The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series made its way across the Hoover Dam to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Denso Spark Plugs Four-Wide Nationals.
Four wide racing is slightly different than the normal two wide configuration that the racers and fans are used to. Usually two racers go down the race track and the winner comes back for the next round. In the four wide format four racers head down the track and the first two to take the finish line advance onto the next round until they reach the final. In the final, the first to reach the finish line strip is the winner and second is the runner up and so on.
In Top Fuel reigning three-time top fuel world champion Steve Torrence in his Capco Contractors dragster scored the victory. In his opening quad he and Leah Pruett each advanced over Cameron Ferre and Greg Carrillo. In their second quad Torrence advanced along with Doug Kalitta in his Mac Tools dragster while Pruett’s day came to an end along with Shawn Langdon. In the final round of Top Fuel, Torrence would have to take on Kalitta, Clay Millican in his Denso Spark Plugs dragster and another three-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown in his Matco Tools dragster. Brown and Torrence left the starting line nearly identical but Brown’s car lost traction and he fell behind finishing fourth. Millican stayed with Torrence as well as Kalitta, Millican’s car started to fade near 800ft and he would finish third. Kalitta was runner up while using up his 11,000 horsepower motor as it was shedding parts from 900ft right through the 1000ft finish line.
In the Nitro Funny Car class Bob Tasca III in his Ford Quick Lane Mustang captured the coveted Wally trophy. Tasca, taking no prisoners during the day, laid down consecutive 3.9 second runs throughout eliminations. He posted a 3.917 @ 329mph in the opening round, round two 3.934 @ 331 mph and in the final round 3.938 @ 328 mph. Tasca was not the fastest car on the track each round but consistency wins races. In the opening round he and the Napa Dodge of Ron Capps advanced in their quad taking down Jim Campbell and rookie Bobby Bode. In round two again Tasca and Capps blew through their quad again leaving three-time Funny Car world champion Robert Hight and 2018 funny car champion JR Todd on the sidelines. In the final round Tasca got the hole shot win as his slower 3.938 @ 328mph was enough to hold off the quicker but losing LRS Mustang of Tim Wilkerson at 3.922 @ 320 mph who finished third. Three-time champ Matt Hagan in his Mopar Dodge finished second with a solid 3.955 @ 324mph and Capps finished fourth with a 3.978 @ 316mph.
In Pro Stock three-time champion Erica Enders picked up the win after a shaky qualifying situation. She struggled until the final round to get into the show only qualifying 13th. Enders used her driving skills throughout the day to advance to the final round against Aaron Stanfield, Deric Krammer and rookie Mason McGaha. McGaha ended his chance of winning at the starting line with a red light, Krammer finished third as he fell slightly behind Stanfield.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Ryan Oehler scored his second career victory. In his final round he marched past Scotty Pollacheck who red lighted away his hopes. Steve Johnson’s bike broke shortly after launching off the line. He held off Cory Reed.
The next stop for NHRA is Commerce, GA just outside of Atlanta from April 30 through May 2 for the Lucas Oil NHRA Southern Nationals.
