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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

CAPPS’ KNOW-HOW SHINES IN NAPA VALLEY - Ron Capps had nearly 300 NAPA employees watching him Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, not to mention a huge throng of family and friends that make the short trek every year to watch the longtime Funny Car star compete at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

If all of that was supposed to add more stress to Capps’ weekend, he has a great way of hiding it, wining for the third time in four years at his home track, thanks to a 4.085 at 307.79 mph holeshot win against John Force in the finals.

It marked his 40th career victory and second this season, adding another special Sonoma moment to his resume.

"This place has a lot of great memories for me," Capps said.

Getting a holeshot win against the legendary Force, who ran 4.072 at 311.13 mph in the finals, certainly ranks near the top.

The two standouts traded glances before the finals, but Capps went to his old standby, the trick he uses whenever he meets up with Force in a big moment. "I picture him in his underwear, so I'm not nervous,” Capps said with a laugh.

Capps had the quicker .078 reaction time on the starting line, but crew chief Rahn Tobler also gave Capps, who qualified No. 3 with a 4.012 at 312.50, an outstanding car all weekend. He went 4.066 in a first-round win against Del Worsham and after going 4.099 to oust Jeff Arend a round later, Tobler dialed it up in the semifinals against Courtney Force. Capps went 4.048 at 315.34 mph to beat Courtney, setting up a marquee matchup with her father.

"The holeshot doesn't come without a good car and a good set-up," Capps said. "The 4.04 against Courtney floored me. That was stout. That was probably the run of the weekend, I thought.

"I knew John could step up and he did, and I had to get up on the wheel. You don't want to be the weak link. Whatever (John) does, he’s lethal and he knows how to win. Rahn Tobler is just a great guy to work for and drive for and learn from."

The style points Capps earned with the holeshot victory in the finals also made up for losing to teammate Johnny Gray in the same fashion earlier this month in Norwalk.
Gray and Capps ran identical times in the final, but Gray was quicker on the tree for the narrow victory.

“To lose like I did to Johnny Gray in Norwalk, even though it was close, it devastated me. I'm glad I could make it up here,” Capps said.

The victory also signified that Capps is back in championship mode, jumping to second in points behind Matt Hagan.

After trying a variety of new things when it came to the clutch – and struggling in the process – the team went back to what has worked in the past. As Capps showed on Sunday, it’s still working perfectly fine.

"We went back to our normal stuff and away we went. I guess this is when you want to hit your stride," Capps said. "I've just got great people to keep me focused."


NOBILE WINS SONOMA WITH WOUNDED ENGINE - After a season-opening win at Pomona, Pro Stock standout Vincent Nobile didn’t exactly fall on hard times, but he also wasn’t reaching the high expectations he had set for himself.

But after a 13-race winless streak, Nobile finally got everything to go his way again on Sunday at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

Nobile received fortunate breaks, was red-hot on the starting line and had the ultimate stroke of luck in the finals at Sonoma Raceway, running 6.572 at 208.59 mph to beat teammate Jeg Coughlin in the finals.

Coughlin had trouble almost immediately, while Nobile somehow put together a solid run with what was a broken engine in the final to earn his second victory of the season.

"Without a doubt, it was an interesting day. It was a great day and long overdue," said Nobile, who won for the seventh time in his career.

Nobile benefited from a red-light by Greg Anderson in the semifinals, used a holeshot to beat points leader Mike Edwards in the second round and took advantage of Coughlin’s mishap in the finals.

Just moments before running Coughlin, Nobile wasn’t expecting much. He knew his motor wasn’t at 100 percent, but things worked out in his favor, even as the motor took a drastic turn for the worse at the finish line.

"I knew I had to be on my game in the finals. Unfortunately, our motor was actually broken in the water box,” Nobile said. “I thought we were a sitting duck, but it all worked out in our favor. It actually blew up real bad at the stripe, but the win light turned on and that’s all that matters.”

Nobile joked he was afraid to see the final damage to the motor, but he’ll have a new one in next weekend for the NHRA event in Seattle, which is the final race in the three-event Western Swing.

In fact, he was more focused on beating multiple-time world champion Coughlin, a driver he has long admired in the Pro Stock world.

"Jeg was one of my idols growing up and someone I've always looked up to," Nobile said. "He's still one of the best drivers around, so that was a great win. To be able to beat a champion is a big deal."

Nobile also may have regained the rhythm that was missing for the bulk of the season. While Edwards, Coughlin and teammate Allen Johnson were racking up 10 event wins, Nobile was drifting away in the points standings.

But Sonoma may have been a strong turnaround, beating Edwards and his round-best 6.532 thanks to his .025 reaction time.

"I was definitely disappointed with how things have been going. I definitely don't like these dry spells, that's for sure," Nobile said. "Hopefully we can keep the momentum going. That's our game plan."


LANGDON CLAIMS SONOMA TF CROWN - This season, plenty has gone right for Shawn Langdon.

Sunday was no different.

Langdon, the driver of the Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel Silver dragster, won his fourth race of the season when he defeated Morgan Lucas in the finals of NHRA’s Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals.

Langdon clocked a 3.920-second elapsed time at 240.47 mph to hold on to beat Lucas’ 4.628-second effort at 183.69 mph.

This was Langdon’s fourth win of the season in seven final-round appearances.

“I have always enjoyed coming back here,” Langdon said. “It is always great weather and so many fans out here. We were at the (San Francisco) Giants game the other night and golfing at the Olympic Club. We were able to take a couple of days off. This is a great track obviously. It produced some great times and fortunately I got the win.”

The last half of his run against Lucas produced some nervous moments for Langdon because his dragster shutoff.

“All the air just gets sucked out of you,” Langdon said about what he was feeling when his dragster lost power. “It left so good and it picked the front end up and it was pulling really hard. I was thinking this was a good run. Through the shake zone I was waiting for something to happen, and it was smooth and kept going. At that point, I was just basically focused on the finish line and shutting it off on time. Right before half-track it just shut off. The first thing that goes through your mind is ‘sh**.’ There’s nothing you can do. It is just completely dead. It broke the blower belt and you are just coasting across. At that point, I’m trying to listen for (Lucas) to figure out where he is at. I didn’t hear him and I’m just coasting across just looking at my win light, waiting for that thing to come on, and it came on. It ended up good. We got a little bit of luck.”

Langdon increased his lead to 102 points over second place Spencer Massey in the season point standings.

“This is a dream season having four wins just over halfway through the season,” Langdon said. “Heck, I almost went four years without a win. Just to get one win is very gratifying. We feel like we have the car to beat right now. We have a strong running car and if I can keep my head on straight, I think we will be all right.”

Langdon was plenty familiar with Lucas – his finals opponent. The two were high school classmates, college roommates and were Top Fuel teammates from 2009-2011 at Morgan Lucas Racing.

“Not really,” said Langdon when asked if he treated Lucas any differently. “That’s at least the way I look at it. I don’t race anybody differently, whether it is the No. 16 qualifier in the first round or final round. It’s pretty cool racing Morgan with us growing up and going to high school with one another. I think in 2001 or 2002, we traveled up here (to Sonoma) together and raced Super Comp against one another. Then, we were teammates for three years. You have a lot of memories and it is always cool racing your friends in the finals.”

At Sonoma, Al-Anabi team owner Sheik Khalid al Thani was in the pits for the first time this season, and his presence was welcomed by Langdon. Alan Johnson Racing manages the two-car Top Fuel operation of the Al-Anabi Racing Team.

“You would think (it would be extra pressure),” Langdon said. “Any time the boss comes in the room you kind of tighten up a little bit. You make sure you are dressed to impress a little bit. After talking to him this weekend, we spent a lot of time with one another, talking about the future and what we are doing. It actually really relaxed me after I got to talking with him. He shares the same dream as us. He shares the same passion as us and we are all out here for the same reason. He is a really easy-going guy and we really view a lot of things about drag racing the same.”

Langdon’s crew proved its versatility on Sunday when the weather warmed up right before eliminations began. Langdon defeated Bob Vandergriff Jr., Doug Kalitta and Antron Brown before ousting Lucas in the finals.

“For us it wasn’t really frustrating for us,” Langdon said. “First round we made that very outstanding run at 3.74. That was a little bit better than we expected. That has kind of been a little bit of our weak point throughout the year when the track gets hot like that we smoke the tires. That’s something we have really been focusing on is to maintain a strong race car throughout the day when it warms up like that. We are picking away at it. The last couple of races we have been able to make good strong runs when the track has heated up.”


ARANA JR. WINS SONOMA PS MOTORCYCLE CROWN - Hector Arana Jr. was in a slump.

After winning the first three 2013 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle races, Arana Jr. only won five rounds in the next five races.

Hector Jr., as he is known, returned to his winning ways Sunday.

Thanks to a holeshot, Arana Jr. beat Matt Smith in the final round of the Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals.

Hector Jr. clocked a 6.878-second elapsed time at 195.45 mph to edge Smith’s 6.877-effort at 195.45 mph. The difference was Arana Jr.’s .009 reaction time compared to Smith’s .045 reaction time.

“I just had the motivation to get back on top and hoist one of these Wallys again,” Arana Jr. said.

This was Hector Jr.’s seventh win of his career. He is first in the season points 149 in front of Smith.

At the previous national event, the Mile-High Nationals in Denver, Arana Jr. also made it to the finals before getting upset by Shawn Gann.

Gann clocked a 7.351-second elapsed time at 181.08 mph. Arana Jr. came in at 7.376 seconds at 182.11 mph. There also was a huge difference at the starting line as Gann had an .055 reaction time and Arana had a .197 reaction time.

Arana Jr.’s motorcycle bogged down off the starting line with a mechanical issue. Both Gann and Arana Jr. ride Buells.

“I wanted to get back real bad,” Hector Jr. said. “Honestly, that wasn’t a mental malfunction. We had a mechanical error. You have to adjust the two-step switch on the bike and in Denver it is really finicky and it just got away from us. It looked like I had a horrible light, but what actually happened is it spun the tire in place. When I popped the clutch, I thought I was in neutral. I saw the shift light come on and I was like I left this thing in neutral. Then it took off on me. I tried to run him down, but everybody has their day to win.”

Hector Arana Sr. was running the new generation motor at Sonoma, and Hector Jr. is unsure when he and his brother Adam will be running the motor. Arana Sr. lost in the semifinals Sunday to Smith.

“We are going to work hard on this month off and we are going to go over everything,” Hector Jr. said. “We are going to put everything on the dyno and definitely that motor shows some good promising numbers. We are just looking forward to longevity. That’s the main goal and hopefully we will all have them (the new motors) for the Countdown.”

The Pro Stock Motorcycle class doesn’t return to action until the U.S. Nationals Aug. 28-Sept. 2 in Indianapolis. The Countdown to the Championship Playoffs begin Sept. 13-15 in Charlotte, N.C.

“That was one of goals to be in the finals together, father and son,” Hector Jr. said. “It didn’t happen, but everything happens for a reason. I was able to come back and get the win for our team and stay one up on those guys (Smith’s team). That felt really good and gratifying.”

Arana Jr. admitted there is parity in the Pro Motorcycle class this season.

“Honestly, you can’t predict anymore,” Arana Jr. said. “Our field is very tight. It looks like Pro Stock car did this year and last year. I have never seen the numbers so close. My brother (Adam) ran a 6.90 and last year a 6.90 would have been No. 1 and this year he is qualified 10th with a 6.90. That goes to show that we finally have good parity in the class. Anybody can win.”

A year ago, Harley-Davidson riders Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines won 15 of 16 races and finished first and second in the points. This season, Krawiec is seventh in the points and Hines is 12th.

“Those guys are competitors and we want to see them do well just as much as they do,” Arana Jr. said about Krawiec and Hines. “We want good competition. Those are good guys. I can’t say anything bad about them and even last year I couldn’t say anything bad about them because that wasn’t their fault. If we were in their shoes we would have done the same thing.”

On Sept. 19, 2012, NHRA announced some major changes to the Pro Stock Motorcycle class for 2013.

This season, Harley-Davidson and Buell are both allowed a maximum 160-cubic inch displacement (cid), for a 60-degree, two-valve, pushrod engine. Minimum weight for both motorcycles is set at 625 pounds. The four-valve Harley-Davidson engine combination is no longer allowed. Suzuki still has a maximum of 107-cid, for a two-valve engine. Minimum weight on the Suzuki is 595 pounds. NHRA also discontinued the four-valve option on the Suzuki motorcycle.

Although Hector Jr. has already won a career-high four races this season, he isn’t making any bold predictions for the future.

“I think that is what happened to me in my little slump,” Hector Jr. said. “I was trying to win them all and I was thinking about winning the race before I even won first round. I’m not even going to think about that championship this year. I’m going to go one round at a time and one race at a time and we will see what happens.”

Will Lester/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
The back-half remnants of Johnny Gray's Pitch Energy Funny Car body.

Johnny Gray said his engine explosion during the second round at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals didn’t produce a huge fireball. What was huge, he said, was the resulting concussion.

“The most violent concussion I’ve ever experienced while racing a Funny Car,” admitted Gray. “It all but knocked me out.”

Gray was the first driver to experience a major engine failure since the NHRA mandated the use of Funny Car body tethers last week, designed to keep bodies from leaving the chassis in case of engine explosions. This new safety implementation was inspired when driver Robert Hight launched a carbon fiber body into the grandstands at zMax Dragway [Concord, NC] during the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals last April 20.

“I’m not real happy about being a 60-year old guinea pig for this system,” Gray said sternly. “Thank God it happened out there at about 350 feet because had it have happened at 1,000 feet I’d probably be either in the hospital or in the morgue now.”

Gray was an outspoken critic of the NHRA’s tethering system for Funny Cars and in a CompetitionPlus.com article published on July 20, and was quoted as saying, “I think they are putting the drivers in danger. I have had some explosions and when you have a real bad explosion you want the body to leave because if the body is trapped on there and on the front and then it messes up the latches and stuff and they can’t get the body open, I’m in trouble. I’m 110 percent against the whole system. I hate it. I’m glad I’m through at the end of this year.”

Following the incident, Gray’s description of the accident made his earlier comments appear prophetic.

“It was so violent, it blew the firewall up over the windshield,” Gray explained. “I had no idea where I was going. The body blew up and did not sit back down on the go-round good. I couldn’t see where I was going. I either bent something, broke something or tore something loose to the point it failed to put the chutes out. I couldn’t get to the chute handle because it was in the wrong spot. When the body came down, something hit me in the right arm. I finally stumbled around and got the brake handle.

Gray talks to crew chief Rob Wendland following the  incident. Wendland believes the tether system needs to offer more pressure relief systems than the one burst panel. He proposes side burst panels. Gray is racing in his final season as a full-time racer and the Sonoma accident has made him think long and hard about racing. He’s also carrying the safety of his teammates and friends in his heart.

“I’ve been doing this thing for a long time,” said Gray. “I’m 60 years old and I don’t really want to get hurt in my last season. I want to take this a step further. And say I have friends out there … Matt Hagan, Ron Capps and Jack Beckman, Robert Hight, Tim Wilkerson, Del Worsham … these are my friends. After what I just went through, I know they are all susceptible to get hurt or killed at the next race unless something is done to bring some common sense to this. I don’t understand what the answer is, and yes, I know what the NHRA told me, we gotta keep the bodies out of the bleachers. I understand that. I don’t know the answer but I know we don’t need to feel we need to keep the bodies out of the stands, so let’s make the drivers expendable.”

Gray’s crew chief Rob Wendland believes the key to creating a successful and safe tethering system lies in the ability to get rid of the explosive gasses trapped underneath the bodies.

“We need to first exhaust more of the explosion to the outside of the car,” Wendland explained. “Right now we are trying to exhaust through a single panel. It is too far forward on the car. It also has pressure against it simply from down force. There are 500-pounds of down force on that panel.

“We also have it tethered so it won’t come back into the injector. It only raises it up two-and-a-half or three inches. It’s really not an effective burst panel.”

Will Lester/Inland Valley Daily BulletinWendland believes the most effective burst panel system is on each side of the car’s body, just after the front wheel openings.

“It’s something that could be put in with a little bit of engineering,” explained Wendland. “It could get rid of some of that explosion pressure we are seeing.”

Wendland said the team is looking into the feasibility of implementing a stove pipe system as used in many of today’s current Top Alcohol Funny Cars.

“It will prevent us from folding over the dashes,” Wendland added. “Of course their explosions aren’t as great as ours are. But anything we can do to alleviate pressure on the bodies to keep them from breaking will help.”

A stove pipe is an eight-inch diameter tube on the back of the supercharger on some alcohol cars which directs pressure towards the burst panel and out of the car.

Wendland said he offered his plan for the tether system to the NHRA while at the NHRA Kansas Nationals in Topeka, Kan. He believes his suggestions were largely ignored. However, in the wake of the latest incident, he had an audience with the NHRA.

“I just spend an hour and a half with them,” said Wendland, prior to the NHRA Sonoma Nationals final rounds. “This is what I presented to some of the guys back in Topeka. I feel like I was left out of the decision making in some of these things we wanted to do. It was a time thing and when it came to implementing the side burst panels. Honestly I’m a little pissed off about the process of how all of this was decided.”

However, before the team can implement any changes, they must be submitted to the NHRA’s technical department, per NHRA rules, for approval. Whether a new system is implemented, Gray said he will be in attendance and participate in the NHRA Northwest Nationals next week outside of Seattle, Wash.

“Yeah, I’ll be there, but not because it is intelligent,” said Gray. “It’s because I am a drag racer … and I’m stupid. As drivers, we are adrenaline junkies. We’ll go back with the fact it won’t happen to me again. I hate to see it happen to one of my buddies. The only way you can drive one of these things is to do so with the belief you’re the one who will never get hurt. With what’s going on and the way we are being treated, I’m glad this is my last season.”

UNDER REVIEW - espn2Bob Tasca III’s Funny Car exploded and was on fire as it came to a stop during the final qualifying session at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

However, the most explosive part of the run came when the driver exited the car and NHRA Safety Safari converged on the smoldering Motorcraft Quick Lane Cobra Mustang Funny Car.

Tasca said he, while still in full firesuit and helmet, was desperately trying to get the attention of a Safety Safari member. In the confusion of the situation, Tasca alleges a member of the safety team reacted inappropriately, and at one point physically accosted him.

“They were standing in front of me, and no one had a fire extinguisher. I jumped out of the car and began grabbing people to grab a fire extinguisher and get the body open.”

During the course of the explosion, an injector became lodged atop the body preventing a quick opening. ESPN2 video shows Tasca aggressively seeking the attention of a Safety Safari member.

“One of the Safety Safari people grabbed me double fisted,” Tasca explained. “Threw me back, telling me to keep my hands off of him. I have nothing but respect for the Safety Safari. Trust me, many times I have sat in that car, knowing that they are there. But, at the end of the day, you have to pay attention. When a driver gets the car stopped, the first thing you have to look for is fire. Make sure the driver is out of the car and there is no fire. Personally, it was just unacceptable that no one had a fire extinguisher until I got out of the car.”

Tasca believes this incident shouldn’t reflect poorly on the entire Safety Safari, but in this one instance something went awry.

“Fortunately, I didn’t get hurt … nobody got hurt,” Tasca said. “Obviously emotions were running high. I don’t paint everyone with the same brush. There are many Safety Safari teams who get the job done. Unfortunately, there are a couple of guys on that shift, who weren’t paying attention. That’s the bottom line. For a Safety Safari guy to come up and put his hands on a driver, who is simply trying to get their attention to put a fire out … unacceptable. I know Graham Light and the Safety Safari folks will address it.”

NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light said his team is reviewing footage of the incident.

“Bob made a complaint, which we will review,” said Light. “I have all of the ESPN video footage coming. I would also say the Safety Safari is well trained, are experienced and have demonstrated that many times over the years. I believe they are the best motorsports emergency response team in the business. Their focus is the safety of the driver. That being said, we will review every complaint that we get from our drivers.”

Tasca said he is over this incident and prepared to move on.

“Clearly it was an emotional situation and you don’t want to see these cars burn with all we have invested in them,” Tasca explained. “That’s what it is. It’s out of my mind and I concern myself with racing on Sunday.”

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK

TOP FUEL

GRUBNIC KEEPS SONOMA TOP FUEL POLE - The 2013 season has been a struggle for Top Fuel driver David Grubnic.

The Kalitta Motorsports pilot came to the Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals 13th in the point standings and he has only three round wins.

Grubnic is hoping to improve those numbers Sunday when he starts from the pole position. Grubnic kept the No. 1 qualifying spot, thanks to clocking a track-record elapsed time of 3.765 seconds at 324.28 mph Friday night.

“Being the No. 1 qualifier is great,” Grubnic said. “This sport, we go through our ups and downs. You have to take the good with the bad like I have always said. You have good weekends and bad weekends. It is hard when you run these cars so close to the edge like we do. Sometimes you don’t get it and we were very fortunate this weekend. We got it. The car went down the race track. We used the entire lane. It was fishtailing and carrying on, but it got down there and we got the No. 1 spot.”

This was Grubnic’s 10th career pole position and first since Reading, Pa., last season. Grubnic also was thrilled with his 3.80-elapsed time in Saturday’s first qualifying session.

“That 80 flat came on a 120-degree race track,” Grubnic said. “That makes us feel good about race day. We smoked the tires in the last session (Saturday) there, so we found the edge and fell off it. So, it gives us a good indication of where we need to be with the car (Sunday). Hopefully we will carry this momentum into (Sunday) and get a win.”

 Grubnic also wasn’t shocked his track record ET held Saturday.

“Those opportunities only come around on Friday night when the track temperatures are below 90-degrees,” Grubnic said. “Unless we had an overcast day and we didn’t have any sunlight and that track temperature stayed down, there was a hard probability that would run would stick. At 10:30 a.m., 11 o’clock or 11:15, we saw the sun break through and for us that was a clear sign we would probably have track temperatures up above 110 degrees. So, the likelihood of that run being surpassed (Saturday) was very slim.”

Grubnic faces Terry McMillen in round one. Like Grubnic, McMillen is scrambling to try and get in the top 10 to qualify for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs which begin Sept. 13-15 at Charlotte, N.C.

“We never underestimate anybody,” Grubnic said. “There are no easy rounds. We are in a must-win situation regardless. We have to take every point we can.”

OSWALD TALKS ABOUT PAUL CANDIES INFLUENCE - On July 21, drag racing legend Paul Candies passed away at the age of 72.

Less than a week removed from Candies’ passing, Mark Oswald took time to talk with Competition Plus.com about was it was like driving for Candies and his partner Leonard Hughes and the legendary Candies & Hughes team. The highlight of Oswald’s time with the team was winning the 1984 NHRA nitro Funny Car world championship.

“It was very unexpected, and very sad,” Oswald said about Candies’ passing. “What a guy. It made me really think that I wouldn’t even be where I am at if it wasn’t for him. It really hits your hard when you think about it that way. I couldn’t even believe it when I heard it (the news of Candies’ death). It was tough to swallow. He was such a good guy and helped me up to this day.”

Oswald, who is the co-crew chief with Brian Corradi, on reigning Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown’s Don Schumacher Racing dragster, couldn’t pinpoint one profound lesson he learned from Candies.

“There are so many that is hard to say,” Oswald said. “I do not think the average person knows how much he changed drag racing. By the way he ran his car and the things he did and the influence he had behind the scenes with the sanctioning bodies and major sponsors like Winston and things like that.”

Oswald admitted walking around in a Candies & Hughes firesuit made him feel like he was part of something very special.

“You have to remember I came from being a guy with a couple of friends having his own race car struggling to get it together,” said Oswald, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. “We did well, but we were just floundering along and I could have continued to do that, but instead I went from that tier all the way to the top tier in one snap of the fingers. We went from a low-budget, no budget team to the best in drag racing.”

Oswald acknowledged he has finished building a Candies & Hughes tribute car.

“We were in the process of building that car before any of this (Candies’ death) happened,” Oswald said. “It is completed now and we will run it in a couple of weeks. We will probably do some extra special stuff on there for Paul. I am going to drive it, I think at two or three events. It belongs to Wayne Mellinger, a guy from Ohio. He is going through some back surgery now and he will be better after that, but I’m going to drive it for a few races.”
 

ALBALOOSHI LEADS TOYOTA TOP FUEL CONTINGENT - For the second straight week, Khalid alBalooshi was the top Toyota in NHRA Top Fuel qualifying Saturday with a fourth-place showing in his Al-Anabi Racing Toyota dragster in preparation for Sunday’s Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

AlBalooshi registered a 3.789-second pass in Friday night’s qualifying to secure the number four seed where he will match up with fellow Toyota driver Brandon Bernstein in the first round on Sunday. The second-year Top Fuel driver won earlier this month in Norwalk.

Four more Toyota-sponsored dragsters will join alBalooshi in the field on Sunday, led by his Al-Anabi teammate and current point leader Shawn Langdon, who qualified sixth.

Langdon earned three bonus points in qualifying to extend his point lead to 24 heading into eliminations.

Reigning world champion Antron Brown is right behind Langdon in seventh.   Morgan Lucas topped the final qualifying session and was second in Friday’s opening session to earn five bonus points while placing eighth overall, while his Morgan Lucas Racing teammate Bernstein qualified 13th.

BERNSTEIN HOPES FOR GOOD LUCK AT 13 - Brandon Bernstein and the ProtectTheHarvest.com/MAVTV Top Fuel dragster team know the task in front of them during Sunday's eliminations at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals from Sonoma Raceway.

Bernstein and his crew are still fighting to earn a spot in the Countdown to the Championship despite Bernstein missing three of the last five races while recovering from back surgery, and winning rounds in bunches is going to be important.

"At this point it doesn't matter what we've done in qualifying this weekend," Bernstein said. "We've got to beat whoever is in the lane next to us and do that quite a few times during the next four races.

"We've got a good team and we've been known to catch fire at the right time. All we need right now is to find that spark.

Bernstein currently sits 11th in the Top Fuel standings, 118 points (a little less than six rounds) behind 10th-place Steve Torrence, who qualified No. 2 for Sunday's race.

 
SCHUMACHER STARTS AT NO. 12 - Tony Schumacher will start from the No. 12 position Sunday at the Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals. Schumacher's best qualifying run came Saturday when he clocked a 3.838-second elapsed time.

“We had to get down the track in the first run today,” said Schumacher, who jumped from 14th to 11th following his first pass Saturday. “I wish we would have gone a little quicker, but who doesn’t. In the second session, we wanted to go out and go fast. If you look at the situation though, everyone was smoking the tires. Nobody wanted to go out and run another 3.83. We were trying to a run a 3.79 and move up a little bit. The biggest thing I’m disappointed in is that the changes we made didn’t work.”

Schumacher will face his DSR teammate Spencer Massey in the opening round of eliminations. The two have raced twice in 2013 with Schumacher winning once (Las Vegas semifinal) and Massey winning the other (Epping second round).

BROWN HOPES FOR LUCK AT NO. 7 - Antron Brown’s Friday night pass of 3.803 seconds at 320.66 mph in the Matco Tools/U.S. Army Dragster for DSR held up through Saturday’s sessions and left him at No. 7 on the qualifying ladder. 

The 2012 Top Fuel champion was one of only a handful of drivers to make a clean pass in the final session.

“The car made a good run today, but didn’t make a great run,” said Brown, who has won the last two NHRA Sonoma Nationals. “The car had a great motor, but it just went through the clutch. I know we can just tune that up a little bit and be fine. We’re just taking it one step at a time and getting ready for race day. We’re right in the realm where we want to be."

Brown will face Clay Millican in the first round. The two have met once this season and that came in the Atlanta final, where Brown was the winner.

BRITTANY HOPES TO SHOW FORCE – Brittany Force, 26, qualified No. 14 at 3.863 seconds at 316.67 mph and will face Doug Kalitta in first round.

Force is 2-0 versus Kalitta this season. She beat him in Las Vegas and Englishtown in the first rounds. In both races she won from the bottom half of the field getting the victory in Las Vegas from the No. 11 spot and in Englishtown from the No. 13 qualifying position


FUNNY CAR

AWESOME! - Matt Hagan described Friday's qualifying run at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals as incredible. Saturday's qualifying backed up his statement as his 3.986-second pass at 320.51 mph, a career best for Hagan, withstood two sessions.

"I looked at what the cars ran here last year and thought we have to swing for the fence and see if it sticks. That's basically what we did, we threw everything at it and it just happened to stick. It certainly felt good to run a 3. To me, that's a milestone. It was good track conditions, good weather, it cools off really fast here and it was exciting, for sure."

As incredible as the run was for Hagan, the run was just as enjoyable for his tuner Dickie Venables.

Venables, who has experienced a rough patch of luck since departing Tony Pedregon's Funny Car team, is showing the same form which he used to win two Funny Car series championships. In the most unlikely scenario to succeed, Venables joined Hagan just before the season opener in Pomona with an untested crew.

"In Pomona, we were just happy to get the thing to the starting line and have it start, honestly," Venables said. "We were all new as a team together. We really felt out of place. It took three or four races to get into a rhythm and it's just gotten better.

"I'm very fortunate to have five of the guys from last year's team. They had a bummer year last year. I wasn't here last year but from what everyone says the whole team is upbeat and that makes me feel good. I'm real fortunate to have a group of guys that get along and mesh. That's what it's all about, the team and the people."

Hagan cannot say enough about his team and their performances this season.

"One word to describe it is awesome," he said. "We have such a great crew, such a great group of guys working on this car.

“Friday night Dickie said 'hey kid, hold on.' He was swinging for the fence and it stuck. It was just a phenomenal run. I wish everyone could feel how it feels to go that fast. It's one of the coolest things on Earth.

NEFF’S MILESTONE - Mike Neff is not a man who gets motivated by statistics. In fact, he wasn't aware Friday that he stands on the cusp of a significant one if his driver Robert Hight can win Sunday's first round.

With a Hight round win, Neff will reach 300 round wins, thanks to his success with drivers Scotty Cannon, Gary Scelzi, John Force, Hight and even himself.

When asked where his first round win was, Neff was stumped.

"I have no idea," Neff admitted.

Neff's first round win came at the 2002 NHRA Winterrnationals in Pomona, Ca., when he tuned Cannon to a first-round victory over Dean Skuza. One round later, in a bit of irony, he lost to John Force, his current employer.

"I really had no idea how many wins I had over the years," said Neff. "It's exciting for me and it certainly sounds like a lot of round wins. I guess the time really flies when you look back on how many years it took to reach this point."

Neff came up through the Bernie Fedderly line of tuners, starting in the 1980s with Larry Minor Racing.

"I grew up in Hemet and went to school with Bernie's kids," Neff recalled. "We raced off-road trucks and Bernie offered me the opportunity to work on one of these things. He invited me to go on the road one summer and since I didn't have anything else going on, I took him up on it. I didn't know anything about racing to be honest."

Neff paid his dues by doing bottom-end engine maintenance and cleaning oil pans before graduating to cylinder heads. He even worked on superchargers and drove the transporter every once in a while.

"It's been quite a journey," Neff said.

Neff, whose persona resembles a California surfer more than an intense nitro tuner, had no inkling his inclusion into the drag racing world would yield what it has.

"I've always been a one day at a time kind of guy," revealed Neff. "John Force is a dreamer and he's looking at ten years down the road. I've never been that way. I'm one step at a time. I look back and it's hard to believe I'm knocking on the door of 300."

IT'S BEEN A CRASH AND BURN KIND OF WEEK - A simple ride to the starting line at Sonoma Raceway on his scooter was indicative how the week has gone for 15-time NHRA champion John Force.

Force reacted to an NHRA Safety Safari tractor and locked down the brakes on his scooter. His reaction ended up sending one Funny Car's more seasoned drivers into an end over end flip. The only thing injured was Force’s pride as his past scooter riding track record couldn't have suffered any more than it already is.

“I’m really good on a motorcycle, especially on my Kymco scooter,” Force contended. "I was just going up to the starting line. When you're working your way around the pits you have to have focus, and I was focused on the starting line. The NHRA's Safety Safari tractor came out of nowhere and I just locked it down."

In a matter of days, Force has learned that longtime sponsor Ford was pulling out of NHRA professional racing and now the crash.

"Landed on my head," Force added. "And it was my fault."

The loss of Ford has the champion planning to land on his feet. Unlike the scooter crash, this one wasn't his fault.

"It's all part of life," Force said, of his relationship with Ford, which is scheduled to end after 18 seasons at the end of 2014. "It's the bumps in the road; you just take them one day at a time. Ford has been nothing but good to us. They are doing what they feel is right for their business. I still have a year-and-a-half left. That's a lot longer than back in the day when I originally signed deals with Wendy's and Jolly Rancher for a year at a time. What we have left is a lifetime when compared to those days.

"When you look at life and this world, sometimes it can be a big roller coaster. I'm not trying to become a philosopher, I just try to wake up every morning and thank the God Lord above that I am alive and healthy and my family is too."

Force wants his fans, and the drag racing community, to understand the manufacturer has been good to not only his team but the overall safety of Funny Car racing.

"When Eric Medlen had his accident and passed, my career was over," Force confided. "The Ford engineers came in and people always want to help when you have catastrophic accidents. Ford was there and kept me in business. They made it where it wasn't a dream to build a safer Funny Car chassis through their engineers. When you have that, it allows you mentally to be able to move forward and race. I had the fear that others didn't have.

"I can't complain. I don't know their business and what they do because they are all smarter than me. I'm just a drag racer. I thank them for those years. I know it's going to be hard and I will have to reevaluate my whole program."

Force is weighing his options for the future.

"I'll probably have to go into business selling parts, something I didn't have to do in the past because of the Ford program. Or, I am going to have to find a new manufacturer. That's exciting and sometimes change is good. But, it ain't like I lost my wife. That would be a real problem. When those wives go, they take all of the money not just some of it.

"But, this deal has a year and a half left, and that's a lifetime when you are my age."




BEST FOR LAST - Alexis DeJoria's best run came during the final session. The Patron-sponsored driver landed on the bubble with a 4.188.

“This has been a so-so weekend for Team Patrón thus far," said DeJoria. "We didn’t run the numbers we were hoping to, but we qualified for the show tomorrow, which is the most important thing. We may not be in the upper half of the field, but we’re in and that’s what matters- as long as you’re qualified, you have a shot. Our team has Matt Hagan first round and that should be a good match-up. 

"We have this new chassis set-up and it seems as if we’re on the right path. We just need to keep moving forward and making progress, and that’s what we’re doing. I’m excited about first round and looking forward to racing tomorrow.” 

DeJoria meets point leader Matt Hagan in the first round. Her crew chief Tommy DeLago was Hagan's tuner last season.

HOPING FOR THE TRAXXAS BERTH - Jack Beckman's Funny Car struck the tires in both of Saturday's qualifying sessions but the team found the fine line between getting the car down the track and hazing the tires.

"We want a trophy so bad and if we get the trophy this Sunday we get that last Traxxas Shootout spot. It's not like we need extra incentive to win, but it's a double incentive to win."

Two spots remain with two races left to qualify for the eight-car Traxxas Nitro Shootout, and the last spot will determined by a fan vote. The Shootout winner gets an extra $100,000 during the all-star race held within the U.S. Nationals over Labor Day Weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis.


PRO STOCK

EDWARDS NAILS NO. 11 - When Mike Edwards became convinced the conditions wouldn't be conducive for improvement Saturday, he began experimenting. The end result didn't win the race for him but put the two-time NHRA champion in a position to do so for the fifth time Sunday.

"We tried some new things today and tried moving stuff around," said Edwards. "We tried some new parts and pieces, especially on that last run. For the kind of run it was, I was surprised."

Edwards ran a 6.545, 211.89 in the final session. His Friday run was a 6.526, 212.23.

"I think we can build on [the moves] and maybe it won't help tomorrow, but down the road it will," said Edwards. "The first session I thought it was possible Friday's run could be beat but when it didn't we tried stuff."

Edwards has finished runner-up three times at Sonoma during his career.

"I've been bridesmaid a few times here," Edwards regretfully admitted. "It's about time I did something. You never know, tomorrow is a new day."

FREQUENT FLIER - Let the record reflect that Pro Stock champion Allen Johnson's love of flying isn't limited to the cockpit of his Dodge Avenger.

Fresh off his victory at the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co., the Greeneville, Tenn.-based Johnson was invited into the cockpit to sit in the pilot’s seat of a Delta Airlines 757 jet.

"I fly in the right seat of my airplane and I love flying," said Johnson, a licensed pilot of smaller planes. "The pilot came out and asked if there was anyone who would like to learn more about the plane."

Johnson, who was seated in first class, didn't hesitate to jump up.

"He put me in the pilot's seat," said Johnson. "I recognized most of the instruments from being a pilot myself. I always wondered about all the switches and he took the time to explain the layout. He explained to me about the Boeing Aircraft. It was a real learning experience."

Johnson admits he was surprised by the gesture.

"You can see how these airlines are working to improve their experience," said Johnson. "The pilot was very outgoing and to me that was pretty cool."

Which is more intimidating, the cockpit of the 757 or his Pro Stocker?

"A lot more decisions have to be made in the cockpit of that airplane," said Johnson. "Once you get used to it, I'm sure their decisions are just like mine. Every movement has to come natural. If the plane starts to go down, you have to know what to do to make it come up. You don't have time to think about it. I'd say there are a lot of similarities."


PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

MATT SMITH GRABS PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE POLE - It appeared the Aranas – Hector Sr., Hector Jr. and Adam were going to steal the Pro Stock Motorcycle spotlight Friday and Saturday.

Veteran Matt Smith had other ideas, however.

Smith sped to the top of the qualifying ladder Saturday with a 6.838-second elapsed time at 195.73 mph.

“Our Viper Motorsports team has really jelled together,” Smith said. “The last four races we have had three final rounds, two wins and a couple of No. 1 qualifiers. We are running good. That was some new pieces on the bike. I didn’t want to throw it on but I did because we had a headwind when we had Q3 and I was sitting No. 2, so I threw our new stuff on and that’s what our new stuff is going to look like for the Countdown. We are going to be really fast. I have to get some laps on it and get it all tuned up, but we should be really fast come Countdown time.”

Smith, the 2007 Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion, now has won 21 career pole positions. This was his first at Sonoma. Smith came to Sonoma third in the points and his teammates John Hall and his wife Angie Smith were fourth and 15th.The six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs begin Sept. 13-15 at Charlotte, N.C.

“The tailwind came in (for the fourth qualifying session),” Smith said. “Anytime motorcycles get a tailwind rather than just a calm wind or head wind, we run better. The air was definitely a little worse, but the wind overcame that. (The) New pieces are pretty good. I didn’t expect to move to No. 1 (in the final session). I was kind of doubting myself. When they had that oildown, I almost went back to the pits and put the old stuff back on when I saw the tailwind come in. I said to heck with it, we have to try and we have to learn and get ready for Indy (U.S. Nationals Aug. 28-Sept. 2). That’s the big race. We are going to try and win this thing and see what happens.”

Smith wasn’t ready to reveal what his new pieces were.

“The performance change definitely made more power,” Smith said. “We went 195.73 to our previous 193. It definitely makes more power. It is something we have been needing for awhile and I know the Arana camp has had these pieces and I know the Star (Racing) guys have had these pieces. That’s why we have kind of fell behind a little bit, but if we get all this stuff we should be back toward the front real quick.”

Matt said his motorcycle is the only one on his team running new pieces.

“I have one set of all this stuff made up right now,” Matt said. “Everybody (on his team) will have this stuff at Indy. As an owner, tuner and rider and all that stuff you can only make one thing at a time and be sure that it is cost effective. You do not want to make three and four sets of something and it doesn’t work. Then you just throw that money out. Everything looked liked it worked on the dyno. We ran it one pass at Denver and ran big speed there and took it off and ran it here. So, it is going to be pretty good.”

Smith admitted his former teammate Michael Ray wasn’t happy with him when they raced against each other in Saturday’s qualifying.

“My old teammate was kind of ticked off at me down there,” Smith said. “We had a little dollar bet on the tree and he told me that he beat me on the tree. I said ‘well a 22 to 25 I do not call that beating. If you want to say that it’s all right, but I will take that win light any day Michael.”

CROSSING PATHS WITH COLBERT SEAGRAVES - Walking around the pits at an NHRA event you never know who you might cross paths with.

Saturday at the Sonoma Nationals Colbert Seagraves was in the pits. Colbert is the son of the late Ralph Seagraves, the driving force behind Winston cigarettes and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s introduction to motorsports. Colbert was the key figure in Matt Smith's 2013 Viper Pro Stock Motorcycle deal.

“I have been around since Moby Dick was a minnow,” said Colbert when questioned about his background in motorsports.

Colbert then took time to explain how his father Ralph got Winston involved with NASCAR.

“Junior Johnson came to him in the early 1970s looking for sponsorship. They started talking money and Junior said ‘you need to talk to the France family because you have way more money to spend than I need,’ and that’s how the Winston Cup came about,” Colbert said. “After Winston Cup, dad worked a deal with Larry Carrier and IHRA and Wally Parks and NHRA and Winston Drag Racing was formed. Throughout the years they (Winston) sponsored about anything you could imagine, from fashion fairs to the air races in Reno, professional bowling, PRCA rodeos, and much more, so it was a great thing for sports. Winston came along when NASCAR and NHRA and IHRA really needed them.”

While his father was brokering major motorsports deals, Colbert was working in the sport hands on.

“I started out as a 15-year-old working in Bobby Allison’s pits with Junior Johnson,” Colbert said. “I spent my summers at Junior and Flossie Johnson’s working for the likes of Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. I went to my first drag race in 1974 and started helping Richard Tharp and then I moved over and started helping Raymond Beadle. I worked with Raymond for many years and I then I worked with Kenny Bernstein on the Budweiser King Funny Car. Then in 1987, I went to work for R.J. Reynolds in sports marketing and worked on the Winston Racing Series program, and the air racing program in Reno. The Winston Racing Series was a short-track program of 100 tracks around the country. My all-time favorite love for drag racing was when I worked on the Winston Drag Racing program in 1992 and ’93. That was a lot of fun.”

While being in the drag racing scene, Colbert admitted he used to hang out with Whit Bazemore and they caused their share of trouble.

“We had borrowed Jay Byrd’s van (Jeff Byrd, who was running the drag racing program for R.J. Reynolds at the time) in Rockingham and we were just out cruising and we had the door open and the next thing you know there was a gooseneck chaparral trailer and I took the door off and it was laying on the ground,” Colbert said. “They had the president of the company (Winston) there that weekend and that was his ride back and forth to the hotel. We were panicking trying to figure what we are going to do because I know we are going to get killed. So, we loaded the door back in the van and parked it behind the tower. I took the keys and gave them to Jeff and we kind of disappeared. The next thing I heard over the loudspeaker was ‘Colbert Seagraves see Jeff Byrd at the base of the tower,’ so I knew I was dead. Luckily, good ol’ Roy Hill, Uncle Roy, he took pity on me and they pop riveted the door and 200 mph taped it. The president of the company had to crawl across the front seat into the back seat with his family to get back and forth to the hotel. They all took it pretty good. My dad was in California at the time and when he found out, he didn’t take it quite as good as everybody else did.”   
 

TONGLET MAKES PROGRESS - LE Tonglet improved on his best elapsed time and remained No. 5 in the starting lineup for Sunday’s Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals. Tonglet opened qualifying with a 6.879-second elapsed time and came back with another strong lap of 6.892 seconds Saturday afternoon that brought smiles from the Nitro Fish/Tonglet Racing Pro Stock Suzuki GSXR Motorcycle team.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -

TOP FUEL

Watch David Grubnic's press conference
GRUBNIC GRABS SONOMA TF PROVISIONAL POLE - This season, veteran NHRA Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta has been masterful in qualifying, capturing five pole positions.

On Friday night, his teammate David Grubnic took center stage.
Grubnic clocked a track-record elapsed time of 3.765 seconds at 324.28 mph to capture the provisional pole.

“We have been No. 1 in the past and it is great to be No. 1 again,” Grubnic said. “I have watched our teammate Doug Kalitta, he has been No. 1 a few times there. That is our sister car. We share information and we know what goes on and a great job by Connie (Kalitta). It is easy for us drivers, we come up here and accept all these accolades, but running these cars are all about the crew chiefs and the crews. I can’t thank them enough. That’s what made that car run that 76 (Friday night).”

Grubnic also was quick to thank some of the primary sponsors on his car.

“With Optima Batteries here, and we have had a long time sponsor with Red Line Oil, and this is their hometown race,” Grubnic said. “We really want to do well for them as a company. They have a lot of people out here. Along with Optima Batteries, we also have supporters like Candlewood Suites. All these people make this happen. Hopefully this No. 1 will stick. It is a great privilege and it is fantastic to be up here.”

Steve Torrence actually broke the Sonoma Raceway record at 3.766 seconds early in the second qualifying session, but he was bumped down by Grubnic. Doug Kalitta qualified third at 3.780 seconds.

Spencer Massey set the previous track record at 3.777- seconds last year.

Grubnic wasn’t sure if his blistering time will hold up in Saturday’s two qualifying sessions.

“What dictates things is track temperature,” Grubnic said. “If we have a clear sunny day (Saturday), and the track temperature gets up around the 90-degree mark or hotter, yes I believe that time (3.765) will hold up. As it was my car was using the whole lane. It was wanting to move around, you could feel the back of it and we were getting every little bit we could out of it. The chances of that holding up with a clear, sunny day (Saturday) are good. But, in this business anything can happen. So we will not count our chickens until they are hatched.”

JOHNSON GLAD TO BE DRIVING FOR RAPISARDA - On July 15, Tommy Johnson Jr. was signed by Rapisarda Autosport International to drive the team’s Top Fuel dragster for the remainder of the 2013 NHRA season.

Johnson is in action with the Rapisarda team this weekend at NHRA’s Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals and is thrilled to be back in the driver’s seat.

On his first lap Friday, Johnson clocked a 3.875-second elapsed time at 303.71 mph. On his second run, Johnson came in at 9.535 seconds after he smoked the tires right off the starting line. Johnson’s first ET left him qualified No. 12.

“The biggest thing after agreeing to drive for Rapisarda, I was excited but I wasn’t over the moon,” Johnson said. “I was confident. It felt like let’s do this. It was a great feeling. I kept trying to figure out why I wasn’t over the moon and I think it is from all the letdowns along the way and all close to this deal and close to that deal.”

After his first qualifying, Johnson admitted to getting pretty emotional.

“I got super excited after the run,” Johnson said. “I knew it was for real. We are going to go do this and it is not going to be something that happened right at the last minute. It was a huge lift off your shoulders, especially when you threw the chutes out and you are coasting up that hill. You can’t describe that feeling, going up that hill after making a decent run and the chutes are out and going now it is for real.”

There wasn’t anything flashy about Johnson’s run, which was fine by him.

“It was a nice conservative pass,” Johnson said. “The first pair out you can’t get up there and get crazy and get stupid. The boys (Santo Jr. and Santino) are really good about controlling themselves and not wanting to go out and set low ET every run. Be smart. Race smart. Go out and make a nice run and get some data and you can tune for the night session. We were shooting for an 85 and it went 87. There was no damage whatsoever. It was nice and clean and now we have something to work with. If you don’t go well on the first run, it gets you behind for the weekend and that was a really good move on their part.”

The Rapisarda team is led by Australian crane mogul Santo Rapisarda and his sons, Santo Jr. and Santino.

“One of the key things I thought I could bring to the table with this team was chemistry,” Johnson said. “I think it is happening already. Everything has been smooth in the pits. There have been no issues and everything has gone really nice. I think it is the calmness and the good chemistry and understating of each other that will pay dividends and make the team more successful.”

Johnson, who replaced Larry Dixon, is happy to be blending in with the Rapisarda bunch.

“They treat me like one of their brothers,” Johnson said. “You would think we are brothers, the way we badger each other and give each other a hard time. They are pretty good at putting me in my place. There’s no way I will ever feel that I’m a legend around here. They beat on me pretty good and I give it right back to them. I think that’s what they like.” 

MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH -  Startled by a mechanical problem Friday that prevented the Torrence Racing/Capco Contractors Inc. Top Fuel dragster from making its first qualifying run for Sunday’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Steve Torrence and crew chief Lee Beard shook it off.
They responded with a then-track record of 3.766-second blast at 323.27 mph down the 1,000-foot Sonoma Raceway that lifted him into the provision lead.

“We regrouped and came back after not getting that first run, and I am proud of our team,” Torrence said.  “We knew we needed to put up good numbers and we were trying to go a 3.76 or 77.  The car ran really well.  We needed to be in that 3.7-second range.”

Beard said he shut off the motor when he discovered a supercharger idler pully had seized and he had no other alternative. 

“It would have caused a lot of damage to the motor if we’d gone down the track,” Beard said.

Torrence won the pole at the Mile-High Nationals in Denver last weekend, but was upset in the first round by Mike Strasburg.

MASSEY LEADS DSR TOP FUEL TEAMS - Spencer Massey led DSR with a time of 3.793 (314.17) that ranks fifth. Reigning world champion Antron Brown finished the night with a time of 3.803 for the No. 7 spot and with his first run at 3.873 produced two of the day's most consistent runs. Tony Schumacher had to pedal his U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster before clicking it off. Schumacher is outside the top 12 after two sessions of qualifying.

ZIZZO HAS STRONG PERFORMANCE: TJ Zizzo and the PEAK Motor Oil NHRA Mello Yello Series Top Fuel team were looking forward to competing at Sonoma Raceway for many reasons. The team had never raced here, the Bruton Smith-owned facility is among the most beautiful in the sport, the surrounding area is postcard perfect, and, oh yeah, cars are fast here.
 
After running a 3.903-second ET in the first round of qualifying for this weekend’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Zizzo took advantage of near-flawless weather and track conditions, along with some tweaks in the clutch setup, to run career bests in both ET (3.821 seconds) and mph (319.37 mph). The team is eighth on the ladder going into Day 2 of qualifying Saturday.
 
After missing the show in Chicago, the team went to work on the engine and the results were evident Friday.
 
“That was pretty impressive, I’ve got to tell you,” Zizzo said after qualifying. “We’ve been working on this engine for a long, long time, about a year now. It was coming around in Chicago and we knew on our last run there it needed some more clutch.
 
“We proceeded to work really hard on our clutch setup and our clutch specialist (Tony) “TS” (Smith) made sure we were going to come here with a game plan that we were going to get more clutch earlier in the run.”
 
PEAK Motor Oil team crew chief Mike Kern said while the team approached the unknown track the same as they do any facility, he knew night runs at Sonoma make for very quick and fast times.
“We’ve been trying to make this (car) fast for awhile and we learned some things in Chicago. Even though we didn’t qualify, we learned a lot. We used those things in the first run today and they worked, which gave us some wiggle room to be more aggressive in the second round and that worked, too.”
 
With the personal record, Zizzo welcomed the return of the elephant in the cockpit of his rail.
“It’s the elephant that stands on your chest when those Gs hit you and I haven’t felt him on me in more than a year,” he said. “I guaranteed this year we were going to top our career bests and we did. I’m not ready to make a new guarantee just yet, but we’re close.”
 
Thanks to qualifying in the top 12 of the field, Zizzo’s ET will stand Saturday.
 

FUNNY CAR

HANG ON MATT, HANG ON - When Dickie speaks, Matt Hagan listens.

Just before the Friday evening qualifying session at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Hagan’s championship-winning crew chief Dickie Venables instructed his driver to “hold on.”

The exact words, Hagan explained, were, “Hey kid, hold on, if this thing goes anywhere, it’s going to go fast.”

Venables’ words proved prophetic as Hagan drove his way to both Sonoma Raceway track records with a 3.986-second elapsed time at 320.51 miles per hour. The run ties Jack Beckman’s current elapsed time world record.

“The one word to describe the run was awesome,” said Hagan.

Hagan was making up on missing out on another la-la land opportunity back in June during the NHRA Route 66 Nationals outside of Chicago when a timing system malfunction cost him a potential record-setting run.

“We had been saying, if only we get another shot at this,” Hagan said.

The ambient air temperature had dropped at the beginning of the season to 78 degrees with an adjusted altitude of 1800 feet above sea level.

“Dickie swung for the fence and it stuck,” Hagan said. “It was a phenomenal run. I wish everyone could feel how it feels to go that fast. It’s one of the coolest things to experience on this earth.

“The car left well and made a move early. The clutch came in and it was digging all of the way. When the clutch went one-to-one, it started walking away. It really threw me back in the seat and I could see the finish line coming up in a hurry. I think it should hold unless we get some crazy conditions tomorrow.

“Sometimes these runs have soft spots and you can come back and say, this was soft here and soft there. Not this time. It left aggressive early and got on the tire quick. It made a move out there and I was trying to not steer it back too far. I brought it back gradually and it settled right down. As soon as it got settled down, it started digging. You can tell the difference between a 4.10 and a 4.00 flat. You can definitely tell when it’s running a three.”

FORD WALKING AWAY - With rumors running rampant of their withdrawal from the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, the Ford Motor Company released a statement regarding their future in drag racing.

“Ford is not getting out of drag racing,” the statement read. “We are fully committed to continue our support of grassroots sportsman drag racing with our Mustang Cobra Jet, parts support and contingency programs. Enthusiasts and production-based racing is at the heart of what we do.

"We have, however, made a business decision to conclude our team sponsorships and support in the NHRA Mello Yello Series at the end of the 2014 season. This decision was based on an ongoing assessment of our motorsport programs’ effectiveness and the strategic alignment with our company objectives globally.”

The teams affected most by this decision are John Force Racing, Tasca Racing and Tim Wilkerson Racing. Both are locked into deals which expire at the end of 2014.

“For Ford to make a decision to pull out of professional drag racing, I truly believe they have underestimated the passion and loyalty of the NHRA fans,” said Bob Tasca III. “It is a sad day for all Ford drag racing fans. Tasca Racing has no plans to leave the sport. I have already begun working on sponsorships for the 2015 season and beyond. Expect a big announcement from Tasca Racing sometime next season. Until that time, I look forward to a successful 2013 and 2014 season with Ford, Motorcraft and Quick Lane.”

Larry Morgan, one of the front-running Ford drivers in the Pro Stock division, buys his engine parts through Ford. He is uncertain how today’s announcement will affect his program.

“We don’t get money from Ford, so I cannot say that it will affect me,” said Morgan. “If they stop making the parts it would affect me. But, for now, I have plenty of parts.”

HAGAN AND BECKMAN BREAK FOUR-SECOND BARRIER - Sonoma Raceway became the fifth NHRA track to produce a sub-four-second run by a Funny Car, and it happened twice Friday night in the Sonoma Nationals.

And both times it was by Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars.

Points leader Matt Hagan, the first Funny Car to crack into three-second territory, had a 3.986-second run at 320.51 mph in his Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge, tying for the second best run ever to earn the provisional No. 1 qualifying position heading to Friday's final two qualifying sessions at the track about 60 miles from San Francisco.

The night-time session was run under ideal racing conditions on the superb Sonoma Raceway track. Air temperatures were in the high 60s and track surface temperatures in the mid-80s for the second qualifying session.

Right behind Hagan are DSR teammates Jack Beckman (3.994) and Ron Capps (4.012). Johnny Gray was unable to make a full pull under the lights at Sonoma and sits outside the top 12 overnight.

"The only word to describe it is awesome," said Hagan, whose milestone 3.995-sec. run was in 2011 near Charlotte.

He credited his crew chief with a last-minute decision between sessions to change fuel pumps.

"Dickie put a new pump on it and said, 'Hang on kid.' Dickie was swinging for the fence. It's big to go out there and knock it out of the park with a grand slam home run.

"I'm so proud of all the Magneti Marelli/Rocky guys on our team."

- JUST THE FACTS, MAN - Jack Beckman is certainly qualified to talk about driving a nitro-burning Funny Car. He can describe the nuances of driving and maintaining the mindset of a champion.

Another topic Beckman is qualified to talk about is chemotherapy.

Beckman is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with cancer shortly after claiming the 2004 NHRA Super Comp championship.

Ten years after his last chemotherapy treatment, Beckman still tells his story and lends support to those diagnosed with cancer every year. "Fast Jack" often discusses his experience with cancer and encourages others to get the facts about chemotherapy and speak openly with their doctors.

Beckman will travel the country this summer as an ambassador for the Chemotherapy: Myths or Facts campaign. His first campaign stop is this weekend at the NHRA Nationals in Sonoma.

In this video from CompetitionPlus.tv, Beckman talks chemo in a sit-down session from the media center.


THREE-FEAT – Since Matt Hagan made the first three-second run during the 1,000-foot era in September 2011, there have been 11 three-second passes. Eight of those runs have come from Don Schumacher Racing Funny Cars with Jack Beckman with the most at three. Ron Capps remains the quickest Funny Car driver with his 3.964 during last season’s NHRA Super Nationals in Englishtown, NJ.

JOHN KNOWS SONOMA - John Force holds the record for most NHRA career victories in Sonoma, with seven in the Funny Car class (1990-92, 1994, 2000, 2002 and 2007). He heads into Saturday as fourth quickest with a 4.025.

WHAT A SESSION – Gary Densham had to show the whippersnappers how to do it. The cagey veteran from Bellflower, Ca, ushered in what could be one of the best Funny Car sessions the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series has presented this season.

Densham, racing with only a fraction of the budget his well-funded counterparts have, stopped the clocks at 4.055 seconds.

SHE'S IN - Courtney Force and her team performed well when they made two quality back-to-back runs to kick off the weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

Force laid down a 4.117 elapsed time at 304.25 mph in the first session and sat solidly in the No. 6 qualifying spot by the end of the round.

“We made a few changes on our car for this weekend and ran a 4.11 to get us qualified in the top half of the field, which is good for our car for the changes we made. It seems to be working so far. I’m comfortable in the car and I love racing here. It’s good to be back here in Sonoma.

PERSONAL BEST FOR WILK - After having run a solid, but soft, 4.157 in Q1, Tim Wilkerson followed up with a career best 4.026 to end the day as fifth. While resetting his best-ever ET, Wilkerson also demolished his career best speed at 1,000 feet, running 314.09 mph.

PRO STOCK

HE’S NO LONGER SECOND – When Mike Edwards comes down to sea level, drag racing appears a normal experience. For Edwards in 2013, normalcy has at times meant total domination.

Edwards drove his way to the provisional No. 1 during the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, recording a 6.526 elapsed time at 212.23. If the run holds, it will be his eleventh of the season leaving him five pole positions shy of topping Greg Anderson’s 2004 mark of 16. He also has four wins in five final rounds thus far all the while securing the first berth for the Countdown to the Championship.

The ball has bounced in Edwards’ favor many times this season. Friday night, even a transmission “dead-heading” couldn’t keep him from the top spot.

“We made a lot better run than we did in the first session,” said Edwards, who opened with the second quickest run of the opening session with a 6.568. “We still had a transmission woe there. It dead-headed going into fourth gear. I feel like we could have run even better. We need to look at that and see what happened.”

Edwards clinched his spot in the NHRA’s version of the playoffs by winning the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. He was the only driver to secure his berth during the weekend.

Getting settled in early has somewhat changed Edwards approach through the NHRA U.S. Nationals.

“It changes your mindset when the conditions are favorable to try something,” said Edwards. “I feel like that was our goal, to get into the Countdown, so we could try stuff. If we find a session where we know it’s going to be slower, we know we have the opportunity to try stuff.”

Edwards said his team, the current point leaders, passed on the chance to test before Denver. He said the team used the opportunity to get caught up in the engine shop.

As impressive as Edwards’ run was Friday, he’s uncertain as to whether it will stand through Saturday’s sessions.

“We may have to run quicker tomorrow, that’s for sure,” Edwards admitted.

WHAT TO DO? - Jeg Coughlin Jr. has all of the heavy lifting out of the way headed into this weekend's NHRA Sonoma Nationals. He scored a spot in the Countdown to the Championship following last weekend's NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals outside of Denver.

From this point on, Coughlin and those who have clinched playoff berths will jockey for seeding. This doesn't mean he will use the time for testing. Right now the primary goal is to pick up trophies and win as much as he can.

"I don't think we can experiment much more," said Coughlin, who already earned wins in Topeka, Kan., and Joliet, Ill. "We've already tried so many things to try to get the car to be consistent from Thursday's pregame mindset to hoisting the trophy on Sunday. Obviously, we've done that a couple times this year – and we've also missed some opportunities. Until the Countdown starts, our focus will be on making sure we clean up all the little things that could potentially slow us down when the Countdown starts.

"We wouldn’t mind winning a few more Wallys either."

Coughlin has a good record at Sonoma Raceway, with three final rounds and a runner-up. He also has a pole position.

"Sonoma Raceway always has been one of my favorite tracks," Coughlin said. "One of my good friends, Kyle Seipel, his mom has been a part of the track for many, many years, so it's always been like a second home to me."

Coughlin finished the day as eleventh quickest with a 6.591, 210.64 best.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES – Here are two important milestones which have little meaning today due to the economy and growing cost of campaigning an NHRA Pro Stock team.

Erica Enders is the only female to hold a current track record, which she holds for low ET in the Pro Stock class (6.512). Warren Johnson was the first Pro Stock driver to eclipse the 200 mph barrier in Sonoma, turning the quarter-mile at 201.16 mph in 2000.

Neither one of them is racing this weekend due to lack of sponsorship. This year’s field is comprised of 15 entries, one less than last season’s Sonoma event.

WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED? – Larry Morgan said in his 26 years of racing he's never seen anything like what he experienced in Denver. And, one week later he’s no closer to diagnosing the problem which made his Lucas Oil-sponsored Mustang “act the fool” during the first round of the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals.

"The fuel pressure went up when I let the clutch out," Morgan explained. "It's definitely not supposed to do that. It's like we've got something wrong with the fuel system. We changed it and it was worse. I'd never seen that happen before, not until then. I've never seen it go that high."

Morgan figured his engine picked up two pounds of fuel pressure as it hesitated several times in the first 60 feet.

"It takes off once, twice, three times, four times in low gear," Morgan said. "Of course, it should only take off once. It doesn't make sense."

On Friday, he went through the engine with a fine-tooth comb.

“Changing the fuel system around,” Morgan explained. “I may blow it up before I find out what happened, but I’m gonna continue searching until I find what I am looking for. But, that’s drag racing and I’ve done this all of my life. You learn quickly in this sport s*** happens every day.”

Morgan made his way into the top half of the first session with a 6.612 second pass in the first session.

MAJOR GAINES – V. Gaines opened Friday qualifying with an uncharacteristic shut-off on the starting line caused by a broken starter. The Kendall-sponsored driver rebounded in the second session with the fifth quickest run of the session, a 6.551 elapsed time at 210.87.

THE MARCH CONTINUES – Earlier this season, the existing Gray Motorsports engine program founded by Johnny and Shane Gray joined forces with Richard Freeman’s Elite Performance and the end result has been a potent one-two punch with their team cars.

Shane Gray was the second quickest with a 6.532 elapsed time at 211.20 miles per hour. Rickie Jones [below] was sixth with a 6.551.

ON THE BUBBLE, KINDA SORTA – Chris McGaha, of Odessa, Texas, was the twelfth quickest after his first day. He ran a 6.604 in his Dodge Avenger and will “keep” his run headed into Saturday.


PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

FATHER ARANA KNOWS BEST FRIDAY - Hector Arana Sr., showed his sons – Hector Jr. and Adam – he knew best Friday during qualifying at NHRA’s Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals.

Arana Sr. captured the provisional Pro Stock Motorcycle pole with a 6.894-second elapsed time at 192.28 mph on his Lucas Oil Buell.

It’s not like Adam (6.902) and Hector Jr. (6.906) were far off the pace set by their dad as they qualified second and third.

“It is definitely cool and something I wanted to see happen,” Hector Sr. said. “We just have to stay calm and collected and get the best data we can, so (Saturday) we can keep the same pace and stay 1, 2, 3 because that’s my dream.”

After the first qualifying session, the Aranas also held the top three spots, but the order was different as it went Hector Jr. (6.943), Hector Sr. (6.944) and Adam (6.948). Hector Sr., however, he was unsure what to expect in Friday’s final qualifying session.

“I walked over and told Adam to stay calm and do not let anything bother him,” Hector Sr. said. “Just trust the engine. Trust the bike. Have a good run and stay concentrated and focused. You will be OK. Don’t worry. I walked away and I kept seeing the numbers dropping and I thought I better listen to myself as well to what I said to Adam. I was surprised when I saw Adam run a 90. I was tickled to death. I didn’t think I ran that quick. I was struggling a little bit making the run. To my surprise it was an 89 so I was happy. It feels good.”

Hector Sr. admitted his main focus on the track is his two sons.

“Like any dad, I give them the best,” Hector Sr. said. “They have the best engine. I struggle with my engine a little bit, but I want them to stay ahead. That’s my whole thing. Whoever takes the lead, we are going to work on it. We have another motor that shows a little bit of performance so we finally put it in and to my surprise we are doing OK. We are all trying to get the No. 1 spot. We are really competitive there. Adam sometimes surprises me because he doesn’t seem to show you any emotion, but he is very competitive.”

TRYING TO SURVIVE -Last September, NHRA announced it would be making changes in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class in 2013 to bring more parity to the category.

This season, Harley-Davidson and Buell are both allowed a maximum 160-cubic inch displacement (cid), for a 60-degree, two-valve, pushrod engine. Minimum weight for both motorcycles is set at 625 pounds. The four-valve Harley-Davidson engine combination is no longer allowed. Suzuki still has a maximum of 107-cid for a two-valve engine. Minimum weight on the Suzuki is 595 pounds. NHRA also discontinued the four-valve option on the Suzuki motorcycle.

Those changes have helped Buell riders as the current point standings indicate; eight of the top 10 riders are on Buells.

But other riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson riders, reigning world champion Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines, and Suzuki riders like LE Tonglet have not seen much benefit from the rule changes. Tonglet was the 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle title holder.

Krawiec is eighth in the point standings and Hines is 11th. Tonglet is 12th in the points. Steve Johnson is the highest Suzuki rider in the points at 10th.

“We are down to one motor,” Tonglet said. “We just blew up one motor Friday night (during qualifying at the Mile-High Nationals). So we had to put the spare in and that was our last motor.”

Tonglet is entered to compete at the NHRA Nationals Friday through Sunday at Sonoma, Calif.

“It sucks,” said Tonglet when asked how tough it is going race to race worrying about parts. “But, that’s how we have always been. We don’t know how to race any other way. We have to run these things so hard to keep up with the other brands we just start tearing stuff up. It sucks, but that’s the way the class is right now.”

Tonglet’s father Gary owns LE’s team and LE’s brother GT and their dad share the crew chief duties.

 “The only change they (NHRA) really made was hurting the Harleys to go back to two valves,” Tonglet said. “They didn’t really affect the Buells. They added 10 pounds, but most of them needed 10 pounds. I believe it helped them. The more weight you have up front the better it is going to leave. They are not going to say it helped them and you never want to run overweight, but in reality it helped them. They can put more weight up front and they can leave the line harder. Our (Suzuki) stuff is old and they do not want to change it. We can run good back halves, but we do not have the torque to go through the middle of the track like the V-twins have. They make a lot of torque, we don’t.”

The Tonglet team could change from a Suzuki, but LE doesn’t see that as an option.

“My dad would never switch, he is diehard Suzuki,” LE said. “It sucks coming and knowing that you can only go past first round maybe if you are lucky. All the Suzukis that are qualifying are the last four.”

At the Mile-High Nationals, Suzuki riders Johnson, Tonglet, Jim Underdahl, and Katie Sullivan qualified No. 13 through No. 16. Johnson was the only Suzuki rider to advance to second round where his day ended with a loss to eventual race winner Shawn Gann, who rides a Buell. 

SPORTSMAN - MISC

WELCOME TO THE SHOW -One week after the West Coast Outlaw Pro Modified Association participated in the NHRA Div. 7 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Sonoma, Ca., the regional Pro Modified association was invited big for an encore at the big show.

Seven WCOPMA teams will make exhibition runs on Friday and Sunday at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

Those participating include last weekend’s WCOPMA event winner Marc Meadors driving the Pure Hell 2 Goodguys Racing Camaro, Make Maggio, Rod Burbage, Sean Renteria, former NHRA Pro Stock racer Joe Lepone Jr. driving Derrol Hubbards nitrous-injected Duster, Jay Diedrich and Dan Myers.

Additionally two jet dragsters have been added to the program following the nitro sessions on Friday and Saturday.