FUNNY CAR

John Force made the most the first Countdown race of 2016 picking up his 146th career win and moving from the No. 8 to No. 3 position in the Mello Yello point standings. Force outran Dave Richards, Tim Wilkerson, Ron Capps and then Tommy Johnson Jr. to pick up his first win at the Carolina NHRA Nationals.

In the final Force and Johnson Jr. left the starting line together but by about 700 feet Force was driving around Johnson Jr. and getting to the finish line first with a winning elapsed time of 3.946 seconds at 324.05 mph edging out Johnson Jr’s 3.987 second, 315.71 mph run.

While the final round win was critical, the semifinal match up with point leader Ron Capps was important not just for Force but also for his JFR Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car teammates. Force defeated Capps, the No. 2 qualifier, in an epic side by side race. Force got the win on the strength of his 3.957 second, 323.27 mph race in front of Capps’s 4.003 second, 317.57 mph pass. The win stopped Capps’s accumulation of points and allowed Force to ultimately end the day just 50 points out of the top spot.

Earlier in the week Force moved crew chief Jason McCulloch from the Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster to his PEAK Camaro Funny Car to work with lead crew chief Jon Schaffer. The shuffle worked seamlessly.

Force got his second-round win in a most unusual style. He explained that as he was rolling to the staging beams he realized the brakes on his Camaro were not engaging fully and the winner of over 1,200 rounds of racing had to depress the clutch pedal to stop his 10,000 hp Funny Car from rolling through the staging beams and costing him the race. Force’s winning time of 4.013 seconds was pedestrian and his .394 reaction time could quite possibly be the worst winning reaction time of his illustrious career. Luckily for Force, Wilkerson went up in tire smoke, handing Force the win.

With their final round appearance at the Carolina Nationals, Tommy Johnson Jr. and the Make-A-Wish team, sponsored by Terry Chandler, jumped to the No. 4 spot in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Countdown to the Championship points standings. 

Johnson entered race day as the No. 1 qualifier at the first race of the annual Countdown to the Championship.

In the first round of competition, Johnson had a bye round when Bob Gilbertson, the No. 16 qualifier, could not get his car to start. In the second round, Johnson defeated his Don Schumacher Racing teammate, Matt Hagan, when he ran a 3.970-second pass at 320.74 mph. He beat Del Worsham of Kalitta Motorsports in the semifinals when he ran a 3.944-second pass at 321.19 mph.

Finally, in the final round, Johnson lined up against John Force. Johnson left the starting line first with a reaction time of .032-seconds over Force's .059-seconds but the win went to Force.

"Peaking at the right time is what we came in here saying we needed to do, and I think we showed that we're ready to peak," Johnson said of the team tuned by crew chief John Collins and assistant Rip Reynolds.

Reigning champion Del Worsham got past Jack Beckman and John Bojec before falling to Tommy Johnson in the semifinal.