The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads to the Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA this weekend. Pennsylvania fans will get a taste of drag racing action with a number of series taking to the track.
The series was at Gateway Motorsports Park last weekend and a Force was in victory lane for Funny Car. It was Courtney, who had to race past her father in the semifinals to have a shot at the win in the Midwest. The female Force held off 2011 world champ Matt Hagan and moved to within 30 points of her dad in the championship hunt. She also became the first female to win back-to-back races in series history.
Like NASCAR, NHRA also has a playoff system called “The Countdown.” It’s a six-race playoff to determine the champion in each division and Maple Grove is the fourth event in the countdown. It kicked off at the z-Max dragway in Charlotte and ends at the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California.
Antron Brown scored the win in the Top Fuel category in his Matco Tools machine. Brown pulled to within 80 markers of points leader Tony Schumacher, who was upset in the first round. Schumacher looks to rebound at Reading in his U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster. Defending champ Shawn Langdon lost to Brown at Gateway and, like Schumacher, will try to make it one spot better come Sunday. Langdon trails Schumacher by 57 points.
With the usual suspects expected to run good, there can also be an upset, similar to what happened to Schumacher last weekend. Rookie Richie Crampton has enjoyed some success in 2014, with picking up wins at Englishtown, N.J. in May and then scoring a big win at theU.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend. Crampton hails from Australia and currently sits ninth in points and inside the countdown.
In the Funny Car division, the NAPA car has been synonymous with Ron Capps and three victories during the 2013 season. He also scored two wins this year and the luck that has come with NAPA has also shown in NASCAR with young driver Chase Elliott, scoring three wins in the Nationwide Series and currently leading the points there too. Capps made the countdown and sits fifth in Funny Car points. He has to make up ground in these last fewraces, as Capps sits 126 points behind John Force.
John has been a “force” in NHRA in his legendary career. Force won his 16th Funny Car championship last year and looks for number 17 in 2014. He has daughters who also race in NHRA, with Courtney running Funny Car and Brittany in Top Fuel. Ashley Force Hood also had time in Funny Car a few years ago before putting a hold on her racing career to start a family.
The cars and stars of the NHRA series will take to Maple Grove Raceway this weekend from October 2-5, with qualifying taking place on Friday and Saturday and the eliminations on Sunday. Qualifying will be shown on Sunday morning at 3:30 a.m. ET, with eliminations at 8 p.m. later on in the day on ESPN2.
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