TOP FUEL ROUND 1
Expected morning rain showers pushed the start time from 10 a.m. to 12:35, but cool air and overcast skies will set the stage for what should be a wild day of racing at the famed SoCal raceplant.
The round got off to a fast start, literally, with Justin Ashley cutting the best Top Fuel reaction time of the year (.025; he also has the second-best at .026) and handed popular rookie Maddi Gordon her first opening-round loss of the year, 3.71 to 3.74. He’ll take on Leah Pruett, who smoked the tires trying to test the track’s limits and lay down a run on her solo pass.
Will Smith is going to give Ashley a run for that perpetual title of best leaver and drilled Tony Stewart with a .029 light, but couldn’t keep the Bluebird Turf car ahead as “Smoke” rolled by for a 3.726 win.
Reigning event champ Clay Millican ran his Pomona win streak to five straight rounds with a 3.75 victory over Shawn Reed, who will turn the cockpit of the Reed Trucking and Excavating rail over to Ida Zetterström at the next event in Charlotte for the first of many appearances this season as the duo split wheel time.
Josh Hart reset low e.t. of the meet with a 3.698 after local favorite Cameron Ferre had to shut off the Freeman brothers’ entry on the line, which was pouring raw fuel from one of the pipes after the burnout.
Phoenix winner Shawn Langdon escaped with a tire-smoking, head gasket-burning 4.00 pass after Tony Schumacher grenaded a rear end for the second time in as many days. Yesterday, this cost us an hour of downtime cleaning up the 200-weight gear lube, and this won’t be a short one either as the Safety Safari descends on the left lane.
Seventy minutes later, we were back in action with Doug Kalitta getting a bye run after Ron August Jr. couldn’t make the call. Crew chief Alan Johnson took the right lane, and Kalitta steamed to a 3.719 at top speed of the meet, a track-record 339.79 mph. The old mark was 338.94 mph by Brittany Force at the ’22 NHRA Finals.
Billy Torrence closed the round by beating Antron Brown for the second straight time in round one with a 3.746.
Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Justin Ashley vs. Leah Pruett; Doug Kalitta vs. Clay Millican; Josh Hart vs. Tony Stewart; Billy Torrence vs. Shawn Langdon
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FUNNY CAR ROUND 1
Jack Beckman, who had lost in the first round of the season’s first two events, turned on his first win light in style with a 3.890, low e.t. of the meet, to defeat Jim Campbell and Gary Densham’s team, which rebounded from a trip into the sand trap yesterday. Beckman didn’t hold low e.t. for long as low qualifier J.R. Todd took it back with a 3.889 in besting Blake Alexander. Todd earns second-round lane choice over “Fast Jack” by .001-second.
Beckman’s John Force Racing teammate, Funny Car rookie Jordan Vandergriff, also looked sporty with a 3.894 to oust Daniel Wilkerson. Seven years ago at Pomona, Vandergriff, then racing in Top Fuel, defeated Austin Prock, in whose two-time Funny Car championship-winning car he now competes. Matt Hagan added his name to the 3.89 list with a 3.892 to beat Spencer Hyde, avenging his loss to Hyde in the semifinals in Phoenix.
Both Todd and Hagan leapfrogged third-place Hyde in the standings, sending the reigning Rookie of the Year down to fifth (for now) and could plummet all the way to seventh.
Reigning world champ Austin Prock’s woes continued as he was upset by local favorite Jason Rupert’s blower-banging 4.28. Prock’s PPG Ford went silent at 330 feet with an apparent lead, the result of a reported safety-system malfunction, and he remains winless through the year’s first three events.
“It was running pretty good, and it started spinning the tires, and out of my peripheral vision, I looked over and didn’t see him, and I thought I’d better get back on the gas and get to the finish line,” said Rupert. “To beat a team like that is pretty special. I mean, those guys are really, really good, and we’re a part-time team, and we have a really good team also, with Rahn Tobler leading us. I’m just happy to go to the next round.”
Gatornationals champ and points leader Chad Green also avenged his second-round loss from Phoenix by sending Paul Lee home with a strong 3.96.
Both Ron Capps and Dylan Winefsky lost traction early, but Capps pedaled and coasted to the win after shutting the car off (or having the crew shut it off) with a cylinder-dropping 4.97. It ends a great weekend for Winefsky’s Nitro Moose team, which reset both ends of its career bests here.
Alexis DeJoria joined her JFR teammates in round two with a 3.90 to beat Dave Richards as the battle for the special 1,000th Funny Car race trophy continues.
Second-round pairings (lane choice first): J.R. Todd vs. Jack Beckman; Matt Hagan vs. Jason Rupert; Alexis DeJoria vs. Ron Capps; Jordan Vandergriff vs. Chad Green
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PRO STOCK ROUND 1
Pro Stock is definitely a family sport: Three pairs of fathers and sons and an uncle and a nephew are among the 16 drivers in round one.
Two of the sons raced first, and Matt Latino slapped a .003 light on Aaron Stanfield and raced into round two on a 6.551 to 6.542 holeshot by .007-second at the stripe. Stanfield was no slouch with a .019 reaction time, but it wasn’t enough. Latino’s father, Eric, followed him down the left lane with a 6.542 win after Chris Vang left .006-second too soon and fouled. Stanfield’s father, Greg, did move on, taking an easy win after Stephen Bell’s mounted rolled the beams and red-lighted.
Cody Anderson, son of six-time world champ Greg, lost to Erica Enders for the second straight first round after Double-E put a small holeshot on him and won, 6.547 to 6.546 by just .003-second.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. moved into round two with a 6.56 victory over Deric Kramer, but his nephew, Troy Jr. was undone by Dave Connolly’s 6.50 in his replacement ride in Cody Coughlin’s machine,
World champ Dallas Glenn reset low e.t. of the meet with a 6.508 after Gatornationals champ Matt Hartford’s car, which struggled throughout qualifying, was done within the first few feet on the run. Glenn’s teammate, Greg Anderson, retook low e.t. with a 6.496 against Kenny Delco, whose car suffered the same fate as Hartford’s. Anderson’s win and Hartford’s loss moved Anderson past Hartford into second place in the standings.
Final score: Fathers 3-0, Sons 1-2
Second-round pairings (lane choice first): Greg Anderson vs. Matt Latino; Greg Stanfield vs. Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Dallas Glenn vs. Eric Latino; Dave Connolly vs. Erica Enders
