The 70th annual Toyota NHRA Indy Nationals, commonly called “The Big Go”, came about to allow the true challenge between drag racers (coast to coast), as Indianapolis was always known as the “racing capital of the world” due to the Indy 500 and its location was sort of in the middle of the country. The event over the Labor Day holiday allows for more days, five, instead of the standard three days to run the event, allowing the professional teams an extra (fifth) qualifying attempt, normally more than enough for the teams to sort out the performance of their cars. But for a couple of big-name teams, that fifth run did not necessarily help them out at this year’s event, staged earlier this month.
In Top Fuel, Doug Kalitta, the 2023 class champion, found out that five qualifying chances was not quite enough. Going into the fifth qualifying round, both Kalitta and teammate Shawn Langdon (who were first and second in the season points battle), along with Jasmine Salinas (Mike Salinas’ daughter) were not qualified. Kalitta managed a 3.793 at 329.10 mph run, that put him into the 16th position, commonly called the “bump spot”. Unfortunately, two cars still had their fifth qualifying attempts left. Langdon and Salinas still had one run left. Langdon turned in a 3.784 at 320.36 mph, to take over the 16th spot, bumping Kalitta out of the show. Then it was Langdon’s turn to sit on the hot seat as Salinas, the last car remaining that could bump into the field, came to the starting line. For Salinas, it was a no go, as her car lost traction at about half track and could only muster up 4.412 at 235.27 mph performance. For Langdon, it was a sigh of relief as he was in the field and would face off with number one qualifier Brittany Force on race day.
Force, who chose to sit out one event to be with her dad John Force following his horrendous accident several events earlier, had to go at least one round of eliminations further than Josh Hart, to stay in the top 10 in points or she would not make the championship playoffs. There are two ways that drivers can make the playoffs; they must finish in the top 10 in the points battle at the completion of Indy or by making qualifying attempts at all events up to and including Indy. Force did go one round further than Hart, lasting into the semifinal round, defeating Shawn Langdon and Tony Schumacher along the way. In the final round, Clay Millican, in his Arby Sandwiches dragster, squared off against Steve Torrence in his CAPCO Contractor’s dragster. Millican captured his third career event win, 3.792 at 327.82 mph to 4.137 at 192.30 mph, as Torrence lost traction at about half track. It was Millican’s first Indy event win.
In Funny Car there were two big stories. John Force suffered a very serious finish line accident (at over 300 mph) earlier this season. Under the NHRA “replacement driver rules/policy”, a replacement driver can be utilized and earn points for the original driver, as long as they compete in no more than eight events in the season. This allowed the popular driver, “Fast Jack” Beckman to step in for the 16-time champion, John Force. Beckman has won two championships, one in Super Comp dragster (Lucas Oil Series) and the 2012 Funny Car title; he is considered by many to be one of the best drivers in NHRA drag racing. The other story involved Ron Capps. As he did last year, Capps put together a tribute car for the NHRA legend Don “the Snake” Prudhomme; the first team owner he drove a Funny Car for and personal mentor. Beckman qualified third and Capps qualified seventh, with Austin Prock and Bob Tasca III holding the top two positions. In the semifinal round, Prock defeated Blake Alexander, while Capps got the better of Beckman to move to the final round. In the final, Prock left first on Capps (0.055 to 0.083) and drove away to a 3.885 at 327.98 mph to 3.935 at 331.45 mph win. Capps was going for his third consecutive win at Indy, while this was Prock’s first career win there.
In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson and Erica Enders qualified one and two. Both made it to the semifinals and both were taken out in the same round. Enders did score low elapse time and top speed of eliminations in the opening round with a 6.529 at 210.37 mph winning effort. The final round would feature Aaron Stanfield and Jeg Coughlin Jr.; Stanfield would get away first (0.017 to 0.044) to take out Coughlin, 6.561 at 209.36 mph to 6.562 at 209.59 mph for his first Indy Nationals Pro Stock victory.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, one of the biggest underlying stories concerned the class rule changes to equalize the competition within the category. Starting with last season, Gaige Herrera won nearly every event he contested, qualifying number one at nearly every event, basically dominating the category on the way to his first season title. One of the only events he did not win was Indy. The NHRA technical/competition department decided to review the class and make adjustments, just prior to the Sonoma event. The rule changes primarily included adding about 15 pounds of weight to the Vance and Hines Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycles (as well as other similar motorcycle combinations/setups in the class) from a total weight of 645 pounds to 660 pounds. But, at Indy, Herrera and his Vance and Hines team would solve the additional weight tuning problems. Herrera qualified number one with a 6.809 at 197.71 mph, just ahead of Matt Smith and his 6.816 at 196.90 mph effort. Herrera scored low elapse time and best reaction times of eliminations (6.755 and 0.000 -perfect) to advance to the final round of eliminations against Angie Smith (wife of Matt Smith). Herrera used a perfect reaction time (0.000 to 0.038) to leave first and rode away to a 6.763 at 198.70 mph to 6.829 at 197.19 mph victory, his first at Indy.
