John DeFlorian Jr. was the winner in the eight-car Mountain Motor Pro Stock exhibition at the NHRA SpringNationals, when opponent J.R. Carr turned on the red light. This is the first of four events this season where the 800 c.i. powered cars will replace the Pro Stock class on the NHRA schedule.

See all the results here.  (Ron Lewis photo)    [04/15/19]

Steve Jackson got some redemption over Todd Tutterow on Sunday at the 32nd annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil when he drove to a victory at Houston Raceway Park during the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service final round.

Jackson and Tutterow had met in the final at the Pro Mod season opener in Gainesville, resulting in Tutterow with a holeshot win over Jackson. This week in Houston it was Jackson who claimed the win with his 5.675-second pass at 255.00 mph. We’ll have an in-depth race report coming later in DRO.  (Ron Lewis photo)   [04/15/19]

At Houston Erica Enders set a new record for the NHRA Pro Mods when her turbocharged Camaro clocked 260.11 mph during the second round.

“We were fast all weekend on every run,” said Enders, a two-time Pro Stock world champion. “To run 260 and set the world record, it was pretty exciting. I think it definitely shows what we’re capable of and there’s some awesome horsepower the guys at Elite have built.”

It continued a steady climb in the Pro Mod ranks for the Elite Motorsports team, making solid improvements from the season-opener last month in Gainesville where she did not qualify.

The Pro Stock class was not run at Houston and will not run at Charlotte, but Enders will be back there in her Pro Mod on April 26-28.  (Adam Cranmer Gainesville photo)    [04/15/19]

John Force and Brittany Force became the first father-daughter No. 1 qualifiers in NHRA history at the Houston SpringNationals. Brittany’s Top Fuel dragster, with David Grubnic new as crew chief this season, set both track records of 3.661/332.18 during Friday qualifying. Her father, the 16-time Funny Car champion, was at the top of the qualifying with a 3.888 at 319.29 mph.

The great weekend continued as for the third time in John Force Racing history the team swept the nitro categories at an NHRA national event. Brittany went on to get the Top Fuel win while Robert Hight was victorious in Funny Car.

Force battled her way through Cameron Ferre (who red-lighted), Doug Kalitta (3.678/323.74 to 3.744/320.36), and Clay Millican (who went up in smoke) to get to the final.

Brittany defeated three-time world champion Antron Brown (3.749/302.14 to 3.995/233.48) for her ninth career victory, first of the season and second consecutive at Houston Raceway Park.  (Ron Lewis photo)

“Really it’s about finding a routine,” said Force. “I knew it was going to take us a while but we started turning a corner in Gainesville and that’s where I screwed up. We had a good race car. Then we went to Vegas and were runner-up so I knew things were turning around. It just takes time to find that and move forward with the team. To be able to come out here as the number one qualifier with that 3.66, that’s just an outstanding run with David Grubnic, Mac Savage and all the guys. To win this thing, I’m very excited. It’s our first win together as a team.”

In the first round Hight powered the AAA Texas Camaro to a 3.895-second pass at 322.27 mph to defeat Jonnie Lindberg and his 3.961 pass at 310.63. The second round matched Hight up with reigning world champion J.R. Todd. With a .052 reaction time to Todd’s .073, Hight never trailed crossing the finish line at 3.914-seconds at 314.75 mph bettering Todd’s 3.940 at 318.17.

Then Hight met his team owner.  It was the third time the pair had matched-up in the semifinals and for the third time the result was the same, Hight would send the boss to the trailer with a 3.924/309/91 to 3.932/312.78.  (Ron Lewis photo)

The finals would put Hight against rival Matt Hagan for a classic John Force Racing versus Don Schumacher Racing drag race. Hight bettered Hagan on reaction time and put up the winning time of 3.941- seconds at 310.84 mph to Hagan’s 3.966 at 311.70.

Ms. Force leaves Houston second in the Top Fuel points while Hight is leading in Funny Car.    [04/15/19]

Ryan Hodgson got the final-round UNFC win over Bobby Cottrell.  (Brad Baker photo)

Very cold conditions on Friday, April 12, chilled the action at the Tucson Dragway Reunion with none of the fuel-burning cars able to make a full pass under power. Saturday was different, however, and the action heated up with the United Nitro Funny Cars and the Western Fuel Altereds competing in addition to sportsman racing. We’ll have complete results coming tomorrow in DRO.  [04/15/19]

At the NHRA SpringNationals, Jay Turner of Liberty, NC, defeated Canadian Mike Scott to win his first NHRA event of the season. Turner qualified No. 1 with a 6.186 at 235.93 mph. He defeated Billy Jackson and Beau Layne on his way to the final. Despite getting off the line first (.025 to .064), Scott’s 7.027/164.55 could not beat Turner’s 6.792/163.63.

Layne leads the Mickey Thompson Top Fuel Harley championship points, followed by Doug Vancil, Rickey House, Turner, and Tii Tharpe as the top five. (Tom McCarthy photo)  [04/15/19]

The Rocky Mountain Superchargers have added a stop at the new Onawa, Iowa, track to their schedule. They will be taking on the Midwest Wild Bunch competitors in the Thunder on the Prairie event on July 20-21 at the Onawa Recreation and Entertainment Complex (OREC) drag strip.   [04/15/19]