NHRA Pros at Charlotte

You don’t see side-by-side burnouts very often any more. Here are Cruz Pedregon and Tim Wilkerson during qualifying. Pedregon was up in smoke at the hit of the throttle in his first-round matchup with former boss, John Force while Wilkerson tagged the wall and moved Ron Capps into the second round.

PRO STOCK

Tanner Gray kicked off the six-race Countdown with his first win at his home track. The Denver, NC, resident took over the Pro Stock points lead with his fifth win of his rookie season.

Gray defeated drivers (Jason Line, Erica Enders, and Greg Anderson) who have a collective nine Pro Stock championships on his way to the victory with a 6.597-second pass to Anderson’s 6.616. Gray Motorsports drivers (Gray and Drew Skillman) have won the past seven races.

Gray qualified first and got past Val Smeland, Enders and Line before making it to his sixth final round of the year. Anderson has now reached eight final rounds this season, defeating Alan Prusiensky, Drew Skillman and Bo Butner after qualifying second.

Asked what he has to say to the nay-sayers about his rookie year performance, Gray said, “Look at me now. I like it when people doubt me. It makes me work harder and makes the whole group work strive to be better. I wouldn’t be here without all my guys. I’m just pumped to be here and take over the points lead. I never thought if you would have told me at the start of the year that we would take over the points lead at the start of the Countdown. The whole key is to go to Reading and stay consistent and try to keep it going.”

Greg Anderson drove his Summit Camaro to a 6.616/209.98 to 6.597/209.56 win over Bo Butner in the semifinal.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

Eddie Krawiec (far lane) took home the Pro Stock Motorcycle victory with a 6.850 at 196.87 on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to take down his teammate Andrew Hines in the final round. Hines ran 6.911/195.11.

Krawiec took over the points lead as he locked down his 40th career victory and fourth of this season, including his second in a row.

“This is a huge race for me because I love this drag strip and this facility, and to come out of the first Countdown race with a win is huge for me and my team,” Krawiec said. “Getting a win here is awesome, because it increases your chances to win a championship quite a bit so I’m really excited about this.”

Krawiec qualified second and beat Charlie Sullivan, Chip Ellis and Hector Arana Jr. en route to the finals.

Antron Brown (near lane) drove to a 3.794/320.66 to defeat Terry McMillen’s 3.786/321.12 in the first round. Brown lost to Clay Millican in the second with a 3.776/323.89 to Millican’s 3.754/323.35.

FUNNY CAR

Robert Hight bested John Force Racing teammate Courtney Force with a .019-second reaction time and a 3.911-second, 302.75-mph run in the Funny Car finals to Courtney’s 3.980/315.19. Hight – who entered the Countdown seeded second in Funny Car points – claimed his fifth win at zMAX Dragway and his third in the NHRA Carolina Nationals.

“This is probably one of the toughest race days I’ve ever had,” Hight said. “All four drivers I faced today (Matt Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr., J.R. Todd, and Courtney Force) are in the Countdown. I would’ve been bummed if we didn’t take advantage of all those cars dropping out early. I felt like we had to capitalize and win today. … We definitely earned this one.”

The victory was the 40th of his career and his third in the last six races. Over that span, Hight and his Chevrolet Camaro SS have also set the national record in elapsed time (3.793 seconds at Brainerd, Minn.) and speed (339.87 mph in Sonoma, Calif.)

And now, Hight and his team have the points lead.

Courtney Force was the No. 1 qualifier and she nearly took all the marbles in the event held just two hours away from Advance Auto Parts headquarters in Raleigh, NC.

“Definitely a great start for the Advance Auto Parts team coming to the home track for Advance Auto Parts,” Ms. Force said. “To come out and really show them what this sport is all about, what our team is capable of doing, to go out there and get the No. 1 qualifying position and then to have such a great, consistent race car – and go all the way to the final round in an all-JFR final at that – is pretty incredible.”

Ms. Force got the win over Bob Gilbertson in the first round, her father, John, in the second, and Alexis DeJoria in the semifinal, before her Chevrolet put out a cylinder in the final.

Although John Force Racing had a great weekend, John Force advanced just to the quarterfinals with his Chevrolet Camaro SS before falling to his youngest daughter, Courtney, in a terrific race. The two left within .002 seconds of each other, but Courtney too the win 3.934/330.07 to 3.983/325.61.

“Robert Hight does have both ends of the record with Auto Club, and Courtney’s been on that run with Robert, so her Advance car has been good,” John Force said. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to win the championship, but we’re in the hunt with two cars right up there at the top – and my dragster with Monster moved up to fourth with Brittany.”

The sixteen-time champion went on, “We’ll be testing more with Brittany in the Funny Car so we’ll be learning more and more about this combination. I won this race last year and now Robert got it done and Courtney was runner-up. We’ll go into Reading motivated.”

Matt Hagan was Hight’s first victim. Hagan’s Mopar Charger dropped cylinders nearing half-track and then pitched the burst panel after crossing the finish line.

Alexis DeJoria qualified in the top half of the field. She got past a tire-smoking Jonnie Lindberg and then Jim Campbell handed her the second-round win with a red light. DeJoria then met Courtney Force, who ended her day with a 3.957/325.06 to 3.976/322.04 for DeJoria.