EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL ROUND RESULTS			EVENT GALLERY VIDEO NOTEBOOK

 

SUNDAY RANDOM NOTES - TOP FUEL SHAKE-UP COMES EARLY, ENDERS-SETEVENS REAGAINS PRO STOCK LEAD, HAGAN SURVIVES CLOSE CALL, BIKER HINES IN CHARGE

MASSEY GETS BIG WIN IN VEGAS - Just when it appeared Spencer Massey wasn’t going to be a contender for NHRA’s 2014 Mello Yello Series Top Fuel title, he delivered a huge performance.

The veteran driver for Don Schumacher Racing mowed down the competition to win the Toyota Nationals Sunday at The Strip at Vegas Motor Speedway.

In the finals, Massey upended No. 1 qualifier J.R. Todd with a 3.756-second elapsed time at 330.88 mph. Todd lost traction immediately and slowed to 7.375 seconds.

“The car started running off extremely well,” said Massey, who qualified No. 2. “We started running a new chassis this weekend and we kind of wanted to see where it was going to lead us. The first run it showed a lot of promise, meaning we could give it more power and it is going to hold it. Obviously (Saturday) night it ran a 74 at 330 (mph), and that was huge for (Massey’s crew chiefs) Phil Schuler and Todd Okuhara, and my entire team. We have been working so hard all season long and now to not only finally make good solid runs and be consistent and go rounds on race day, but also go win this thing. Don Schumacher’s birthday is Tuesday and this an early birthday present for Mr. Don, and it is exciting.”

This was Massey’s third win of the season – he also had victories at Atlanta and Topeka, Kan. – and the 17th of his career. More importantly, it moved Massey from seventh in the points to second place in the points. Massey trails points leader Tony Schumacher by 109 points.

Massey ousted Terry McMillen, Shawn Langdon and Leah Pritchett before defeating Todd.

Against McMillen, Massey seemed to have the victory secured until he started smoking the tires at halftrack and had to pedal to get the win with a 4.268-second run.

“First round wasn’t very pretty, going out there and smoking the tires and getting sideways and almost taking out cones and getting close to the wall,” Massey said. “After that it had to be game on.”

The clash against Langdon is one Massey was ready for.

Massey clocked a 3.769-second lap to beat Langdon, the reigning Top Fuel world champion, who slowed to 4.501 seconds.

“If he (Langdon) would have kept going he could have had a really good chance in Pomona to come around (Tony), and I had to stop that,” Massey said. “I consider that run like the World Finals going for a championship for myself and obviously I’m still trying for a championship, but it will be really tough for us to do it because the Army car is extremely strong. It is almost going to have to be (a situation) for him to DNQ and for us to win the race and set national records. It is possible in the mathematical equation, but at the same time my goal right now is to win Pomona, and if I can win Pomona we will let the points fall where they fall.”

The Auto Club NHRA Finals are Nov. 13-16 in Pomona.

Massey acknowledged his effort Sunday was especially gratifying.

“I love sitting in these pressure situations where I know I have to cut a light, and I know I have to do the best job I can,” Massey said. “I do that every round, every time I drive this race car, but I seem to get pushed to that extra level whenever I know this is happening right now, and I have to take care of it. I get up there and try and cut that tree down and I don’t like being left on and I especially don’t like being left on by Shawn (Langdon), so whenever I get up there I really mow it down. I especially did that in the final round. We were looking at the points and we were like man if J.R. (Todd) wins this thing then he’s going to be 92 points away from Tony, and I couldn’t let that happen. I really had to do something for Don Schumacher Racing. I got up there in the final and I had a .035 light and Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara were ready because they ran a 3.75 at 330 mph. It feels like it has been forever since I’ve been standing here talking to you guys. It has only been since Topeka (May 25), but that feels like forever ago. It has been a down slump summer that we had and now we are starting to find our groove back again and I’m excited.”

If history is any indication, Massey likes his chances at Pomona.

“Every year I have raced with Don Schumacher Racing we have won four races in a season,” said Massey, who began driving for DSR in 2011. “Up until this point we had only won two races and now we are on three and we have one more race to go. If it all works its way out like it has the last few years we should win Pomona.” - Tracy Renck

WORSHAM DRIVES TO IMPRESSIVE FUNNY CAR WIN - Jon Oberhofer gave Nicky Boninfante carte blanche to do what he wanted to Del Worsham’s 2015 Toyota Camry on Sunday at the Toyota NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.

Anything…with two specific exceptions.

The two Kalitta Motorsports crew chiefs, working within those parameters, came up aces as Worsham won in a Funny Car for the first time since the 2009 season when he won at Virginia Motorsports Park. He drove past John Force in the final round to claim the title at The Strip in Las Vegas, knocking off the drivers that sit first and second in the points race in the final two rounds.

“We’ve obviously made some mistakes in the past and some ground rules were laid out this morning on what could and couldn’t be touched today, per John-O,” Worsham explained. “Nicky had to abide by those rules. Anything else he could do, but he could not touch two things on the car. I’m going to give this one to John-O. He had the right call.”

The supercharger overdrive and clutch flow, from two seconds on, were what Oberhofer wanted to stay the same, and the team leaving those two things alone all day resulted in the quickest pass of the day when Worsham needed it most…in the final round against Force.

In the first round, Worsham defeated Jeff Arend by running a .075-induced 4.110 at 309.63 miles per hour. In the second round, against Ron Capps, Worsham had a .108 light but won in the left lane for the only time all day with a 4.092/315.19 pass that topped Capps’ .066/4.138/315.71 pass.

With points leader Matt Hagan on deck in the semifinals, Worsham knew his team would have to do better.

“The Matt Hagan run was huge,” Worsham said. “The run against Ron Capps was a very close race, four thousandths of a second, and when it came time to race Matt Hagan we knew 4.09 was not going to be enough to beat Matt Hagan.

“The crew chiefs did a great job. They went in there, got their brains together along with Tommy DeLago and Nicky Boninfante…the Oberhoffers…everybody was in there. I just stayed away. I just had to worry about driving and they popped out that 4.05. It was just an amazing run.”

This set up a final round against John Force…a driver in pursuit of his 17th career world title. A win in the final would have pulled Force within just one point of Hagan heading to Pomona for the season finale.

Worsham spoiled those thoughts, running a .074-induced 4.064 at 318.39 to better Force’s .057/4.104/321.43 package.

Worsham wasn’t concerned that his win against Force could cost the racing legend a championship.

“If I beat him every day, from now until I’m 55 years old, I would still be behind,” Worsham said. “That guy has abused me for 20 years. I’ve got a couple of licks in here and there, but he’s a great competitor and a great ambassador of the sport.

“He’s a friend of mine. We live close and the first Funny Car I ever bought and ever drove was a John Force Funny Car. He’s been a pretty big part of my entire life. As much as he’s been a hinderance, he’s also been a great leader. He showed me the way in the multi-car teams and I’ve been to him for a lot of advice.”

After the win, which made him the only driver in NHRA history to win Las Vegas titles in both Funny Car and Top Fuel, Worsham wanted to make sure to point out who he is driving for.

“I’m driving Scott’s car, we all know that and I don’t ever want to lose focus on that,” Worsham said of the late driver who perished in a 2008 on-track accident. “Everyone knows it’s Scott Kalitta’s Funny Car, he was a great champion and a great friend of mine. Connie Kalitta, I was lucky enough for him to let me drive his car and I just want to make those two proud.” - Mike Perry

ENDERS-STEVENS BACK ON TOP - Erica Enders-Stevens took a lot of criticism for a decision that was out of her hands.

The Pro Stock driver, who had a large points lead at the time, did not compete at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals July 25-27 and the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle Aug. 1-3 as her team owner decided to focus on the season-ending Countdown to the Championship.

Enders-Stevens ended up losing the points lead, but was able to wrestle it back when she defeated Jeg Coughlin in the final round of the Toyota NHRA Nationals in Vegas.

“There was a lot of negativity around our decision, but it was the decision we had to make that suited our team the best,” Enders-Stevens said. “We wanted to come into the Countdown as prepared as possible and do the best that we could. That meant sitting out those two races.

“I had hundreds of hate emails and just a lot of Internet negativity. I think this just goes to show what we’re capable of. We had a 240-some point lead at the most this season and we didn’t want to take those races off. But we had to. Business-wise we had to, just to be able to be in the position we’re in now.”

If every race was at The Strip in Las Vegas, Enders-Stevens wouldn’t ever have to worry about taking races off. This season she dominated the competition in Vegas, winning the Spring race and the K&N Filter Shootout before qualifying No. 1 and posting the best ET of all four rounds of eliminations this weekend.

It was quite different from a few weeks ago in Reading, when she lost to Allen Johnson in the semifinals despite qualifying No. 1.

“I wanted to come in with a positive attitude,” she said. “When I walked in the gate Thursday afternoon I had a good feeling. I was a nervous wreck in Reading, to be quite honest, and I’d never felt that way in my entire racing career.

“I decided I was going to give it to God and keep the faith…to just do my best and let Him do the rest. That quick mental chance made everything run so much smoother today.”

Enders-Stevens’ crew gave her the best car, and Enders-Stevens was on point in the seat when it counted most. She cut a .009 light against a red-lighting Line in the semifinals before an .007 light against Coughlin in the final gave her the advantage on the line.

She reached the finish line first in 6.587 at 209.36 miles per hour to Coughlins’ 6.596/209.14.

“Hats off to my guys,” Enders-Stevens said. “They gave me a consistent race car. The ESPN guys were kind of bashing them the last couple of interviews, saying we just couldn’t get it done on race day. Well, we can get it done on race day and today was perfect proof of that.

“You can’t knock them. We’re low every round of qualifying in the last few races and then every round of eliminations until we lost. Then, today, to be low on qualifying and then all four today just says a lot about them.”

Enders-Stevens was happy with how things unfolded. She will head to the season finale in Pomona with 2,513 points while Line, in second, will have 2,496.

“Jeg is probably the best driver this sport has ever seen,” Enders-Stevens said. “He’s awesome in every race car he gets in. I knew I had to be up on the wheel because he’s as hungry as I am. I was .009 in the semis and when I came up here the Christmas Tree was in the shade because the sun had gone down.

“I was a little bit nervous about going red and wanted to make a change in my clutch pedal. My crew chief wouldn’t, said we were going after it…that if it was meant to be it would happen.

“I, by no means, let up for the finals. The Jason Line round was probably the biggest of my career at this point, then going to the final against Jeg, and being able to get it done in the fashion we did, I’m really proud of my team.”

Enders-Stevens is not worried about the pressure of racing for a championship.

“I feel blessed to be in this position, to get the points lead back heading into the last race of the year,” she said. “I guess you don’t get more pressure than that, but the mental side of it…I’m just going to take it one round at a time and appreciate being in the position we’re in." - Mike Perry

HINES TAKES HUGE STEP TOWARD ANOTHER PSM TITLE - Andrew Hines knows how to win NHRA world championships. He has three world Pro Stock Motorcycle titles on his resume – 2004-2006.

Hines took a huge step toward capturing his fourth crown by winning the Toyota Nationals Sunday at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Hines edged reigning world champ Matt Smith with a 6.955-second lap at 191.02 mph. Smith came across the line at 6.971 seconds at 192.11 mph.

Hines has a 92-point lead over his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec. There’s only one race left in the season – the Auto Club NHRA Finals Nov. 13-16 in Pomona, Calif. Krawiec won world championships in 2008, 2011 and 2012.

Hines qualified No. 1 and proceeded to beat John Hall, Chaz Kennedy, and Jerry Savoie before disposing of Smith in the finals.

“We were fair at best through most of the year with my bike,” Hines said. “Eddie’s bike was just on a mission all year long in qualifying and I’ve really just been picking away at the tune-up with the help of my brother (Matt Hines, Andrew and Krawiec’s crew chief). I’ve been trying to get every ounce of performance out of my V-Rod. We are starting to see some stuff in the tune-up that we were overlooking in the past and that was ultimately costing me quite a bit of performance. Going back looking at what we were doing and looking at the data, sometimes you can’t believe what the data is telling you and you have to go with your gut instincts and what the motor looks like it is telling you.”

Andrew acknowledged he likes how his motorcycle has been running.

“We have the horsepower coming out of the bike now and it is consistent and that’s a big deal,” Andrew said. “When it is consistent every run Matt (Hines) can tune it off the starting line and make it 60-foot better. It’s finally putting the whole package together. That last run (Saturday night) when it went 85, it is one of those runs. You have very few of those in your career and that was one of them.”

Krawiec was upset in the second round by Savoie and Hines knew he would have his hands full with Savoie in the semifinals.

Hines responded with a 6.955-second run to muscle past Savoie’s 7.007-second lap.

“He (Savioe) looked like he was going to be the Harley slayer there for a second,” Hines said. “Luckily I was able to cut the tree down with a chainsaw with a .004 there in the semis. I wanted to be really good on the tree and .004 was further than I wanted to push it. I must have rolled it in a little far, but you can’t take him lightly. He has been a bad, bad man lately, and that thing has been going fast. When I saw him take out Eddie it is a bittersweet deal. It’s bad for the team and good for me personally for points. That was a big moment in the second round and to get by him and get in the final was huge. Then racing that final round with one of my biggest rivals in the other lane it came down to getting after it and I was able to squeak by.”

Hines, who has finished second in the points in 2007, 2010 and 2012, is devising a game plan for Pomona.

“I don’t want to play defense,” Hines said. “I’m going to go on the offense. I don’t want to give up any bonus points through qualifying, 92 points whatever it is now, I want to keep it over 80 that way we can roll into Sunday and basically have it mathematically locked up. The national record is pretty much out of the equation for Pomona and I’m just going to go out there and do the same thing I did this weekend and try and make sure my V-Rod has the most horsepower every single run when I go up there.” - Tracy Renck

NEW TITLE THREAT - Shawn Langdon emerged as the most immediate threat to Top Fuel points leader Tony Schumacher with his first-round victory over Steve Torrence. Langdon entered race day ranked No. 4 in the standings. Torrence was No. 3. In a matter of 3.770 seconds, Langdon climbed to No. 2. The Al-Anabi Racing Dragster driver enhanced his reputation as maybe the class’ best leaver with an .064-second reaction time that propelled him to the pivotal victory (at 3.770, 318.92).

Torrence had a 3.769-second, 185.46-mph effort.

But Langdon’s second-round loss to Spencer Massey, coupled with Todd’s Round 2 elimination of Al-Anabi’s Khalid alBalooshi enabled Todd to pass Langdon in the standings.

So four of the top six racers in the class were out in the opening round, and the standings were scrambled significantly by the end of the second.

PRITCHETT MAKING PROGRESS – Leah Pritchett, still riding the wave of excitement after her Dote Racing team announced Friday that sponsor Gumout was increasing its involvement for 2015, knocked out No. 6 Antron Brown in the opening round. That handed Brown his fourth first-round exit in five Countdown events. (He won the other one, at St. Louis).

That ended a weekend-long struggle for Brown, who need the final qualifying session to make the field. Then Pritchett advanced past Brittany Force to her first semifinal appearance since the Topeka race last May. Spencer Massey ended her day en route to his victory.
HE’LL BE BACK - Richie Crampton said he doesn’t have any details of sponsorship, but he confirmed that he and his Aaron Brooks-led team will be back at Morgan Lucas Racing next year.
UM . . . WELL, WE’LL START AGAIN AFTER CLEAN-UP ON AISLE 2 - The engine on Larry Dixon’s Caseholed Solutions Dragster exploded near the half-track cone, kicking off eliminations with an oildown delay of about 20 minutes. Khalid alBalooshi finished the run with a wounded engine, as well, but he advanced.

CLOSE RACE - JR Todd and T.J. Zizzo ran 3.81s in the fourth pairing of the day. But Todd, driving the first Bounty Hunter chassis produced in the Kalitta Motorsports shop, won on a holeshot. He used a .069-second reaction time to clock a 3.816-second elapsed time at 290.82 mph in the Optima Batteries Dragster to beat Zizzo’s quicker and considerably faster 3.811, 322.88 in the Rust-Oleum Dragster.

WORSHAM IN CENTER OF DRAMA - Del Worsham entered this race in eighth place in the Funny Car standings, well out of contention for the championship. However, he ended up playing a significant role in the title chase.

Points leader Matt Hagan reached the semifinal round past Terry Haddock and his own Don Schumacher Racing mate Tommy Johnson Jr. Worsham eliminated Jeff Arend and Ron Capps to set up a semifinal meeting with Hagan.

On the other side of the ladder, John Force – the No. 2-ranked racer who has been itching to regain the points lead he lost to Hagan at Reading three weeks ago in the previous race – was mowing down his competition. He defeated Jon Capps and Tim Wilkerson. Then to heighten the drama, he beat his JFR teammate Robert Hight in the semifinal immediately before Hagan and Worsham made their passes.

That raised the possibility of a heads-up showdown between the class heavyweights, Hagan and Force. But Worsham defeated Hagan to put his Kalitta Motorsports-operated DHL Toyota in the final round – and give the Kalitta team a chance for a double-up victory after JR Todd earned a Top Fuel final berth against Spencer Massey.    

While Worsham spoiled the Hagan-vs.-Force possibility, he did ensure that the season finale at Pomona, Calif., will provide drama at its peak. That development meant that Hagan would leave Las Vegas either with a 21-point edge on Force or a mere one-point lead.

WORSHAM WINS – Matt Hagan appreciated Del Worsham’s first Funny Car victory since the 2009 race at Richmond, Va., as much as the mosh-pit-celebrating Kalitta Motorsports team. It meant an extra 20-point cushion on John Force, who was runner-up. Worsham won with a 4.064-second, 318.39-mph performance. Force countered with a 4.104, 321.42.

HAGAN KNOWS THE DRILL – Matt Hagan once again will have a do-or-die weekend at Pomona, Calif.

“It’s going to come down to Pomona,” he said of the Funny Car championship. “I’m used to that. I’ve been there. When we won it in 2010, it was in the semifinals of the last race. Sometimes it comes down to the final. It is what it is. Sometimes you have the lead for a little while, sometimes we don’t. It’s nothing that we can’t handle. I still have 100-percent confidence in my guys, in Dickie [crew chief Venables]. We just have to go out there and race.”

The weariness of it came through in a short burst. “I’m actually tired of talking about it. I just want to race. It will take care of itself,” he said.

But Hagan showed he’s ready to stay strong for one more race, saying, “We have a hell of a car, hell of a team. We just have to go out there and do it. It’s just the way the ladder played out this weekend. John had a great side of the ladder, and we had a tough one to get through. We just have to go work hard and not make any mistakes and capitalize on it if they do.
 
“It’s human nature, you want to go out here and spread the gap. There’s no doubt about that, we want to win and have it wrapped up but that’s just not typically how it happens,” Hagan said. “I’m ready for it.  I know our guys are. We have to go work hard, dig deep, and make it happen.”

ANNOUNCEMENT ENERGIZES FORCE – John Force has acquired more than just a primary sponsor for his Funny Car for the majority of next season’s races. He has gained peace of mind.

Winding down what he called “the toughest year in my career,” the 16-time champion announced Peak Antifreeze and Coolant and the BlueDEF brands from the automotive aftermarket company Old World Industries as his new primary sponsor Saturday afternoon at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The burden of replacing longtime marketing partner Castrol and manufacturer Ford had just gotten incredibly lighter.

The Peak deal, a signal that not only John Force Racing but all of NHRA drag racing still is relevant in the marketplace, covers just a little more than half of the 24 races on the 2015 schedule. However, it is for five years.

Force said PPG has bought the rights to “some” (unspecified number of) additional races. Then he gave a cryptic message about another, yet-unnamed sponsor. “I’m getting into the milk business,” he said. “A little teaser there. I’ll be milking cows. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

He said more announcements about the remainder of his sponsorship needs for his Funny Car and for daughter Brittany Force’s Top Fuel dragster will come at this week’s SEMA Show here at Las Vegas, as well as throughout the off-season and even at next year’s season-opener at Pomona, Calif.  

Daughter Courtney Force’s and son-in-law Robert Hight’s Funny Cars have secure funding from Traxxas and Auto Club of Southern California, respectively. And JFR still has strong alliances with Freightliner, Mac Tools, Brand Source, and other associate sponsors.

“I want to clarify: I haven’t reached my peak,” the 65-year-old legend of the sport said, no pun intended. “I know that sounds funny, but I’m just getting ready to start. I said on the NHRA conference call the other day that you’d have a new John Force here. And finally I can get it out to my teams. You have a John Force that’s an owner and a John Force that fights every minute of his life.”

The announcement reinvigorated Force, easing the pain of watching Matt Hagan steal his points lead at the previous race and healing the gut-punch of crew chief Jimmy Prock leaving days later and joining the organization for which Hagan drives.

“I race from the heart,” Force said. “I’ve got a burning desire to be out there on that racetrack. It’s where I live. And starting right here with Brian [Emrich, Old World Industries chief marketing officer] and his brand Peak, I’m getting that opportunity – and with the new partners that will come and the old ones that will stay. Most important to me is my daughter and I and Robert Hight and Courtney, we’ll get to race. Racing is my life. And I’ll be honest: without it, I might as well jump off a bridge somewhere. This is where I want to be.

“So the new John Force you’re getting is going to be the same guy,” he said. He acknowledged that the evolving marketplace demands more than the traditional race victories and TV appearances and, in his words, “being in the newspaper.” He said the world revolves today around sales so he’s geared to be “living on the road, because I have to be with [his sponsors] to make [business-to-business] deals with these accounts so I can stay in racing. There’s no better salesman than me, because I think I’m one of the best.”

So in a sense, this appears to be less of a new deal for Force than a classic case of the philosophy that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”   

Force unveiled what he called “the car of 2015” with its Peak branding but said, “It’ll change in the next 60 days” as he reveals which automaker will provide his car bodies. Word from the Toyota camp is that JFR will not be racing Toyotas.

Force mentioned how stressful this process has been.

“I’ve been sick for over a year, and I live with it every day. Our whole life was chasing championships. We went down a road that you would fight to make the Countdown. That what life was all about. And this year I’ve had two NHRA Mello Yello Countdowns – one to win the championship, one to work with JMI [the Indianapolis-based agency, to find fresh funding]. It’s a job, and I’ve survived it.”

Over the roar of warming-up engines, Force apologized publicly to his crews for not clueing them in on the business developments.

“I couldn’t tell them we had deals,” he said. “They were already signed. I couldn’t tell ‘em, because stuff gets out and it ruins it all, and they got families to feed. So for being loyal to me, God bless ya.  

“Some things we can’t announce right now. We wanted to say something at Indy [during Labor Day weekend], but we just couldn’t,” he said.

The spigot is open now for the flow of announcements. John Force’s internal battery is recharged. And, like some sleight-of-hand artist in one of these Las Vegas showrooms, he is making this difficult process appear to be business as usual.

SANTA CLAUS - Jack Beckman lost to Robert Hight in the first round Sunday, but he came away from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with at least a couple of feel-good moments.

Beckman and Top Fuel driver Khalid alBalooshi both have befriended a 10-year-old boy from Michigan named Jacob Delling, who lost his sight at an early age. A fan approached Beckman this weekend at the Top Eliminator Club and handed Beckman $100 with the request to “buy Jacob a nice Christmas present.”

Also this weekend, one of Beckman’s former drag-racing-school students gave Beckman $500 to purchase five Infinite Hero Foundation “challenge coins.” Beckman carries 10 of the autographed Oakley-produced coins each time his Funny Car goes down the racetrack. The purchaser said he wanted Beckman to give the five coins to recipients of his own choosing.

Beckman said he gave one to 12-year-old Balin Hewson, a straight-A sixth-grader from the Phoenix area who has Duchene Muscular Dystrophy. Hewson was selected for the September U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis to be the Honorary Crew Member for the day with Ron Capps and his NAPA Dodge Charger team. Hewson’s father Brett had been Honorary Crew Member this February at Phoenix.

THORN IN FORCES’ SIDES - Paul Lee, who happens to be a professional poker player in addition to owner of McLeod Clutches and part-time drag racer, continued his Las Vegas good luck against the John Force Racing organization. This time he lined up against Courtney Force in the first round and dealt her an especially damaging loss. He isn’t qualified for the Countdown, but she was third in the standings heading into race day in pursuit of her first series crown.

Lee is driving the Gary Densham-owned Dodge Charger while the boss recovers from knee-replacement surgery. He qualified 15th and Courtney Force third.  

“I always seem to draw one of them,” Lee said of the JFR contingent, “and I just have good luck against them. This team is just as good as a full-time team. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

He had a chance to take out another JFR driver in Round 2. But Robert Hight ended Lee’s upset-minded mission.

SAILING DOWN TRACK - When Bob Tasca and Tim Wilkerson lined up their Ford Mustangs against each other in the first round, they made a show of force for their body manufacturer, Outerlimits Boats, of Rhode Island.

MONSTER MATCH-UP - The full grandstands got to see a monster Pro Stock match-up in the semifinal round between points leader Jason Line and No. 2-rated Erica Enders-Stevens – and a result that should shine a bright spotlight on the class at the NHRA Finals at Pomona.

Line, a little too eager to get another victory here for Las Vegas-based boss Ken Black and the Summit Racing Equipment team, turned on the red light by three-thousandths of a second, handing Enders-Stevens the round-win and a trip to the finals against reigning champion Jeg Coughlin.

That final round presented the opportunity for Elite Motorsports Camaro driver Enders-Stevens to regain the points lead heading into the final race of the season. If she were runner-up to Coughlin, she would pull within three points of Line. If she were to defeat Coughlin, she would move ahead of him by 17 points.

ENDERS-STEVENS TAKES BACK POINTS LEAD – Enders-Stevens parlayed a .007-second reaction time into a winning 6.587-second elapsed time at 209.36-mph to win over Jeg Coughlin by a half-car length. So she will head the Pro Stock class as the season-closing NHRA Finals opens in two weeks. The victory was her fifth this season and 11th overall.

It was the first time the two had met in a final round. This victory gave Enders-Stevens a sweep at Las Vegas this season.

HINES CLOSER TO FOURTH TITLE - The final round between Andrew Hines and Matt Smith pitted the Nos. 1 and 2 qualifiers and was the first time in six years the champions have faced off in the final round. Hines’ winning 6.955-second, 191.02-mph run gave him an eight-thousandth-of-a-second victory margin. More important, it stretched his points lead to 92 over Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec with one race remaining.

Hines denied Smith the chance to share the winners circle with his father, Rickie Smith, who earned the Pro Modified victory and his second straight series championship Sunday.

Smith ran a 6.971, 192.11.

MORE ACCOLADES FOR DSR - Spencer Massey’s Top Fuel victory over No. 1 qualifier JR Todd gave Don Schumacher Racing its 20th title in the nitro ranks this season and an NHRA-record total of 239. Massey improved from seventh in the standings to second. He trails leader Tony Schumacher by 109 points.

 

 

SATURDAY - PRITCHETT MAKES MOVE, HAGAN FLEXES MUSCLES, KRAMER WALKS AWAY, SAMPEY INJURED

TOP FUEL

TODD'S RECORD RUN - JR Todd, who won at Denver earlier this season, raced to the No. 1 position in Top Fuel with his track record run of 3.732 at 327.43. Todd, whose first race of the season was here in the spring, has three No. 1 qualifiers this season and six in his career. He will face T.J. Zizzo in the opening round.

COULD TIE THE SNAKE – Antron Brown has won six races this season and is just two shy of tying Don Prudhomme for 10th in all-time NHRA victories.

He'll start his march toward that milestone by facing Leah Pritchett in the first round of Sunday's eliminations.

She has lane choice as the No. 6 qualifier. He’ll start from the No. 11 spot.

LOOKING TO DO BETTER - Al-Anabi Racing’s Khalid alBalooshi said, "Sometimes we have a very good car, and everything is perfect. Sometimes the track can be tricky, though. We have to have our stuff in good shape and race on the good track they have [here]. I am happy with what the Al-Anabi team has done this year, but I know our team can do better."

He’s the No. 9 qualifier, set to face No. 8 Larry Dixon and the Caseholed Solutions Dragster from Bob Vandergriff Racing.

TORRENCE HAS GOALS TO MEET - Steve Torrence, who was eager to end the layoff after three weeks and get back in his Capco Contractors Dragster, had said, "We were on a pretty good roll there, and three weeks is an awful long time between races, especially in the Countdown."

He’s not too bad off, though, starting No. 7.

Torrence said he’s relatively certain he'll post the best overall finish of his career, topping his eighth-place showing in 2010. But it won't be complete until he wins a race again, for the first time since June 16, 2013, at Bristol, Tenn. "It's been frustrating,” Torrence said, “because we’ve had a car that could have won a lot of races. It just shows how competitive it is in Top Fuel right now. We’re not going to change anything.  We’re just going to go back to work and do what we’ve been doing.  We’re overdue, that’s for sure," the Kilgore, Texas, racer said.

One consolation for Torrence is that he has 26 elimination-round wins (just three short of his career-best), and he has earned more qualifying bonus points than anyone other than No. 2 Doug Kalitta.  Torrence does have a runner-up finish at Indianapolis to his credit and has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the standings.

"I'm proud of my guys," he said. "They’ve worked their tails off this year, and, so far, there hasn’t been much to show for it. We’re going to try to change that this week but, if we don't, it's still been a great season."

His opening-round match with 11 Shawn Langdon will give him an idea if he'll have more to show for his efforts.

PRITCHETT MAKES MARK - Leah Pritchett made a huge jump from the No. 10 spot with a personal-best 3.755-second pass at 319.29 mph in the Gumout-Dote Dragster in her final chance Saturday. It was No. 2 at the time, but she ended up sixth in the order with a first-round appointment with No. 11 Antron Brown.

“Those are the expectations we have had for this team,” she said after popping from the car at the top end of the track. She said her crew “deserved that” and gave a special shout-out to loyal associate sponsor FX Caprera. She said of her car, “It was definitely moving. This car has been walking around a little bit, but I knew we were sticking hard.”

QUICK BUT NOT ENOUGH - Swiss rookie Top Fuel driver Noah Stutz entered the final day with a tentative hold on the No. 16 spot with a best clocking Friday of 3.970 seconds at 298.14 mph. But even though he improved that to 3.924, 278.86, then to 3.876, 315.19, he missed a chance to put the Urs Erbacher-owned dragster in the field.

Running next to Stutz in the fourth session, class newcomer Kebin Kinsley posted his best elapsed time and speed at 3.850, 316.97. He also missed the cut.

T.J. Zizzo’s 3.835-second E.T. represents the quickest bump spot in NHRA Top Fuel history. His reward is getting to race No. 1 qualifier JR Todd in Sunday’s first round of eliminations.

Others who missed the Top Fuel field are Clay Millican, Troy Buff, and Steve Faria.

WHO RACES WHOM – Spencer Massey (2) will square off against Terry McMillen (15), Doug Kalitta (3) will race Brittany Force (14), and Friday leader Richie Crampton (4) will line up opposite Bob Vandergriff (13). The other first-round pairing pits points leader Tony Schumacher (5) and Billy Torrence (12).  
 

FUNNY CAR
 

HAGAN'S POWER PLAY - Matt Hagan qualified No. 1 with the sixth quickest time in NHRA Funny Car history at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. Hagan powered his Dodge Charger to a career-best performance and a track record 3.983-second pass at 322.42 mph to claim the top spot, taking away the No. 1 qualifier from his rival John Force, who sits second in points. The run was the first three-second Funny Car pass at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

WISH COMES TRUE - Austin Zimmerline, a 17-year-old from Louisville, Neb., always has wanted to be a race-car driver and win a race for a team. His dream came true in a special pass sandwiched between Saturday's early Pro Stock qualifying session and the start of the third overall qualifying sessions for the nitro cars.

It was all thanks to a partnership between the Nebraska chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Terry Chandler-Don Schumacher Racing alliance, as well as considerable help from Top Fuel driving veteran and drag-racing-school owner Doug Foley. Chandler sponsors the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger Funny Car that Tommy Johnson Jr. drives.

Zimmerline has cerebellum atrophy, a degenerative disease of the cerebellum, as well as cerebral palsy and leukodystrophy. Despite his challenges, the guitar-playing teenager has thrived in his community. He's a local celebrity in Louisville, a town of about 1,000 people: he's an honorary member of the high school football team, and he volunteers as a clown at Shriners Hospital events at Omaha.

Zimmerline, using hand controls Foley helped rig, and Johnson raced in one of Foley's two-seat dragsters against Johnson's DSR teammates and NHRA champions Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Jack Beckman (Funny Car). It wasn't a typical ride-a-long. At stake was an authentic Wally trophy.

Johnson's Make-A-Wish Funny Car crew prepped the racers and cheered them on during the one-run showdown in front of thousands of NHRA fans, as well as Zimmerline's friends and family. They included a proud Chandler.

"This year has meant so much to me, and spending time every weekend with all of the Make-A-Wish children and families at each race has just been a wonderful and overwhelming experience," she said. "I am so thrilled to be able to work with Don and DSR to help make Austin's wish come true. This [is] a very special day for us, and also for Tommy and our Make-A-Wish Funny Car crew. This is something we are all very happy to be part of, and I'm sure it will be a blessing that none of us will ever forget."

Schumacher said, "I am honored to be able to have DSR assist in making Austin's wish come true. All the Make-A-Wish children who have been with us at races this year have inspired all my teams and staff, and I know how much it [means] to them for Austin to be with us at Las Vegas and see his dream become a reality."

COSMETIC ENHANCEMENTS - Del Worsham debuted a new-look 2015 DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car, which features significant changes to the “grill” and “headlight” areas on the front of the race car to better mimic the newly redesigned 2015 Toyota Camry.

Worsham concluded qualifying as No. 12 with a 4.090, 311.13. He races No. 5 Jeff Arend, a former teammate with his family-operates team and the man he replaced at Kalitta Motorsports , in Sunday's first round

READY TO WIN AGAIN - Jack Beckman, the No. 6 qualifier, will be trying to take the first step in halting a 49-race winless streak when he meets No. 11 Robert Hight in the opening round of eliminations Sunday.

MOVIN’ ON UP? – If Ron Capps should win the event, he would join Tony Pedregon on the Funny Car career-victories list with 43 – and both would be second only to John Force with his 141 total. Capps qualified No. 4 and will face the No. 13 qualifier – who happens to be Tony Pedregon.

APPROACHING MILESTONE – With a victory Sunday, Robert Hight would tie Cruz Pedregon for fifth on the Funny Car class' list of career victories at 35. Hight will start his march against No. 6 Jack Beckman in another John Force Racing-Don Schumacher racing match-up.

FAMILIAR FACE WILL BE MISSING - Cruz Pedregon failed to qualify for the first time since the 2012 event at Englishtown, N.J.

MORE MATCH-UPS - Other Funny Car pairings have the following match-ups: No. 1 Matt Hagan and No. 16 Terry Haddock, Tommy Johnson Jr. (8) and Alexis DeJoria (9), John Force (2) and Jon Capps (15), Bob Tasca (7) and Tim Wilkerson (10), and Courtney Force (3) and Paul Lee (14).  
 

PRO STOCK
 

THREE IN A ROW - Erica Enders-Stevens ran a Pro Stock track record 6.576 at 209.75 to claim her third straight No. 1 qualifying position in the Royal Purple Chevy Camaro.

Enders-Stevens, who now has six No. 1 qualifiers this season and 12 in her career, set the track speed run during her first qualifying session of the day at 209.88 mph.

With her qualifying effort both days she trimmed series leader Jason Line’s advantage from 35 entering the race to 23 points entering eliminations. She will pair up against Jeff Isbell in the first round.

SCARY MOMENT - NHRA Pro Stock racer Deric Kramer walked away from a high-speed accident during the final qualifying session at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas.

Kramer, of Sterling, Colo., had his Dodge Avenger sashay during the second-half of the race course before he lost control of the car. The car barrel-rolled multiple times after crossing the center line and making contact with both retaining walls during the crash.

"I'm fine," Kramer said. "These Lazarus Race Cars are extremely safe and [it] did its job 100 percent. It got out of the groove, and I kept trying to fight it back and fight it back. Every time I thought I had it back, it would dart back over toward the other lane. It felt like I lost it about the 1,000-foot mark, and over she went."

Kramer wasn't overly shaken up by the accident, pointing out he'd like to return to driving as soon as he can.

"If the run had qualified, we'd be back here tomorrow," said Kramer. - Bobby Bennett

 
STAY CALM? REALLY? – No. 6 qualifier Allen Johnson reiterated that "the competition is fierce, as much as we have ever seen" and said it was an extra challenge "having the first four races of the Countdown all in a row like that." He also said, "You’ve got a lot of nerves and emotions involved in the Countdown, with the extra stress of being away from home for that span." His team had a plan, though, he said: "We tried to have some team dinners and do something as a team, a family, to calm everyone down and remember to have fun." But Sunday morning, when he takes on No. 11 Chris McGaha in Round 1, Johnson will be up on the wheel again, intense and ready to rock.
 
MORGAN HAVING FUN - Larry Morgan, unlikely to return to a Ford next season but a bit coy about just what his 2015 plans are, said no matter what, he plans to have fun. He’ll have to find some fun from the No. 15 starting spot Sunday. He’ll start his shot in eliminations against No. 2 Shane Gray.
 
The Mustang driver said he used the idle weeks to fix “a lot of things that were wrong with the car that we had overlooked.” And that paid off, as he held off Jeff Isbell, who broke into the class with a 6.829-second bump-spot start.
 
Morgan didn’t make the Countdown to the Championship, but he's not using the six-race playoffs to prepare for 2015. He hasn’t announced his plans for next season. "We're not looking that far ahead," Morgan said. "It'll be totally different than what I'm doing now. You never what I'm going to do. I may run Pro Mod and Pro Stock. You never know about me. "But whatever it may be, I'm going to have fun doing it."
 
He’s hoping he can experience some deja-vu. This is where he earned his 10th and most recent victory, at the 2009 fall race, in which he defeated Rickie Jones in the final round.
 
"I remember that Forrest and Charlotte (Lucas) were there and that was good," Morgan said of the Lucas Oil founders. "I hope we made them happy. It was a good weekend for everybody. It was the next-to-last race I ran with a Dodge. Winning was good and I was glad to do that. I miss winning and I'm going to try and figure out how I can do that again."
 

FIRST-ROUND ACTION - In other pairings, multitime champion Jeg Coughlin (No. 3) will face newcomer Aaron Stanfield No. 14), Dave Connolly (4) will race V Gaines (13), and Jason Line (5) will go against Matt Hartford (12). First-round matches pit Jonathan Gray (7) and Greg Anderson (10), and Vincent Nobile (8) and Rodger Brogdon (9).    

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

HINES CLAIMS FIRST NO. 1 - Andrew Hines, who entered Las Vegas with a 25-point advantage over Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec, posted a track record 6.946 at 192.55 to claim his first top qualifying position of the season and 35th of his career. He will face John Hall in the first round.

INJURY ENDS SAMPEY’S COMEBACK - Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Angelle Sampey said she never gambles when she visits Las Vegas, “because my luck sucks in Las Vegas!”

The evidence was there – a sutured and heavily bandaged lower left leg and the crutches that were propping her upright.

An accident early Friday in the Star Racing pit – “Five minutes after I got out of the car!” she wailed – injured tendons in Sampey’s foot/ankle area. And despite making two qualifying attempts Friday with 20 stitches in her foot, the NHRA emergency medical team declared her unfit to continue racing.

She said she begged for a chance to try to improve her tentative No. 21 position to no avail. Her withdrawal from competition marked her career-first failure to qualify. It halted her streak at 186 races, which was sixth best on the NHRA all-time list for all pro classes.

Doctors have recommended surgery. She said she’ll fly home to the New Orleans area Sunday night and will undergo an MRI and see an orthopedic specialist.

“I’m hoping the [diagnosis and prognosis] from the hospital was wrong about it being torn. I’m hoping it’s just partially torn or not torn and will heal itself. I don’t want to have surgery,” Sampey said. “I just know surgery’s going to mean rehab.”

Sampey was hurt as she tried to unload the wheeled starter box from the team hauler Friday. She positioned herself in front of the box rather than behind it, and it rolled into her leg.

“It cut me wide open,” she said. “But I’m very lucky. It just scraped the Achilles tendon. I didn’t cut it too bad. I cut a tendon on the side, and they think that one’s torn.”

She said she didn’t realize at first that she was seriously injured.

“It hit me when it hurt. And I was thinking, ‘Oooh, that hurt. That hurt. Walk it off. Walk it off.’ I hadn’t even looked down. I thought it was just a knock. I was waiting for that pain to stop. I took about four or five steps, and every step I took I almost fell,” Sampey said. “Then I looked down, and the blood was just gushing. Thankfully [NHRA tech official] Bob Blackwell was in the pit and he radioed the medical people and they got here in no time.”

She received the stitches then and was deemed capable of racing. So she made two passes, the last of which she aborted.

The three-time series champion showed the heart of a winner, and team owner George Bryce called her “a real trooper” for the way she wanted to race through her pain.

Sampey said, “I ran two runs with it yesterday, with it all stitched up. But I couldn’t get away with it today. I cried. I begged. I said, ‘Please. I have a three-year-old at home. I will not do something I think I can’t do. And I know I can ride this motorcycle.’

She pled her case vigorously.

“I told the doctor while he was stitching me, ‘I have to race. You understand? I have to race today.’ He said, ‘I know – that’s what they all say.’ I said, “No, I have to race today. The reason we are here is to try to get a sponsor. We have potential sponsors who are coming here to watch us race. I have to race.’ He said, ‘You guys are all the same.’

“It was painful to stage it, because I was having to push the bike. But making the run down the track I was fine,” she said. “But what happened was second round, it started to go toward the center line, to the cones, and I was having to lean [over]. The way I drive, because I’m so little, is I stand on the peg. And I couldn’t stand on the peg, so I had to shut it off for safety reasons.”

Sampey said she looked at the doctor as she turned off the track in that last pass Friday that left her 21st in the 23-rider order. And she saw him shaking his head. He sent Sampey to the hospital, and the assessment there was that the lateral tendon is torn or partially torn.

“I begged and begged, because I have never DNQd. I said, ‘Just let me make one more run. Let me get a good qualifying run in. And then I don’t have to race. I just need to qualify.’ But they wouldn’t let me,” she said.

Because Sampey attempted to qualify, she was charged with the DNQ. That was a sore spot for her, and she discovered that a rider swap might have averted the blemish on her clean career.

“I don’t know if George would do it  -- it’s me that has this big problem with a DNQ. That’s the big issue,” she said before Saturday’s third overall session.” George has the license, but he doesn’t have the leathers.” She said Bryce didn’t choose to pursue that option.

“I can’t say it’s not performance[-related],” Sampey said of the DNQ .”“I had two shots and I blew it.”

Already she’s planning her second comeback after this short-lived and suddenly terminated one. And already she’s trying not to derail it with head games.

“I know I’ll be able to race next year. It’ll screw up how early we can go testing and all that other stuff,” Sampey said. “I’m so mad at myself. I can’t get it out of my head . . . and George keeps telling me I’ve got to get it out of my head . . . ‘Why did I do that? Why did I roll that starting cart behind me? I knew better than that.’ He said, ‘You’ve got to stop thinking about that and start thinking, ‘What are we going to do now?’ ”

Bryce was pragmatic.

“This is part of our journey. I think Angelle sees it as a big speed bump, but I see it as just part of our journey. We’re going to use it to make us more committed, more determined.”

By way of encouragement, he said, “We’ve seen some amazing comebacks because of passion.

Sampey flashed a sense of humor about Star Racing’s battered bunch. She nodded at longtime Star Racing crew member Ken Johnson, who has a prosthetic leg after a non-racing motorcycle accident. “We have a one-legged crew member, a one-legged rider,” she said. And nodding at Bryce, she said, “And he just had hernia surgery two weeks ago.”

Quipped Bryce, “And Chaz [Sampey teammate Kennedy] and Chuck [Kennedy’s dad] are [goofballs]. All of us put together make one whole person.”

Chaz Kennedy, hoping to impress some last-minute voters for the AAA of Southern California’s Road to the Future top NHRA rookie award with an outstanding performance, will carry the load Sunday for Star Racing as the No. 9 qualifier. Kennedy will meet No. 8 Angie Smith in the opening round.

NEW ENGINE DOING JOB - Jim Underdahl landed the early No. 7 spot Friday with a 7.070-second, 189.10-mph run on a new motor in his Bad Boy Buggies Suzuki. He settled into the No. 10 position by day’s end, even shaving off more than four-hundredths of a second off his E.T. (to 7.025).

His final starting position was 14th, and he’ll take on No. 3 Michael Ray in the first round of eliminations Sunday. Ray posted the fastest speed of the meet so far: 195.79 mph.

MATCH-UPS – One significant bike-class match of Sunday’s first round is the one between No. 4 Eddie Krawiec and No. 13 Hector Arana Jr. Krawiec is second in the standings, and Arana is a distant third.  Other pairings pit No. 1 Andrew Hines and No. 16 John Hall, No. 5 Jerry Savoie and No. 12 Shawn Gann, No. 2 Matt Smith and teammate Scotty Pollacheck (No. 15), No. 7 Hector Arana and No. 10 Steve Johnson, and No. 6 Katie Sullivan and No. 1 Adam Arana.

DNQs – Swedish Suzuki rider Elvira Karlsson missed the Pro Stock Motorcycle cut Saturday by one-thousandth of a second. Her best elapsed time was 7.037, and John Hall grabbed the final slot at 7.036. Joining her on the sidelines will be Mike Berry, Rhett Lougheed, Freddie camarena, Lance Bonham, and Redell Harris.

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY - SCHUMACHER EDGES CLOSER, PROCK JOINS BECKMAN, ADAM ARANA CALLS IT A CAREER

 

TOP FUEL

CRAMPTON ‘HIT EVERYTHING RIGHT’ - Richie Crampton, making a bid for Road to the Future recipient as the NHRA’s top rookie, also is making a bid for his first top qualifying position.

The GEICO/Lucas Oil Dragster driver is the provisional leader with a 3.764-second elapsed time (at 322.42 mph). “We just hit everything right, and I got away with it for now,” the two-time winner this year said.

He said he and his team are trying to recapture the consistency they had when they won the Chevrolet performance U.S. National at Indianapolis.

THE PLACE TO BE – The Top Five in Top Fuel suddenly is the popular ticket. With Tony Schumacher seven rounds ahead of closest rival Doug Kalitta with eight rounds of racing left in the season, No. 3 Steve Torrence, No. 4 Shawn Langdon, and No. 5 Antron Brown already are there. JR Todd, Spencer Massey, and Khalid alBalooshi want to crowd in there, as well.

"It's really important for us to get in that top-five. That's our goal," Massey, who trails No. 6 Todd by 15 points, said. "I would love to be in the top-three, and that's possible. We just need to turn on some win lights and hopefully get another win here in these last two races."

AlBalooshi said, "We are in eighth place in the points, but we are close to fifth. We need to try our best to move up in the points in the last two races. We are looking for a strong finish in the last two races. This year, we have been in way better shape than in the last two years, but still, we are looking to make the season better with what we can do in the last two races. We won two races, but we have a chance to win two more races. We are looking to put our team in a better position in the points."

Torrence, trying to close a nine-point between himself and No. 2 Kalitta while extending a five-point cushion over Langdon, said he's grateful to be in the top-three mix. “Tony’s out there by himself but there are a whole bunch of guys right behind him racing for position,” the owner-driver of the Capco Contractors Dragster said. "As a family racing team, we’re just glad to be in the hunt, racing against these guys. It’s amazing that even though we haven’t won a race this year, we’re just nine points behind Doug."  

Todd entered the weekend 174 points off the pace but just four behind No. 5 Brown.

So something will have to give. Schumacher gained three more qualifying bonus points in the first Friday session. Torrence earned two and Langdon one. In the second session, Richie Crampton scored three points, Larry Dixon two, and Kalitta one.

DIXON SHINES - Larry Dixon recorded his career-best elapsed times and speed in the second Friday session with a 3.766-second, 326.71-mph run in the Caseholed Solutions Dragster for Bob Vandergriff Racing. Dixon’s speed was fastest Friday.

GUMOUT INCREASES INVOLVEMENT WITH DOTE TEAM, PRTCHETT - Gumout Performance Additives announced Friday that it is expanding its marketing partnership with the Dote Racing Top Fuel team and driver Leah Pritchett. Team owner Connie Dote said the extra support has enabled the operation to add Rob Flynn fulltime as co-crew chief for Doug Kuch and to purchase a new chassis for 2015 from Brad Hadman.

“Most teams have two crew chiefs. We’ve put a lot of pressure on Doug, so this will help,” Dote said. “This puts us in the right direction.” As for next season, Dote said, “I can’t wait!”

Pritchett said the team has not yet confirmed how many Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events the Gumout-Dote team will travel to in 2015 but said, “It’ll be more than this year.” She said the team is hoping to make enough appearances to qualify for next year’s Countdown to the Championship.    

Gumout, a fixture in automotive performance circles for 70 years, returned to NHRA drag racing in 2014 and will offer a contingency program for Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series sportsman racers, as well.

‘We’ve given a lot, and they’ve given a lot,” Pritchett said. “We couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

Ditto for Rusty Waples, global group brand manager at ITW Global Brands.

“We look forward to a strong season of racing with the Dote team, and we are happy to see our relationship with Leah grow. This past year, Leah and the Dote tem were key in helping us connect with our Gumout retailers and customers, as well as NHRA fans,” he said.

Said Pritchett, “We keep growing as a team, and with Gumout returning and stepping up, I’m already seeing 2015 as a big year. I’m looking at the top 10 and feeling like with the improvements we are making and where we have come from last year to this year that putting the Gumout Dragster in the top 10 is very real. It’s our No. 1 goal.

“I’m proud to be the leader of the Gumout Girl movement,” she said.

INJECTING SOME EXCITEMENT, EMPATHY – T.J. Zizzo's most recent appearance was at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, where he established his personal-best elapsed time at 3.795 seconds in the Rust-Oleum Dragster. Fans there had fun, giving input about what color the stripe on his car would be each day. Now, not only does Zizzo say he's homing in on his first Top Fuel victory, but he also gave fans more than just a colorful stripe to look at as he competes.

"Realistically, I think we’re as close as we ever have been to actually winning a race," Zizzo said. Tossing in a dash of his trademark humor, he said, "I can almost taste it. If we can keep all the fire inside the engine and not outside, I feel we have an opportunity to do a real good job this weekend. We’re hoping to get some round-wins this weekend and knock out of few Countdown contenders. That’s our goal."

Another goal is to show support for breast cancer survivors and raise awareness about the disease and ways to combat it. His contribution to the cause is a one-of-a-kind pink injector on top of his dragster.

"Breast cancer awareness is something close to our Zizzo Racing family, and we wanted to do our part in supporting the cause and decided to paint our injector pink," he said. "We're just trying to do our part in remembering those people and their families that are our close friends. Besides, it's never been done before, and I thought it would be interesting to see an engine part painted. It’s just our special way to remember those breast cancer survivors."

As for the car's tune-up, Zizzo said, "It's the same combination. We'll just adjust for the corrected altitude and let it rip. In our past races in Las Vegas, we have not performed up to our standards and it's challenging.  Our plans are to do better and get some round-wins. To get our first race win there would be the most emotional feeling in the world, only because our team has worked so hard and nothing has been given to us.  It would be an unbelievable experience. It's hard to put it into words, just thinking about it."

TRICK OR TREATING? – Khalid alBalooshi reckons he has outgrown Halloween. "I do not think I will dress up for Halloween this year. I think I am too old for that now," the Al-Anabi Racing Dragster driver said.

 

FUNNY CAR
 

FORCE OVERTAKES BECKMAN FOR PROVISIONAL NO. 1 - Jimmy Prock, the latest crew chief addition at Don Schumacher Racing, helped Jack Beckman race to the No. 1 spot late Friday. But John Force, Prock’s boss for the past 13 years until Oct. 23, charged back and swiped it from him with a 4.039-second elapsed time and 318.54-mph effort. But Force downplayed any personal aspect of the competition.

He called both Prock and Beckman “sharp cookies” and “good guys” and said, “Jimmy Prock built that car. I can’t take anything away from him. Every time I try to make something personal I screw up.” He said he can’t worry about the upheaval of Prock’s exit: “My head would be all full of sand.”

He added that Prock “will be great wherever he goes” but quickly said that Prock is gone from JFR and that he didn’t want to discuss that or dwell on it anymore.  

He simply said of his Friday feat, “We got down there, so we feel good about it.”

HAGAN HAS LASER-STRONG FOCUS – New points leader Matt Hagan, sporting a beard as he emerged from the three-week layoff, laid out his plan for the final two races as he sat inches away from 16-time and reigning champion John Force at Thursday’s pre-race press conference. And Hagan wasn’t one bit shy.

“I’m coming to get my second championship,” Hagan declared. “I’ve been in the battle with John for a long time. If this was a popularity contest, they would’ve handed him and his daughter the trophy already. It’s not. It’s about a drag race. It’s about who has the best car, the best team, the best driving skills. And right now we do. We made up 120 points.”

Hagan paid his respects to Force but vowed to do “whatever it takes” to hold onto the lead for these next two races. “John’s a 16-time world champion. He has nothing to prove to anybody. I have everything to prove to somebody. I plan on doing whatever it takes – whether it’s going in and sitting on a practice tree for hours every day or it’s looking at film and critiquing my driving, whether it’s talking to a sports psychologist about the mental edge and keeping it. Whatever it takes, I don’t care. We have to do this.

“I’ve been here. I’ve won one. I lost one. We’re battling back and forth. I want to race John Force I want to race Courtney Force. These guys are the best out there, and I want to beat them.”

The key is not to yield to temptation or distraction, he indicated.

“I have to focus on my race car. I’m coming to win. Let’s go do this,” Hagan said Thursday.

In an earlier interview, Hagan said, “We started off this Countdown real strong. With two wins and a runner-up in three out of four races  . . . we are on a roll. To be honest, there's not that much pressure on us. Everyone expects John this thing. We just have to go out there and do our thing and not worry about anyone else. We have the team that is capable of doing that.

"We have to take it one lap at a time and not get ahead of ourselves," Hagan said. "It's important to go out there on Friday and get our weekend started off right and make a good, solid lap.”

He was third behind Ron Capps and Del Worsham (and two spots ahead of John Force) in the first session.

"Dickie [crew chief Venables] is so focused on our team and our car right now. These guys are hungry. They have a lot to prove. Dickie always has great game plan, and he's a smart racer. I have all of the confidence in the world in him and my guys and me as a driver.”

Force had his turn with the microphone, and he said of Hagan, “Hell, he pretty much summed it all up. My old hot rod, when it’s time to talk, she’ll make her statement.”
 
PROCK JOINS BECKMAN’S TEAM THIS WEEKEND – Jack Beckman has had an especially busy week honoring U.S. military veterans and is ready to record his first victory since Sept. 30, 2012, and now he and his Infinite Hero Foundation crew have some additional ammunition to help them fight off the Funny Car competition. They have Jimmy Prock.

Don Schumacher Racing announced Prock’s assignment to the Beckman Funny car team Friday, just before qualifying opened for the Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Prock, released Oct. 23 at John Force Racing and hired the same day at DSR, will work with Chris Cunningham and Terry Snyder on Beckman’s Dodge Charger. He had served as Force’s crew chief as the Funny Car icon pursued a 17th series title.

Friday’s news ended speculation about whether Prock would pour his efforts into helping DSR driver and points leader Matt Hagan fend off No. 2 Force in the final two races of the Countdown. And it put to rest other rumors about what Prock’s new role at DSR will be.

DSR said in a written statement Friday that “Prock will not comment on his departure from Force.”   

However, Prock did say the DSR Funny Cars were significantly different from those at John Force Racing and that his immediate mission is to “try to learn the stuff as I go along.  You never quit learning.”

Hagan addressed the situation head-on Thursday at an NHRA news conference. He said, “I’ll put this to bed real quickly. You all talk about Jimmy Prock and John and all this mess that’s going on.” Recalling the time he was entrenched in the championship battle and crew chief Dickie Venables became ill and missed critical races when the team was in the homestretch of a championship run.

“I understand when you have problems you have to adapt to them,” Hagan said. Nodding toward Force, who was sitting immediately to his left at the gathering, “He’s going to do that. We cannot give this man any room to breathe.”

Said Hagan, “When you have somebody like John and Courtney [who have] made a few mistakes along the way and they’re down and they’re trying to crawl back up, you have to step on their throat.”

If he does that, he’ll do it without Jimmy Prock calling the tuning shots on his Mopar /Magneti-Marelli Dodge.

Force didn’t name Prock or elaborate beyond what he had said last week in an NHRA-sponsored teleconference. He did say, “First time I came to Vegas, I had to borrow people out of the stands to help run my car. I’ve done it all, every different way. I take what I’ve got, and that’s where I go.”

Alluding to the situation of losing his crew chief, who had been a trusted member of his inner circle since 2001 and had helped Robert Hight earn the Funny Car crown in 2009, Force called it the “same old s---. It don’t change.”

John Medlen is heading Force’s crew, and it appears all the team members remained at JFR following Prock’s departure.

BECKMAN SALUTES MILITARY – News of Jimmy Prock’s arrival in his camp capped an eventful week for Beckman.  

The 2012 Funny Car champion celebrated the 10-year anniversary of his last chemotherapy treatment and marked his third season as a national spokesman for Amgen's "Chemotherapy Myth or Facts" campaign.

This past Saturday night, he accompanied Don Schumacher Racing sponsor Terry Chandler to Dallas for the American Airlines Sky Ball XII at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The Sky Ball makes a difference for many deserving charities that support American veterans. One of the organizations supporting the event was Oakley's Infinite Hero Foundation. IHF director Laurie Baker represented the group, along with Beckman and Chandler, who also funds DSR's Make-A-Wish Foundation Funny Car team. The Infinite Hero Foundation presented two $100,000 grants at the event.

"It was an honor to be there with Terry and Laurie to represent the Infinite Hero Foundation," Beckman  said. "A highlight for me was meeting three Medal of Honor recipients."

Beckman, who retired at age 21 in 1987 as a U.S. Air Force sergeant, plays a key role with the Infinite Hero Foundation and is carrying the organization's colors on the sides of his Dodge Charger this weekend. In addition to raising awareness, Beckman has helped generate more than $75,000 for IHF since late April, largely through the sale of more than $40,000 in "challenge coins" Oakley has produced. Since the sixth event of the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season, he has carried 10 of the coins each time his Funny Car goes down the track and autographs each. The coins are sold for a $100 donation to IHF at events and can be purchased for $120, which includes a T-shirt (while supplies last) at the ShoeRacing.com website (stores.ebay.com/donschumacherracing).

This weekend's event is the sixth race with IHF for Beckman this year. He will carry a special coin and memorial card to honor the late Sgt. Christopher Michael Graves Jr. of Alabama, a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces 1st Special Forces Delta Team 170. Graves was killed in action June 10, 2013.

The Infinite Hero Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, combats mental and physical front-line issues facing returning military heroes and their families. The Foundation funds programs that drive innovation and the accessibility of effective treatments for military heroes and their families dealing with service-related mental and physical injuries.

Then Thursday afternoon, Beckman visited the Veterans Administration Hospital near Las Vegas Motor Sspeedway. It was his 16th visit with veterans in Las Vegas. He made 14 previous stops at Mike O'Callaghan Federal Medical Center, a hospital operated by the U.S. Air Force across from Nellis Air Force Base.

STILL IN WINNING MINDSET - Tony Pedregon, driver of the American Racing Wheels-Micro Strategies Toyota, said, "I will always have great memories for the Vegas track, as it has played a big role in both of my championships."

Times have been a little tougher lately, but Pedregon indicated he's optimistic. “After four consecutive races, I had some time off to evaluate our season and as we look back, we definitely expected more,” he said. "We are not in the chase for the championship, but we still have a good car and plan on using these next two races to run hard, compete for wins, and use the data to prepare and come out strong in 2015."

His Funny Car was on display Thursday night at his personal appearance at Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall.

ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON – Terry and Jenna Haddock said Friday they’re on the brink of finalizing a sponsorship deal that will allow him to drive his Funny Car and her to compete in Top Fuel for rookie-of-the-year honors in full-time schedules in 2015.

“We’ll have a deal to announce pretty soon. We should get the final word no later than Monday,” Jenna Haddock said. “They’re doing budget approvals this week.”

Both said this agreement has been two years in the making. “I’m more excited for him than I am for me,” Jenna Haddock said of her husband. “He’s been out here for 20 years. He deserves it.”

The new marketing partnership, the Haddocks said, will enable them to hire crews and a crew chief.

GLITTERING FOR A GOAL – For the second straight October, Alexis DeJoria has the "Mammovan" beside her Kalitta Motorsports pit, ready to offer fans free mammograms, thanks to her continuing partnership with Nevada Health Centers. Now she has a stylish new 'Go Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness' paint scheme on her Patrón XO Cafe Toyota for this weekend.

DeJoria unveiled the new livery Wednesday evening at The LINQ hotel and casino, then hosted guests for a party in one of the resort's High Roller pod. The High Roller is a ferris-wheel-like observation wheel that towers 550 feet above the Las Vegas cityscape. It's studded with "pods," or cabins/rooms, that hold as many as 40 persons and present a unique aerial view of the famous Strip. Equally eye-catching is the hot pink, gold leaf, and matte-black look to DeJoria's race car.

Free mammograms are available to any female ticketholder 40 years old or older who is attending the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, thanks to an agreement with Nevada Health Centers and support from Kalitta Motorsports and the Patrón Spirits Company. Health insurance is not a requirement for the complimentary screening.

BECKMAN FOCUSED ON WINNING RACE - Jack Beckman has proved his talent as an NHRA nitro Funny Car driver.

The California native won the 2012 world championship.

A year ago, he had another solid season finishing third, highlighted by his victory in the $100,000 Traxxas Nitro Shootout all-star event at Indianapolis.

This season, Beckman, who drives for Don Schumacher Racing, has failed to win a race and he missed the Countdown to the Championship as he was 11th in the regular season point standings.

“A lot of people in my position would say I can’t wait for this year to be over and move on, and I think we have two shots to try and win,” said Beckman, who has 15 career nitro Funny Car national event wins. “I feel really bad for the crew. I feel like they’ve given us effort all year long and really haven’t gotten anything back as a reward for it. The crews get a bonus the better the car does in eliminations, so to put it a different way, the cars that aren’t winning rounds those guys are making less than some of the people who work in the same building. I just want to win one of these races.”

Beckman is competing at the NHRA Toyota Nationals this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The season concludes Nov. 13-16 at the Auto Club Finals in Pomona, Calif.

“I’ve spent more time at those two tracks probably than just about any others I’ve been at just because of my Sportsman racing days,” Beckman said. “There’s definitely a sense of familiarity, but that doesn’t necessarily carry over to the tune up of the race car. It has been an unbelievably frustrating year. If you would have told me at the beginning of this year that we had 14 round wins going into the second to last race of the year and not be a Countdown contender, I would have told you that you were crazy. The most frustrating thing is we haven’t come close to what we are capable of doing. At this point, I’m just scratching my head. I don’t know why we haven’t had the success we are capable of. That being said, I still feel like we have two races to show people hey we didn’t forget how to do this. We know how to win races.”

During the first round of qualifying Friday in Vegas, Beckman was fourth fastest at 4.143 seconds at 309.27 mph. In the nightcap Friday, Beckman recorded a 4.045-second elapsed time at 318.84 mph to put himself third in the qualifying ladder.

However, being a spoiler is the last thing on Beckman’s mind.

“That word is a clear reminder that you are a non-contender,” Beckman said. “I just want to win races. At this point, the only thing that matters is that trophy on Sunday.”
As for 2015, Beckman doesn’t have a definite answer for what’s in store for him.

“Valvoline is not coming back and the way I understand it we do have enough stuff to run the car next year, but a lot of things are a big question mark,” Beckman said.

PEAKING AT WRONG TIME? - Ron Capps, who has bounced all over the top-10 map this season in the NAPA Dodge Charger Funny Car, has slid from the No. 3 position in the standings to No. 7 with two races left in the year. Still, he said he clings to "that glimmer of hope" that he can shrink his 169-point deficit against leader Matt Hagan. A perfect weekend would yield 150 points, so if Capps were to do that here this weekend, then repeat at the season-closing race at Pomona, Calif., he could pick up 300 points. Capps is 97 points from reaching third place.

"It's a long shot, but mathematically we can still catch Hagan," Capps said. "It's important to us that we finish the season strong. When we had our debriefing [three weeks ago] after the Reading event, [crew chief Rahn] Tobler said we have to go win Vegas and then Pomona and whatever happens around us happens. You have to keep that glimmer of hope that we still have a shot at the championship."

Capps has victories at Epping and Brainerd and a runner-up performance at Norwalk. He has an equally respectable 30-20 record on race days this year.

"We've gone through the year with a consistently great race car," he said, "but with the Countdown to the Championship set up the way it is, you don't have to be the best car all year long like it used to be. You have to have the best car over the last six races. We had a couple of disappointing races that dropped us in points, while Hagan had a couple fantastic races in the Countdown. They've done well when it counted."

PRO STOCK

NO. 2 IS NO. 1 FOR THE MOMENT - Erica Enders-Stevens, ranked second in the Pro Stock standings and battling to overtake points leader Jason Line, fired a strong salvo Friday. She put the Rick and Rickie Jones-tuned Elite Motorsports Camaro atop the qualifying order, clocking a 6.647-second elapsed time at a class-fastest 208.01 mph.

In an off-track development Friday, Serving Orphans Worldwide (SOW) announced it has invited Enders-Stevens to fill a seat on its board of directors. That extends a successful partnership that began at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.  

"After being introduced to Richard Baker and Serving Orphans Worldwide earlier this year in Indianapolis and learning the significant impact they have on kids around the world, I was honored when they asked me to serve on the Board of Directors," Enders-Stevens said. "This charity has really touched me and Richie [husband and fellow driver Richie Stevens]. We've been able to learn so much from them and how they help kids.

"It's very humbling to be chosen to represent such a great endeavor as SOW,” she said. “They already do so much and I only hope this opportunity brings more attention to their efforts. The best part is the Board of Directors and their affiliates cover all the administrative costs so 100 percent of the funds raised go directly to the orphans and orphanages."

ANDERSON TAKES SPOILER ROLE SERIOUSLY - It sounds odd that it has been a year since Greg Anderson has raced at Las Vegas, for he has more victories at The Strip at LVMS (seven) than any other NHRA pro racer except for Top Fuel's Tony Schumacher (eight) and has led the field at this facility five times. He was sidelined by heart surgery when the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series made its first appearance here this season.

To ensure his best showing for the KB/Summit Racing Equipment team at this race he calls "our Super Bowl," Anderson and his team have been test-crazy since the most recent race three weeks ago at Reading, Pa.'s Maple Grove Raceway. "We've been working our tails off. We sent two of our cars to Vegas to test, and I tested in Mooresville [N.C.] for four days before that. We've done a lot of on-track testing, and we've done a lot in the engine shop," he said. "This is a very big race for us, and there is a lot on the line."

Teammate Jason Line began the weekend with a 35-point lead over No. 2 Erica Enders-Stevens, a 51-point edge on No. 3 Dave Connolly, and a 99-point advantage over Shane Gray. Allen Johnson was 106 points back in the No. 5 slot, and No. 6 Vincent Nobile trailed by 106. So he doesn't have a lock on his third championship, by any means. But Anderson, not eligible for the title, said he wants to see if he can help Line go into the finale at Pomona with a lot more confidence.

"We need to have a great weekend so that we can bring a championship trophy back to KB Racing and the Summit Racing team," Anderson said. "We've been putting every effort into it. It's going to take both of our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros to get the job done, and I can help by doing my part and knocking out some important competitors. I need to help Jason find his way to the winners circle, and that's what team cars are for. The main goal right now is to win the championship for KB Racing and Summit."

Of course, he said, "I don't think any other team has been lounging at the beach these last three weeks. I think we've all put in equal effort, and the winner will be whoever made the most gain. For us, this is hugely important. Our goal is to wrestle the championship back for Chevrolet Performance and make them proud. We want to put KB Racing back on top."

Anderson, who last won at Las Vegas at this race in 2010 as he beat Line in the final, said, "We hope we're better than we've been all year – and even in his limited schedule he has reached three final rounds. "It's about peaking at the right time, and I hope and expect that these last two races will be our best of the season."

Anderson took the tentative No. 9 position Friday.

'I WILL FIGHT TO THE END' - Allen Johnson, the Reading runner-up to Rodger Brogdon, is a longshot for his second Pro Stock championship, but the stubborn Tennessean isn't listening to even himself when it comes to that. Only 155 points separate leader Jason Line from eighth-place 2013 champion Jeg Coughlin. Johnson is fifth, 106 points off the pace, thanks to the jump at Reading from No. 8 to No. 5.
 
The Mopar/Magneti Marelli Dodge Dart owner-driver said, "It puts a competitiveness in me that is really unmatched. We are still in the fight. I will fight to the end. We definitely have made some changes that helped. We fought a bad set of tires, which was the entire problem. We have two more races to show what we’re made of."
 
He'll have to get past No. 2 Erica Enders-Stevens, No. 3 Dave Connolly, and No. 4 Shane Gray if he is to topple Line – and he know they're all tough, just like the other longshots behind him: Vincent Nobile, Jonathan Gray, and teammate Coughlin. "I haven't been surprised at all with how tough the competition has been this year," Johnson said, "And specifically in the Countdown, I knew everyone would be tough. It's all about rising to the occasion. We have two races to go for broke, and we intend of giving it all we got."
 
He called The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway "one of our favorite tracks right behind Denver" and said, "We are confident and have done really well at Vegas the last few years. We must win and need a lot of little points also to have a chance. But all things are possible in Las Vegas, right?”

Johnson, the 2012 class champion, wants to win races and championships, but he said, "The winners in all of this will be Pro Stock fans, because it’s been a fantastic fight. We will try our best as a championship team right to the end. We’re going to give it our all no matter where we end up."
 
He ended up fifth-quickest Friday with two more sessions set for Saturday.
 
YOUNGER GRAY INTRODUCED TO VEGAS TRACK - Jonathan Gray made his first Pro Stock passes here Friday. He chose not to run at the first Las Vegas event of the year, the March 28-30 SummitRacing.com Nationals. And the rookie's car was the lone Camaro among the three in the Gray Motorsports garage that didn't travel to Las Vegas for the team's recent test session.

But he said before he got his own turn at the highly regarded, Bruton Smith-owned facility, "Everything they learned tune-up wise they can bring right over to my car, because we've got the same motor package in all three. They [his brother Shane and Dave Connolly] tested well, and hopefully it will translate to race day for all of us."

He said before the event began, "I'm excited to race in Vegas. That's one of the nicest facilities on the circuit, and I've heard from a lot of racers that the racing surface is just like glass. It's one of those deals where you hear this stuff and you just want to go experience it for yourself."
 
He was ninth quickest in the first session and dropped to 10th in the second.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

SAVOIE PROVISIONAL NO. 1 BIKER - Jerry Savoie was the early leader Friday with a 6.946-second, 192.55-mph pass in the first session aboard his White Alligator Racing Suzuki.

He credited the Vance & Hines organization and his crew chief, Tim Kulungian for the performance that made him the Friday tentative No. 1 qualifier for the second straight event. Savoie, of Cutoff, La., led the field in July at Sonoma, Calif.

THEY'RE BACK IN FORCE - Eddie Krawec entered this race trailing Vance & Hines Screamin' Eage Harley-Davidson teammate and points leader Andrew Hines by 25 points, and he said if he had it his way, the Pro Stock Motorcycle championship chase would go "down to the wire and it’s decided in the final round in Pomona. It would be awesome for it to come down to winning that final race. We’re both competitive people and we both want to win it. Hopefully the Harleys are going to be first and second. That would be a nice way to recoup.”
 
By that he means the team regaining its dominating form after an offseason and nearly a full year of conforming to new (and, for them, damaging) NHRA rules aimed at class parity. They had to re-engineer their motors and essentially start from scratch. Even as their rivals won races and got chances to break out from under the Harley-Davidson shadow, they said they knew the Vance & Hines team would catch up and even excel faster than they would like to see.
 
That has come true this year, with both Hines and Krawiec winning five times in the 14 previous races this year. The Harley duo squared off in the final rounds at the first three events. Krawiec has won four times in the past six races.
 
So they're back, and they have a virtual lock on the series title – although Hector Arana Jr. has a slight chance to make up 168 points that separate him and Hines. Steve Johnson lurks in fourth place, 200 points off the pace. But Krawiec said he and Hines are not about to fall off the face of the Earth and pave the way for Arana or Johnson.
 
“This is our full-time job, and we take it seriously,” Krawiec said. “We’re expected to win by our sponsors, our partners, and everyone that helps us with our program. We expect results, and there wasn’t one person happy with the results from last year. When we were not winning we had to find ways to bring program to the next level. Everybody just wanted to make the bikes perform this year. Everyone pitched in, and when you have everyone behind you like that it makes it easier.”
 
But he's still behind Hines, whose most recent victory came at Dallas in Race 2 of the six-event Countdown.
 
"The way I look at it, I have to come out of Vegas with an event win," Krawiec said. "That's the only way you can ensure a chance at the championship in Pomona. My goal is to win every race, and I'm certainly not going to change it now. It's probably going to be a very fast event, and my bike tends to run well in those conditions. I’m looking forward to these final two races."
 
His momentum is something he has pushed from his mind, he said: "You have to treat every race the same, momentum or not. I’ll go in with the same mindset, but I don’t get hung up on the way the last race went. I try to treat every race as a new beginning."
 
At the close of Friday qualifying, Hines was in the No. 4 slot and Krawiec was No. 7.
 
ADAM ARANA LEAVING NHRA ACTION - Surprisingly, Adam Arana, rider of the ProtectTheHarvest.com-MAVTV Buell – is closing his Pro Stock Motorcycle career after just two seasons, because he is set to join the U.S. Coast Guard.

The 23-year-old Milltown, Ind., resident has passed academic/vocational and physical entrance exams and will report to the Coast Guard for duty Jan. 6, 2015, at Cape May, N.J.

Arana, who has studied business at Indiana University Southeast while working at the Lucas Oil production plant at Corydon, Ind., and racing a Pro Stock Motorcycle with father Hector and older brother Hector. And he said he wants to enjoy these last two races – this weekend’s Toyota Nationals and the season finale at Pomona, Calif. – to the maximum.

"My main goal is to have fun," Adam Arana said. "I only have two races left in my Pro Stock Motorcycle career. I normally have fun out here, but I really want to try to have as much fun as I possibly can."
 
He’s coming off one of his best performances all season at Maple Grove Raceway at Reading, Pa., starting race day from the top half of the ladder for the first time all season. So he said he made few changes to his bike in the past three weeks. That paid off, as he grabbed the No. 5 qualifying spot in the first session Friday. He’s ninth overnight.
 
HEELS AND HORSEPOWER - Angie Smith has sped down the dragstrip many times on her Pro Stock Motorcycle. But Thursday night she walked the glamorous red carpet during sponsor Kandy Magazine's "Heels and Horsepower" gala at the Sayers Club at the swanky new SLS Las Vegas resort.

Smith headlined the event, along with Jessica Hall, a model and TV and radio personality who appears in series "Kendra on Top" on the cable/satellite network WE tv, and Emily Sears, an international cover model and urban street-wear supermodel.

It was billed as a celebration of "the beautiful women of Kandy Magazine and the heart-pounding horsepower of NHRA drag racing." Kandy cover models and Kandy girls also were in the spotlight.

Smith made it into the top 12 at No. 11 Friday.

THE MENTAL EDGE - Hector Arana Jr. said he has “been so busy with other things at the shop that I really haven't had time to sit down and practice on the Tree like I would have liked." So he has been doing the next best thing: tapping into the mental aspects of the sport.

“I have been making mental runs,” the Lucas Oil Buell racer said. “Just when I lay down or whenever I have a few free moments, I sit there and go through a run in my head. It's not the same as using the practice Tree but it's really important as well."
 
Arana, ranked No. 3 in the standings behind the Vance & Hines tandem of Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec, said, "My focus is that I want to get another win before the year is over. I'm not going to focus on the championship standings. With all that extra pressure, it's only going to mess up my mental game, which is a big part of drag racing.”