Clouds threatened at Houston as Tim Wilkerson takes the track.

NHRA pros at Houston

Humid conditions and hot action

Results compiled by Kay Burk
Photos by Joe McHugh

At the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway Antron Brown and Robert Hight returned to their winning ways, Greg Anderson returned to the seat of his Pro Stock, and Erica Enders-Stevens checked off the number 99 on the list of female NHRA drag racing winners.

TOP FUEL

Antron Brown and the Matco Tools Top Fuel team scored their third win in four final round appearances through six NHRA Mello Yello Series events on April 27.

An even more impressive statistic is that it is the Matco Tools team's fifth event win in seven final round appearances in the last 10 NHRA events, dating back to 2013. It was Brown's 44th career win and 28th in NHRA's elite Top Fuel category. Brown now owns the Top Fuel points lead.

In the final, after light rain passed through the area and presented last-minute setup challenges for the crew chiefs, Brown miss a beat as his dragster covered the 1,000-foot distance in 3.793 seconds at 317.72 mph while Khalid al Balooshi smoked his tires approaching the finish line and crossed it in 4.443 seconds at 184.67 mph.

“It was a great run,” Brown said. “We were trying to run a high .70 (3.70 seconds) somewhere in the .77 or .78 range. We knew the track could hold it but, when the rain came, it tightened the track up a little bit. The two previous runs, it was a little gummy, but then it stiffened up and made our car hook up a little better than we wanted it to. But, besides that, it was a great run.

“With the weather this weekend, you were sweating a lot. It was very draining. It felt like a marathon out there. If the typical weekend feels like an 800-meter run, this weekend was more like a 5,000-meter run out there with all the humidity and sweat. That’s what made it tough for all the drivers to stay focused and cut good lights and be on their A-game. I think if you were good here this weekend, you’ll be good at all the other races."