As the NHRA Mission Foods drag racing series season dwindles down to the final few races, the competitors made their annual stop at the Texas Motorplex just outside of Dallas, Texas. The NHRA Fall Nationals was the final event of the 10-day long Stampede of Speed. Throughout the 10-day event there were concerts and plenty of on track racing before the Fall Nationals got underway.
During Friday night qualifying, the track owner Billy Meyer hosts a battle for the saddle $15,000 to the low elapse time runner in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. Pro Stock has a $7,500 battle for the saddle and Pro Stock Motorcycle has a $5,000 battle as well. Each of the four will receive their prize in cash and also receive a pair of Corral boots.
In Top Fuel Brittany Force in her Hendrickcars.com dragster took home the ‘Battle for the Saddle’ when she posted a 3.667 et @ 338.19 mph. In Funny Car Austin Prock and his AAA Chevy Camaro completed the sweep for john Force Racing with his 3.813 et @ 333.09 mph. Pro Stock was led by five-time champion Greg Anderson in his Hendrickcars.com Camaro with a run of 6.524 et @ 208.99 mph. Gaige Herrera picked up the win in Pro Stock Motorcycle with his pass of a 6.757 et @ 201.21 mph.
On race day in Top Fuel, it was all Justin Ashley in his SCAG Equipment dragster winning with not necessarily the best car each round but the driver leaving the starting line first. In round one Ashley took down the three-time champion and current points leader Antron Brown. Ashley was off the start line first with his .041 rt and posted 3.775 @ 329.21 mph run to Brown’s .061 rt and 3.776 @ 324.96 mph. Round two saw Ashley face another former champion, Shawn Langdon. They left the starting line nearly identical Ashley (.046) Langdon (.045) but both cars lost traction. Langdon started losing traction first causing him to fall behind with a 4.274 @ 228 .21 mph to Ashley’s 3.951 @ 291 mph. Ashley’s semifinal round match would be against the eight-time champion Tony Schumacher. Ashley got off the starting line first .050 rt and put a solid 3.806 @ 327.51 mph to Schumacher’s .073 rt 3.817 @ 323.93 mph. In the final round Ashley would square off against Clay Millican. Ashley saved his best reaction time for last cutting a .026 to Millican’s .059. Ashley put a 3.773 et @ 327.99 mph to Millican’s quicker but losing 3.762 et @ 328.40. With the win, Justin Ashley took over the points lead heading into the final two races.
In Funny Car it seemed like there was a Friday the 13th curse, but on a Sunday. Jack Beckman, driving for the injured John Force, suffered a vertigo spell early in the morning and was unable to compete. Dave Richards’ Blueturf Mustang had a clutch malfunction on his burnout in round one. In the next pair Alexis DeJoria’s Bandero Toyota Funny Car broke on the burnout. Then to top off the day, the number one qualifier and points leader Austin Prock in his AAA Chevy Camaro broke a throttle linkage on the burnout in the semifinal round. With all of the irregularities of the day, four-time Funny Car champion Matt Hagan came out on top. Hagan narrowly slipped past Bobby Bode in the opening round on a hole shot cutting .050 rt and running a 3.974 @ 325.64 mph to Bode’s .069 rt and 3.966 @ 321.80 mph. Hagan’s round two opponent was two-time champion Cruz Pedregon. But Pedregon’s Snap On Tools Dodge lost traction near half-track and could only watch as Hagan ran a 3.974 @ 327.44 mph. Hagan would then take on the SCAG Mustang of Daniel Wilkerson. While Wilkerson lost traction as soon as he mashed the throttle, Hagan motored his way down to a 3.965 @ 326.16 mph. He would then face the three-time champion Ron Capps in his NAPA Toyota. Hagan got off the starting line first with a .064 rt to Capps’s .084. Hagan put up a 3.943 @ 327.65 mph to hold off Capps’s quicker but losing 3.934 @ 328.28 mph.
In Pro Stock qualifying, Eric Latino had a wild ride as nearing the finish line the car got loose and went head on into the retaining wall, bursting into flames before turning upside down and sliding down the shutdown area where it came to a stop. The NHRA safety team was quickly on top of the situation and got Latino out of his wrecked race car unhurt.
On race day in Pro Stock, the final round would be a battle of five-time champions: Greg Anderson in his Hendrickscars.com Camaro vs. Jeg Coughlin, Jr. in his SCAG Camaro. Anderson got off the starting line first with his .034 rt to Coughlin’s .042 rt but Coughlin’s 6.592 @ 208.10 mph was enough to power past Anderson’s 6.602 @ 210.13 mph.
Pro Stock Motorcycle was all Gaige Herrera all day long. He qualified on the pole and running low elapse time of the day with a 6.758 @ 201.78 mph on the board in round one. Round two saw his opponent Chase Van Sant foul out. His semifinal round opponent Jianna Evaristo missed the tree cutting a .266 rt. Herrera posted low et of the round 6.835 @ 199.65 mph. His final round match up with six-time champion Matt Smith was over by half-track as Smith’s motorcycle struggled to shift into high gear and Herrera posted another solid 6.816 @ 200.56 mph on the board. This was his 20th career win and he is the current points leader with two races left.
