dragster “The Smoking Gun.” He estimated Sunday that the car moved less than the length of the timing beams before it was smoking its rear slicks and cost him a first-round chance against Tony Schumacher.

"We just haven't got a grasp on our race car at the moment," Lucas said. "We got spoiled last year, winning two times in the seven events we raced, and now we're coming back to the reality of a part-time team in some regards. It's just hard when you aren't racing every event.
 
"We have a good team, we have a good crew chief, and we have all the parts and pieces. We just haven't put it all together yet. We'll figure it out, hopefully before the last race of the year," he said.
 
Lucas did launch first, but Schumacher sailed to the victory. Lucas will get another chance this coming weekend at the New England Nationals at Epping, N.H.

"I felt like I was on my game in Atlanta, but then we have some time off and come here and I'm all over the place. I've got to get my head on straight. I've never been one of the best drivers out here, but I can at least be consistent enough to help the crew chief tune to my abilities,” Lucas said. "There are times when the car's on and the driver's off and vice versa. Right now I'm off and the car is a little bit, as well. So we have some work to do before next weekend. No excuses – we're just not doing very well at the moment."

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -  ENGLISHTOWN

‘HOMETOWN BROWN’ NO. 1 IN TOP FUEL; CRUZ PEDREGON, ANDERSON, ELLIS ALSO LEAD THEIR CLASSES; PRITCHETT SHINES; TOBLER GOES FOR 50TH CAREER VICTORY; ENDERS EAGER TO RECORD FIRST ENGLISHTOWN WIN 

TOP FUEL 

MASSEY TRYING TO MAKE MOVE UP – Spencer Massey’s 3.765-second elapsed time in the opening qualifying session was good enough for second in the Top Fuel order, but by the end of Friday qualifying, it was only seventh best. Then Massey improved his qualifying time early Saturday afternoon to 3.751 in the Sandvik Coromant/Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher Dragster. But even that left him in seventh place, pairing him with No. 10 Clay Millican in the Parts-Plus/Great Clips Dragster.

 The Sandvik team naturally would like to impress its guest from the sponsor’s headquarters at Fair Lawn, N.J. "This race is in Sandvik's backyard and it would be really cool to go out there and do well for all of their employees that come out and support us," Massey said.

(Massey and Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car racer Jack Beckman attended a midweek barbecue at the Sandvik site, and a raffle during the gathering benefitted the Infinite Hero Foundation. The organization funds innovative treatments for veterans with service-related mental or physical injuries. Sandvik Coromant will match all employees' donations. In 2013, a similar fund-raiser generated $2,800 for the Wounded Warrior Project.)
 
What Massey really wants, above all else, is to move up in the standings. He entered the weekend in fourth place in the standings, less than one round out of the top three.
 
"We have some work to do as far as being consistent throughout the weekend," said Massey, who owned Raceway Park’s elapsed-time record until DSR mate Antron Brown reset it at 3.725 seconds Friday night. Massey still owns the speed mark at 329.91 mph.
 
The 2011 winner here said, "This weekend it's all about having a solid weekend, not hurting parts or pieces to start out this three-race swing, and just being consistent."
           
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR YET – Steve Torrence made his quickest pass of the year, a 3.773-second elapsed time, at Topeka and still, he said, “lost in the closest race I’ve ever been in.” The Capco Contractors Dragster driver knows what it’s like to lose by .0007 of a second. “We need to start winning those close ones,” he said. “That’s the key.”

He’ll start his quest Sunday against Doug Kalitta. Torrence qualified eighth in the field of 16, and Kalitta qualified ninth. “You look at the cars that qualify, and I don’t think you’d pick one you’d want to race in the first round. That’s how competitive it is [in the class] right now,” he said.

With his mind on the Countdown to the Championship that will start in September, Torrence said, “I’m not going to say that we’re in a must-win situation. But we do need to start making a move in the points to get ourselves a good starting spot. We’re in kind of the same deal as last year, where we hit a skid in the middle of the season and had some first-round losses. That usually happens to everyone [during the course of a season], and I’d sure rather have it happen now than later. We know we have a fast hot rod, and the fact that we’re going to a couple of places where we’ve won before is cause to be encouraged. But this is a ‘What have you done for me lately?’ sport, so the fact that we won Englishtown in 2012 means nothing.”

 

LANGDON LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK – Top Fuel racer Shawn Langdon unexpectedly began his 2015 season without a primary sponsor. But lately the Alan Johnson Racing crew has been searching, as well, for a proper tune-up for the Knuckle Sandwich/Bass Pro Shops/Toyota Dragster.
 
He’s hoping to cap the Toyota Summernationals with a performance that matches the brilliance of his season-opening Winternationals at Pomona, Calif.
 
Despite AJR losing its deep-pocketed Qatari benefactor on the eve of the first race, Langdon dominated the Top Fuel class at the start of the year. At the Winternationals, in Feb. 7 qualifying, he registered the quickest pass in NHRA history at 3.700 seconds on the 1,000-foot course on the way to a victory.
 
He led the standings through the first three events but has fallen to seventh place with first-round defeats at four of the past five races. However, Langdon said the dip in performance has more to do with ever-changing set-ups and conditions, as well as especially tough competition this year, rather than any wearisome effects of a trying sponsorship search.
 
“I don’t think anything in particular is wrong with the Knuckle Sandwich Bass Pro Shops Toyota team.  We’ve struggled a little bit with our tune-up,” Langdon said.  “We lost a good race to Doug Kalitta in Topeka.  We had a great car in Houston but lost on a holeshot.  We didn’t have a good race in Atlanta, but sometimes that’s how drag racing goes. Sometimes things fall your way, and sometimes they don’t. Lately, we’ve had some tough first-round draws with Doug Kalitta, Antron Brown, and Larry Dixon in the first round at the last three races. Generally, those are guys you would race later in eliminations if you qualify in the top half of the field. We’ve had some tough races and tough draws.”
 
Said Langdon, “I think a lot of it has to do with the competition in Top Fuel this season.  A long time ago, the field was spread out by a couple tenths of a second.  Now you’re seeing the top 12 or 13 cars in the field separated by five- or six-hundredths of a second. So even if you qualify in the top half of the field, there’s a good chance you’ll have a pretty tough draw in the first round – the level of competition is great for NHRA Drag Racing, and it’s great for the fans. In this day and age, that’s how it is in Top Fuel.  It’s a really tough class right now.”
 
Langdon, the No. 5 qualifier who so far has a class-best speed of 324.12 mph, will be reminded once again how tough it is, starting with his opening-round match-up with No. 12 Larry Dixon.

ROUGH WEEKEND - Terry McMillen kept going farther and farther down in the order this weekend, from 11th to 13th to 15th. And a supercharger explosion early Friday wasn’t any help for the Amalie Oil/UNOH Dragster driver and his crew.

“In Q1 it was going down the track perfectly,” he said of his car. “Think it broke an intake spring.  It started there and knocked the blower off. There were no signs of anything wrong with the engine. I think it was a combination of that and the new track. I don’t think they’re spraying it all the way down.

“It should have happened,” McMillen said. “There was nothing evident on the run. Sometimes you drive it [push it hard or beyond its limits] to get in the show.” But he said that certainly wasn’t the case Friday.

“There was nothing wrong, never dropped a cylinder,” he said. It was pulling OK. It was going to run mid-(3.)80-something. It gave up early.”

He said, “It’s frustrating, when you’re so close. We’ve been struggling.”

McMillen wound up with the No. 15 starting spot, the last driver in the three-second range (3.956 seconds). He’ll go against No. 2 qualifier JR Todd, a fellow Hoosier, in the first round of eliminations.

Everyone in the Top Fuel field qualified. Cory McClenathan had planned to be here but is racing in Australia this weekend at ANDRA’s Fuchs Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway.He would have made the 17th racer.

PART-TIMER ENJOYING GIG – Morgan Lucas' newly unveiled Sig Sauer/Lucas Gun Oil Top Fuel dragster is turning a lot of heads at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Now, the 11-time national event winner is hoping to gain attention on race day as he vies for the Toyota NHRA Summernationals title.
 
"If we can get this dragster to be as fast as it looks, the rest of the field better watch out," Lucas said. "It's tough running part-time because it's harder to find a rhythm. We only ran seven races last year and we ended up winning twice, and maybe that set the bar way up there for us, but I know we're all working as hard as we can to run well.
 
"I'm just having a blast when I do have the time to race. Of course, as soon as you get in the race car, then you want more and more performance. It's just the nature of the sport," he said.
 
Lucas qualified with a best pass of 3.857 seconds at 303.30 mph. The run places him 14th on the elimination grid. He’ll race third-place qualifier Tony Schumacher (3.736, 323.66 mph) in the opening round of Sunday's eliminations.
 
"Nothing like getting the eight-time champ in the first round," Lucas said. "We might as well race him. Why not? You have to be prepared to beat them all if you want to win the race, so we'll do our best against Tony and see what happens. He certainly brings out the best in me whenever I race him.
 
"We actually uncovered some issues with the clutch-management system in Q3, so we didn't run the final session to give us time to redo the entire deal. I've actually got Richie [Crampton, teammate and driver of the Lucas Oil Dragster] working on the clutch. He's the best in the business with that stuff, and he didn't mind helping. We'll really make him earn his paycheck this weekend."
 
Lucas said he is enjoying the Sig Sauer guests and fans attending the race. Sig Sauer, which provides numerous firearms for military, police, and the public, is based in Newington, N.H. A Team Lucas partner, Sig Sauer also will be primary sponsor on Lucas' dragster next weekend in Epping, N.H.
 
"The response to this partnership has been great," Lucas said. "People say Sig Sauer and they talk about them being the best in the business. We like to think Lucas Oil is the best in our world, so it's a natural fit.
 
"The fans are pumped up about it, and even some of the New Jersey troopers and local police officers have come by to take pictures of the car. Plus, social media is blowing up with the sponsorship. It's pretty cool." – Lee Montgomery 

FUNNY CAR 

PEDREGON REPEATS AS NO. 1 – Cruz Pedregon might say, at this moment at least, that Old Bridge Township Raceway Park is his favorite stop on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour. After winning last year’s event here after posting the quickest pass in Funny Car history (3.959 seconds) in qualifying, the two-time series champion is dominating again.

His 3.967-second elapsed time held up for his third No. 1 start of the season and 36th overall.

As he seeks back-to-back victories here and a fourth overall in New Jersey (after triumphs in 1995, 2000, and 2014), he once again will have to get past John Hale.

Pedregon has drawn Hale, the successful nostalgia Funny Car racer who is competing in the Mello Yello Series for Big Jim Dunn, in the first round for three straight races now and for the fourth time this year. They met in the first round of the Winternationals in February. 

Hale beat Pedregon at Pomona in that season-opener and again at the most recent race, at Topeka. So Pedregon spoke from experience when he said, “You can’t bobble” against what he called “a wily veteran team.” However, he said he can’t be concerned about Hale and needs instead to focus on his own Snap-on Toyota Camry.

“If we find that sweet spot, we can handle our own business,” he said Saturday evening.

PEDREGON THE PAINTER – Tony Pedregon always has had an artistic flair, and he’s becoming more active in incorporating his passions of racing and painting, wife Andrea said.

“We have a full-service paint booth in the shop. And Tony’s getting back into designing helmets, custom order, [and] maybe some unique pieces,” she said.

He plans to show off his handiwork on helmets, guitars, hot rods, and rebuilds. He plans to introduce his project on his racing website soon. But he has been caught up recently with his newest Funny Car body highlighting Micro Strategies.

Last week he spent four straight nights converting the red body to a white one.

“He stripped it, buffed it out, did what he had to do to patch it up, sanded it, painted it, and had it decaled and on the road Tuesday,” Andrea Pedregon said.

“He’s one of those people who’s particular, a perfectionist,” she said. He’s got an eye for perfection.”

Pedregon, a two-time Funny Car champion, will start 11th in the 16-car field and meet No. six Courtney Force in the first round of eliminations Sunday.

DOABLE BUT HE DIDN’T – Atlanta Funny Car winner Tim Wilkerson had an uncharacteristic Saturday, failing to make a full pass on either of his two qualifying runs. However, he stayed in the No. 8 spot in the lineup on the strength of his 4.005-second E.T. from Friday night.

"It wasn't easy out there, but it was doable and we didn't do it," Wilkerson said. "A few teams hit on some really good runs, but unlike last night this was a day where it was way easier to smoke the tires than it was to put a good number on the board. That's why you look at the ladder and see championship-quality cars spread all over it. It was a tuning challenge on a day that came after a night where you could swing for the fences.”
 
His opponent in the opening round of eliminations Sunday will be points leader Ron Capps, the No. 9 starter.
 
"We'll have all sorts of things testing us tomorrow, and racing Ron will be one of them,” Wilkerson said. “The first thing is we have to find a way to get down our lane with the sun on it and just try to maximize what the lane will give us, because we don't have any control over what they're going to run. I'll be surprised if we're not the last pair, so if we win we'll have the shortest turn-around. And even the pre-race warm-up is a test, because they have strict morning curfew here and we all start up at once. It's a spectacle for nitro junkies, but it shortens the amount of time you have. You don't have any time to waste after the warm-up, just to get it on the ground and get up there, but at least Top Fuel runs before we do. It's going to be a big day, and we'll just try something a little different and try to get the combination right."
 
It’s all up to the racetrack and conditions, the Levi, Ray & Shoup Shelby Mustang driver said.
 
“In Atlanta we won the semifinal running a clean 4.16, and in Topeka we lost in the second round running 4.00.” he said. “So it's all about what the track will let you have. Plus, hopefully now the breaks are going to be with us." 

HAGAN HEADED FOR A WIN? – Reigning Funny Car champion Matt Hagan is experiencing a unique trend through the previous eight races this year.

The Mopar Express Lane/Rocky Boots driver earned back-to-back victories (at Pomona, Calif., and Chandler, Ariz.) to start the 24-race season. Then he lost in the opening round at the next two events, the second round at the fifth and sixth events, and most recently reached the semifinals in the seventh and eighth events. So he’s hoping that means he’s due for another victory here at the Summernationals.

When he learned about the pattern, Hagan said, "That's interesting. That just shows the steady climb we've made since those back-to-back first-round losses.

"We're sitting second in the points right now, and there's nothing wrong with that," Hagan said. "Every time we make a lap with this car, Dickie [crew chief Venables] is learning something new, and that's huge. We're just gathering up all the data we can and trying to stay up in the top three in points so when the Countdown comes we're in a good position."

He’s in a decent position for Sunday’s eliminations. He’s fourth on the grid and set for yet another meeting with No. 13 qualifier John Force. That’s who beat him in the semifinals at the most recent race, at Topeka.

CAPPS WANTS WIN FOR TOBLER – Funny Car points leader Ron Capps is antsy to get his third victory of the year, though probably less for himself than for his crew chief, Rahn Tobler.

Tobler’s next victory will be his 50th, and Capps said, “It's pretty cool. To have nearly 50 wins as a crew chief, that's great. Don [team owner Schumacher] hires the best of the best. It's cool to see all of the hard work and the accolades come in for our crew chiefs."

Tobler has 16 victories with a Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car team, 12 of them with Capps and the NAPA Dodge Charger team and four times with Jack Beckman.

"We know it's going to happen soon, but it can't come soon enough," Capps said.

He’s set to face Tim Wilkerson in the first round of eliminations Sunday.

"I have been blessed to have some really great crew chiefs to work with like Tobler, Ed 'the Ace' McCulloch, Roland Leong, Tim Richards, and Dale Armstrong – the best of the best," he said. "That's what is great about getting to drive for the team I get to drive for. We always get the best equipment, and the best people want to drive for Don. Rahn Tobler, you talk about NAPA know how – and I always brag about that term – he is that.

"He's really been working on our speed, and it showed in Topeka," Capps said. "It's just neat to see Tobler and Eric [assistant crew chief Lane] work on these little things and then show up at the next race and accomplish goals like our speed. We're building momentum, and it's a lot of fun to drive this NAPA car."

He said he always loved coming to Englishtown. "It's a big race," he said. "I grew up in California and read about it for years, and to finally get to come here and win here was huge. It's definitely one of the races we consider the biggest in our sport. To this day, we consider it the highlight of the East Coast. This is the big race.”

This weekend, he said, “it’s been great conditions, sort of Disneyland conditions for crew chiefs on Friday night, and then today [Saturday] we saw conditions that we'll see for race day with the sun out and a little warmer track. That's when it's really good that you have a crew chief with experience like Tobler. You feel a little more comfortable going up there with a track that's going to be 20 degrees hotter on race day than in qualifying."

HAPPY TO BE IN – No. 10 qualifier Alexis DeJoria seemed relieved she made the field Saturday.
 
“We started out strong here at the Toyota NHRA Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. The first round of qualifying we ran that 4.04, which was fourth quickest of the round, but since that run we’ve been kind of struggling to get down there, just smoking the tires. The last run of the night we managed to get down there,” the Patrón XO Cafe Incendio Toyota Camry driver said. “But like I’ve said before, we’re qualified, and that’s the most important thing. We’re racing tomorrow and anything can happen.”
 
Maybe No. 7 qualifier Jack Beckman should take pause at that. He’s her first-round opponent Sunday. 
 
PRO STOCK 
 
 

ENDERS LOOKING FOR FIRST WIN HERE – Erica Enders qualified third with a 6.500-second elapsed time at 213.60 mph and will have lane choice over No. 14 qualifier Alan Prusiensky (6.615, 210.50 mph). So far this year, Enders has won from the first, second, and fourth starting slots.
 
"Consistency is the key in drag racing, and that's especially the case in Pro Stock, because every race seems to be decided by just a few thousandths of a second," the RacingInRed.com Camaro driver said. "We know our capabilities, and the three guys tuning this are the best in the business, so I know I'll sleep well tonight.”
 
Enders said, "Race day always gets me excited, and when you're on a hot streak, that feeling is amplified. We tested some extra things today, and feel like we have the perfect combination to go rounds tomorrow. That's the plan."
 
She has 15 total professional victories, just three shy of NHRA legend Shirley Muldowney.
 
However, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park is a place she has yet to win.
 
"I'm not sure why we've struggled here," Enders said. "We did set the national speed record last year here, so that was cool, but otherwise I've never had a perfect weekend at Old Bridge. My husband Richie [fellow Pro Stock racer Stevens] has done real well here, so we talked a lot about this track during the week. I hope some of his mojo rubbed off on me.
 
"The Napp family [track owners] have made this place such a special stop on the tour. They're old Jr. Dragster racers like me, and I'd love to visit their winners circle. It's such an historic race, definitely one I'd like to win."

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK – ENGLISHTOWN 

JERSEY BOYS WANT TROPHY, BROWN REKINDLES FAMILY MEMORIES, SCHUMACHR LIKES HISTORY HERE, CRAMPTON GETS E-TOWN GROOVE ON, JENNA HADDOCK PICKING UP STEAM, CRUZ PEDREGON SIZZLES EVEN WITH CYLINDERS OUT, THREE-SECOND RUNS KEY FUNNY CAR EVENING SESSION, MORGAN RECORDS 600TH RACE, NHRA PRESIDENT TAKES LEAVE OF ABSENCE, TRAXXAS FIELDS FILLING UP 

TOP FUEL 

EXTRA INCENTIVE – Clay Millican has some extra incentive, and an extra-motivated crew, as he continues to go for his first NHRA victory. Two of the Parts Plus/Great Clips Dragster team’s crew members are from New Jersey. John Gilbert, clutch assistant and tire manager for the team, is from Burlington Township (Burlington County). Fellow “Jersey Boy” Anthony Fragola, who maintains the blower and manifold, is from Closter (Bergen County). They’d like nothing more than to help Millican raise his first Wally trophy in front of family and friends Sunday.

Meanwhile, crew chief Dave Grubnic, nine races into his transition from Top Fuel driver to crew chief, has improved the engine program and is starting to focus more on the clutch package. Grubnic indicated he has come a long way, not just in his new duties but also from the day when Stringer Performance formed two months before the season opener in February and barely had a wrench in the shop tool box.

Grubnic and right-hand man Lance Larsen have collected seemingly countless amounts of data to better understand how their dragster will perform in any given condition. While it has helped Millican reach two semifinals and settle into the top 10 so far, Grubnic is aiming for consistency that sometimes simply comes with time. And though many teams are bracing for a grind as this “Eastern Swing” begins, Grubnic and Larsen are eager to use these next three races to perfect their clutch set-up.

“The most important thing we have to focus on as a team is that we get three consecutive weeks to move our Parts Plus/ Great Clips dragster higher in the points and get that first win. The Wally is right out there for us to get and we’ve made some great strides towards bringing it home, Millican said, adding he hopes the crew has a chance to return to the shop ay McLeansboro, Ill., “with some shiny new hardware.” 

BROWN FAMILY REUNION – Tentative No. 1 Top Fuel qualifier Antron Brown’s love of drag racing began here in New Jersey with a man who passed away when the 2012 champion was just six years old, his grandfather, Albert S. "Alby" Brown.

"Grandpop Alby was the first Brown to go down a dragstrip, and he was pretty darn good at it," Brown, who grew up in nearby Chesterfield (Burlington County), said. "He started the Brown drag-racing gene with support from my grandma (Dolores), who comes to a lot of our races.”

The family patriarch never saw Brown, who began his NHRA pro career in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, race and never met the Matco Tools Dragster driver’s wife, Billie Jo. But he surely would be proud that the three Brown children – Arianna (13), Anson (10) and Adler (7) – have carried the family tradition to the fourth generation by competing regularly in the NHRA Jr. Dragster program. (His 21-year-old cousin, D'Andre Redfern, is a crew member for Top Fuel driver Terry McMillen.) 

“He went to Heaven when I was 6. That's 33 years ago, but I think about him a lot and remember all the stories I've been told about him,” Antron Brown said of his grandfather. “He was a smart man, a good man, a family man, and always there to help people.

"I wish I had more memories,” he said, “but my dad and uncle and grandmom have told me so many stories. So many people are responsible for who I am today and being able to live my dream of being a professional drag racer. But my roots in racing go back to one man I wish I could have gotten to know better.”

He said the Toyota Summernationals is “a chance to remember where you came from and how you got here.” 

As he stands on the threshold of his 50th victory, Brown said, "Everyone in my life has contributed in some way for me to be able to own 49 NHRA Wally trophies and the 2012 Mello Yello Top Fuel championship.”

As a youngster, Brown spent most of his weekends at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, and he said, “There wouldn't be a better place for me to get my 50th Wally than at Englishtown. That's where it all started for me. I remember riding my dirt bike there and watching my dad and uncle race at Englishtown and playing under the grandstands. There are so many great memories here.

"I've been so blessed to be with our Matco Tools/U.S. Army team. All my family [is] out at Englishtown, and sharing that with them would be more than I could ask,” the Top Fuel points leader said.

This weekend, Brown’s uncle, Andre Brown, competed in the Super Comp class, with help from brother Albert (Antron’s father). And in a break from protocol, they were pitted on the same aisle in the pro pits. The sportsman racers didn’t advance past Round 1 Friday, so they’ll be able to cheer on their favorite Top Fuel driver as he seeks to become just the 10th driver in NHRA history to win 50 races.

Brown has two victories this season. Since he switched to the Top Fuel class, he has won 31 races, nine more in that span than the next-best driver. To get that historic victory, Brown said, “our team has to treat it like any other race. We'll just put our Matco tools to use, keep our heads down, and go from A to B." He was fourth in the order after Friday’s first session but used a 3.725-second elapsed time at 317.57 mph to dominate.

“It’s a true blessing from The Man Above to blow that number out there,” Brown said.

EVERY DRIVER WANTS TO WIN HERE - Tony Schumacher rounded out the top five in Friday’s opening qualifying session, by one-thousandth of a second behind Antron Brown, his Don Schumacher Racing teammate. And he said this facility’s rich tradition makes it a special place to race.
 
“It’s just a track where there is so much tradition. It’s the closest race to major cities, like New York and Philadelphia. There are so many people who come out. It makes you feel so good to wear the U.S. Army colors and see so many proud Americans with so much passion for our sport. With massive crowds all three days, the atmosphere is second to none,” Schumacher said. “You go up to the starting line knowing that some of the greatest drivers of all time have been in that same spot. Every driver wants to win at Englishtown.”
 
Although Schumacher would like to join Antron Brown and Richie Crampton as a two-time victor, Brown’s milestone moment isn’t lost on him,
 
“I know it would mean a lot to Antron to win at Englishtown, because it’s home for him. How awesome would that be for us to be in a position to race him for the win Sunday? That would just add to the prestige this place has in my mind,” Schumacher said.
 
Schumacher posted the fastest Top Fuel speed so far this weekend with a first-session run of 321.58 mph. 

CRAMPTON GETS ENGLISHTOWN GROOVE ON – Richie Crampton, two-time and most recent Top Fuel driver, ended the opening qualifying session at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in sixth place. But that’s deceiving, for his 3.784-second performance was a mere one-thousandth of a second behind No. 5 Tony Schumacher and only two-thousandths of a second behind No. 4 Antron Brown. JR Todd set the pace at 3.734 seconds, separating Nos. 1 and 6 by five-hundredths of a second.

A year ago, Crampton was the affable crew member who had a huge opportunity to grow into. He delivered – less than two weeks after his longtime girlfriend delivered their first child, daughter Emma. Rookie Crampton won this event in just his ninth career start. And all it did was make him want more.

He said his “confidence is really high,” especially after making four runs of 3.73 seconds or better en route to his victory at the previous race, at Topeka.
 
"I definitely have a bit more spring in my step,” Crampton said. “It's good to get wins, and it's huge for everyone. Being the driver, I still consider myself a rookie and I'm trying to learn more and more and more. To get a couple of wins early in 2015 has been a really good feeling, and I'm really confident we can continue to do it. I believe our Lucas Oil team has a great all-around package right now," Crampton said. "[Crew chief] Aaron Brooks has obviously shown to do very well for us in cool-weather conditions, but we've always seen some very good times laid down by our team in hot-weather races, as well.
 
As for last year’s results, he said, "It was truly a dream come true winning in Englishtown at such a historic racetrack. That was an amazing day. From running the first round without one of the front tires on the race car to ending up in the winner's circle with my dad on hand at a Toyota-sponsored event, it was awesome.
 
"I never knew if I would win a Top Fuel drag race, and all my Christmases came at once last year in Englishtown,” he said. “I'm excited to get back here. I've got a real soft spot for it."
 
Crampton also at Englishtown in 2014 became the 100th driver to win in Top Fuel.
 
NO. 100 ON THE HORIZON – J.R. Todd, driver of the Kalitta Air Top Fuel Dragster, is seeking his 100th career round-win. Last season’s eliminations marked his first start at Englishtown since 2008. This time, he’s coming in on a bit of a roll.
 
With back-to-back No. 1 starts at Charlotte and Las Vegas, Todd has led the field five times in the past 14 events, qualified in the top half of the field at six of eight events this season, and has been in the top 10 since Race No. 2 at Phoenix. And he showed no signs of cooling off Friday, taking the early lead with a 3.734-second pass at 321.27 mph.
 
However, he’s itching to translate that to a better showing on Sunday. His best 2015 finish was the semifinal at Las Vegas. He has been optimistic about the Toyota Summernationals. “If the conditions are right, we can make some great runs this weekend. We look to take this Kalitta Air ride to late rounds and keep gaining more points,” Todd said. 

GAINING MOMENTUM – Patriot Grading Dragster driver Jenna Haddock is picking up marketing momentum. Cornwell Tools and Lucas Oil have liked what they have seen in the spunky Top Fuel rookie. And she even has her own T-shirt, thanks to MotorGirl Brand Apparel of San Diego, a newcomer to the NHRA. The Temple, Texas, mom and wife of Funny Car racer Terry Haddock (her crew chief), still is elated by her most recent performance, at Houston. There she broke into the three-second and 300-mph club, at 3.943, 300.86.

“I had wanted to run those kinds of numbers from the beginning of the year, and when I finally did, it was awesome,” Haddock said. “Now I’m ready to move on and run in the 3.80’s. I asked Terry to give me a 3.80. He said in Englishtown he should easily be able to give me at least a 3.89. I just hope we can keep moving forward.  I don’t care what it is, just so we keep going forward.”

Haddock was 14th in the lineup in her first run of the weekend.

She said, “We are super excited that Cornwell Tools is coming on board with us. They have given us so much great equipment, and the nice people at Lucas Oil are supplying all our oil for the year. I can’t thank both of them enough for coming on board. Their support means so much to us.”

Her T-shirt is available at www.motorgirlbrand.com or at the Modern Outlaw trailer at the racetrack.

 “I never thought I would have my own t-shirt,” Haddock said.  “I am so excited to partner up with them. Their styles are great and I wear them every single day. I hope all the fans like them as much as I do. We’re working closely and hope that by the end of the year they can be out at all the races.” 

FUNNY CAR 

PEDREGON WINS 3-SECOND DERBY – Nine Funny Car racers flirted with elapsed times quicker than four seconds in Friday’s opening session. But when temperatures dropped for the second go-‘round, four drivers posted three-second passes.

Cruz Pedregon won the three-second derby Friday, making a move for his third No. 1 start of the season with his 3.967-second blast. He said at the top end of the track when he exited his car that “we were trying to run (3.)92, 93.”

Pedregon said his Snap-on Toyota Camry “had two cylinders out about half-track. Most of the racers probably won’t believe me, but that’s OK. For 3.96 to still pop up on the board is terrific. And I don’t use that word, terrific.” He said his record-setting run here last year was surprisingly similar.

A new fuel pump that wasn’t operating as efficiently as it should have Friday, he said, was what caused the engine to drop cylinders.

But he said the nicely groomed track was a huge help.

“I want to thank the Napp family [track operators] for redoing the track and scraping it and doing what they can for us racers to put on a good show. These guys are in tune with what sells, and speed and elapsed time sell,” Pedregon said.

Also registering 3.9s Friday night were Chad Head (3.996), Del Worsham (3.998), and Matt Hagan (3.999). Tommy Johnson Jr. and Courtney Force came tantalizingly close at matching 4.003s, and Jack Beckman and Tim Wilkerson weren’t far behind at 4.004 and 4.005, respectively.

NOT STANDING AROUND – Take it from Chad Head. “If you know anything about the Head family, we just don’t stand around and wait for something to happen. We’re always trying to improve,” he said. He did at the previous race, at Topeka, using his first three-second pass to lead the Funny Car field. That atoned for five first-round losses in eight races this season. Head said he’s ready to rebound from those and “get into the top 10 by Indy.” He’s 13th in the standings, but he entered this weekend just 48 points from his goal. “That just shows all the hard work we’ve been putting in this Toyota team,” Head said. “Dad [crew chief/team owner Jim Head] has been taking the steps of engineering our set up . . . and under those cool Kansas conditions, it all came together and ran the fifth quickest pass ever. Now it starts all over.” This is just the third time Head has raced here, but he said, “It’s nice to have a couple of quick runs like we had in Topeka under our belt to build on. We proved in Topeka we can run with the best out there.”

He proved it again Friday. Head reeled off a 3.996-second pass to trigger a flurry of sub-four-second performances in the night session and put himself in the No. 2 slot overnight.

ROLLER-COASTER MEMORIES – Del Worsham’s career has rocketed from one end of the performance spectrum to the other at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. He won here in 1991, in his first full season on the NHRA tour. But as a young and eager 24-year-old, he drove in both nitro classes here in 1994, alternating between Roger Primm's dragster and the Funny Car he raced with dad Chuck as crew chief. That May 20th, a Funny Car accident jolted his world and ensured he’d always remember Englishtown.
 
"I had just gotten out of the dragster and hopped into the Funny Car. We suffered a huge engine explosion, and the car caught on fire," Worsham said. When he went into surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center at Livingston, N.J., the doctors were saying they thought he was going to lose an index finger to severe burns. He didn’t, but that’s because the doctors took a chance that they could save it if Worsham was willing to invest in some intensive rehabilitation. He spent 21 nights in St. Barnabas and several months of rehabilitation. The Chino Hills, Calif., driver stayed in the area with "Pizza John" Mafaro, the 1989 Pro Stock Bike champion, while undergoing seven-days-a-week therapy.
 
Long recovered, Worsham won here again in 2005 in Funny Car and has been a six-time finalist. If he wins here this weekend, the victory would be his first at this track with Kalitta Motorsports. He has a strong hot rod, one that produced a 3.998-second pass to vault him to the tentative No. 3 spot in the lineup.
 
OVERCOMING ANYTHING - Tommy Johnson Jr. never will forget his 2007 victory at Englishtown. He calls it his “ultimate win.” And it truly was a spectacular feat. Never mind that if a passenger car was incinerated like Johnson’s Funny Car was in the opening round that race day, it would be declared totaled. But his Don Prudhomme Racing crew rebuilt the race car from the bare chassis and sent him into the winners circle.

"There will never be another 2007, but I'm not sure I'd want there to be,” Johnson said. “Of all the wins I've had in my career, that still stands at the top for me as an 'ultimate' win. To have a car burn to the ground in the first round and to have a team that could come back, rebuild everything, and go on to win the race – that's kind of a fairy tale. We did it. We did something that can't be done. The team I have now reminds me of the team I had then – we can overcome whatever comes our way."

He’s associated with Don Schumacher Racing and the Terry Chandler-funded “Make-A-Wish” Dodge Charger. And he said he’s just as confident today in this John Collins-led crew as he was with the Snake Racing team eight years ago.

"The thing that has me most confident right now is the fact that we are a very hot-weather/racetrack team, and this is the first of several to come where we could have those hot conditions. When I won this race in 2007, it was a very hot and sunny day,” Johnson said. “Many people like the cool conditions and big elapsed times, but as far as our team is concerned, I think we really look forward to having a hot racetrack to navigate."

With how his car ran Friday, he probably could fare well on any track. As the weather got cooler Friday, Johnson was No. 5 heading into Saturday’s action with a 4.003. 
 
COMING ON STRONG – Jack Beckman and his Infinite Hero Dodge Funny Car team hardly look like the same team that failed to qualify for the first race of the year.

Beckman is ranked third in the standings after winning the Topeka race two weeks ago, and he trails Don Schumacher Racing mate and points leader Ron Capps by just 49 points.  In the past seven events, Beckman has earned the most points in the class, because of two victories (including the Four-Wide at Charlotte) in three final-round appearances. (He lost to Capps in the Houston showdown.) Moreover, Beckman recorded career-bests for elapsed time (3.972 seconds) and speed (322.04 mph), and became the first to post four consecutive runs in the three-second range. His total of five in seven runs is the most by one team at the same event. Beckman is the career Funny Car leader with 11 sub-4-second passes.

"I never thought we would see four (3-second passes) in a row and five total. It was absolutely unbelievable. We had an outstanding weekend of racing,” he said, looking back to his Memorial Day weekend. “That's a function of a (crew chief) Jimmy Prock tune-up. He's a mad scientist. He can take a car that is really, really screwed up and break it down into segments going down the track. He figures it out quickly.

"I always feared pulling up to one of his race cars on race day," he said of Prock, the longtime crew chief for John Force Racing. "Now I'm taking a lot of comfort in knowing that we might now be doing that to the car in the other lane."

Beckman’s best run Friday was a 4.004-second effort, good for No. 7 overnight.

STARTING OVER – Those outside the protected 12 racers have to begin again Saturday, as their Friday times are erased. In the Funny Car class, those drivers are John Hale, Dom Lagana, Robert Hight, Jeff Diehl, and Terry Haddock. Lagana is making his Funny Car debut after excelling in a Top Fuel dragster, most recently for Rapisarda Autosport International. Terry Haddock is doing double duty this weekend, tuning wife Jenna’s dragster in Top Fuel competition. 

PRO STOCK 

600 AND GOING STRONG – Saying he doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon and declaring, "I know I'm going to last longer than [John] Force does," Pro Stock veteran Larry Morgan is marking his 600th race this weekend. He’s third behind all-time leader John Force (who’s participating in his 668th race this weekend) and second-place Warren Johnson (649).
 
The Newark, Ohio, resident made his NHRA debut at Pomona, Calif., in 1987, and scored his first career victory with Bob Panella’s team at the U.S. Nationals in 1989, beating the legendary Bob Glidden in the final round. He raced for Panella's team for several years.
 
"That's quite a feat," Morgan said of 600 races. "I look at that and think, 'Darn, that's badass.' Drag racing has been awful good to me and my family. I couldn't say a bad thing about it. I've been lucky enough to run different classes and race with different people. I have no regrets. If I never race another race after this, I still couldn't complain. It's been exciting."
 
He said he knows he hasn’t achieved that all alone.
 
"I've had a lot of good people I've been hooked up with over the years to get to 600 races," Morgan said. "I've been around so long there have been a lot of people who have helped me. I could write a book about them all."
 
Among the relationships he’s proud of are his ones with Panella, Gil Kirk of The Rod Shop; Oldmobile's Arlen Fadley, who helped get him into the Pro Stock class; and longtime sponsor Forrest Lucas, of Lucas Oil.
 
And of course, Morgan loves to tout the quality of his current sponsor’s product, FireAde.
 
"I've been blessed to be hooked up with Ron [FireAde owner Thames] and [fellow team owner] Johnny Gray [who supplies his engines]," Morgan said. "Johnny's kids look after me like I'm their dad, and I feel good about that. It's an honor to be able to go out there and run a car that's competitive, and we have a good chance of winning every time we run.
 
"It makes you want to get to the racetrack. The last few years, I haven't had that opportunity, so I'm going to take advantage of every chance I get to win,” he said.
 
After struggling to win rounds in 2014, Morgan knew he had to make a change, and it started with a marketing relationship with FireAde.
 
"I'm glad we're able to help put FireAde on the map," Morgan said. "It's a wonderful product, and Ron and (wife) Teresa are wonderful people and deserve to get a lot out of what we can do for them. I'm very proud to be hooked up with them."
 
That, and a switch from Ford to Chevrolet, is paying dividends. He won at Charlotte this season and was strong Friday in qualifying He was No. 4 in the order early Friday at 6.525 seconds (one-thousandths slower than No. 3 Jason Line and three-thousandths in back of No. 2 Drew Skillman). And he ran the class’ fastest pass of Q1 at 213.98 mph.
 
GRAYS LOVE RICH E-TOWN HISTORY – Shane Gray said recording his first final-round appearance in Pro Stock in 2010 was "one of the days that you remember when you think about racing in Englishtown." He was runner-up to Mike Edwards that day, but he said what was especially memorable was how he earned that berth in the final.

"It was the first time my dad and I raced against each other on Sunday, but it wasn't the last. We ran into each other a few times that year, but the first time was right here in Englishtown,” the Gray Motorsports headliner said. Johnny Gray was the 2012 winner here, driving his Funny Car for Don Schumacher Racing.

This year, at the halfway point of the so-called “regular season,” Shane Gray, making his 125th career appearance, still is looking for his first 2015 victory and the chance to improve from No. 9 in the standings. The four-time overall winner has started from the top half of the ladder at all but one race, and he said, "On Sunday, we know what we have to do to win, we just have to do it. There is a lot of history at this racetrack, and some of our family racing history is there, too. We'd like to continue that."

Brother Jonathan Gray is competing in his 30th Pro Stock race this weekend. 

"Last year was the first time I got to go to that particular racetrack, and it was pretty neat," he said. “That racetrack has been there a long time, and a lot has happened there. The racing surface was smooth, and we had a good time there last year. We didn't do as well as we would have liked, but that old racetrack has a lot of history, and any driver would want to be part of it.” 

ANDERSON + ENGLISHTOWN = LOVE – It’s official: Greg Anderson is in love.  

"I absolutely love Englishtown," the KB/Summit Chevy Camaro racer said. No wonder. He has won here five times, been runner-up twice (including last season), and has qualified No. 1 four times. He has more Wally trophies from Englishtown than any Pro Stock driver. Only three NHRA professional drivers have more victories here: nitro-class drivers Don Prudhomme, Northeastern Pennsylvania native Joe Amato, and Larry Dixon. They each have six victories.

“It's a great Pro Stock track, it's been great for KB Racing, and it's been great for Greg Anderson. I can't think of a better place,” he said, expressing his desire to “run the table" this weekend.

Anderson well could do that, for he is one for four in the past six events alone. He is 65 points out of first place.

"We're definitely on a roll," Anderson said. "My hot rod is a serious threat every weekend, and that's all I could ever ask for. I have a chance to win every race we go to, and we're going to keep trying to get our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros better and better to where we're the favorite to win with a performance advantage. Our cars are great already, though. We have a chance to win, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. It's going to be a tough battle, but we'll be right there. It's going to be great."

Friday qualifying was great for Anderson, for he started the weekend atop the leaderboard at 6.511 seconds.

PLANNING FOR LONG HAUL – “Minimal breakage” is the objective for three-time Raceway Park Pro Stock winner Jason Line. He’s mindful that the Toyota Summernationals launches a span of eight races in the next 10 weeks.

The KB/Summit Chevy Camaro driver, whose victories came here in consecutive years (2004-2006), said, “You go into these next few races hoping for minimal breakage, because that would set you back drastically and obviously prohibit you from going forward. That's especially true in Pro Stock, where the gains you make are tiny. If you spend all your time working on fixing things, you're not spending any time going forward. Thankfully, we've got a great partner behind us with Summit Racing, and that helps us always keep moving forward. It's tough to prepare for a stretch like this, but you do your best, and we have a great team that consistently works very hard.

"I really like going to this race," he said. "Englishtown is a lot of fun, not just because of our history as a team but also because there are so many Pro Stock fans. And boy, those folks in the Northeast are excited. That just makes it more fun for us. KB Racing has run well there in years past, and this year we hope to be right back where we've been before at this race. The air can be good, and with a high barometer, we tend to run better. All in all, Englishtown is just a great place for us.”

It is. Line dominated here in the first three years of his career. He has two No. 1 qualifying positions here, and he was Anderson’s final-round victim in 2012, when Anderson earned KB Racing’s 100th victory in the newly re-introduced Chevrolet Camaro. KB Racing has eight Englishtown victories.

TALK ABOUT CONSISTENCY – Provisional No. 2 Greg Anderson and No. 3 Jason Line, KB/Summit Racing Camaro teammates, finished Friday qualifying with identical 6.511-seconds elapsed times. (Anderson’s came in Q1, Line’s in Q2.) Moreover, they were close to matching each other in speed. Anderson’s was 213.43 mph, and Line’s was 213.37.

ENDERS-STEVENS KEEPS ROLLING - Erica Enders-Stevens and her Elite Motorsports team set the national elapsed time and speed records in Englishtown a year ago, 6.464 seconds and 215.55 mph, and she still holds the speed mark.

"There's a lot of history at Raceway Park," the 2014 Pro Stock champion said adding she’s happy to return here “because we set both ends of the national record here. The E.T. record was just broken by Jason (Line) in Charlotte, but we still hold the mile-an-hour record. Definitely some fond memories there for me: My husband Richie (Stevens) has won there a handful of times, so it's a lucky track for him."

Englishtown is a favorite stop for Pro Stock competitors because fans in the area truly love the class.

"It's Pro Stock country,” Enders-Stevens said. "People there love Pro Stock, so it's always exciting to get back to a racetrack where the whole grandstands want to see us race. The back of the pits are packed, and you get a lot of educated questions. It's nice."

But performance – the best performance among her peers – is what pumps her up.

"Englishtown and Reading are always two of the most likely tracks to have weather conditions conducive for record-setting runs," Enders-Stevens said. "If the conditions are there, I definitely put our money on us. We've certainly got a good handle on our hot rod right now, and I've been driving really well. We'll see what the good Lord deals us with the weather, and we'll go up there and do our best. Record or not, our goal is to win the race. Coming off a win in Topeka, I'm very excited to get back behind the wheel."

She took the tentative No. 1 spot, knocking aside early leader Greg Anderson with a 6.508-second elapsed time at 213.06 mph in the evening session. She said she had been “way too conservative” in her first opportunity. And she said she thinks her Elite team is getting a better handle on the new fuel and new tires.

That Topeka victory gave her back the points lead. She’s 58 ahead of Jason Line, but she said she’s not heavy into the points-counting exercise yet.

"It's always exciting to lead the points, but it's a long season," Enders-Stevens said. "We're only a third of the way through it, and we've got a lot of races left. There are a lot of tough competitors out there in Pro Stock, and it's going to come down to the wire. With the Countdown format, it doesn't mean a whole lot to get very far ahead. We were 250 points ahead last year, and it came down to the final round of the final race." 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE 

NHRA 

NHRA CONFIRMS PRESIDENT COMPTON ‘AWAY’ – National Hot Rod Association President Tom Compton is “away” from his position because of “personal” business, authorized sources within the sanctioning body confirmed Friday.

Anthony Vestal, NHRA’s director of media relations, said, “Tom has been away recently on personal and family matters.” He asked that Compton’s privacy be respected.

NHRA Senior Media Relations Manager Scott Smith also said, “Tom is away, dealing with a personal family matter.”

Neither addressed the question of whether or when Compton is expected to return to the office at Glendora, Calif. Neither confirmed a report that Executive Vice-President / General Manager Peter Clifford has taken charge in Compton’s absence.

“The NHRA does not address rumors,” Vestal said.  “We do have a great management team in place to run the company in Tom’s absence, and, as a result, our business and racing operations haven't missed a beat.  Again, Tom’s situation is personal and we hope you will respect that.” 

TRAXXAS FIELDS FILLING UP - As the first third of the 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season comes to a close, only one spot remains open for the eight-car Top Fuel field in the 2015 NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout. Two positions remain in the Funny Car field, with nine races remaining until the Traxxas Nitro Shootout that will take place in September during the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

The Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Top Fuel will run Saturday, Sept. 5. The Traxxas Nitro Shootout for Funny Car will be Sunday, Sept. 6. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and John Force (Funny Car) were winners last year of the $100,000-to-win, race-within-a-race bonus events.
 
A large group of Top Fuel drivers will try to earn the seventh open spot in the Traxxas Nitro Shootout field. Eligible for the fan vote are Larry Dixon, JR Todd, Clay Millican, Brittany Force, Leah Pritchett, Dave Connolly, and Terry McMillen.
 
The sixth and seventh spots in Funny Car are up for grabs. Del Worsham, Robert Hight, Tommy Johnson Jr., Alexis DeJoria, Cruz Pedregon, Courtney Force, John Hale, Tony Pedregon, and Chad Head will begin their campaigns for fan votes.
 
Already qualified in Top Fuel are Shawn Langdon, Tony Schumacher, Spencer Massey, Antron Brown, Richie Crampton, and Doug Kalitta. Automatically in the Funny Car field are Matt Hagan, Ron Capps, Jack Beckman, John Force, and Wilkerson.
 
Last year Brittany Force won the Top Fuel fan vote with 65 percent of the votes, and Tim Wilkerson won the Funny Car fan vote for the second straight year with 38 percent of the votes. Both drivers also were selected in the random lottery drawing. In order to be eligible for the fan vote/lottery drawing, drivers must have competed in 15 of the 17 races prior to the lottery drawing.
 
Fan voting will begin following completion of the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd, Minn. Fans can vote at NHRA’s Facebook page.
 
The fan vote process will determine how many lottery balls are assigned to each fan-vote-eligible driver for the random lottery drawing, which will take place at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals press conference/fan fest prior to the event.
 
Teams qualify for the Traxxas Nitro Shootout by winning a Mello Yello Drag Racing Series regular-season event, holding the No. 1 spot in the standings after the event at Brainerd, Minn., or via a fan vote and lottery-style drawing.