The NHRA Thread

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JohnBM01

JohnBM01

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GTPlanet, I'm expanding my horizons a bit on GTPlanet. Part of this is to have a general NHRA thread. Not a lot of people care about drag racing. But for those who love NHRA drag racing, this is your thread to chat about NHRA competition. My threads are usually not about one class of NHRA competition. Each of the four classes of NHRA are pretty hard-fought whether you like your drag racing on four wheels or two.

Look at the weirdest-looking straightliners in the Funny Car class. Check out the only open-wheel drag cars whereas the Top Fuel dragsters blast down the 1/4 mile. My favorite looking drag race cars are the Pro Stock cars. If you think nothing's better than going full speed on two wheels, the Pro Stock Motorcycle class is for you.



I'll be offering a few other threads to expand the American racing spectrum more. But this is one of them. Let's chat NHRA! We're currently not far away from the Countdown to One. Anyone care to chat NHRA in this thread? This is the all-NHRA thread. This may popuarly concern the top four classes of NHRA competition. However (and most of you know me), this thread may also concern some of the lower series like the NHRA Sportsman Series and any other NHRA-sanctioned racing. Don't let the "NHRA thread" fool you. It's about all varieties of NHRA Drag Racing and all of its many divisions.
 
Come on John, you're talking to GTP's 400m freak here. :P I've been dying to do a thread like this myself but thought better since a lot more people do like the circuit work a bit better.

In saying that, this is my take on things. Tony Schumacher WILL be the Top Fuel champion, the only question is will he take Greg Anderson's all-time round win and race win record, over 1000ft he has been practically unbeatable as a lot of Alan Johnson's tuning focuses on that 1000ft. I can't wait for Alan Johnson's Abu Dhabi team to come out next year either, that's going to be a firecracker team out of the box to compete with Don Schumacher Racing.

Funny Car is the cinderella story of the whole competition. Tim Wilkerson going full time for the first time in his funny car career and dominating John Force Racing in the process!! Twice he's beaten 3 Force cars to win a Wally, and his lead in the championship now is getting close to insurmountable if he keeps it up.

Pro Stock is shaping up to be another close one. Jeg is coming on strong in the right time of the season, and that run by Jason Line the other week has him back in the hunt. I'm a fan of Greg Anderson, and would love for him to catch the small deficit in the points he has to Jeg and to regain his crown, but it's looking less likely with the hiccups he's had the past few races.

Pro Stock Bike is looking to be Matt Smith's year again, but I wouldn't count out Eddie Krawiec or Andrew Hines to come up and snatch the title. I'm looking to see whether one of the bikes will hit deep into the 6.80's or possibly a 6.79 by the end of the season, as the gap between both PS classes keeps shrinking each season.
 
I don't know what's wrong with John Force. He won the championship every year last decade except 1993. He's still one of the best in drag racing. Not sure if I'd put him up there with "Big Daddy" Don Garlitz or anybody.

I'm just expanding the broader scope of racing events on here. This is just a start.
 
There's nothing wrong with John Force, having a near death experience at Dallas last year with that crash with Kenny Bernstein has changed his views again!! You watch him in the interviews, it's like watching his Golden Age all over again, he's enthusiastic, eager and itching to win again, something he took forgranted throughout the late 90's and 00's. ;)

He's also reflected on other things. For one, the passing of Eric Medlen. Now John Medlen has Mike Neff who himself is one of the best tuners on the whole NHRA circuit, winning a FC championship with Gary Scelzi!! He's looked at how much of his daughter's lives he's missed (Adra, Ashley, Brittney & Courtney) and is taking more time at home, then he's got his daughter (Ashley), himself AND his son-in-law (Robert Hight) in the hunt for the funny car title, he has his megabuck team to run still, Austin Coil is still there powering his ride so nothing is wrong, if anything it's only going to get better!! I'd put money on one of the Force Cars to take out 2009, but this year in FC, I think Wilko's going to do it and have the cinderella story come true, and he bloody well deserves it too. 👍

And for the record, I love that you're trying to open people's eyes about the NHRA John. 👍 To me, some people don't realise that to find the faster car you only need 1000 or 1320ft. ;):P

That and I would envision for GTPlanet that we could eventually.........one day.......have a GTPRA. :D
 
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Gran Turismo Party Racing Association?

Don't get to see too much of it over here, we used to get it on Five US. Just found that it dropped it this season, next time it is on five is end of the month at about 3 in the morning. Motors TV have it on iirc, but their website is down. I need to find how much ESPN is. Drag Racing really does miss out on having poor television coverage, especially in Europe. It's one of my ambitions to go to an NHRA event.
 
Tony Pedregon won the Funny Car title. My congratulations on him winning his first title in 16 years. Not sure if it's first title in 16 years or first title in his 16 years. Anyways, he's your Funny Car champ. Had this been the 1990s, seeing John Force not win the title is unusual. I always say he won every Funny Car crown last decade except 1993.
 
I honestly didn't care about the NHRA until I went with my uncle to Brainerd this year, It's the biggest rush I've ever had while just sitting there.
 
I can't think of many people who wouldn't get a rush seeing something accelerate to 300mph in under 4 seconds. You have to be quite boring if you don't get a rush.
 
Seriously- how can you be bored on seeing cars go 300+ mph? It's a motorsports rodeo. Only that instead of trying to hang on for eight seconds, you're hanging onto a wild horse with serious horsepower for at least five seconds. Maybe you're into the stock-type cars. Pro Stock can be very fun. Top Fuel cars can be a challenge to keep that bastard on the track. I've seen FIA Drag Racing motorcycles before, but the Pro Stock Bike class can be just as entertaining being on only two wheels.

If it's one thing I like about drag racing, it's that (and this is completely off-topic) there is a great female contingent. Look at Ashley Force getting her first win. Angelle S... (I've always known her as Angelle Seeling since the late 1990s) is a great pro stock bike racer. But still, the greatest female in drag racing history is Shirley Muldowney.

Keep this thread buzzing with NHRA chatter!
 
You've had Europe's best, Urs Erbacher, for about 6 races this year, he's comfortably the best in Europe, holding both fastest ET (4.6xxx iirc) and speed (318mph). How has he been doing, competing with the quicker NHRA cars.

Any news on the safety investigation following Scott Kallita's fatal crash? They are still running the 300m strip, instead of 400m strip. They've done that at Mantorp Park in Europe, but nowhere else.
 
In Australia, we've stuck to the full 400m tracks, since all of our ANDRA certified dragstrips have huge shutdown areas. WSID (Western Sydney International Dragway), Kwinana in Western Australia and Willowbank in Queensland are regarded as some of the best prepared tracks around. The Top Fuel cars here are running into the 4.50's and starting to knock on the door of the US teams, even with our limited schedule (compare 5 or 6 rounds to 24). ;)
It's not just unique with the TF's with cars in our Top Doorslammer category (Pro Modified in the US) hitting the 5.90's with consistency now, making them the fastest in the world. And in Sport Compact we're making a huge impact aswell, watch the next few months because it's going to be a wild attack at some records here.
 
Of course, the cars are designed to split in two when a large impact occurs, aren't they? That can't work with high-end engine explosions. Can they do anything about it though?
 
In NHRA , IHRA , whatever sanctioning body your involved with,drag racing is a motorsport,in which you do not get a 2nd chance to redeem yourself,you either win ,or you put it on the trailer.Unlike other forms of racing you have quite a few laps to make a comeback because of a slight miscue.Depending on the "classification" of car you are running,you have,lets say between 4 to 15 seconds to do it right.

This is why I love drag racing - there is no margin for error.Even the tree can be your own worst enemy. :nervous:
 
2009 is a go for NHRA. :D

And who would've thought that with a new team, bucketloads of sheikh's money and Alan Johnson tuning his ride that Larry Dixon wouldn't qualify for TF?? Same with Tim Wilkerson in FC, that was a shock and a half, the cinderella story of 2008 not even starting the show in 2009. I'm sad that Ashley Force is married though.........DAMMIT!!! :lol:

I love the new K&N car for Warren Johnson in PS and it's good to see WJ around for another season!! 👍 Greg Anderson & Jason Line's cars for KB Racing look like the beasts they were back in 2004-05 and Cagnassi racing haven't rested on their laurels either with Jeg's car being up there too.

It sucks there was only 1 qualifying run all weekend though. I hope the weather clears up for them guys for eliminations.
 
Well, we're now 4 rounds through the championship and what a start for the Pro Stock & Pro Stock Bike categories. New ET & Speed records for PS (Greg Anderson with a 6.521 & Mike Edwards for the first 212mph pass), Matt Smith breaking Angelle's long standing PSM record, also with a Suzuki getting 6.865. He's my pick for that championship.

With PS, Jason Line is getting deep into eliminations each round and has a lead over Jeg Coughlin, but the others are already starting to fall behind the Top 2. Houston was good for the NA cars, great conditions meant the speed records tumbled, funnily enough each time to the losing car. Greg Anderson has the pace to smash the competition, if he stopped sleeping at the line, his 6.521 at Pomona proved that at the start of the year. He's already been beaten 3 times this year by holeshots but we all know he has the capability of winning another championship!

Top Fuel is becoming quite a good class this year. It's not the Tony Schumacher show yet, even though he won at Houston. Antron Brown is leading the standings from Tony, but the Top 5 is separated by just over 2 rounds including the Al-Anabi team, one to watch for the countdown to 1 later in the year I reckon...Alan Johnson & Larry Dixon are starting to gel as a combination like Alan & Tony did at the Army team for so long.

Congrats to Ashley Force-Hood for getting her 2nd FC win at Houston and closing that class up aswell. Ron Capps still leads, but will it be another case of bridesmaid and not bride?? Time will tell on that one. Bob Tasca got his first win at Gainesville which is good as he's the new future of FC after the tragic loss of Eric Medlen a couple of years back. Speaking of Force racing, I'm hoping John Force gets himself back in the winner's circle soon too.

And remember, they're qualifying for Las Vegas this weekend guys, so get out there and check it all out. :)
 
Thanks for the heads-up! You know, my parents and I want to check out the racing action at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, but we just never get around to going. Congratulations to all who won the latest races and eliminations.
 
Jason line was leading the PS championship heading into Vegas. As for FC, Capps was leading the championship.

After Vegas though, things have changed. Tony Schumacher won Vegas and is now the new points leader in TF. Capps won the event in FC and extends his lead in the championship, and Jeg Coughlin has taken the lead over Jason Line in PS.
 
I can't wait for August, TV is fun but being there in person is a direct shot of adrenaline.

Go Antron Brown
 
NHRA is qualifying at Bristol this weekend. I know it better for the short track, but that drag racing course is beautiful. The hills with the trees just makes for a fantastic view down the quarter mile.

In a qualifying session, Ashley Force Hood was fishtailing a bit down the block, but she recovered. Her opponent in the other lane (his name fails me) lost control way earlier than Ashley, but he too brought it down the block safely. I guess I don't really realize the altitude of the Bristol complex.
 
Congratulations goes out to Allen Johnson in the Pro Stock ranks as he edged out Mike Edwards at the O'Reilly Summer Nationals held in Topeka Kansas this weekend.This is Johnson's 1st victory in 42 races . Great Job Allen.

Johnson " TREE'D " Edwards .035 to .045,enough to hold him off and take the victory by .002 seconds.

Who says Drag Racing is boring ? What a race !!!!!


In the Top Fuel ranks,Larry Dixon ran a 3.971 to defeat Clay Millican for his second victory of the year.

In the Funny Car ranks,Ron Capps continues his reign of terror by defeating #1 qualifier Ashley Force Hood by running a 4.266 against Ashley's 4.495.The victory extends his points lead to 119 points over 2nd place Del Worsham.
 
Don "The Snake" Prudhomme has got to be one of the happiest guys in America right now.
The ex NHRA Champion,and now team owner has a rookie driver by the name of Spencer Massey.Massey fought through the ranks today to take his 1st ever NHRA Top Fuel title at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals.Massey was able to top Antron Brown in the final round today with a time of 3.856 @ 308.35 mph against Browns 3.870 @ 301.54

Congratulations to Spencer Massey and team owner/Champion Don Prudhomme for your 1st victory this year.

Funny Car :
It was Tony Pedregon against Ashley Force Hood in the finals.From the start it appeared to be a good race coming,not to be,Ashley lit up the rear tires and handed over the victory to Pedregon,giving Tony the win.

Pro Stock :
The final pairing ended up being Jeg Coughlin against Mike Edwards.
It was a come easy victory for Coughlin as Edwards red-lighted by .021 seconds to hand over the win to Coughlin.
 
Englishtown N.J. this weekend for NHRA SuperNationals

First round qualifying results :

Top Fuel - Tony Schumacher with a 3.932
Funny car - No surprise here,Ashley Force Hood with a time of 4.259
Pro Stock - Another one that comes as no surprise,Mike Edwards dials a 6.610


On a side note,former national event winner Melanie Troxel who drove in the ranks of Top Fuel and Funny Car, is set to make her Pro-Mod debut.Her fastest pass thus far is a 6.164.Very nice job Melanie.
 
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I always though Shirley Muldowney was the queen of drag racing, but great job by Melanie Troxel.
 
Nicksfix
On a side note,former national event winner Melanie Troxel who drove in the ranks of Top Fuel and Funny Car, is set to make her Pro-Mod debut.Her fastest pass thus far is a 6.164.Very nice job Melanie.
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Sorry for being out of the NHRA loop for the last few years, but is Pro Mod now a part of the NHRA program and is it contested at each national event now or a select number of events during the season? I've seen a few pro mod races on TV over the years and I think those cars are really cool.;)👍
 
CAMikaze
Sorry for being out of the NHRA loop for the last few years, but is Pro Mod now a part of the NHRA program and is it contested at each national event now or a select number of events during the season? I've seen a few pro mod races on TV over the years and I think those cars are really cool.;)👍
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Yes,they are a regular part of the NHRA Full Throttle Series .

TURN UP THE SPEAKERS,THIS IS GREAT SOUNDING :



 

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