The 70th edition of the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals kicked off on Wednesday as the first day of a marathon week. Leading the pack were Jim Marshall (Stock), Ernie Neal (Super Stock), and Steve Comella (Sox & Martin HEMI Challenge)

 

There's blistering the index and then what Marshall did to the T/Stock Automatic index in the first two sessions. The Indian Land, SC-based driver went a whopping -2.307 under with a 12.093 elapsed time to emerge as the king of Stock in Wednesday qualifying. 

 

According to noted historian Bret Kepner, such a display of performance can only be compared to Pomona 1975, when the Car Craft staff of writers brought a slew of rental cars to compete against "guessed" indexes. 

 

Truck drag racers took two of the three top spots in Stock as Paul Wong, a regular Indy top qualifier, went a 12.190, -1.610 under the Q/Stock Automatic standard.

 

Former Pro Stock team owner Victor Cagnazzi was third (1.420, F/SD, 9.180), Marty Buth fourth (-1,380, O/SA, 11.770), and Paul Candies rounded out the top five with a -1.302, 8.998 while racing in FS/C trim. 

 

The bump for the 128-car field stands at -.86 under with an 11.194 in G/Stock Automatic. 

 

There are 145 Stock Eliminator entries this weekend.  

 

 

 

 

 

At first glance, Neal's Chevrolet Caprice doesn't look much like a Super Stocker. Still, when it goes from start to finish, the numbers it delivers in Super Stock/P Automatic are more lethal than any other classes in the historical division. 

 

Neal leads the Super Stock division headed into Thursday's final session after running 11.024, -1.626 under the index. 

 

A distant second was the Cavalier of Dan Jacobs, who went 9.364, -1.386 under the GT/K standard. John Fogle's GT/IA Cavalier was third with a 9.370, -1.280 under the index. 

 

Anchoring the 128-car field was Victor Penrod's 1969 Camaro Super Stock/C Automatic, -.607, 10.05.

 

The Stock and Super Stock cars head into class eliminations on Thursday, and the other divisions, Competition Eliminator, Top Sportsman, and Top Dragster, get their first crack at the track. 

 

The Sox & Martin Hemi Challenge got in one qualifying session, and Steve Comella set the pace, running an 8.424 at 158.71 miles per hour. Landing second was past NHRA Pro Stock champion Jason Line with an 8.472. The balance of the top five included Anthony Rhodes (8.491), Jim Pancake (8.508), and Bucky Hess (8.510).