In the thick of the battle to earn another NHRA Funny Car world championship, John Force raced to the qualifying lead Friday at the NHRA Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Force powered his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang to a 4.039 second pass at 318.54 mph to top the field, completing the pass alongside championship rival Matt Hagan, who entered this event with a 36-point lead over the 16-time champ. Jack Beckman, whose car is now tuned by former Force crew chief Jimmy Prock, was the top qualifier until Force’s run knocked him off.
“We got down there so we feel good about the run,” said Force, whose 10,000-horsepower machine is now tuned by John Medlen. “You’ve got to get every point you can. Hagan picked up points too. When it gets down to the end, points do count. He picked up a point the last session and I don’t want him to get another round ahead of me.”
Hagan sits No. 2 following a 4.044 at 318.02 in his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger. Hagan, the 2011 Funny Car world champion, gained a point in the first session of qualifying and two in the second session to stay 36 ahead of Force.
Beckman ran a 4.045 at 318.84, good enough for third after two sessions. His pass held until the Force/Hagan run that ended the day in Funny Car. This is the first race that longtime Force crew chief Prock is now involved with Beckman’s Infinite Hero Dodge Charger team.
Crampton, a winner at Englishtown and Indianapolis earlier this season, raced to the top spot in Top Fuel with a 3.764 at 322.42 in his GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster. Crampton, who is in the running for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, is two sessions away from claiming his first career No. 1 qualifying position.
“It’s pretty exciting to leave here Friday night sitting on the top of the ladder,” said Crampton. “We’ve done that before but ended up getting bumped on Saturday. We’ll see how tomorrow pans out. I think we are going to have fantastic weather to lend itself to some great elapsed times. We will see how we do.”
Larry Dixon raced to the provisional No. 2 position following career best numbers with a 3.766 at 326.71 in the Casedhole Solutions dragster. The run came at an important time for Dixon, who was announced as one of two full-time drivers at Bob Vandergriff Racing next season. He is a three-time world champion.
Doug Kalitta was third with a 3.772 at 322.81 in the Mac Tools dragster. Kalitta, who led the Top Fuel points standings for most of the regular season, trails Tony Schumacher by 136 points with two races remaining.
In Pro Stock, Enders-Stevens is racing for her third consecutive No. 1 qualifying position with her 6.647 at 208.01 in a Chevy Camaro. Enders-Stevens gained three points on series leader Jason Line and now trails by 32 going into Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions.
“I’m really proud of my team,” Enders-Stevens said. “Those baby points are going to matter. They’re very significant especially with as tight as Jason, myself and Dave [Connolly] are right now. We were really conservative the first session. If you look at our 60 foot time, we were ninth and then went straight to the top of the page. We’ll throw something at it tomorrow and see what happens.”
Reigning world champ Jeg Coughlin was second-quickest during opening day, piloting his JEGS.com Dodge Dart to a 6.653 at 207.69. Coughlin, who got off to a slow start during the Countdown this season, is looking for a third win on the season.
Line is third with a 6.555 at 207.59 in his Summit Racing Chevy Camaro. His run tied him with third place Connolly, who ran an identical 6.555, but went 207.30 in speed, giving Line the lead.
Savoie, who recently secured his first Pro Stock Motorcycle win at St. Louis last month, ran a 6.946 at 192.55 on his Savoie’s Alligator Farm Suzuki to move to the top of the leaderboard.
“We struggled at the first of the year,” Savoie said. “Fuel injection is a really funny thing. It can help you and it can hurt you. Beginning of the year we were hurting and now it’s helped. It’s a good thing, we’ve been blessed.”
Michael Ray raced his Arrow M Ranch Suzuki to the provisional second spot with a 6.956 at 193.82. Reigning world champ Matt Smith raced his Stockseth Racing Buell to a 6.974 at 193.02 to claim the third provisional spot. Points leader Andrew Hines is fourth while Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson teammate Eddie Krawiec sits seventh. Krawiec trails Hines by 25 points for the championship.
Qualifying concludes on Saturday for the NHRA Toyota Nationals with sessions at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday’s eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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