The NHRA Thread

  • Thread starter JohnBM01
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I do watch the NHRA from time to time. There's still nothing cooler than seeing 5-8 second passes down the strip at insanely high speeds. These guys (and gals) will probably even come down here to the Houston area with the race in Baytown.
 
I just remembered something else too...

Back when I started high school, I got into the Auto Tech program and while ultimately I got nothing for it, it did expose me to a LOT of info, including who the hell these three were:

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Angelle Sampey, Tony Shumacher, and Antron Brown. "Sarge" has been in the rail as long as I remember, but Angelle and Antron were PS Moto drivers, and being young and incredibly stupid anything the recuiter said has long gone, but I think I still have the promo sheet he gave out somewhere...anyway, at one point Angelle stepped away from the sport, and a bit later Antron moved to TF himself and we know where he is today. I wondered for a few years what happened to Angelle, and then one event this last year there she was again. I missed it by a year, she returned in 2015, but still...

Anyway, it was announced late last season she wouldn't return to Star Racing, instead Mrs. Sampey-Drago (dammit) will be racing for a new team, Team Liberty Racing, and running Victory motorcycles.

Now that I've FINALLY gotten that thought out, did anyone catch the mid-day session?
 
Northstar
Speaking of Victory, I wonder what will become of their NHRA program with the brand going away?
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If the contracts were signed with Polaris outright, then I imagine something will replace it OR they'll introduce Indian. If it stopped at Victory, then they'll go to whoever will pay them the most I'm sure.
 
Angelle Sampey posted on Facebook that they were still going to run the Victory equipment they have this season because they already spent the money to develop it. Though I'm not sure what their plan is for next year and they may use the Victorys again. Come to think of it, half the teams are still running a Buell, and I haven't heard anything from that brand in years.

I know it was mentioned a few days ago, but I'm not shocked that Elite went back to GM full time. Vincent Nobile was the third car and Elite's only Camaro last year, and he generally out qualified and out finished both Erica and Jeg's Darts. A lot of people on other forums predicted that the Elite/Dodge partnership was doomed to fail last year, and it looked to be like those people were unfortunately right.
 
I love Angelle Sampey. She has always been a solid drag racer who'll ride the wheels off of a Pro Stock Motorcycle. I got full respect for her and glad she's still going strong.
 
Things of note.

1) Pro stock just keeps showing me why it's my favorite class.

2) I have a feeling the Force vs. Schumacher rivalry is going to be very fierce all year long.

3) Brainerd can't come soon enough!
 
Jason Line takes the Pro Stock win, Matt Hagan wins Funny Car, Leah Pritchett wins Top Fuel giving Don Schumacher the Nitro Double, all while DSR and Team Force are in the midst of a cold war it would seem.

Who said Drag Racing is straight-forward.
 
Watching the replay now, I really think John Force and Randy Savage...if they aren't related somehow, John took lessons from Randy.

Best looking vehicles: Leah Pritchett's Papa John's rail, Alexa DeJoria's Patron FC (best best), Tony Schumacher's ARMY rail.
 
It's a good thing now days that NHRA is embracing some of the wilder classes of drag racing like Pro Modified and Top Fuel Harley on their tour dates.

Those two classes keep drag racing exciting to see.
 
I love John Force. Always have. I just think it's strange seeing him not racing Fords and not racing with Castrol sponsorship. John Force is a legend racking up all those Funny Car championships. I remember when I was first learning about racing, the only time in the 1990s that J. Force didn't win the Funny Car championship was in 1993. And again- besides a Castrol Ford Mustang funny car, he's rocking the Peak Camaro funny car. It's strange, but dude still gets it done.
 
This weekend is the Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino NHRA Nationals at Wild Horse Pass in Phoenix. Leah Pritchett set an unofficial speed record during testing almost a month ago. After one qualifying run, Tony Schumacher topped TF and Courtney Force lead FC.

Q2 Update EDIT: Courtney holds FC #1 spot by 0.001 second over Matt Hagan.

Q2 E2: Leah Pritchett ran a 3.658 at 328 mph, now officially national record-Fastest Run at 1000 ft., and it's so fast the on-board camera stopped working. Takes #1 spot over Sarge 3.658 to 3.667.

Jason Line apparently had a small mishap when his chutes got tangled. WHP looks to have a 1/2 mile plus of run-off before you reach the end so it ended well.

Also: The Amalie Oil rail is definitely a looker this year...maybe a bit polarizing. The Worsham/Lucas Oil FC is basic but looks good. Lastly is a little detail, I like that the Kalitta/DHL car still has Scott on it. It's on the window while the current driver J.R. Todd is on top of the "door".
 
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I don't usually watch NHRA as much as I used to back then. However, I do like watching drag racing. The round here in the Houston area will be on the weekend of April 21-23 in Baytown.
 
Watching now...caught a look at Shane Gray's car...after seeing silver w/ black stripes for a long time, his new Valvoline car is sharp.

His son Tanner also has one...now I feel old.
 
I'm finding this race hard to watch because I already heard the results. I always hate it when I find out the results before they appear on TV via tape delay. :banghead:
 
Those Harleys may as well be unicycles. Jesus.

AnthonyD1993
Holy mother of Input Shaft. That top fuel input shaft is huge!
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And It's only good for 25 runs!

Also, I just noticed the nitro engine in one of the funny cars has only two valves per cylinder.

Tony Schumacher's car is a carbon fiber pattern. I thought it was just gray...and he gets smoked by Brittany Force who looks to be in "Full Force" mentality.
 
Pritchett, Hagan, and Andersen win and lead their respective points tables.

Next event: The GatorNationals, where Pro Stock Motorcycle catches up with the rest of the series.
 
AnthonyD1993
Big Story brewing now. Summit Motorsports Park is now in a battle with the Ohio state government and the FAA. The battle stems around the light poles at the far end of the track in the shutdown area. The article I'll link below has the original local paper in the Norwalk area.

http://www.dragzine.com/news/bader-family-odot-faa-battle-over-light-poles-at-norwalk-track/
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Anything to start a ****storm I guess. It's pretty bad when two directly affected parties have a solution that works, but the government decides to take a hard stand on THIS.
 
BKGlover
Anything to start a ****storm I guess. It's pretty bad when two directly affected parties have a solution that works, but the government decides to take a hard stand on THIS.
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That was my favorite part of the article. Apparently the government wants it to be their way or the highway- compromise and private enterprise be damned. Plus, if they make the poles away, could the government make them take the sand trap out too since that is on airport property? That would put the track in even more trouble if they have to tear out part of the shutdown area to make a sand trap on its property.
 
AnthonyD1993
That was my favorite part of the article. Apparently the government wants it to be their way or the highway- compromise and private enterprise be damned. Plus, if they make the poles away, could the government make them take the sand trap out too since that is on airport property? That would put the track in even more trouble if they have to tear out part of the shutdown area to make a sand trap on its property.
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I wouldn't think so just because it is a sand pit, but someone's bound to say something.
 
Rumor has is one of the old guard will be putting in a showing at the Gatornationals. Who? Oh no one inparticular, just LARRY 🤬 DIXON!

Also, PS Motorcycle starts up, and it's all this weekend...while I have a wedding to attend, GoodGuys is at TMS, and about 20 other things seem to be going on. HOPEFULLY I'm home in time to catch the event.
 
I was very impressed with Jonnie Lindberg making it all the way to the finals in his first race while driving for a small team. Kudos to Force as well for going to him right after he got out of the car to give him a pat on the back.

The rest of the classes were pretty good as well, with a "retired" Shane Gray probably being the highlight.
 

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