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

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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

BROWN CREDITS INDY LOSS FOR CHARLOTTE WIN - Defending NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown said he received a wakeup call on Sept. 5 when he lost to Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher in the famed U.S. Nationals.

“All my guys took a look in the mirror at each other after that,” Brown said. “We know the Countdown was coming and that we had six races in a row.
We asked each other how they wanted to finish the season. We knew that we had to put extra effort in and go to work.”

Brown has completed step one in the six-race NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.

With a run of 3.763-seconds at 319.29 mph late Sunday afternoon, Brown defended his Carolina Nationals title at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.
It was the fifth win of the season and 42nd of the career in Top Fuel for Brown.

Top qualifier Doug Kalitta finished as the runner-up with a pass of 3.811 at 320.28.

After battling extreme heat all weekend, the track temperature dropped 10 degrees to 115 just before the final round thanks to cloud cover.
Brown and his crew chief combo of Mark Oswald and Brian Corradi were armed with the right info and ready to pounce.

“Qualifying didn’t go the way we wanted it, but we just kept digging. That was the key, to keep digging,” Brown said. “The track was the hottest that we have had all year long. We knew it was going to be tricky. We navigated down it and we did what we had to do.”

Brown defeated Clay Millican, Brittany Force, and Pat Dakin en route to the finals.

Kalitta earned six bonus points for his earning his fourth No. 1 qualifier award of the season, but he had no answer for the consistent Brown.  

“We definitely wanted to get around Antron there in the final, but that was not in the cards,” Kalitta said. “We’re confident in what we learned this weekend.”

Brown continues to lead the Top Fuel points race, with Kalitta in second.

“The competition level is at an all-time high, so we just wanted to race the track and not make mistakes,” Brown said. “I’m dreaming right now, someone needs to come and pinch me. This is the way you want to start the Countdown off.”

According to Brown, his Matco Tools DSR team is drawing off its experience – in Charlotte and beyond.
 
“Our team has learned over the years that you can’t come in here thanking it’s the Countdown,” Brown said. “We’ve screwed ourselves up numerous times and had mishaps that way, so we learned from it and changed our formula.”

Brown said one of the highlights of his weekend was visiting with zMAX Dragway  owner and Speedway Motorsports, Inc. boss Bruton Smith in the suites.

“It was pretty cool to see Bruton,” Brown said. “He said the football game at Bristol was unbelievable, and then I asked him if I was the first person to see him today. When I asked him if he had seen John Force, Bruton said no. So I told him that I guess it was time to change the name on these grandstands.” Allen Gregory

JOHN FORCE VICTORIOUS AT CHARLOTTE - The legendary nitro Funny Car champion John Force came out swinging to start the 2016 six-race NHRA Countdown Championship.

Force won the Carolina Nationals Sunday by beating Tommy Johnson Jr. in the final round at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.

Force clocked a 3.946-second elapsed time at 324.05 mph to defeat Johnson, who races out of the Don Schumacher stable. Johnson had a 3.987-second lap at 315.71 mph.

“I want say thank you to Bruton Smith,” said Force, the 16-time NHRA Funny Car world champ. “It’s stadiums like this that really create the magic in your heart and you really want to race and we had a good day.”

Force, who qualified No. 3, had a victory parade that consisted with wins over Dave Richards, Tim Wilkerson, Ron Capps and then Johnson Jr.

This was Force’s NHRA record 146th career win and third this season. He also had victories at Denver and Sonoma, Calif., during the Western Swing.

More importantly, Force moved up from eighth to third in the point standings in his Chevy Camaro. This also was Jason McCulloch’s first race helping to tune Force’s Funny Car.

“Mike Neff overlooks all my Funny Cars, that why we split it up and brought in AJ (Alan Johnson Racing) and Brian Husen to run that dragster. We don’t know how to run a dragster. We let them take my daughter (Brittany) and it will go where it goes. Then on the other side we had Neff overlooking all the cars, but in the end we needed to polish it and we had McCulloch who needed a home. I hired him because of his talent and it was time to put some polish on things and take the overload off all the people and I made that call last week. We have a lot of work cut out for us. We’re going to be testing all day (Monday, Sept. 19) with my hot rods. You win a race and you come right back and test and I’m excited.”

Force, 67, acknowledged it takes work for him to get to the track each day.

“It’s tough on me, I’m beat up and I’ve been in the gym the last four days,” he said. “I just got up this morning and I was kind of mad and I said I’m going to win today. My wife (Laurie) said you can’t say you’re going to win, that’s all bull jive talk. Right before the finals she said do you remember what you told me this morning? I said I was going to win and if I don’t the attitude is that I have a race car now I can race with. When you get a race car and you’re on your game, I ain’t great, but I’m good and when I’m on my game I can win. If I would have got beat, my attitude is still going to be the same. At the end of the day, it was just a fight and we got the win.”

Force has an 8-1 record against Johnson Jr. in final rounds in the Countdown and he’s 6-0 against Capps in his career in Countdown races.

“There ain’t no magic, just somedays you win and somedays you don’t,” Force said. “Today, I should’ve been out against Wilkerson. I was either a real stupid driver or a real smart driver because I lost my brakes up there. I pulled in and I couldn’t hold it and I thought ‘Oh man, I’m dead here.’ I shoved the clutch pedal in and the tree came down on me and the first thing I thought was I have to get my foot off this clutch because if I hit it the motor can explode and probably blow the tires off and then I wouldn’t have any chance of beating him. Wilkerson was gone and I let it out and I bounced back from that. It has been a great day for me. I’m 67 years old and Donald Trump and Hillary (Clinton) are older than that. What I’m saying is I can do this job and I love it and I want to be a part of it and the day I can’t do it right, I will walk away, but I will still be out here, so you’re stuck with me until the sh** hits the fan.” Tracy Renck

LINE GETS BACK ON TRACK WITH CHARLOTTE PRO STOCK WIN - Just when it appeared the rest of the competition had caught up to Ken Black Racing’s Pro Stock team, his team made a statement to begin the six-race Countdown to the Championship.

Jason Line beat his teammate Greg Anderson Sunday in the Carolina Nationals.

Line had a 6.621-second run at 209.39 mph to edge Anderson’s 6.639-second run at 209.20 mph at zMax Dragway.

Line’s winning day included victories over Shane Tucker, Bo Butner, Vincent Nobile and Anderson.

“I don’t know, I have to think about,” Line said when asked how he won Sunday. “It was a great day for us and just a great way to start the Countdown. If you want to win the championship you have to come out smokin’ and somehow we were able to do that (Sunday). Racing Greg in the final is good and bad. It’s good, but then it’s bad when you look over there and he’s like the last guy you want to race in the final round. He’s tough to beat and he gets the best of me more often than not, but (Sunday) was my day.”

Line, who entered the Countdown first in the points, will head to St. Louis (Sept. 23-25) with a lead over Anderson. This was Line’s career-best eighth win this season in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro, and his first since Norwalk, Ohio, June 26. Line, who won NHRA Pro Stock world championships in 2006 and 2011, now has 45 career Pro Stock national event wins.

“Today didn’t seem easy to me, that’s for sure,” Line said. “The car ran great and it was a tough race track with tough conditions. We weren’t great, but we ran well.”

It’s no secret that Line, Anderson and fellow KB teammate Bo Butner had been doing some testing at national events late in the regular season. Line, however, isn’t putting huge stock in his Sunday win.

“Everybody’s made gains and we just put together what we felt was our best package in the last two months of testing and everything else,” Line said. “We ran well. We were not the dominant car, but we made good runs. Shane (Gray) ran very well and so did the Elite group. We raced well (Sunday) and that’s what it’s going to take to win in the Countdown. I think it’s a great feeling (to have he and Anderson 1-2 in the points). As long as one of the two of us wins it, or somebody on our team wins, Greg, Bo or I will be happy.” Tracy Renck

ELLIS EARNS EMOTIONAL VICTORY AT CAROLINA NATIONALS - Chip Ellis had much more than a Wally on his mind Sunday after winning the first Pro Stock Motorcycle race in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship.

The Daytona Beach, Florida, native dedicated his upset victory to bike owner and former NHRA Pro Stock rider Junior Pippin, who has battled cancer in his family the past four years.

In 2012, Pippin left the tour to care for his wife, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. In July of last year, Pippin received his own diagnosis of nasal cancer and is still contending with the disease.

“This is the best win in my career, just for what Mr. Pippin has done,” said Ellis, whose last win came in 2008 at Englishtown, New Jersey. “He’s the reason that we are here.

“(Pippin) tried really hard to win one of these trophies, and he has assembled a great group of guys. I’m just really proud to be a part of his team. It’s an amazing deal for me.”

After surviving the hot conditions at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte all weekend, Ellis punctuated his charge by stopping five-time world champion Andrew Hines in the finals with a pass of 6.879 seconds at 194.888 mph in his Buell.

Hines, the points leader, followed at 6.908 at 193.49 in his familiar Harley Davidson.

En route to his seventh career victory, Ellis defeated Shawn Gann, LE Tonglet and No. 1 qualifier Angelle Sampey.

“I’m ecstatic with our performance today,” Ellis said. “I did get a couple of breaks, against Angelle when her bike broke and LE had some issue or else he probably would have beat us. As a racer, some days you just have a feeling that today’s the day. And today’s the day.”

Pippin, from Conyers, Georgia, has financed his racing efforts through the Junior Pippin Trucking Company. Pippin won seven national championships in the exotic world of All-Harley Drag Racing before joining the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks in 2007.

Sunday was the first victory for the Ellis-Pippin partnership.

According to Ellis, Pippin has undergone 35 radiation treatments along with six grueling chemotherapy sessions.

“He’s been battling, and he had just had a checkup about a month ago where they found another spot on his lung,” Ellis said. “(The doctors) say they’re going to be able to remove this spot without doing any chemo or radiation, so we’re all just praying that he comes through this.(Pippin) wants to get back out here, and this deal right here today just gives him more momentum.”

Moments after securing his win Sunday, Ellis said he placed a call to Pippin at his Georgia home.

“He was excited and asking if we had enough engines,” Ellis said.

It was a busy weekend for Ellis, who made his Lucas Oil Sportsman racing debut in a Mustang Cobra Jet Super Stock car owned by veteran driver Roy Hill.

“I had an amazing time driving that car,” Ellis said.  “It was a real challenge for me because we do everything on the motorcycle with our hands and we don’t use our feet for anything.

“We are a small team. It was a lot on me and my crew to do that because I do a lot of the mechanical stuff on our bike, but I enjoyed it.”

Ellis said his 14-year-old daughter, McKenzie, actually does the clutch work on his bike after every round.

“Every time she services the clutch on that motorcycle we go rounds, so McKenzie is not going to school anymore,” Ellis said. Allen Gregory

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK

JR. IS THE SENIOR - Tommy Johnson Jr.’s Funny Car track elapsed time record run of 3.876 at 323.43 in his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T held up from Friday’s qualifying. It is his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and 14th of his career. In the first round of eliminations Johnson Jr. will line up against Bob Gilbertson.
 
“Whenever you go out and run a good run on Friday night it allows you to play and kind of experiment on Saturday,” Johnson Jr. said. “The conditions are usually so much different. It’s kind of what we’ll see on race day so you have a chance to play a little bit while some of the other guys are still trying to move up in the field or get qualified. So it’s definitely an advantage to make a good run Friday night.”

PRO STOCK LEAPFROG - If a teammate can't steal your No. 1 qualifying position, then who can?

Greg Anderson secured his sixth Pro Stock No. 1 qualifier of the season, 86th of his career, with a 6.578 pass at 210.50 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro during the third round of qualifying replacing teammate Jason Line atop the qualifying session.

Anderson will be racing for his second Carolina Nationals win. In the first round of eliminations Anderson will face Alan Prusiensky.
 
“It’s been a great season so far but this is a new season,” Anderson said. “This is the Countdown, it’s a whole new season to us and it doesn’t matter what we’ve done up until now. You’re going to have to earn your keep or go home. We don’t want to have a magical year like we’ve had so far go up in smoke so we want to do the best job we can and hopefully walk away with a title at the end of the year. Tomorrow is going to be a great day of racing. You can’t win the Countdown in the first race out but you can lose it.”

AND A CAJUN SHALL LEAD THEM - In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Angelle Sampey raced her Star Racing / Precision Service Equipment Buell to a 6.815 pass at 196.02 in the third round of qualifying on Saturday to secure the No. 1 qualifying position.

This is Sampey’s third consecutive No. 1 qualifier, fourth this season and 49th of her career. She will face off against Mark Paquette in the first round of eliminations.

“It's perfect timing. We definitely want to be the best we can on every run,” Sampey said. “I want to be the best every run. I want to be the best on Friday, the best on Saturday and the best on Sunday. That’s the way to do it. I think we’re in the groove now. The bike is running really well, the crew is working really well, I’m driving much better, so it’s all coming together. We’re having a good time.”

DRAGGING THE LINE - The timing is ironic for Jason Line, or so it would seem.

After losing a significant point lead via the Countdown reset, the competition caught up to the seemingly unbeatable KB Racing as the championship chase began. Line finished the regular season 71 points ahead of his teammate Greg Anderson, the second seed, and 652 points ahead of the closest non-KB Racing team.

"I think they had caught up to us before that, honestly," Line said. "We knew the day was coming, and with the new rules package, it was only a matter of time when everyone was closer together. The fact we were able to get there before everyone else was a great thing and allowed us to win 14 races. We knew it was gonna happen, they were going to catch up to us."

Vincent Nobile, twelve races into the season, ended KB Racing's 43-session streak of leading qualifying session. Five months into the season, another racer outside of the three-car team from Mooresville, NC., paced the team.

"I'm not sure that we didn't get a bit complacent, you probably do when you jump out to as big of a lead as we did," admitted Line. "It was a unique situation; one I've never been in before. Knowing that you could sit out five races or so, and still finish first or second is a strange feeling. It made us think about things in a different way. Hopefully, we have a little something left, do the right things and end up on top."

TRIAL BY FIRE - Not much can intimidate Leah Pritchett when she climbs behind the wheel of her 330-mph Top Fuel dragster. A nitro-burning engine is about as volatile as it gets in the motorsports world.

However, if you put a fire hose in her hand and send her into a blazing building, all bets are off.

Thursday, in a training exercise with the Kannapolis [NC] Fire Department, Pritchett, in conjunction with her NHRA Carolina Nationals sponsor FireAde, she took part in a training exercise with a controlled burn of an abandoned house.

"I’ve unfortunately seen quite a few fires in my life growing up in southern California from a wildfire perspective and having to evacuate my home dozens of times growing up and it also being on fire, so I was familiar with that standpoint. It was pretty intimidating," Pritchett admitted. "When I signed up for the exercise, I thought it wasn't going to be as involved. I figured at worst I’d be holding a hose from the outside and putting it out and then be on my merry way to the race track and start racing."

Pritchett learned quickly when it comes to fighting fires, there's no easy assignment.

"We put on our gear, walked through the house and plotted our exit strategies," Pritchett said. "I was like, 'what do you mean exit strategies?"

Pritchett is no stranger to the dangers of fire, having grown up in Southern California. Having been an evacuee and at times watching her home burn down prepared her somewhat for her day of playing the role firefighter.

"It was intimidating when it was right in front of my face and knowing my job was to put it out," Pritchett said. "I got to light the house on fire, light a room on fire and watch it engulf the entire property.

"Instead of retreating from the room which is your natural instinct to do, we went towards it and strategically put it out. It was intimidating, but maybe it’s just me, I am a thrill seeker of sorts, and like to push my limits pretty much in every way. In this instance, I was in someone else's shoes, and those are some big shoes I tell you."

The experience, arranged by Pritchett's sponsor FireAde, left her with a lasting impression. She learned quickly this experience was no PR fluff experience.

"There was a point where the ceiling is dripping down and whatever the contents of the ceilings were down the helmet, on top of my mask, right in front of my face, dripping onto me, and it’s burning the clothing," explained Pritchett. "I’m thinking to myself, ‘it is Friday morning of the first race of the Countdown, and I am putting myself in the middle of fire blaze."

Pritchett revealed the fire spread unexpectedly into the attic and other rooms. There was no retreating as Pritchett and Tim Smith, Captain with the Kannapolis Fire Department, attacked the blaze.

"We went in there to serve a purpose, to put the fire out and then it became bigger, so we just became better," Pritchett said.

Captain Smith described Pritchett as amazing for a first-timer.

"I gave her instructions one time," Smith said. "When it was time to extinguish it she did everything we had talked about before we ever lit it.

"I was very amazed at her willingness and her ability to be able to manipulate the fire hose. To enter that environment, it was very surprising."

Pritchett said she was more afraid of the dangers than messing up her assignments.

"I felt like there is a really good, relation between what I do here in racing," Pritchett said. "I have one job to do and to do it right, and do it perfectly, and there’s no room for error. I take the lead from my crew chiefs. In a situation like that, there’s only one way to do it otherwise failure happens and it’s dangerous for everybody involved."

Pritchett said she's always had a high respect for firefighters and first responders, but this experience just took it to an even higher level.

"I’ve always had a ton of respect for them but until you step into their shoes and feel yourself lose 10 pounds of sweat in 45 minutes, you can never understand the magnitude of the experience," Pritchett said.

EXCUSE MY TARDINESS - Ron Capps was late to his press conference on Friday in the zMax Dragway media center. He had a good excuse, though.

Capps was back in the pits going over the changes crew chief Rahn Tobler made to the NAPA Funny Car, following the Indianapolis crash where his parachutes would not deploy.

"He was walking me through what they changed with the parachute levers," Capps explained. "What they changed with the parachute levers and how they are mounted, is unbelievable."

Capps said the design is being adopted universally throughout the four-car Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car operation.

"What we had just wasn't optimal," Capps admitted. "What happened is I hit the button, and nothing happened. I reached over manually to hit my parachutes, and they were gone. They had broken off at the mount and fell off. I had no way to get them out manually."

Capps is racing his secondary car, the same one he raced at the U.S. Nationals after the crash. His three spare bodies also have the new configuration.

If his current ride looks familiar, it's the same one he raced in 2012 and 2013, falling short of winning the championship.

"He kept the car in the rafters above his office at DSR, just for this reason," Capps said.

GIMME BACK MY RECORDS - Ron Capps admitted the 20 points awarded to those drivers who established a new world record cost him a championship. Still, he would love to see the point reward returned, if only as a reward to the drag racing fans.

"It was fun to watch as a fan, but not as a participant battling for it with a car not running as well as theirs was," Capps admitted. "I miss it for the fans, and even though I have a car now that can battle for it -- I think it robbed a bit of excitement for the fans. They need to bring it back. I don't think it caused as much confusion as they thought it would."

Does Capps see records falling in the next six races?

"Absolutely," Capps said. "It will be hit several times."

 

NO SURPRISES - For Del Worsham, last year's championship run provided the perfect opportunity for the DHL-sponsored team to sneak up on the competition. This year, they aren't fooling anyone and Worsham knows it.

"They know our potential now," Worsham said. "Last year they didn't, and us as well. We were in uncharted territory, but this year we have shown our hand a little earlier. We've run better all summer long and made the DHL car faster and more consistent."

Last season wasn't as easy as it might have appeared.

"I don't think the car we ran last year would be competitive today," Worsham admitted. "There were some growing pains. Everything has improved across the board. We couldn't bring out a car from last year into this year. It took us all summer to reinvent ourselves. I feel like we are in a pretty good position; it would just be better if everyone didn't know what we were capable of."

DOUBLE DUTY - Mia Tedesco showed why she is an emerging star in the world of NHRA drag racing on Saturday.
 
Tedesco won on a holeshot in the first round of Top Alcohol Dragster and posted a combined reaction time of .025-second over her first two rounds of Super Gas at the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.
 
"That's my first one, something I've been trying to do for a really long time," Tedesco said of the TAD holeshot victory. "After losing on a holeshot last weekend, to come back and get my first one feels really good.
 
"The car shook, I pedaled it, and it wasn't pretty but my win light came on, and that's all we're looking for at the end of the day."
 
Tedesco also had a good start with her CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Super Gas Chevrolet Cavalier. She ripped off an .008 light in a first-round victory over Pat Martin and then had a .017 reaction time against Donnie Gibbs Jr.
 
Tedesco needed a good light in the second round because her Cavalier ran .042-second over the 9.90 index, compared to Gibbs' .021-second effort.
 
A third-round run in Super Gas was slated for late Saturday night.

 

THAT INDY SWAGGER - Dickie Venables wondered if his day would ever come.

Venables, crew chief for the Mopar-sponsored Funny Car driven by Matt Hagan, had long desired to win drag racing's most prestigious race, the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis as a crew chief. The last 12 years winning the event seemed like an impossible task.  

Venables has had his cars lose races they should have won, made a bad call here and there, and once had his trousers blown off on the starting line from an out of control Funny Car which left him embarrassingly in his underwear.

There was a different aura in the air two weeks ago, as Venables guided Hagan into the staging beams for the Funny Car final against the defending series champion Del Worsham.

"Honestly, the full magnitude of the moment didn’t set in until I walked away from the car on the start line and I stepped back, and I looked and realized where we were," Venables said. "I thought, 'we’re in the final round of Indy. This is it.”

"At that point, we’ve all done all we can do. It’s up to Matt and the race car and the man above. I thought well this is our day or it’s not. When the light came on…it’s hard to explain."

Hagan, a driver known for his sheer bruteness of horsepower and record-setting repute, delivered a bit of driver finesse and delivered for Venables a holeshot victory, 3.964 to 3.958 decision.

"You begin to wonder if you will ever get your day, because I had won this race before as a crewman, but never as a crew chief," Venables admitted. "You do everything in your power to try to treat Indy as just another race. You go up there and race the race track like you would in any drag race."

Considering the NHRA U.S. Nationals as just another race is akin to calling a date with the prom queen just another social occasion.

"It’s really easy to say that, I'll admit," Venables explained. "You can tell yourself that all day long but honestly, you know it’s Indy, there’s extra pressure, and you put it on yourself."

The magnitude of winning Indy was instilled in Venables as a youth while racing with his father, the late Dick Venables. The elder Venables was an underfunded Top Fuel driver but held the event in such reverence the legend of winning the event rubbed off on his son.

And in winning his first, Venables couldn't have written a better script.

"Never would have thought the No. 1 qualifying run would have held throughout qualifying," Venables said. "It's a long race, to qualify No. 1 and to win, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Emotionally it’s like a huge weight off of my shoulders."

NOT A GOOD DAY - Erica Enders for the first time since 2010 when she drove for Jim Cunningham, will not be a part of Sunday's driver introductions.

"It's no secret, this year has been a struggle for us," Enders admitted. "Someone just asked me how you bounce back from something like this and I said it's with the best guys in the world, and that's what I've got with (team owner) Richard Freeman and everyone at Elite Motorsports.
 
"You look at our crew chiefs Rick and Rickie Jones, Mark Ingersoll, Brian Self, the engine guys Nick Ferri and Jake Hairston, and everyone else in this pit and you just see champions. You find out what you're really made of during the tough times and we've had plenty this year, but there's no quit in this pit and we'll carry on from here."
 
Enders started the season with a lot of factors working against her when she faced a myriad of new rules changes compounded by a manufacturer switch.
 
"It's just growing pains," Enders said. "We'll get this thing figured out and we'll be back on top.
 
"I'm proud of the sponsors that have stuck with us. We've got Mopar, Melling, Mark Stockseth, United Mechanical, Lupe Tortilla Mexican Restaurants, CFE, and everyone from Transportation Impact, many of which made the drive up from Emerald Island (N.C.) for this race. I feel bad for them because we didn't do better, but now we'll be able to spend more time with all the employees while we root for our teammates.
 
"Adversity only makes you stronger. We'll be alright."

THE GREAT EQUALIZER - Imagine you are in a football game, and you have built a 71 point lead on your opponent headed into the fourth and final quarter. Then an official comes over and tells you your lead has been reset to 10 points.

This scenario isn't much different than what the leading NHRA Countdown to the Championship drivers face this weekend at the NHRA Carolina Nationals, the start of the six-race playoff portion of the 2016 schedule.

Leads were sliced down to 30 points, with the rest of the top ten staggered in 20 point increments.

No one felt the brunt of this point reset than the three-car team of KB Racing led by Jason Line. The Summit-sponsored team had an incredible regular season, winning 14 of 18 races.

Line held a 71 point lead over teammate and second-seeded Greg Anderson, but this was hardly the most painful part of the reset. The two-time NHRA champion also lost a 652 point advantage he held over the closest point-earning, non-teammate.
 
“We had a great start to the year, I'll always remember it," Line said. "Now we have to finish the job,” Line said. “But with the playoff format, those wins suddenly become unimportant. It's ‘what are you going to do now?’ That's where we're at.

“It is what it is, and they are not going to change it for me.

Funny Car racer Ron Capps knows all about the nuances of the point reset.  He's come into the Countdown with a healthy lead wiped out, only to lose before as few as two points after the reset. In the old system, he would have already won his elusive first championship.

This time, Capps gave up a hard-earned 202 point lead. And, he's fine with it, he understands the rules of the game and challenges he faces throughout the next six races. He's got a 30-point lead and this head-start will have to suffice.
 
"You're going to need to probably reach semifinals, at least, throughout the Countdown," Capps said. "You might be able to have a hiccup here and a hiccup there, maybe have a (loss in a) second round. But as we've seen in the past, there have been teams that have gone from fifth or worse to come alive and win races in the Countdown, gone on to have big wins near the end of the Countdown.
 
"That's what we're trying to do, keep going ... keep winning. We're going to just try to keep winning rounds."

Just because you know the reset is coming, the sting of losing a major point lead still hurts even the most seasoned drag racer.

Antron Brown has mixed emotions of the whole process.

"From a fan's perspective, it keeps pizzazz in the game,” Brown said. “It keeps them tuned in, and interest in the classes.

"From a driver and team perspective, it sucks. All of that work you put in for 18 races gets wiped out. It's like those races didn't mean nothing, but to get you into the Countdown. That hurts a little bit. But you have to do something to make it in there for the playoffs.

"This is like a King of the Hill, you gotta suck it up and everyone has the same rules. You have teams who use this format to their advantage so they can test different things if you have a cushion to prepare yourself for the Countdown. You have to play the chess game with what's in front of you.

"I'm not against the Countdown at all, and I love being a part of it, puts more pressure into the game. Back in the day, you had two or three cars when they first implemented this day that could dominate. Those days are gone."

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE? - Matt Smith qualified his Victory Gunner in the field with a pass of 6.878 seconds at 194.18 mph during Saturday's opening qualifying session.
 
"We were one of the quicker bikes in that round, so if the weather and the conditions do stay about the same tomorrow, which is what we're being told, we should be able to have a good start to race day," Smith said. "Nothing is easy at this level. You look at the bikes that didn't make the field and that tells you that if you don't bring your A-game to the line for every round, you will not have a good day.
 
"Living so close to here (in King, N.C.) we consider this our home track. We've certainly seen a lot of this place over the years with testing and what not, so we feel comfortable here and have some good data to work from. I wish we had Angie blocking for us, but she didn't make the cut this weekend. It's just brutal out there at times."
 
Smith enters Sunday's eliminations 100 points out of the point lead.
 
"You make up points one round at a time and a round is worth 20 points, so we only need to make up five rounds in six races," Matt said. "That's doable. Of course everyone else will be fighting just as hard, so yeah it would have been nice to have Angie in there at this race. We'll need to get her back up to speed quick.
 
"I am so desperate to get a win for Victory. I know we need to be patient and keep doing what we're doing, pecking away at this thing, but I'm not a patient person by nature, so it's tough for me. I do know this: I can go out there tomorrow and make a big move in the points if I take care of my job and keep this Gunner going rounds."

OTHER BIKE MATCH-UPS - Eddie Krawiec qualified No. 2 and will face Karen Stoffer and Jerry Savoie, who qualified third, will match up against veteran Steve Johnson. No. 1 seed and reigning world champion Andrew Hines secured the No. 6 position.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN - If at first, you don't succeed; lay down the track record on the next pass.

At least this is how Tommy Johnson, Jr. sees it.

Johnson took advantage of what are likely to be the most opportune conditions of this weekend's NHRA Carolina Nationals, lowering the track record with a time of 3.876 seconds.  

Saturday's forecast is for the high-80s and the last session is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m essentially making the provisional No. 1 likely to survive Saturday's two sessions.

Johnson won the pole a year ago in Concord, N.C., in the first event of the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff and advanced to the final round where he lost to eventual series champion Del Worsham.

The Make-A-Wish team responded after losing traction early in their first run Friday and smoking the tires.

"We weren't being shy in the first session. We were being aggressive," said Johnson, who has one title this year and started the day seeded No. 7 and 80 points out of first after points were reset for the 10 drivers qualified to race for the championship.

"I was aggravated and the team was aggravated. It wasn't how we wanted to start the Countdown.

"To come back and rebound with a 3.87, especially being the first pair down the track in that session, shows how much we want this and the Countdown. We're on the top of our game now. You have to go out and be aggressive."

BIG MAC - Doug Kalitta piloted his Mac Tools dragster to a 3.721 at 325.77 for the Top Fuel qualifying lead. He has three No. 1 qualifiers this season and three wins. The facility is one of two tracks on the NHRA circuit that Kalitta has yet to record a No. 1 qualifier.
 
“The conditions are definitely good out there,” said Kalitta. “The track is in great shape so they are doing a great job with it. With the cooling off and then watching everyone in front of us with a bunch of .73s and .74s. I was going down there hoping we were going to be in front of those guys. Hats off to my guys. It was a great set-up for the conditions.”
 
The second seed in the Countdown for the Championship was stellar through both qualifying passes. His 3.786 second elapsed time in the first qualifying round placed him third overall heading into the lone evening session of the weekend.

"That was exactly what we were looking to do," said Kalitta. "It was exciting to wait down there and then be able to hold on to it. Very proud of the work that Jim O, Troy and the team have put into this Mac Tools Toyota. This is exactly the start we were looking for going into this Countdown."

Kalitta earned a total of four bonus points on the day.

DRAGGING THE LINE - Jason Line holds the qualifying lead in Pro Stock with a 6.581 at 210.41 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro. Line, the No. 1 seed heading into the Countdown to the Championship, has six No. 1 qualifiers this season, and 47 in his career.
 
“It was a good run for us,” said Line. “I think there was probably a little more left. That’s the good news. I’m very happy. I can sleep well tonight. All-in-all a very good day.
 
“This race really is a must win, it really is. I think it’s huge. You have to have a good showing here no matter what. Maybe you don’t have to win, but you at least have to make it to the final round. I think it’s a huge deal and obviously starting off in a good qualifying position is the way to start that.”

GATOR, GATOR - In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Jerry Savoie raced his White Alligator Racing Suzuki to the top spot with a 6.850 at 195.19. Savoie, an alligator farmer from Louisiana, has five No. 1 qualifiers in his career and is looking for his first of the season, as well as his first victory at zMAX Dragway.
 
“We should be really good this weekend,” said Savoie. “Tomorrow’s another day. Take it day by day and don’t put yourself under a lot of pressure. The main thing is to go have fun and try to win.”

THE BIG RESET - Imagine you are in a football game, and you have built a 71 point lead on your opponent headed into the fourth and final quarter. Then an official comes over and tells you your lead has been reset to 10 points.

This scenario isn't much different than what the leading NHRA Countdown to the Championship drivers face this weekend at the NHRA Carolina Nationals, the start of the six-race playoff portion of the 2016 schedule.

Leads were sliced down to 30 points, with the rest of the top ten staggered in 20 point increments.

No one felt the brunt of this point reset more than the three-car team of KB Racing led by Jason Line. The Summit-sponsored team had an incredible regular season, winning 14 of 18 races.

Line held a 71 point lead over teammate and second-seeded Greg Anderson, but this was hardly the most painful part of the reset. The two-time NHRA champion also lost a 652 point advantage he held over the closest point-earning, non-teammate.
 
“We had a great start to the year, I'll always remember it," Line said. "Now we have to finish the job,” Line said. “But with the playoff format, those wins suddenly become unimportant. It's ‘what are you going to do now?’ That's where we're at.”

Funny Car racer Ron Capps knows all about the nuances of the point reset.  He's come into the Countdown with a healthy lead wiped out, only to lose before by as few as two points after the reset. In the old system, he would have already won his elusive first championship.

This time, Capps gave up a hard-earned 202 point lead. And, he's fine with it, he understands the rules of the game and challenges he faces throughout the next six races. He's got a 30-point lead and this head-start will have to suffice.
 
"You're going to need to probably reach semifinals, at least, throughout the Countdown," Capps said. "You might be able to have a hiccup here and a hiccup there, maybe have a (loss in a) second round. But as we've seen in the past, there have been teams that have gone from fifth or worse to come alive and win races in the Countdown, gone on to have big wins near the end of the Countdown.
 
"That's what we're trying to do, keep going ... keep winning. We're going to just try to keep winning rounds."

Just because you know the reset is coming, the sting of losing a major point lead still hurts even the most seasoned drag racer.

Antron Brown has mixed emotions regarding the whole process.

"From a fan's perspective, it keeps pizzaz in the game,” Brown said. “It keeps them tuned in, and interest in the classes.

"From a driver and team perspective, it sucks. All of that work you put in for 18 races gets wiped out. It's like those races didn't mean nothing, but to get you into the Countdown. That hurts a little bit. But you have to do something to make it in there for the playoffs.

"This is like a King of the Hill, you gotta suck it up and everyone has the same rules. You have teams who use this format to their advantage so they can test different things if you have a cushion to prepare yourself for the Countdown. You have to play the chess game with what's in front of you.

"I'm not against the Countdown at all, and I love being a part of it, puts more pressure into the game. Back in the day, you had two or three cars when they first implemented this day that could dominate. Those days are gone."

ADDING TO THE TOTAL - Ron Capps, who started the day as the top seed with a 30-point lead over Worsham, was able to extend it to 34 after he was second quickest in both sessions to earn four bonus points while Worsham was shut out.

"(Crew chief Rahn) Tobler said at the beginning of the year the difference in the Countdown was going to be the 'little points' you can earn in qualifying and we got four of six today," said Capps, who has won a category-best five times this year. "Running like our NAPA Dodge did today got us some points and puts is in the good position going into Saturday so we can get ready for Sunday when it should be warmer."

PAC-MAN, FORCE STYLE - John Force was impressive in both sessions today driving the Advance Auto Parts PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Camaro Funny Car. In the first session Force had the quickest Funny Car posting a 3.921 second elapsed time that was a track record. He also set the track speed record at 326.71 mph.

In the second session Force was in the last pair matched up with points leader Ron Capps. The conditions improved dramatically and Force’s team made the most of the chance to post a much quicker elapsed time. Force’s Camaro launched hard and powered down the track getting to the finish line in 3.881 seconds at a booming 331.04 mph. Force’s elapsed time was good enough to put the 145-time national event winner in the No. 3 spot and he reset his track speed record.

The two runs today earned Force four qualifying bonus points and gave the veteran driver a strong feeling of confidence going into Saturday.

“The Countdown is like Pac Man. You have to gobble up every point you can. At the end of the Countdown you count them up. Capps has a lead on everybody and Tommy Johnson go hot today. We are OK and this Advance Auto Peak Chevrolet is showing some improvement. We are only going to get better with Jon Schaffer, Jason McCulloch and Nick Casertano all working together,” said Force.

In his eight previous appearances at the Carolina NHRA Nationals Force has never started No. 1 and has opened up race day in the top half of the field four times. The importance of being in the top half of the Funny Car field is top of mind for Force.

“You have to stay out of the bottom of the pack. Anybody can beat you one race day. You don’t want to get cars that have been quick all year in the first round. You need to get that momentum on race day. Today we got this Chevy down the race track in the heat and ran 3.92. In the night session we stepped it up and ran 3.88. Tomorrow we’ll be running in the daytime so we don’t know who good it is going to be. We are going to try and get that No. 1 spot and get as many of these points as we can. That is what all my race cars are trying to do. The key is also to learn what you can run in the heat of the day,” added Force.

EXPANDING HIS HORIZONS – Chip Ellis led the first session of Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying but this performance feat paled in comparison to his actions several hours earlier.

Ellis is pulling double duty, racing not only the JR Pippen motorcycle but also racing a Super Stocker fielded by drag racing school instructor Roy Hill.

Racing a Factory Showdown Super Stocker in the "A" configuration, Ellis was 27th quickest after the first session with an 8.175 elapsed time,   -0.625 under his 8.80 index.

“I got my license the week before the U.S. Nationals,” Ellis said. “I’ve been helping Roy Hill at his drag racing school from time to time and we do his engines at Competition Engine Services. He asked me if I wanted to come drive a car and I was like, 'absolutely, but I don’t know how to drive a car, you will have to teach me."

Teaching novice drivers how to become seasoned drag racers is right in Hill's wheelhouse. Hill launched one of the first certified drag racing schools in 1989 while competing in the challenging Pro Stock division.

"We went out there the first time and made six runs," Ellis explained. "The car spun [the rear tires] the first couple of runs and then we worked on the chassis a little bit and got it to leave the starting line better. I made two good runs."

The Cobra Jet Mustang Ellis now races is a purpose-built drag racing car straight from the Ford Motor Company and designed by Ford Racing. His car is capable of 7.90-seconds in the quarter-mile, a full second slower than he races on two-wheels.

Don't be fooled, Ellis advises, the two are diametrically different beasts.

“I really can't describe it any better than to say I just got thrown to the wolves," Ellis said. “I’ve hadn't drag raced a car before and to do it on this level is one of those things that's really hard to convey how it feels.”  

Ellis said the one thing which didn't change in his new world experience was his drive to absolutely be the best he could be, and inevitably hopefully the best on race day.
 
"After I got the first run out of the way and I knew what to expect, I was okay, let try to be perfect," Ellis admitted. "For me, I’m somewhat of a perfectionist, so I wanted to do everything perfect. The toughest part is accepting that just doesn’t happen. To say I’m excited is an understatement, it's a really cool experience."

MONSTER DAY - Brittany Force was second quickest at 3.729 seconds at 324.67 mph. The run was the quickest of the day until the next to last pair of dragster ran and Mac Tools teammate Doug Kalitta ran .008 seconds quicker to grab the provisional No. 1 position.

“Having a race car that will go right down the track is exactly what we want. The first run was a little slow and we were pushing for a little more than that. We big time stepped it up in the second session. We jumped up to the No. 2 spot with that 3.72 second run. I have to thank this Monster Energy team for doing such a great job. We’ll get two more runs tomorrow and I am feeling good for this weekend,” said Brittany Force  

Force picked up two qualifying bonus points for her Q2 effort and will be in a good position to earn more on Saturday.

THIRD FOR SCHUMACHER - Tony Schumacher was third quickest after two sessions.

Schumacher, who owns two NHRA Wally trophies from zMAX including the one from the 2012 fall event, is coming off a memorable Labor Day weekend during the U.S. Nationals when the Army team led by crew chief Mike Green won the Traxxas Nitro Shootout and the team's 10th title in the world's most prestigious drag race.

The performance continued Friday when he was second quickest in the first session to earn two points and added another point after being third best on the last run.

"We had a really good day scoring points," Schumacher said. "This U.S. Army Racing team is incredibly strong. They are confident. Obviously, we were a little frustrated not being No. 1, but after looking at the data, we know how good the runs we made today were.

"That No. 1 spot doesn't win you races. Getting down the track over and over again and making the right calls on Sunday does. We can make adjustments based on the information we learned today. I would have liked those extra points today, because every one of them matters when you are chasing a championship."

GIVING BACK - NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle riders Hector Arana Sr. and Matt and Angie Smith visited the W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center on Thursday in support of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program.
 
The Million Veteran Program (http://www.research.va.gov/mvp/default.cfm) is a national, voluntary research study to learn how genes affect health and how it can benefit veterans. Recently, MVP crossed the 500,000-member mark.
 
Arana and the Smiths met with numerous veterans at the hospital, signing autographs and spending time with our nation's heroes.
 
"Our veterans really are our MVPs," Arana said. "They have all signed up to serve and protect us, and we hope the MVP program will find ways to help with their health. We owe it to them to do the best we can to help them, and it was a privilege to meet many of them today."
 
The Hefner VAMC is able to serve as primary and secondary health-care providers to more than 287,000 veterans in the Central Piedmont Region of North Carolina, which includes the cities of Charlotte and Winston-Salem.
 
The VA Research and Development team launched MVP to learn more about how genes affect health and to help improve health care for veterans. MVP will establish one of largest databases of genetic, military exposure, lifestyle, and health information. Research could lead to new ways of treating and preventing illnesses in veterans.
 
"It was awesome to get to spend some time with our veterans," Matt Smith said. "They all pledged to serve our country, so to give back any way we can is an honor for Angie and I. We learned a lot about the Million Veteran Program and what it's all about, too. It's a great program, and we hope it helps a lot of vets."
 
Several vets signed up for the program while the racers were present, too.
 
"It was wonderful to get to meet some of our heroes," Angie Smith said. "We can never do too much for our veterans, and to be able to talk to them and hear their stories is awe-inspiring."

AIN’T NOTHING WRONG WITH THE RADIO - If Funny Car racer Bob Gilbertson didn't know any better, he'd think country singer Aaron Tippin's song "Aint Nothing Wrong With the Radio," a song proclaiming the merits of a junker car with a symphonic radio, was written about his Funny Car.

Sometimes she runs, sometimes she don't
More than once she's left me on the side of the road
The older she gets the slower we go
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

She needs a carburetor, a set of plug wires
She's ridin' me around on four bald tires
The wipers don't work and the horn don't blow
But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio

Now Gilbertson isn't offended if one would call his Funny Car a clunker; he'll readily admit the fuel coupe has clearly seen its better days.

"It’s probably the oldest one, and I know it’s the heaviest one," Gilbertson proclaimed proudly. "It’s been through every fire and blown up but we can’t destroy it because it weighs 300 pounds. It’s got a lot of strength. These older bodies are tough. We’re gonna run her until she falls off."

The battle scars are clearly defined on the 2013 Monte Carlo which has proven to be tougher than the 1958 Plymouth Fury portrayed in the Stephen King thriller Christine.

Beauty is only skin deep for Gilbertson, who represents the difference between a full field and a bye run for the No. 1 qualifier on Sunday.

"We’re the one-run wonders I guess," Gilbertson said with a smile.

Gilbertson didn't plan it that way. He had every intention of making a qualifying run on Friday, but there was one problem.

"It could end up that way because we haven’t started it," Gilbertson admitted. "We’ve been here since Wednesday at 11 o’clock every night and it ain’t ready to start yet. But we do have about six engines so we’ll pick one of them out that might start. And we’ll be alright, maybe by Saturday."

Gilbertson admits while the thrill isn't completely gone, his passion is quickly waning in trying to bring his nitro relic up to code.

"The expense to come to one race to get the thing legal, that’s been a little bit depressing because a lot of the stuff, when you just pop in here late in the season, there’s an inner diaper now, there’s a back manifold diaper," Gilbertson explained. "We just didn’t pay attention. FedEx loves us; DHL probably loves us. Air freight it in here and get it legal, so we did that all week, and it’s legal. NHRA is happy. Now we just have to make it run."

Who knows what could have become of the trio of Gilbertson and crew chiefs Nicky Bonifante and Tommy Delago had the U.S. economy not tanked in 2008, forcing Gilbertson to park his race team?

"Nicky had already moved on, but the time with us allowed Tommy to get a leg up on his tune-up because we were a 1,000-foot car running in the quarter-mile days," Gilbertson admitted. "We’d run 4.70s coasting through the quarter-mile, so Tommy was way ahead of the game. Just think about it, he had a heavy driver and a heavy car. You don't think that experience helped him when he went over to tune Matt Hagan. They won a championship."

Gilbertson says he won't live on past glory and will instead focus on having fun with what he has now.

"Now that I’m older and fatter, I’ll probably slow down a little bit, but we’ve been having fun," Gilbertson said. "It’s pretty hard not to have fun just to show up here with no pressure on you. That’s what’s fun."

"Hopefully there won't be too big of a fire."

SEEING POSITIVES - Part-time Pro Stock racer and full-time truck mechanic John Gaydosh sees the positives of racing NHRA Pro Stock. He’s had his struggles but recognizes the situation isn’t all bad.

“It’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Gaydosh said. “It’s been quite a challenge to tell you the truth. The biggest thing was at the beginning, the financial part, trying to get everything together. Being a small team without a lot of major sponsors, it’s hard for us to compete with these other big teams.

“But we did it with a lot of help from the Grays. Shane Gray, Mike Smith from the Grays in the engine shop, was really nice to us and helping us out getting us where we’re at. If it weren’t for them we wouldn’t be out here racing right now. The whole Gray family – Jonathan Gray, Shane Gray, and Johnny Gray – they’ve been really good to us to keep us out here to help keep the Pro Stock field alive.”

The new Pro Stock has seen its share of challenges, with full fields being a luxury. Consider Gaydosh as one of those determined to keep the dream alive regardless of the obstacles.

Challenges are nothing new for Gaydosh, whose affection for Pontiac engines early in his career seasoned him to battle the odds.

“I like the challenge,” he said. “That’s why I kind of stuck with the Pontiac deal. Building a traditional Pontiac motor to make 1,300 horse power, not a lot of people have done that. It’s hard to do and everybody kept telling me ‘You’ll never get a Pontiac into the 7s.’ I kept working at it, working at it, working at it…persistence.

“We got where we needed to be and I figured, you know what, this is hard, too, so let me go and tackle this. I needed the challenge. I like the challenge.”

Gaydosh understands his role in Pro Stock racing, and the clear definition between those considered to be the haves and those who are the have nots. He’s lacking when compared to the other wealthy teams, but this detriment only serves as inspiration to forge ahead.

Gaydosh commends the KB Racing team for challenging the class to step up their game.

“They’ve done their homework over the winter, they have the budget to do it, and they’re flying,” Gaydosh said. “It’s all about doing your homework and having the money to do it. These cars run off of dollars, there’s nothing else they do.

“When you can sit there and test and test and test then pull out and go to the drag strip that’s four feet away from your shop, make a pass, come back in and redo it, then go right back out, it makes a big difference.” – Brandon Mudd

NOAKES LIVING THE DREAM - When you’ve won races in both IHRA and NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car class and divisional titles in alky Funny Car, what’s next? For Canadian Paul Noakes, it’s nitro time.

Noakes is thirteenth in NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car points, and racing in the Barry Leverich Racing Top Fuel. He’s making the most of his opportunities to attempt keeping pace with the richer nitro teams.

“It’s next to impossible really,” Noakes said of the mission to keep up with the million-dollar teams of the NHRA. “Really you just have to think of where the money is coming from and when the next check is coming in. I mean that’s what I do with my car, and I’m fortunate to have a sponsor the last few years.

“I overdid what I should have done by going to the races and running on the pro, semi-pro series with the alcohol Funny Car. I’m currently searching for more sponsorship to try to continue that going.”

Noakes got his racing bug honestly as it was passed down through the generations.

“I guess my Dad being Canadian he should have bought me a hockey helmet and a stick,” he said, laughing. “But instead, he got me into this drag racing stuff, and I’ve been racing alcohol Funny Car now for 28 years. Been playing with the nitro stuff and been fortunate enough to get my license with Barry.”

Noakes, a transportation technology teacher, is pragmatic when it comes to going rounds. The racing process starts slow on Fridays, first in getting a baseline and then developing the tune-up over the course of qualifying. Sundays are all about being sharp and beating them on the tree.

Sponsor dollars can be a challenge. Noakes has found several Canadian companies are owned by American companies, and the two don’t always have the same marketing goals.

“When you approach them, the challenging part is why would I give the money to a Canadian?” he said. “My team has raced in America and Canada, and I can do wonderful things for the company as far as PR, as far as inviting customers on both sides of the border, whereas a lot of teams don’t like to travel into Canada.

“I have to travel into the States, so it’s just part of my racing, the extra mileage we have to put on the rig, the extra time it takes to get to the races, waiting at the border crossings, dealing with all the paperwork, that’s just something I do and that I have to do. But you’ll find that a lot of American guys don’t want to come over to Canada and do that.”

Noakes would love nothing more to be a regular on the NHRA tour.

“I was really grateful and thankful that I had the opportunity to run in the nitro class, but it wasn’t my stuff,” he said. “I really get a lot of pride out of my funny car because I built it. I put the motors together. I work on it at my home in my shop, I mean it’s all me.

“So would I keep racing in the nitro class? Absolutely. I’d love to be a pro racer, and that’s what I would do for a living. When these opportunities come up, I have to take them. Hopefully, maybe one day, whether it’s a sponsor I can bring to a team like this or a professional team needing a driver, (I can be there).” – Brandon Mudd