EVENT RESULTS  TOP FUEL FUNNY CAR PRO STOCK PRO STOCK BIKE PRO MOD SPORTSMAN

WED GALLERY  THURS. GALLERY  FRI. GALLERY  SAT. GALLERY SUN GALLERY MON. GALLERY

 

MONDAY NOTEBOOK

CHRIS MCGAHA TAKES PRO STOCK VICTORY AT INDY - This is a weekend Chris McGaha will never forget.

The NHRA Pro Stock driver from Odessa, Texas, has had a frustrating season, but that all was forgotten Monday afternoon.

McGaha, who never won a round at the U.S. Nationals, beat Allen Johnson to claim his inaugural Indy championship.

“To get a round win here is pretty good and then to go ahead and win, that’s pretty awesome,” said McGaha, who was competing in his sixth U.S. Nationals.

McGaha clocked a 6.668-second elapsed time at 207.15 mph, while Johnson came in at 6.715 seconds at 207.08 mph at Lucas Oil Raceway.

This was McGaha’s fifth career victory and his first since he took home the title at Reading, Pa., last September.

The victory march by the No. 9 qualifier McGaha consisted of wins over Matt Hartford, Curt Steinbach, Vincent Nobile and Johnson.

“I’ve been the crew chief on my car at different times before in between crew chiefs and I go up there and it just seems like one more step you have to do,” said McGaha, who pilots the Harlow Sammons Chevrolet. “It’s kind of like making a dyno pull, you just do it, and you go on. It’s just part of the puzzle. I don’t really think I go up there and think about my driving too much. I just go up there and do it and let it happen. I don’t try and get all into it and worked up. I don’t have any special rituals or doing exercises or yoga or nothing.”

McGaha arrived at Indy eighth in points, and with a 12-17 elimination round record. He left Indy No. 7 in points.

“We don’t have a crew chief so we try and make the best call we can,” McGaha said. “I’m a more power guy so I always blame it on power. It’s always going to be power, you never have enough. It’s just one of them deals. Yes I can tell there’s something wrong with the car and I keep working on it. I did have a little bit of help (Monday) from the American Ethanol (Deric Kramer’s team). I will probably go back over there in a minute and say I still need more power. You can never have enough. It’s like having too much money or too many wins, you can’t ever have enough.”

This victory has given him new optimism for the six-race Countdown to the Championship which starts Sept. 16-18 in Charlotte, N.C.

“We have to keep doing what we did (Monday), that’s for sure,” McGaha said. “If we keep doing what we did (Monday), we definitely have a shot. I’ve botched a lot of runs along the way. We shouldn’t even be in seventh, between tire shaking and making bad calls, and just flat getting our butt kicked, we should be a lot higher in the points, but it’s not impossible at this point. We just have to keep winning.”

Having a chance to contend for an NHRA world championship was the last thing on McGaha’s mind most of this season, thanks to wholesale changes in the Pro Stock class this year.

As of Jan. 1, 2016, NHRA is requiring all Pro Stock teams to equip their cars with electronically-controlled throttle body fuel injection systems, making engines more relevant from a technology standpoint. In order to reduce and control costs for the race teams, an NHRA-controlled 10,500 Rev Limiter will be added to the fuel injection systems.

Those changes led to complete domination by the Ken Black Racing team of Greg Anderson and Jason Line, who combined to win the first 13 races of the season.

Allen Johnson ended the KB victory binge at the Mile-High Nationals July 24 at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo. Johnson, Skillman (Brainerd), Aaron Strong (Seattle) and McGaha (Indy) are the only other drivers to win in Pro Stock this year.

“I guarantee the KB guys, I know exactly what they are thinking over there right now,” McGaha said. “They probably would have rather won this race than all those others because now we’re going into the Countdown. It does change. They can see that people are catching up, whether we’ve totally caught up or not, but we’re making progression and making it happen on race day. They don’t seem to have the dominance. To me, they still have the car, but they haven’t been dominating on race day like they had been.”

SUNDAY PRO STOCK NOTEBOOK

BUTNER GRABS NO. 1 SPOT – The dominance of Ken Black Racing Pro Stock team - Greg Anderson, Jason and Bo Butner - this year has been well-chronicled.

Bo Butner added another line on the resume Sunday.

Butner clocked a 6.571-second time at 210.24 mph to capture the No. 1 qualifying spot at the U.S. Nationals.

“We made a pretty good Saturday on the back half of the run and then we made a good run on the front half,” Butner said. “I thought if we were able to pull that together we would be pretty good, and that’s kind of what happened. In my heart this is a dear place in my father’s heart. I lost him (James) a few years ago (in July of 2010). When he getting sick, he told me don’t ever run Pro Stock. You have to be smarter than that. I think he was talking more about not owning a Pro Stock team or try and fund a Pro Stock team. I got a very fortunate position to be in right now. He would be proud of me.”

This was Butner’s third No. 1 qualifier this season as he also was tops at Sonoma, Calif., and Phoenix. Line (6) and Anderson (5) have combined for 11 No. 1 qualifying spots in 2016.

Despite his prowess in qualifying, Butler, who calls Floyds Knobs, Ind., home, has yet to close the deal on race day as he has four runner-up finishes this season.

“Hopefully we will get some of this hometown luck as I call it,” said Butner, who also is competing the Stock class at Indy. “We have a very fast car and we’ve had a fast car all year long. This is the toughest class ever and it’s hard to win. I feel good about this weekend, and I think maybe we will finish it up like we need to.”

While Butner is chasing his first career Pro Stock victory, his teammates Anderson (7) and Line (7) have won 14 of the 17 national events so far this season.

“Both of them are working extremely hard on my car this week,” Butner said. “They are ready for me to win as well and it will get a lot of people off their backs. Every little move we’ve made has been the right move. Even though Jason is not running as good as possible, we are trying some new stuff with him. We are just ready for a couple of weeks for the first race of the Countdown (Sept. 16-18), which we can’t miss.”

COUNTDOWN CHECK-UP – Coming into the U.S. Nationals, the race to finish in the top 10 of the point standings was wide open.

The six-race Countdown to the Championship begins Sept. 16-18 in Charlotte, N.C.

Elite Motorsports teammates – Erica Enders-Stevens and Jeg Coughlin are ninth and 10th in the points. Coughlin has a 36-point lead over 11th-place Alex Laughlin. Enders-Stevens leads Laughlin by 49 points. Each round win Monday is worth 30 points.

Enders-Stevens has won back-to-back world championships and is the reigning U.S. Nationals champ.

Enders-Stevens and Coughlin qualified No. 14 and No. 15, and Laughlin will start from the No. 6 spot.

Enders-Stevens gets Shane Gray in round one and Coughlin has Greg Anderson. Laughlin clashes with Kenny Delco, the No. 11 qualifier.

NOTHING IN A NUMBER – The number on the side of Pro Stock driver Matt Hartford’s Pro Stock Chevy Camaro is 666.

Yes, Hartford is aware that 666 is the "number of the beast" in (most manuscripts of) chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, and also in popular culture.

Hartford, however, said he isn’t sending a message with his number.

“Why not?,” Hartford said about his choice. “It’s a good number. Everybody loves that. If you look at my car you have the Pro 666 and a Racers For Christ decal right next to it. The RFC guys love it. They love the number, they think it’s great. It mean nothing it (666) is just a number. If anybody looks at it for more than what it is they are really looking at the wrong thing.”

Hartford said his wife, Amber, also wears a T-shirt that is a play on numbers.

“My wife (Amber) has a shirt that says ‘333 I’m only half evil’,” Matt said. “We like numbers and numbers are just numbers.”

Hartford clocked a weekend best 6.612-second elapsed time at 208.94 mph in Q3. He didn’t improve on that in Q4 and that left him No. 8 on the qualifying ladder.

Hartford, who has engine supplied by Warren Johnson, will face Chris McGaha in round one Monday.

GRAY HAS SOLID STARTING SPOT – Shane Gray will start in the No. 3 spot Sunday. For those keep score at home, this isn’t Gray’s best starting position this season. He was No. 1 at Chicago and No. 3 at both Denver and Sonoma.

Gray won the U.S. Nationals in 2014.

"I'm not much of one to scour the history books, but it's pretty hard to overlook the list of NHRA greats that have won at this place,” said Gray in a press release. “To have my little entry in the record books is very, very cool, and if we could manage to do it again we would be on an even shorter list of people that have won Indy more than once, so that's our goal."

GAYDOSH’S INDY DREAM VANISHES – John Gaydosh wants nothing more than to qualify for the U.S. Nationals in his career.

The Baltimore, Md., driver will have to wait for that to happen. Gaydosh’s best ET was 6.714 seconds, which was 18th fastest and didn’t make the cut for the 16-car field.

“We always struggle at Indy and I have no idea why,” Gaydosh said. “I don’t know, it’s Indy. We’ve been making really good runs lately and not missed a run and here we stumbled.”

DELCO MAKES MOVE – Kenny Delco needed a big run in Pro Stock’s Q3 and he delivered in his Camaro.

Delco of Setauket, N.Y., clocked a 6.633-second time at 208.30 mph to move up to 11th on the qualifying ladder and that’s where he stayed after Q4. Delco will try and upset No. 6 Alex Laughlin in first round.

“Of course there was pressure,” Delco said. “We have a new manifold, so we are trying to get the right combination.”

Former standout Pro Stock driver Frank Iaconio, who is Delco’s crew chief at Indy, was happy with Delco’s lap.

“The first one (in qualifying) was just to see where it went and we improved in Q2 (6.675) and then we kind of went backwards on Q3, so we went back to our setup from Q2 just to be safe.”

STRONG TALKS CELEBRATION – Sept. 3, 2016, is a day Aaron Strong will never forget.

Strong won his first NHRA Pro Stock Wally when he beat Vincent Nobile during Q3 – at the U.S. Nationals - in what was the finals of the rain-postponed Northwest Nationals Aug. 7.

“We ran kind of late (the finals) and had to do kind of still do a quick maintenance on the car and we got loaded up and we got to the Outback Steakhouse at about 9:53 p.m., thinking they closed at 10, but it didn’t close until 11. I just had one drink and a small sirloin and some shrimp and a salad. I should’ve of got the biggest steak on the menu because I didn’t sleep that great and that probably would have put me to sleep better. I was just amped up and I wasn’t sleeping in my normal bed.”

Strong acknowledged Sunday morning he was still trying to process the fact he won.

“It was cool to have all the people come over and congratulate us. Greg Anderson was over here and talking to me one-on-one and that was really cool of him. I look up to all of those guys obviously. It will keep settling in slowly over the next week. Right after I won, I had like 33 text messages and 12 missed calls, eight voicemails and stuff on Facebook. You remember all of the races growing up, the first race you won, the first divisional race, and first divisional championship and first national event and now my first pro win. It’s a ladder and this is definitely at the top of the ladder.”

The win also will enable Strong to increase his race schedule.

“Now that we’re back here (in Indy) we have some friends back here where we can leave our rig, so now we can do St. Louis (Sept. 23-25) and Dallas (Oct. 13-16) with the extra money we won.”

Strong qualified No. 12 (6.634) and will try to keep his improbable run in eliminations going when he takes on Jason Line first round.

MCGAHA SEARCHES FOR CONSISTENCY – A year ago, Chris McGaha finished a career-best fourth in the Pro Stock standings.

This season has had more downs than ups. He came to the U.S. Nationals eighth in the points, highlighted by his runner-up finish at Phoenix Feb. 28.

“We have our days,” said McGaha, who pilots the Harlow Sammons Camaro. “(The issue has been) forgetting the basics. I got too wrapped up in fuel injection and forgetting the basics. We’re not 100 percent on track, but it is getting closer.”

McGaha made his best run in qualifying in Q3 with a 6.624-second run, which left him No. 9 on the qualifying ladder and where he remained for race day.

“We just need to keep chipping away at it,” McGaha said. “If you get your stuff fast, you should be able to win, that’s the main thing. A lot of people have struggled and I’ve even noticed that some of the ones that were running up front, they’re jumping back and forth. It seems like when you try and make it better, it seems like it’s really easy to make it worse with the fuel-injection. It seems like your initial thinking on it must have been right and everything you thought after that has been wrong. That’s what it feels like.”

McGaha, who has raced full-time Pro Stock from 2014-16, doesn’t believe that will continue for him in 2017.

“We’re probably not going to run as many races because it’s too demanding,” McGaha said. “Four weeks in a row and stuff like that and all that Eastern Swing is just too demanding for us. We will be out here, but just not at as many races.”

SKILLMAN GETS BIG RUN – Drew Skillman won the last event on the NHRA circuit at Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 21, but that momentum didn’t translate to the U.S. Nationals.

Through three qualifying sessions at Indy, Skillman best time was 6.667 seconds at 206.76 mph and he wasn’t in the field.

“We’re panicking, but we will get it figured out,” Skillman said.

His team did.

In Q4 Saturday morning as he clocked a 6.626-second time at 208.81 mph to move up to 10th on the qualifying ladder. That’s where Skillman stayed.”

“That just shows how easy it is to go from hero to zero,” said Tomi Laine, Skillman’s crew chief. “We are going the right direction and we will be ready (Monday).”

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN – In addition to Gaydosh, Australia’s Shane Tucker and Alan Prusiensky also failed to make the field.

STREAK WILL CONTINUE – No matter who wins the Pro Stock title at the 2016 U.S. Nationals a streak will increase.

Monday’s Pro Stock winner at Lucas Oil Raceway will be the 539th straight win for Goodyear. The streak dates back to 1992.

Most of that time Pro Stock was open to competition among tiremakers.

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK

NOBILE DEALS WITH SPECTRUM OF EMOTIONS – Vincent Nobile remained No. 1 in Pro Stock qualify after Saturday, thanks to his 6.582-second lap at 209.79 mph on Friday night.

“My car is the fastest Pro Stock car in the pits right any ways,” Nobile said. “We made three really good runs. Q2 wasn’t too great because we tried something with a different set of tires. Being No. 3 for the session is unbelievable. I’ve never had such a fast, consistent race car in my entire career.”

As happy as Nobile about how his Mountain View Tire Chevy Camaro is running, he also was trying to deal with his loss to first-time Pro Stock finalist Aaron Strong on a redlight in the Northwest Nationals. The Seattle final was postponed on Aug. 7 because of rain. The final was completed Saturday night at the U.S. Nationals.

“Naturally I’m super bummed out that I didn’t win the race,” Nobile said. “But, if there is anyone I would want to lose to it would be Aaron Strong, a guy who has never a round before and now has won his first race. Congratulations to those guys, that’s not an easy feat. I have a hot rod that and that thing is mean and I’m pretty sure everybody knows it and I just need to do my job. I went out there (Saturday night) and I got shallow as I could be, knowing it was the final round. I was trying to treat it like a qualifying session, but that’s nearly impossible knowing that there’s a Wally down at the end of the track. Naturally I was pumped up and I probably made a mistake. That’s all in the past now and we’re going to try and win Monday.”

Nobile’s last NHRA national event victory was 2014 in Chicago when he beat Line.

BUTNER ADDRESSES HIS TEAM’S MISSION – Greg Anderson, Jason Line and Bo Butner are all part of the Ken Black Racing Pro Stock team that has had a dream season.

Anderson and Line have combined for 14 victories – seven each – and their teammate Bo Butner has been in four finals rounds.

The Summit Racing team saw its winning streak come to an end at Bandimere Speedway when Allen Johnson was victorious. Anderson, Line and Butner are seeking to get back on track at the U.S. Nationals.

“We want to win all of them, don’t get me wrong, but we’re also in test mode for the past four or five races,” Butner said. “It’s lucky we have four more qualifiers here, so with three cars that’s 12 more test runs. We will try some new stuff, but come Monday we will be in race mode. Then we test before Charlotte (Sept. 16-18), but from there on out that’s all we’ve got. They (the competition) have caught up and we have to go to work and Greg’s making them work overtime to find a couple hundredths.”

Butner said the Summit Racing team hasn’t changed its mission.

“Our whole goal is to finish 1, 2, 3, and then all of us are happy,” he said. “I think it would be neat to sneak in there and win the championship. I would really like to win a race, but if I had my choice it would be the championship.”

Butner is qualified No. 4 after Saturday with a 6.596-second elapsed at 209.46 mph. Anderson is No. 3 (6.593 seconds) and Line is sixth (6.611 seconds).

SHANE GRAY MOVES UP THE LADDER – After two qualifying sessions at the U.S. Nationals Shane Gray was seventh on the qualifying ladder with a 6.637-second time.

That ET was completely forgotten by Gray during Q3. Gray clocked a 6.589-second time at 209.36 mph to rocket up to second on the qualifying sheet.
“I’m excited for the guys,” said Gray, whose crew chief is Dave Connolly.

“We made a nice run here and we will try and make two more runs (Sunday) and get ready for Monday.”

Gray has four career NHRA Pro Stock national event wins, including when he beat Connolly in the finals of the 2014 U.S. Nationals.

KRAMER TALKS ABOUT 2016 – Deric Kramer is realistic about his 2016 NHRA Pro Stock season.

The Sterling, Colo., driver is competing on a limited schedule and one that fits best for his team.

“We tend to stay on the western half of the United States,” said Kramer, 31. “We do most of those races. We’re just a part time team so it kind of makes the most sense.”

Kramer did divert his travel plans this weekend by attending the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. He arrived at Indy in his American Ethanol-primary sponsored Dodge with 3-9 round record in a season that brought wholesale changes in Pro Stock.

Kramer is No. 11 on the qualifying ladder at 6.640 seconds.

As of Jan. 1, 2016, NHRA required all Pro Stock teams to equip their cars with electronically-controlled throttle body fuel injection systems, making engines more relevant from a technology standpoint. In order to reduce and control costs for the race teams, an NHRA-controlled 10,500 Rev Limiter will be added to the fuel injection systems.

“I think it’s fine,” Kramer said about the changes. “The only rule I don’t like is the 10-5 limit. Everything else is great. Fuel injection is something we should have done a long time ago. I have a motorcycle that goes to 16,600RPM if my Pro Stock car can’t run that fast that doesn’t make any sense to me.”

At Kramer’s home race – the Mile-High Nationals July 22-24 in Denver – he debuted a Dodge Dart Lazarus (one of V. Gaines' companies) race car. Richie Stevens broke in the car for Kramer with some test laps and then Kramer qualified it No. 13 and lost to Jason Line in first round.

“I’m enjoying running it, unfortunately we just don’t have enough laps on it,” Kramer said. “I drove it in Denver to the race up there and Richie drove the other car (in Denver) that I’m driving right now. We’re trying to get as many laps as we can on the new car before we bring it out. We just haven’t had a chance to do that.”

At Indy, Kramer is driving the Jerry Haas-built car he had been campaigning at all the races he competed at this season. Stevens made some test laps in the car at St. Louis for Kramer. Kramer posted a best time of 6.739-second run Friday, which was 17th best. He improved to 11th Saturday.

No matter what happens at Indy, Kramer does have a few races remaining on his slate.

“I will be at St. Louis, Dallas, Vegas and Pomona,” Kramer said. “We’re not going to Charlotte, we’re not going to Reading (Pa.). I don’t know (about Stevens driving again this year). We were kind of thinking about maybe running two (cars) in Pomona but it’s really hard for us to get both cars there.”

Unlike most drivers, Kramer does have a different job outside the track as a computer programmer.

“I’m an IOS Engineer, I write iPhone apps,” Kramer said. “Currently I work for a company called Blinker. We buy and sell used cars using your phone with a picture. It’s weird because when I applied for jobs I had to put that on the resume because that’s one of the things about resumes and then they ask “oh you race racecars?” and I go “yeah”. That was one of the things they liked was me already being in the automotive industry. If you want to buy or sell a car you can snap a picture of your license plate and it will bring up the CarFax, all the information for it. It will suggest a price for you. You can sell it and do the entire transaction right there on your phone.”

Kramer embraces his jobs as a driver and engineer.

“I guess they’re both challenging in different ways,” he said. “One is more physical obviously and the other is a lot more mental. Both of them are kind of fun in that I get to build stuff. Here it’s obviously mechanical. There it’s building pieces of code.”

And, Kramer was quick to point out he has no plans of cutting back his racing.

“I’ve been racing since I was 8,” said Kramer, who plans to run a limited Pro Stock schedule again in 2017. “I raced juniors, and then I raced the high school category. I jumped into Comp right out of that. I honestly just liked hanging out on the weekends with my dad (David). I liked going racing. I really didn’t think much more of it than that. The opportunity just kind of presented itself one year. V. (Gaines) had an extra car, we were already running a 500-cubic inch anyway in our comp car. It was basically find a 5-speed car and go racing. And we had a deal with V to get a lot of his hand me down stuff that he wasn’t using anymore so we figured things out and kept going with it.”

 

ENDERS-STEVENS, COUGHLIN IN BOTTOM HALF – Two-time reigning NHRA Pro Stock champion Erica Enders-Stevens isn’t having the U.S. Nationals she wanted so far.

Enders-Stevens, who won this race a year ago, is No. 12 on the qualifying ladder through Saturday with a 6.648-second time at 208.14 mph. Her teammate and multiple-time Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. is 13th on the qualifying sheet at 6.666 seconds at 206.75 mph.
 

HARTFORD DEALS WITH CHANGE – Trying to make it as a single-car NHRA Pro Stock team is not easy.

That’s what Matt Hartford is continuing to do – in the midst of the wholesale Pro Stock changes that were implemented this season.

Hartford arrived at the U.S. Nationals 15th in points after competing in 7 of the season’s 17 races. Hartford drives the Total Seal-CIP1-Nitro Fish-sponsored Camaro.

“It’s going pretty well. We think over the course of the Western swing, we feel that we ran better than we had up to this point,” Hartford said. “The basic status of it is we went to (St. Louis). We tested for 3 days prior to coming here. We think our test session went pretty well. We tested Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. We made 13 laps. We worked on the driver, worked on the tune up, worked on the car setup and there’s no doubt that WJ (Warren Johnson) has given us some really good power. We are excited for Indy. We came here to win.”
Hartford rolled off the trailer is solid form Friday, qualifying in the No. 6 spot with a 6.636-second time at 208.04 mph. After Saturday, Hartford didn’t better his time and he dropped to the No. 9 spot.

The highlight of Hartford’s three-race Western Swing at Denver, Sonoma, Calif., and Seattle came at Sonoma (July 29-31). He qualified a season-best fifth and proceeded to upset Alex Laughlin and Chris McGaha before losing in the semifinals to Bo Butner.

“Obviously this is going to be a process with fuel injection and WJ,” Hartford said. “Your thoughts on how the progression is going. It’s got to be like starting over. We think the progress is extremely positive. Everything is directionally correct and honestly we couldn’t be happier than to have Warren and Kurt (Johnson) helping us. They’re building some good power right now and I think it’s only going to keep getting better.”

Although Hartford has made solid gains this season, he’s not very optimistic about next year.

“We have no plans,” Hartford said. “We need money. When it comes down to it, without sponsorship it’s going to be hard to race next year. So unless we find some funding I don’t think we’re going to be out here. We have a little bit of funding but this is privately funded. We all pulled together and put as much money as we all could pull out of our pockets into it. Just trying to be at as many races as we can.”

CHASING THE INDY DREAM – John Gaydosh is a passionate Pro Stock racer.

The driver on a limited budget from Baltimore, Md., has competed on the NHRA national event circuit on an abbreviated schedule for years.
Gaydosh, however, has never qualified for prestigious U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis some he desperately wants to check off his bucket list this weekend.

“This is the only race we haven’t qualified for,” Gaydosh said. “This would be huge for us. It’s a 20-car field out here. We’re trying to get this done and you know, we know we’ve been in a couple short fields this year but a couple of the fields we qualified very well in the short field. We’re excited, we’re happy. I’d love to go a couple rounds here. I’d love to help Alex (Laughlin) out, try to get him in the top 10 with him being a part of the Gray Motorsports family. We are just out here having fun. Just enjoying ourselves, loving life and hope we can keep doing it for a while.”

Gaydosh has competed in seven events this season – prior to Indy – and was 17th in the point standings. His last race was Norwalk, Ohio, June 23-26, qualifying 12th and losing in the first round to Shane Gray.

“We’re getting closer. Trying to figure out what each motor likes,” Gaydosh said. “We have two motors we’ve been running. There’s a little bit different tune up for each intake manifold, so we just need to get ahead of the game. Where we’re at we’ve been doing pretty well. We just need to keep moving forward.”

Gaydosh’s best qualifying effort through three total runs Friday and Saturday was 6.731 seconds at 205.07 mph, which left him in the No. 19 spot.
“We just missed (qualifying at Indy last year),” said Gaydosh, who was No. 18 on the ladder in the 16-car field. “I’ve been talking with Mike Smith, Shane Gray and the Grays and we’ve got plenty of power, they’ve tested this motor they know where it’s at so we should be in good shape for this weekend.”

Gaydosh is no stranger to running power from Gray Motorsports.

“I’ve been running Gray Motorsports for the last three years,” Gaydosh said. “It’s a great group of guys. Shane Gray, Mike Smith and Johnny Gray. We couldn’t do this without them. I can’t thank Shane and Johnathan (Gray) enough for me being out here. It all started with Johnny. Johnny Gray is one of the most personable, nice guys I’ve ever met in my life. He’s just down-to-earth. They are a great family.”

Actually Gaydosh is driving a Camaro he bought in June of last year from Jonathan Gray. It’s the same car Jonathan Gray drove in 2014.

“I talked to Johnathan Gray last week, and he’s like ‘what is the reason that you do this?” I said “Johnathan, I love driving this car, I love tearing down, setting up, doing the maintenance on the car. I want to do this more than anything in the world. I need to find enough sponsors to help so I can stay out here for a long time. I’ve wanted to do this for the last 10 years and this is why I devoted so much of my time and energy to try to do this because this is what I want.”

TUCKER RETURNS TO PRO STOCK – Back in 2014, Shane Tucker of Hope Island, Australia, tried his hand in competing in NHRA’s Pro Stock class. He competed in 10 races, posting a 4-9 elimination round record. His last race that season was at Dallas. He returned to Pro Stock at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C., April 22-24, but lost in the first round when he recorded a redlight.

Tucker has returned to NHRA action this weekend to compete at the U.S. Nationals. He had the 15th fastest pass in qualifying Friday, posting a 6.701-second time. Elite Motorsports is providing the engines for Tucker.

“Just to go A to B, I think is a good baseline for us,” said Tucker, 31. “We have all the data we need, so hopefully we can work from that and improve on the next four. We had a lot of fun with (Elite Motorsports) when we raced with them in 2014.”

Tucker’s best qualifying run so far at Indy is 6.701 seconds at 206.35 mph, which is 16th best.

Following Indy, Tucker said he will be competing at Charlotte Sept. 16-18.

“After Charlotte, we will be in Dallas and we are hoping to be in Las Vegas and Pomona,” Tucker said.

And, Tucker has lofty goals for 2017.

“If everything is Ok, we would like to run them all next year,” Tucker said. “We just have to make sure works stays busy, so we can try and be here for the majority of races in 2017.”

Tucker’s day job is as the owner of Auzmet Architectural.

“We have two offices in Australia, one on the Gold Coast and one in Melbourne, and I have an office in Dallas,” Tucker said. “I don’t do any racing in Australia anymore. I sold all of my stuff in 2013 and the plan was to race here (in NHRA) in 2014. Then an opportunity with business came up in the end of 2014 in Dallas, so we sold everything and opened a factory in Dallas. Business is good now, I can’t complain. I’ve been traveling back and forth so much and it’s a 16-hour flight from Dallas to Australia.”

 

SKILLMAN HAPPY ABOUT PROGRESS – Just over two months ago, Pro Stock driver Drew Skillman turned plenty of heads when switched teams from Elite Motorsports to Gray Motorsports. Skillman pilots the Ray Skillman Chevy Camaro. Ray is his grandfather.

Skillman’s first race with Gray Motorsports in his family-owned Camaro was Epping, N.H. (June 9-12). It didn’t take Skillman long to reach the winner’s circle with his new team as he took home the title at Lucas Oil Nationals Aug. 21 in Brainerd, Minn.

“We never had anything figured out, but we’re getting closer to where we should be,” Skillman said. “We’re just working hard and moving the right direction and hopefully Indy will show a little better. (Friday night) was kind of a disaster, but we have four more luckily. I nicked the shift light in low and just got progressively worse.”

A year ago, Skillman captured a runner-up finish to Erica Enders-Stevens at the U.S. Nationals on the way to him winner the Auto Club Road to the Future award winner, recognizing season’s top performing rookie. Skillman finished fifth in the points a year ago. This year at Indy, Skillman hasn’t had much success as his best qualifying lap was 6.667 seconds at 207.94 mph.

“Winning the championship is always the goal,” Skillman said. “Even when I was a rookie I wanted to win the championship. We have to learn how to win a couple of more races before we can start thinking about that. Our goal right now is to just win the next race. If we can get that done, we can start thinking about a championship. We just have to start going rounds.”

Following wholesale changes in NHRA’s Pro Stock class in the offseason, the first part of 2016 was dominated by Summit Racing drivers Jason Line and Greg Anderson. Now, Skillman believes the parity is returning to the class.

“There are some people who are outrunning Jason and Greg,” Skillman said. “We are very, very close.”

Skillman’s crew chief is Tomi Laine, and the relationship he has formed with Gray Motorsports is working.

“They’ve been extremely inviting and they kind of let us do our own thing, and at the same time, they help us out where we are struggling,” Skillman said. “Tomi has been around this deal forever, so he’s extremely capable and it has been proven. We can win races with this team and we’re going to keep winning races. If business is good, I’m out here (racing). If business is not good, I’m not out here. As of right now the (car business) is great with Ray Skillman Auto Group.”

AJ IS UPBEAT – Allen Johnson knows how to win. The veteran Pro Stock driver won the 2012 NHRA world championship.

This season, he has showed constant improvement and he likes the direction he’s headed. Johnson arrived at the U.S. Nationals fourth in points.

“We have a good car coming in,” Johnson said. “We didn’t make good run first run Friday (6.645), but we always look forward to Indy. It’s the Big Go, what can you say? It’s time to get our groove on for the Countdown. We are very excited.”

Johnson, who has one season this year at Bandimere Speedway in Denver July 24, and he’s believes the chase to the world championship in the six-race Countdown is wide open.

“I think that are six to eight cars (in the hunt),” Johnson said. “It’s going to be nip and tuck and a fun deal.”

Through three rounds of qualifying Johnson had a best elapsed time of 6.611 seconds at 208.71 mph, which left him No. 7 on the ladder.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN – Kenny Delco (6.670), Curt Steinbach (6.711) and Alan Prusiensky (6.713) are all trying to crack the top 16 on Sunday.

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK

PRO STOCK

NOBILE TAKES PROVISIONAL NO. 1 – Vincent Nobile has been running extremely strong in qualifying dating back to the Seattle race (Aug. 5-7).

Nobile, the driver of the Mountain View Tire Chevy Camaro, qualified No. 1 at Seattle and Brainerd, Minn. He kept his momentum going Friday at the U.S. Nationals.

Nobile clocked a 6.582-second lap at 209.79 mph to capture the No. 1 spot.

“I don’t think there’s much to complain about being nearly two hundredths faster than the next guy,” Nobile said. “Inside the car it wasn’t a perfect run, but I will be willing to say that everybody else out there didn’t make a perfect run. I’m almost certain Greg (Anderson), Jason (Line), Shane (Gray), Bo (Butner) and the rest of the guys could’ve gone faster out there, it just so happened we made the best run that session. Hats off to the guys, they read the track real good. Obviously we are making power because we had top speed of the round.”

Anderson came in the No. 2 spot at 6.600 seconds at 209.26 mph

Saturday isn’t about qualifying for Nobile, he has his eye on a Wally. Nobile will race against Aaron Strong during Q3 in what is the finals of the rain-postponed Northwest Nationals Aug. 7.

“Hopefully we get a win,” Nobile said. “The weather is supposed to be similar to what it was (Friday) and the track should be real close if it is similar. Everybody has a run under their belts so you know everybody is going to go a little faster (Saturday). I think our main focus (Saturday) is to try and seal the deal from Seattle and finally get a long-awaited win.”

Nobile’s last NHRA national event victory was 2014 in Chicago when he beat Line.

According to John Nobile – Vincent’s father – the team’s fortunes started to change when he brought in A.J. Berge, starting at the New England Nationals in Epping, N.H., (June 3-5).

“A.J. is a personal friend of mine from Long Island, (N.Y.),” John said. “Before he came here, he knew absolutely nothing about Pro Stock, well he knew about Pro Stock, but he never tuned a Pro Stock car in his life. We’ve given him the opportunity to tune it and the rest speaks for itself. He knows a lot about fuel-injection. He’s the fuel-injection king on Long Island. He feels great and we’re happy for him and us. Of course Brian “Lump” Self our crew chief is doing a great job with the car and everybody who works on the car is doing their job.”

LAUGHLIN EYES COUNTDOWN SPOT – A year ago, Alex Laughlin was a lost name in NHRA’s Pro Stock circles. He competed in just seven events and finished 20^th in points.

This year, Laughlin has turned plenty of heads while competing in his Gas Monkey Garage Chevy Camaro. He is 11^th in the points – 36 points behind 10^th place Jeg Coughlin. The top 10 drivers in the Pro Stock standings following the completion of the regular season after Indy qualify for the Countdown to the Championship.

“It’ll be 30 points for one round and if we could get a few bonus points in qualifying that would sure help too,” Laughlin said. “I’ve been thinking of it so much lately I’m just ready to get it behind me. Whatever happens, happens. Just move on from here.”

On Friday, Laughlin qualified No. 5 with a 6.635-second run at 208.75 mph.

Laughlin was 10^th in the points up until he lost in the first round to Erica Enders-Stevens at Seattle Aug. 7. Laughlin was upended in the first round of Sonoma, Seattle and Brainerd.

“We’ve struggled a little bit here and there,” he said. “We really had everything together in Denver (he qualified No. 1). The car was just setup perfect. A lot this is just an educated guess on getting the car down the track and go as quick as possible. The car took everything that we threw at it. It hasn’t been as consistent at the following races but it’s still fast and we’re pretty much No. 1 in speed every single time down so we’ve got the power. If we can get the car past 60-foot off the starting line and it’s smooth, it’s going to be on a heck of a pass.”

Laughlin also praised the power being provided by Gray Motorsports.

“Oh absolutely. We couldn’t be happier,” Laughlin said. “Those guys do so much for us. They are just awesome, honest, straight up good people. We’re very fortunate.”

A year ago, competing in Pro Stock was completely different as there was no EFI, but it was an experience Laughlin welcomed.

“Definitely learned a lot,” Laughlin said. It was cool to be able to be a part of the carburetors there at the end. This year it was like learning how to drive a whole new car. It was completely different. At this point the tunability has gotten so much better. But the cars do feel like they did last year for the most part. There’s still some quirks. But I’ve learned a lot this year for sure. Last year the main goal was to not wreck the car, and this year we’re going rounds and doing pretty well.”

Laughlin may be new in the Pro Stock ranks, but he’s clearly no stranger to race track.

“I ran a dragster since I was like 15,” said Laughlin of Granbury, Texas. “I’ve done Super Comp, Top Dragster and then I had some experience in a Pro Stock truck. (Pro Stock) has always been a driver’s class and in my opinion I think most people who grew up in any type of Sportsman racing, Pro Stock is where they wanted to go.”

Laughlin said he will be back in the Garage Monkey Camaro next season – and running a full season.

“Honestly, I’m probably still too new to be able to speculate anything on where the class is going and if this has been good or bad,” Laughlin said. “But I think it’s something that needed to happen as far as you don’t see a car on the road that is carbureted anymore and that just the way it is. It needed to happen and hopefully the guys that haven’t been able to make it out have been buying a little stuff at a time to get out here next year.”

FAMILIAR FACES – When walking in Pro Stock driver Aaron Strong pits Friday, there were some familiar faces – Greg Stanfield and Aaron Stanfield, who were working on Strong’s crew.

Greg is serving as Strong’s crew chief and Aaron, 21, is the team’s clutch and fuel injection guy.

“At some point (I would like to be driving again),” Aaron said. “My dad and I just kind of want to feel out this year with all the changes. I’ve been learning a lot. Just trying to pick up as much as I can.”

The younger Stanfield has mixed memories of the U.S. Nationals. In 2014, Aaron turned some heads in his Pro Stock debut. He competed in four races at Indianapolis, Dallas, St. Louis and Las Vegas, qualifying for all four events. The Camaro Stanfield drove in 2014 is the same Camaro Strong is driving now.

Aaron Stanfield’s biggest highlight came when he defied the odds at Indy. He qualified No. 8 and then upset five-time world champion Jeg Coughlin in the first round when Coughlin recorded a redlight.

Stanfield’s memorable first race ended when he lost in the second round to two-time world champ Jason Line.

Unfortunately for Aaron, in 2015 he experienced the opposite end of emotion. Aaron qualified No. 16 in a Dodge Dart and faced off against No. 1 qualifier Greg Anderson in first round.

Anderson staged and Stanfield didn’t and he was timed out. That was the last time Stanfield drove a Pro Stock car.

“First round didn’t go good, and I just got ahead of myself,” Stanfield said. “I didn’t stage fast enough.”

While the Stanfields have been helping out on Strong’s crew – Aaron has been busy racing.

“I’ve been competing in Division 4 in Top Dragster, and Suoer Stock,” Stanfield said.

In addition to racing, Stanfield is attending school Louisiana State University-Shreveport. He’s a year away from receiving degrees in business management and accounting.

STRONG EYES HISTORIC WIN – If the pressure of Indy isn’t enough, Pro Stock driver has another thing weighing on his mind.

During qualifying Saturday, Strong will race against Vincent Nobile to determine the winner of the Northwest Nationals in Seattle which were postponed by rain Aug. 7.

“Honestly I don’t think about it, I just stay busy,” Strong said Friday. “I’m working all the time, building return springs throttle brackets. We’re always working on something. I’m not nervous. When we were going rounds in Seattle, I just kept thinking ‘ok, what do we have to do when we get back? We have to get this car turned around, get ready to get back up there. I think it’s from all my years of running Sportsman racing.”

At Seattle, Strong upset world champions Greg Anderson, Erica Enders-Stevens, and Bo Butner. Now, he will meet Vincent Nobile in the finals.

“I try not to think about it too much but when I do I think ‘this is pretty cool,’” Strong said. “It’s kind of like a dream scenario. I was just happy to win my first round in Seattle. I would have been happy until now to still have that.”

The performance at the Northwest Nationals was especially gratifying for Strong since Pacific Raceways is his hometown track.

“We had so many friends and family and supporters there,” Strong said. “We had five local sponsors come on board for that race alone. The track is 15 minutes form my house. We sponsor the track with a construction company. We haul rock and sand, crash barrels and stuff like that, gravel down the track and they have our signs up out there. It’s a good relationship.”

With each Seattle round win, Strong could hear the crowd swelling in his favor.

“I feel bad for everybody that was there that day supporting us,” said Strong about not be able to complete the finals in Seattle. “I was in the car so I couldn’t hear it but the crowd was loud. It was the loudest people said they’ve heard there in years. Every time you win or even just being towed back five minutes later on the turn road it was loud. I saw some video and it was really cool. It would have been nice to finish it there for all of them. I’m ok finishing it either here or there. I’m just happy I’m in the final, it didn’t bother me to have to wait three weeks. It was a nice little break. I’ve never raced Indy in my life and I’ve always wanted to come here.”

And, Strong plans on hoisting a Wally Saturday.

“I didn’t drive 2,400 miles to run rough, let’s put it that way,” he said. “I came here to win.”

NOBILE ON A PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE? – There are crazy things that have happened than Vincent Nobile competing on a Pro Stock Motorcycle, but that is a subject that has been discussed.

“If NHRA would allow you to run two professional categories at once, my dad (John) has always wanted to build a bike and I’m pretty sure he would put me on one and we’d do both. I’ve never been on one (a Pro Stock Motorcycle), but I would try it out.”

Veteran Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Hector Arana Jr., who is marrying Vincent’s sister – Nicole Dec. 10 – shared his thoughts about Vincent getting on a two-wheel motorcycle.

“We’ve talked getting on (a Pro Stock Motorcycle) and making a pass,” Arana said. “It’s really up to them if they ever want to. They’re always welcome. We work together with them. They help me with them, they help me with the tune-up. I don’t know because they have been doing really good at Pro Stock, so I don’t know if it will actually happen, but it would be neat if it did.”

John Nobile acknowledged the Pro Stock Motorcycle class does interest him.

“I would like to build one so I could show those guys how to do it,” he said. “If we can run Pro Stock, I think we can run Pro Stock bike. I would like to put Vincent on one, but one we build and one that we put together. Not to take anything away from the Pro Stock bike guys, but they do things at a different fashion than we do it and I think we could bring something to the table over there, if we really wanted to. But, all over emphasis right now is on Pro Stock.”