Friday News & Notes from the NHRA Texas FallNationals

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q1

Qualifying begins in the heat of the day with a racing surface that has had toasty warm sun shining on it all the live-long day, but the Pro Stock Motorcycle class does not appear to be hindered. 

An early highlight was Malcolm Phillips making taking to the drag strip for the first time in a year. He’s riding a motorcycle he got from G.T. Tonglet, and he takes it to a 7.027, 191.62 to get the ball rolling. 

The Matt Smith Racing Buells were strong this session with Jianna Evaristo and her Valley Service Scrappers Racing V-Twin making the first 200 mph of the weekend, then Angie Smith making the best run from their stable, a 6.808 at a big 201.41 aboard her pink Denso machine. 

“I was surprised with the 201; Matt [Smith, husband and tuner], you’re doing a good job. Thank you,” she said, elated to be racing at an event that she missed last year after a St. Louis wreck. “Hats off to the Meyer family; we love racing here.” 

It was defending event champion Gaige Herrera on top at the end of this first session, though, with a bold 6.791, 200.10. 

“There is a lot of competitiveness out here,” said Herrera. “But that’s what it’s all about. We’re all shooting for that [bonus] money tonight.” 

Pro Stock Q1

Derrick Reese got things started for the Pro Stocks driving his Kenny Delco Racing entry. Reese, who has plentiful experience in Mountain Motor cars, calls on past experience to tame the beast as his car was way out of shape soon after launching. 

Deric Kramer is back after a two-race respite in his Get BioFuel Chevrolet, but his burnout sounded wonky and he ended up shut off and unable to make the run. There are 19 cars on the property, which means Kramer is among those needing to make a good run later tonight — it’s likely to provide the best conditions of the weekend. 

Defending and three-time Dallas winner Erica Enders did not get to make a run in her JHG/Melling Performance Chevrolet — she was shut off on the starting line as fluid was leaking from her car on the starting line. This is her first race without longtime Elite Motorsports crew chief Mark Ingersoll, who had a double lung transplant just a handful of days ago.

“It’s super unfortunate to watch Jeggie go out there and run straight to the top; I know we can run equally as good as him,” said Enders. “It’s kind of the way things have been going for me, but we’re going to remain positive. I got to talk to [Mark] Ingersoll right before that run. He’s got his iPad in his room, and he’s watching us and to me that’s all that really matters right now.” 

The session closed with the top two drivers in the standings looking for any edge as they chase those bonus qualifying points. Aaron Stanfield, who entered the event 31 points back from points leader Dallas Glenn, makes the third quickest run of the round (6.566) for a point in his Elite Motorsports-powered JHG/Melling/Janac Brothers Chevy. Glenn’s 6.581 in the RAD Torque Systems Camaro settles him into the No. 5 spot for now. 

The top spot changed hands a number of times throughout this session, with six-time Texas Motorplex winner Greg Anderson ultimately ending up in the No. 1 spot on a 6.556, 210.47. 

Jeg Coughlin Jr. earned a pair of bonus points for his 6.564, and Anderson scored three as low of the round for HendrickCars.com.

Funny Car Q1

Eleven cars qualified in the three-second zone in the opening session, whetting appetites for what will come later tonight under the lights.

Blake Alexander, who has qualified Jim Head’s entry fourth or better at three of the last five events including in his lone season win in Brainerd, led the way with a 3.878 with Pep Boys Callout winner Paul Lee second at 3.889 on a run where he came close to glancing off the guardwall just past the finish line but nonetheless made it to the stripe clean,

Matt Hagan grabbed the final bonus points with a 3.902 to solidly set himself in the field for what would be his 350th career eliminations start.

“It’s all about setting yourself up for tonight’s run,” said Hagan crew chief Dickie Venables. “That’s about what we were looking for so we’ll take that and get ready for tonight.”

Neither points leader Austin Prock nor teammate and primary championship challenger got any bonus points as they finished fourth and fifth with respective runs of 3.905 and 3.908.

Alexis DeJoria, who made her first career Funny Car start at this event in 2011, followed with a 3.915, with Bob Tasca III (3.946), Ron Capps (3.946), J.R. Todd (3.957), Daniel Wilkerson (3.965) and Cruz Pedregon (3.987) rounding out the three-second runners.

Texan Buddy Hull sits on the bump spot of what is already a quick field with a 4.177.

Top Fuel Q1

As it was in Funny Car, the first Top Fuel session only whet the appetite for tonight’s “Battle for the Saddle” qualifying bonus put up by the Texas Motorplex.

Shawn Langdon, sitting third and three rounds out of first place, led the way with a 3.727 in the Kalitta Air entry but he already knows what won’t be low by the end of the day.

“You’d better figure out how to run a mid-3.60 tonight,” he cautioned. “3.72 was about all of it in that round but it’s going to take a 3.64 or 3.65 tonight.”

Indy winner Clay Millican was almost three-hundredths back in second with a 3.752 with six-time world champ Tony Schumacher, winner two weeks ago in St. Louis, in third with a 3.762. Josh Hart ran a “confidence boosting” 3.776 for the No. 4 spot.

Second-place Justin Ashley, who will be observing Yom Kippur, which begins at sunset tonight and runs through sunset tomorrow, makes what will be his only qualifying pass and makes it a good one with a 3.77 that will almost assuredly give him a spot in Sunday’s field.

“Yeah, that SCAG Toyota had a really good run in that first session,” said Ashley. “I mean that was the idea, we accomplished what we wanted to there, which is go A to B. We gave ourselves a good chance to make the show, I feel good about that, but the Top Fuel field, the way it is right now, it’s just going to be a difficult task, so we’re hoping that it holds. I think we’re No. 5. The session that we were most worried about was tonight, but as far as we can be concerned the script is already written, we’re just living it out, so hopefully you know, we’ll be back Sunday morning.” 

Shawn Reed (3.784), Jasmine Salinas (3.788), Krista Baldwin (3.788), and points leader Antron Brown (3.793) rounded out the cars under 3.8 seconds.

Baldwin was thrilled with her run after a tough last couple of months since running her first 3.7-second pass, a 3.755 in Phoenix,

“We’ve been struggling all summer; this year has been real tough on our team and we’ve been working so hard for that run,’ she said. “It just feels so good.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle Q2

After a stirring rendition of the National Anthem and a prayer led by Racers for Christ chaplain Eddie Baugher, we’re off and running for the highly anticipated late-evening qualifying session. 

This second qualifying round has been coined the “Battle for the Saddle,” in which the quickest qualifier of the round sits atop a saddle at the top end, handing the seat off to the quicker riders as they emerge. $5,000 and a pair of Corral Boots will go to Friday night’s final saddle rider in Pro Stock Motorcycle and $7,500 (plus the Corral kicks) for Pro Stock car. 

Wings & Warriors Suzuki rider Steve Johnson takes a solo and a seat, but he’s quickly knocked off my Marc Ingwersen, who is then ousted by Chase Van Sant (6.833). 

Richard Gadson’s 6.831 demands a dismount for Van Sant. 6.778, 201.81 sends Jianna Evaristo right up to the top of the qualifying sheet, and Gadson’s saddle time is short-lived. 

“This is awesome,” said Evaristo. “Last year I got to see everybody come out here and run some amazing numbers, and I was thinking about it the other day, just from where I was in Gainesville to today. We’ve been neck and neck with each other, MSR and Vance & Hines this whole season. They’re definitely giving us a run for the money.”

Angie Smith broke on the starting line aboard her Denso Buell and won’t get a shot this round; the fuel pump didn’t activate when she turned the switch on. 

Gaige Herrera takes the cash and the cowboy boots; he rode to a killer 6.757, 201.21 on his RevZilla Mission Foods Suzuki. 

Bonus points go to Herrera (+3), Evaristo (+2), and Gadson (+1). 

Pro Stock Q2

Nearly everyone improved this session and the conditions were begging for big numbers and stretches into pushing these finicky cars to the edge. 

Eric Latino gets out of the groove in his GESi Chevrolet and he takes a wild ride, sashaying across the center line and knocking timing blocks loose before beginning to roll and then hitting the right guard wall. The fuel ignites into a large fireball as the car goes over on it’s lid, sliding down the racetrack in a fireball with sparks flying. When the car settles, Latino emerges and is fully alert, walking away from the crash and shaking his head. 

There is much to clean up, and we push pause on this qualifying session. 

Earlier, though, after a disheartening shut-off in the first qualifying round, Erica Enders and her JHG-backed Chevrolet sailed right on top with a bold 6.562, 209.09. The native Texan took her spot atop the saddle and felt right at home through nearly the entire session, until Greg Anderson and his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet threw down a 6.524 that nudged her from the perch. 

Anderson explained that during the downtime after Latino’s crash the conditions improved, but he also felt confident in his race car.

“We started with a great run earlier today. We had a little bit to clean up on it, but I knew we were good,” said Anderson. “I’ll take it.” Anderson locks into the provisional No. 1 and scores three more bonus points. Enders gets two for her strong efforts, and David Cuadra picks up a point as well. 

Funny Car Q2

Austin Prock stomped his way to the top of the field with a dazzling run, a 3.813 that not only was the quickest pass of the year –supplanting the 3.814 he ran two weeks ago in St. Louis – but also the eighth quickest run in history and the quickest run since 2017, during the laid-back header era.

If it sticks through Saturday qualifying — which it most certainly should — it will be Prock’s 13th No. 1 qualifying position of the year, tying the single-record set back in 1996 by his car owner, John Force.

Matt Hagan (3.823) and Jack Beckman (3.825) followed with what was the quickest side-by-side pass of the season but settled into the No. 2 and 3 spots, respectively. Beckman’s run tied his career best, set in 2016 at the Finals in Pomona.

Blake Alexander also ran a career-best, a 3.833 that bettered his previous mark of 3.874, to grab the No. 4 spot after leading the first session. Ron Capps grabbed the No. 5 spot with a 3.862 in what was one of the season’s great qualifying sessions.

The session started with a moment that touched everyone in the sport as Dale Creasy, who last year at this event experienced one of the lowest lows of his career, a two-car collision with Dave Richards after crossing the centerline in front of Richards during qualifying, buried that bad memory with a career-best 3.909, almost six-hundredths better than his previous best pass of 3.967 recorded two years ago in Brainerd. 

“This means a lot to me, not just for what we went through last year, leaving here with my tail between my legs and a broken race car, but with the help of John Force Racing and all my guys, we worked a lot of hours, and it’s paying dividends,” said an emotional Creasy.

Creasy stayed astride the low e.t. saddle through the next three pairs before being knocked off by Daniel Wilkerson, who made a career-best pass of 3.871, better than the 3.885 he recorded in Charlotte in the spring.

Cruz Pedregon took a shot at unseating Wilkerson but missed by a few thousandths with a 3.878 before Prock took over. Wilkerson and Pedregon ended up Nos. 6 and 7 with Paul Lee rounding out the top eight with his 3.889 from Q1. 

Top Fuel Q2

Brittany Force took charge of the field early in the session with a 3.667, her best pass of the season (bettering her 3.668 from Sonoma) and her speed of 338.19 is the second fastest this season and the sixth fastest in class history. Force owns six of the 10 fastest runs in class history.

Shawn Reed impressed with a career-best 3.676 (previous best 3.685) to go to the No. 2 spot. His 330.71 was also a career-best, bettering his 330.63 by a few ticks.

Homestate hero Steve Torrence, who had taken over the field lead one pair before Force’s pass, slid to third, and first-session leader Shawn Langdon ended up fourth with his early 3.727.

Thirteen drivers are qualified quicker than 3.80 seconds but the field falls off a bit from there to the point where No. 16 is just 4.557 by Cameron Ferre, which is surely good news for both reigning world champ Doug Kalitta and rookie of the year favorite Tonny Stewart, who sits No. 17 and 18 respectively,