Race Coverage
NHRA Sells Naming Rights to Gainesville Raceway
NHRA announced Feb. 16, that Uni-Select USA and its Auto-Plus network of automotive retail stores have acquired the naming rights to the NHRA-owned and -operated drag racing facility in Gainesville, Florida.
Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville will host the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals presented by NAPAFilters.com Mar. 8-11, the third stop in the 23-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. One of NHRA’s “major” events, the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals presented by NAPAFilters.com serves as the East Coast opener for the series featuring Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and the season-opener for Pro Stock Motorcycle. Continue Reading »
Brown, Hight and Line Win NHRA Arizona Nationals
Antron Brown (Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster; Click to enlarge)
Antron Brown raced to his first win of the season in Top Fuel as racing came to an end Feb. 19, at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway. Robert Hight and Jason Line were also winners in their respective categories at the second of 23 races in the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season. Continue Reading »
Hight Finishes First in Funny Car at Firebird
Robert Hight (Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster; Click to enlarge)
Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang raced into the record books extending a number of personal best streaks today winning the 28th annual Arizona NHRA Nationals in a great all John Force Racing final round against teammate Mike Neff.
In the final Hight’s Ford Mustang outran Neff’s Castrol GTX backed Mustang 4.139 seconds to 4.168 seconds, in the first all-JFR final round at Firebird Raceway. Until today, no other JFR driver other than John Force had won at Phoenix and he had won eight times. Continue Reading »
Line Wins for First Time in Phoenix
Jason Line
Defending champion Jason Line and the Summit Racing team continued their strong start to the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season on Sunday, capturing the Pro Stock title at Sunday’s 28th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals in Chandler, Ariz.
Starting from the second position, Line defeated Jeg Coughlin Jr., Erica Enders and Greg Stanfield in the early rounds before squaring off in the final against his teammate Greg Anderson, who won the season opener in Pomona, California, just one week earlier. Continue Reading »
Densham Credits ‘Dumb Luck’ for Avoiding Disaster
The on-site replay shows Jack Beckman veering in front of Gary Densham's Funny Car just as they crossed the 1,000-foot finish line. (Photos by Roger Richards/CompetitionPlus.com; Click to enlarge)
By Ian Tocher
When Jack Beckman suddenly veered right and crossed the center line into Gary Densham’s lane during round two of Funny Car at the NHRA season opener at Pomona, Densham says he instinctively got off the gas and hit the brakes—hard. But the Bellflower, California-based veteran downplays any suggestion it was a masterful driving job. Continue Reading »
Anderson Aims to Build on Winternats Win
Greg Anderson (Photos courtesy NHRA/National Dragster; Click to enlarge)
Greg Anderson and the Summit Racing team started the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season in perfect fashion, taking home the Pro Stock title at Sunday’s 52nd annual NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA. Starting from the fifth position, Anderson used a combination of strong performances and tremendous driving to defeat Larry Morgan, Allen Johnson and his teammate, defending champion Jason Line in the early rounds to advance to the final round, where he would square off against rival Jeg Coughlin.
Knowing he would need an error-free run to secure his fifth win at the NHRA season-opener, the four-time champion used his fourth .02 reaction time of the day to leave nearly in tandem with his opponent, and then powered through the quarter-mile in 6.549 seconds with a top speed of 210.87 mph, bettering Coughlin’s 6.586-second, 209.62-mph effort by approximately eight feet. It was the 71st national event win of Anderson’s career, fifth at the Winternationals and tenth at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Continue Reading »
Massey, Force and Anderson Win NHRA Pomona
Spencer Massey (Photos courtesy NHRA/National Dragster; Click to enlarge)
Spencer Massey earned his seventh career Top Fuel victory Feb. 12, at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. John Force in Funny Car and Greg Anderson in Pro Stock also were winners of the season-opening NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event. Continue Reading »
Force Finishes First at Winternationals
John Force (near lane) and Mike Neff (Photos courtesy JFR; Click to enlarge)
John Force bounced back from a dismal end to the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle season with his sixth win at the O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals today. It was the 134th win of the 15-time champion’s career and also the four round wins today give the Yorba Linda, Calif., resident an even 1,100 round wins for his career.
Force has followed up his previous five O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals wins by also winning the NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship (’91, ’93, ’97, ’02 and ’10). In the final Force outran John Force Racing (JFR) teammate and championship-contending driver Mike Neff. Continue Reading »
Lucas, Hight and Line Are Top Qualifiers at NHRA Pomona
Jason Line (File photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster; Click to enlarge)
Morgan Lucas raced to the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel Saturday as rain shortened qualifying at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Super Start Batteries at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Robert Hight and Jason Line also were No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the first of 23 races in the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season. NHRA officials were forced to cancel the final qualifying session when persistent rain showers moved into the Pomona area in the afternoon. Continue Reading »
Career-Best Run Lands Lucas Top Spot in Top Fuel Qualifying
Morgan Lucas (Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster; Click to enlarge)
Top Fuel pro Morgan Lucas will defend the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals title from the No. 1 spot after GEICO/Lucas Oil-sponsored racer from Indianapolis posted a career best time and top speed during Saturday’s final qualifying session.
“Our confidence is higher now than even when we went to the finals last year,” Lucas said. “We didn’t even get into the show last year until Saturday, and we were hoping the rain would quit that morning. We got rain today, and lost the final qualifying session, but we’re on top so we’re extremely happy.” Continue Reading »
