Competition was staged at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas this past week, with the NHRA drag racing series winding down.
In Top Fuel, Brittany Force (3.667 at 338.19 mph), Shawn Reed (3676 at 330.17 mph) and Steve Torrence (3.721 at 332.03 mph) were the top three qualifiers with the season points leader, Antron Brown qualifying fifth. For the second time in as many races, Top Fuel featured four female drivers (Brittany Force, Ida Zetterstrom, Jasmine Salinas and Krista Baldwin), each qualifying with mid-3.7 second elapse times at over 320 mph. One of the key matchups came in round one, as the points leader Brown squared off against contender, Justin Ashley, who was second in the points battle. Ashley, one of the best leavers in the sport, got away first (0.041 to 0.061) and held on for a 3.775 at 329.21 mph to 0.3776 at 324.96 mph win. From that point on, Ashley was the driver to beat, as he advanced to the final round, getting around two other strong contenders (Shawn Langdon and Tony Schumacher) in the process. On the other side of the ladder was Clay Millican, who took out some heavy hitters, himself. First, it was the 2023 champion, Doug Kalitta (3.740 at 333.16 mph to 4.954 at 161.66 mph), as Kalitta lost traction. Then it was the number two qualifier, Shawn Reed (0.3759 at 330.44 mph to 0.3775 at 324.98 mph), followed by four-time champion, Steve Torrence (0.3777 at 329.40 mph to 4.245 at 222.39 mph), as Torrence lost traction at mid-track. In the final, Ashley did his usual thing, leaving first (0.026 to 0.059) to take the hole-shot win with a 3.773 at 327.99 mph to 3.762 at 328.40 mph).
The Funny Car class has belonged to Austin Prock, driving the Cornwell Tools/AAA Insurance Chevrolet Camaro, tuned by his father (Jimmy Prock) and brother (Tom Prock). It started out, as usual, as he qualified on the pole, once again, with a 3.813 at 333.09 mph effort. He was followed by Matt Hagan (3.823 at 35.20 mph) and Jack Beckman (3.825 at 331.49 mph). Beckman, substituting for the injured John Force, came in second, behind Prock in the points battle and had the only real shot at catching the leader. Last season, Robert Hight was leading the points battle in the same car that Prock is driving, this year. At this race, Hight looked to be unstoppable but, the car failed him, putting the championship up for grabs. Matt Hagan won this event and went on to win the 2023 season Funny Car title. Prock faced the No. 16 qualifier (Terry Haddock) in the opening round and things started going wrong. Prock left first (0.070 to 0.130) and looked to be on his way, until his engine quit and parachutes deployed at about 800 feet. Haddock looked like he would catch Prock for a huge upset win, until his motor expired, allowing Prock to coast across for the win. Prock then took out Paul Lee, to advance to the semifinals, where he squared off against Ron Capps. Then his luck ran out, as his throttle linkage broke on the burnout, shutting off his car, allowing Capps to advance to the finals. The No. 2 qualifier, Matt Hagan would march into the final round, taking out Bobby Bode, Cruz Pedregon and Daniel Wilkerson, along the way. In the final, Hagan left first on Capps (0.064 to 0.0894) to take the win. Hagan still holds down third place, behind Beckman and Prock in the season points battle.
Beckman, who came into the event in second place and qualified third, no showed for his opening round match up with Chad Green due to a serious episode of vertigo, that made it unsafe to compete. It is a very unpleasant medical abnormality, that can occur unexpectedly, often caused by inner ear problems. Beckman has pursued medical assistance and is expected to recover. However, he was unable to compete at the Texas event due to the condition.
In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Greg Anderson advanced to the final round, as the other serious points battle contenders stumbled out by the semifinal round. Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield were gone in the second round and Dallas Glenn was taken out by Anderson in the semifinals. In the final, Anderson got away first (0.03480 to 0.04206) but could not hold off Coughlin Jr.’s 6.59277 at 208.10 mph to 6.60285 at 210.13 mph charge. Margin of victory was 0.0028 seconds. The points leader, Dallas Glenn, extended his points lead to 53 points.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gaige Herrera is very close to locking up the season championship. He qualified No. 1, again, with a 6.749 at 202.52 mph with Matt Smith second (6.756 at 202.77 mph). But Herrera did not just breeze through eliminations. In fact, he gave many unplanned opportunities for Smith to win the event, suffering from uncharacteristic bad reaction times to performance drop offs. But, in the end, the real Herrera stepped up and took the win over Smith with a 6.816 at 200.56 mph effort, as Smith’s bike suffered mechanical issues on the run.
The next event is at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Strip in two weeks.
