Drivers in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series classes got their final shots at qualifying and fine-tuning race-day setups for eliminations during today's final two qualifying sessions, and though there were some improvements and shuffling, the top spots, for the most part, were left untouched, with three of four Friday leaders holding on to the No. 1s. Though they did not see the record-setting runs as they did Friday night, fans who packed the Texas Motorplex grandstands were treated to some great passes and close competition by racers attempting to secure a starting spot for tomorrow.
Here are today's highlights:
1. Savoie steals the top spot
While the No. 1 positions in the other classes went untouched in today's warmer, sunnier conditions, Pro Stock Motorcycle did have a change at the top of the order. Jerry Savoie, the No. 1 qualifier at this event last year, jumped ahead of the two Harleys when he powered to a 6.806 in the third session.
2. Brown continues to shine
Antron Brown capped a Top Fuel qualifying effort that included taking the No. 1 starting spot thanks to his track record 3.682 with two full pulls during final qualifying. Brown had the quickest run of the final session, firmly placing him in the position of favorite heading into eliminations.
3. Hight No. 1 at another AAA event
In St. Louis, an event sponsored by AAA Insurance, Robert Hight broke through for his first top start of the season, and he again leads the Funny Car field at one of his sponsor's events after his 3.839 from Friday night held on for the No. 1 spot here. After the strong run last night, Hight set himself up for race day with a pair of solid, full runs down the track in the heat today.
4. Line snaps pole drought
Jason Line picked up his first green hat since Bristol in June when his 6.56 from yesterday withstood all challenges today. The closest any Pro Stock driver came to the number was 6.59, and Line himself was one of the 6.59-second players today, recording a 6.594 that was the second-quickest run of the day behind Shane Gray's 6.591.
5. Seattle finishes (finally)
After a couple of months of finals scattered across various events, the 2016 Seattle event came to a conclusion today when the Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car finals were contested. Joey Severance, who has already wrapped up the Top Alcohol Dragster national title, added to his points total when he bested Chris Demke in that class' final round. Shane Westerfield earned the Top Alcohol Funny Car Wally, getting the better of Nick Januik in the title round.
Funny Car | Pro Stock | Pro Stock Motorcycle | Etc.
Doug Kalitta's Mac Tools dragster is running on a brand-new in-house chassis pressed into action after its predecessor's wild gyrations in a round-two loss in Reading, where Kalitta red-lighted and double-stepped the throttle, and the car twisted and uncoiled like a striking snake, with all four tires off the ground at one point.
'We put the old car back on the jig to check it and probably could have run it, but we thought that if we're going to have a shot at this championship, we're going to need the best car we can have,' said crew chief Jim Oberhofer. 'This car was already done and fresh off the jig, so it made sense.'
Kalitta entered the event 77 points behind leader Antron Brown but slipped back to more than 80 points (and four rounds instead of three) due to the results of qualifying as he wound up a disappointing No. 9 while Brown ended up No. 1.
Clay Millican was running alongside Antron Brown on his 3.68 low qualifier Friday night and was clearly ahead until the engine went silent just past half-track with a broken connecting rod. He coasted to a 3.74 at just 261 mph.
'Probably would have been a 3.67,' sighed Millican. 'Obviously, it was running great on all eight. Antron came by and said I was pulling him down the racetrack, then it just quit - I didn't even feel the rod come out - and I saw the fire on the [guard]wall. We have no explanation for why it did that. 'Grubby' [crew chief David Grubnic] has been pulling his hair out all night. It's a shame to lose that run, but it's nice to know it's there. That's the ol' fish story: We had one, and it got away.'
Saturday was a mixed bag for the Parts Plus/Great Clips team. Millican had to step off early in Q3 after a dropped cylinder, then ran an early-shutoff 3.927 in Q4 and finished in the No. 10 spot.
The entry for Troy Buff's Bill Miller Engineering dragster reads 'Carson City, Nev.,' but that's the home base for car owner Miller's horsepower emporium. Buff, like fellow nitro pilots Steve Torrence, Kebin Kinsley, Terry Haddock, John Hale, and Todd Simpson (plus recent transplants Tony Schumacher and Alexis DeJoria), is pure Texan. Buff, who followed his father, Willard, into the cockpit and began racing Top Alcohol Dragsters, has been on the track pretty much every year since he got his license in 1981. In the mid-1980s, he and fellow Texan Bubba Sewell waged a back-and-forth battle for divisional supremacy that many still remember.
Buff has been driving for Miller since 2008, and although they've never run more than 14 events in a season, they've been a consistent top-15 finisher. Last year, Buff and Miller reached two semifinals, in Norwalk and at this event, and earlier this season, they were runner-up behind Antron Brown in Las Vegas in Miller's home state.
'We're going to run these last three races, and I hope we can finally get into the .70s,' said Buff, whose career best is a 3.80. 'I thought it was going to happen last night [on a burned-piston 3.84]. We'll get there. It's just hard to run with everyone when you don't race every event.'
Buff got down the track on three of four attempts with a best of 3.843 Friday (which he lost via the top-12 rule) and ended up No. 13 with a 3.911 from Q3.
Tony Schumacher, who won the driver home-run derby during the Fan Fest two weeks ago in Reading, is in desperate need of a home-run weekend to stay in the championship battle. After a fifth-best 3.76 in Q1 Friday, he lost his chance during the evening 'hero session' when his Army dragster went more up than forward on the launch, leaving him ninth and, with warmer temps Saturday, in jeopardy of not having lane choice Sunday. Schumacher, as usual, was nonplussed: 'All this interesting stuff that's happened today, it may set the field, but it doesn't win races. We've had Friday-night sessions get away from us, but we've found ways to get back after it when the heat is on."
Crew chief Mike Green proved that faith worthy early in Q3, tuning 'the Sarge' to a surprising 3.725 that jumped them to fourth and earned them a bonus point as the third-best pass of the round behind the 3.718 and 3.722 of teammates Leah Pritchett and Antron Brown, then to a stout 3.705 that was second-best of Q4 behind Brown's 3.697.
'It's all cyclical,' said Schumacher, who is the winningest Top Fuel driver at Texas Motorplex with six event titles. 'Kalitta cars have gone fast, the Force car has gone fast, and right now, we're running extremely well. Antron has been running great all year long. We're all a team here [at DSR] and help each other, but it doesn't look like Antron's team needs any help. If he's going to be the champ this year, he's certainly earned it.'
Scott Palmer's massive fireball last night drew oohs and aahs but did not cause much damage to the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series/Tommy Thompson Motorsports entry as it was caused by a torched head gasket and not parts exiting the block, but the damage was a little more visible after he scraped the wall at the conclusion of his 3.929 Q3 pass Saturday.
'I'm not sure what happened,' he said. 'It went right down through there, but right when I lifted off the gas, it shot me over to the wall. It was amazing. I just kind of scraped it; I don't think it's hurt too bad. It took out the [front] wing and hurt one of Brittany Force's [rear] wheels - we're scuffing tires for them - but it could have been worse. There's no oil on the track, and the car ran great and felt great, so we'll get it ready for [Sunday].'
Palmer and crew sat out Q4 and will borrow a spare wing from the Lucas Oil team for Sunday's first round.
Three-time Top Fuel champ Larry Dixon is back behind the wheel of the Rapisarda Autosport dragster, filling in for a second straight event for Wayne Newby, who had to return to Australia after competing in Indy, Charlotte, and St. Louis.
Dixon qualified the car in his 2016 NHRA debut in Reading in the No. 5 spot with a 3.791 but lost a close first-round race (.009-second) to Brittany Force. He qualified the car in the No. 11 spot with a 3.767. Newby will return to the controls at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas in two weeks.
With a sterling performance in qualifying with his Brian Corradi- and Mark Oswald-tuned Matco Tools dragster, points leader Antron Brown stretched his incoming lead over second-place Doug Kalitta from 77 to 90 points, giving him an extra round's cushion.
Brown's Friday-night 3.682 is the run that earned him his 47th career No. 1 start, but the car was impressive through all four sessions (and one of just three Top Fuelers to get in a full pull in each session) with other runs of 3.745 and 3.722 and a 3.697 in Q4.
'We were able to get that other round up on Dougie, so now he has to go five rounds further than us to get around us,' said Brown. 'We hope that can carry over to race day because that's where the big points are earned. That .68 was a great run, but for me, that .69 in Q4 was impressive on a 110-degree track. That was stout. I've been a little under the weather this weekend with a sinus deal, so the team has been carrying me.
'Everyone has been pushing us, and we've definitely been on the edge all weekend to stay ahead of them, but we're going A to B. You have to be able to compete at a high level if you're going for that championship. We're ready for the challenge, and now we just have to go out there and execute Sunday.'
John Bojec finally got his long-awaited first three-second pass, powering his Johnny West-tuned Toyota to a 3.988 in Q3 to solidify his position in a quick field.
'We've been there for a long time but just couldn't put it all together,' said Bojec, whose best pass was a 4.00. 'The car has always run good down low, but we just couldn't get it to run all the way to the finish line; that time, it did. We've had a lot of silly stuff, like parachutes coming out, that we've finally put behind us. We're beginning to level the playing field a little bit, and I have to think this car will start running in the low 3.90s before long.
'This is the first time I've ever run at this track, and as much as I like to think that Maple Grove [Raceway, where he posted his first semifinal showing] is my favorite track, this one might be one of my new favorites.'
Courtney Force joined the pink parade for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, debuting a new scheme on her Traxxas Chevy at her sponsor's home event and hoping for a change of luck.
'This race will most likely be our last shot to stay in contention for the championship,' said Force, who has slipped from her initial fourth seed to sixth, eighth, and then ninth after three events. 'Since the Countdown started, we have been struggling, and we haven't been doing as well as we would have liked. We haven't been going rounds, and it has really hurt us. We have shuffled down the point standings when all season long, we were in a great position.'
The Traxxas Camaro looked good early, with runs of 3.89 and 3.85, but broke traction at half-track in Q3.
Thirteen floppers qualified in the three-second range, tying the record, but Dave Richards came close to making it No. 14 with a career-best 4.035 in his final pass in the Alzheimer's Association Mustang out of Wellington, Fla.
Richards has qualified at seven of the eight races he has attended this season, including a semifinal appearance at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals.
Cruz Pedregon has a solid spot in the field with a 3.952 for the No. 12 spot despite having a handful. On both of his runs Friday, the Snap-on Toyota flirted dangerously with the guardwall and wasn't able to make a full pass on either run Saturday.
'The car's not on eight cylinders,' explained Pedregon, whose team tested in Indy between events to work on the clutch. 'It sets me back in the seat - it's trying to run in the .80s - but those headers are like little rockets, and when these cars drop a cylinder it's like three on one side and four on the other, and it really influences the steering. I need to talk to Murf [McKinney, chassis builder]. The steering of these cars is basically a soap box derby design and technology.'
Matt Hagan's Dodge Charger has consistently been one of the fastest Funny Cars on the tour: He and crew chief Dickie Venables own three of the four fastest runs in class history - topped by their national record 335.57-mph screamer earlier this season in Topeka - making many of their peers wonder how they're doing it. They're not alone; even Venables, a former Texan from the Houston area, is at a bit of loss to explain.
'I honestly can't put a finger on it,' said Venables, whose charge this weekend is wearing Pennzoil colors. 'Obviously, speed is a combination of horsepower and aerodynamics, and we [the Don Schumacher Racing Funny Cars] all have the same bodies and same superchargers and heads and everything else, so it's hard to put an exact finger on it. I'm definitely aggressive with the engine - I think me and Jimmy [Prock, crew chief for Jack Beckman, who set top speed Friday at 333 mph] are the most aggressive. Part of it is how you apply the clutch. When these cars hit 8,500 rpm, you pull the engine down to make it [continue to] accelerate, and you have to climb out of that hole again, but you've only got a certain distance to do it, and it's only going to climb at a certain rate. If you can make it run fast early without pulling it way down, you're going to start higher in the middle of the track. That's the basic equation for everyone.'
The Pennzoil Dodge was amazingly consistent in qualifying with four passes in the 3.8-second zone: 3.896, 3.851, 3.881, and 3.864
For a while in Q3, it looked as if a first-round bye might be a reward for the low qualifier, especially after Todd Simpson suffered an event-ending blower explosion in Q1 and Brandon Welch didn't answer the call for Q3, leaving just 15 cars on the qualifying sheet. Welch's issue was an engine that began wildly misfiring during its pre-run warm-up in the pits. The team had to strip down the electrical system and reassemble everything. Even though no culprit was found, the crew anxiously refired it before Q4. It ran smoothly, and they headed to the line to put down a centerline-flirting 5.04 to take the No. 16 spot and earn a first-round date with Robert Hight.
Robert Hight held on to the No. 1 spot on the strength of his track record 3.839 pass Friday night, but the AAA Texas Camaro was no slouch Saturday either, making another pair of 3.8-second passes, 3.872 and 3.887, to seal his 49th career No. 1 qualifying berth.
'To come out here, at my sponsor's event, and make four 3.80 passes, that's showing that we've got it going on,' said Hight. 'It's exciting to qualify like that, but tomorrow is a new day, and we've been having problems sealing the deal on Sunday. We've had a lot of second-round losses. It's going to take the kind of runs we had in qualifying - low to mid-3.80s - to win this race.
'I think we got the most out of every run,' he added. 'That 3.87 on our first run Friday was on a hot track, and then to come back last night under great conditions and step it up and make the third-quickest run in history was no slouch. And then today, to come out here, back it off just a little, and make two more good runs shows my team is on to something.'
After a somewhat dominating performance in Reading, Vincent Nobile has been a little bit off the performance of the top cars so far this weekend, but there is a good reason behind that.
'We were trying some new things this weekend, and now we're kind of going backwards because it didn't really pan out like we thought it would,' said Nobile. 'We're trying some new parts. They seem to be promising, but it's going to take some work, and we don't have time to work on them now.
'Even with not making a full-potential run, we still ran pretty good.'
Though he is not among the top few as we have seen him at recent events, Nobile has made some solid passes, with times ranging from 6.59 to 6.62, and will start race day from the top half for the eighth straight race and the 17th time this season.
After a disappointing Friday night when a transmission problem prevented him from making a pass in the second session, Aaron Strong rebounded well today, making two solid runs, the best of which was a 6.68 that earned him the No. 13 starting spot and a first-round match with Shane Gray.
'We're hoping to run a little quicker,' said Strong. 'Yesterday probably had better air conditions, so it's going to be hard to break into the top 12 today, especially in this air. We're just happy that we moved up from No. 15 to No. 13 - you don't want to race No. 2 in round one. With the air being worse today, it's hard to really move up. I don't know how fast we were for the session, but I think we were 10th for the first session, but we're 13th. It does [give you confidence for Sunday being higher up in performance].'
Shane Gray, who recorded a pair of 6.61s yesterday, joined the 6.5-second players during the first session today, powering to a 6.591 that was .004-second quicker than No. 1 qualifier Jason Line to lead the third round of qualifying. The run ultimately held up as the best time of the day's two sessions.
'It's kind of been hit and miss for us this weekend, but I think we learned something there,' said Gray, who followed it up with a 6.62 in the final session. 'The good thing about it is that we got off of that eight and nine spot there, so maybe Drew [Skillman] and I don't have to run first round.'
Though it didn't better the 6.591 he recorded in the first round of qualifying, Bo Butner made a statement in the final session with a 6.596 that was the only 6.5-second run of the session.
'Pretty good run,' said Butner, who qualified fifth and races Deric Kramer in the first round. 'I have a new bullet in the car, so come in with a new bullet is a new tune. Jason [Line] keeps tinkering away. The guys have got the car going good, so you give us four shots, we'll get one of 'em.'
One of the steadiest and most consistent cars of qualifying was that of Alex Laughlin, who was among the pacesetters every single round of qualifying, including the final session today, in which his 6.609 ranked third best. Laughlin, a Texas native who is racing in front of a large contingent of friends and family this weekend, is very pleased with his Gas Monkey Chevy, particularly because his Top Alcohol Dragster debut didn't quite go as planned, with Laughlin missing the field.
'This car is definitely making up for the dragster,' said Laughlin. 'It definitely was weird hopping out of that car into this one. Like I got into the Pro Stock car, and one of the crew guys says, 'Hey, hold the brakes so I can torque the wheels,' and I grabbed the shifter to pull it back because it's a hand brake in the other car. I was a little worried because I've never run two extreme classes at the same event before, and there's no similarity whatsoever. We had some mechanical issues with the dragster, so we didn't get qualified in it. I am going to race it in Vegas, though, so hopefully redeem myself there. This car is definitely taking up the slack. We've made four qualifying passes, and we've been among the fastest every session, and we're qualified No. 3. Conditions today aren't nearly as good as they were yesterday. To go out there and run a 6.60 [in the first session] is super respectable, and the car moved around a little bit going down the racetrack, so it even had a 6.59 in it. My crew chief is definitely making me look good, so if we can't win some rounds tomorrow, then, hey, that's on me.'
Laughlin, who recorded 6.60s on both passes today, will face Jeg Coughlin Jr. in round one.
With sunny, warmer conditions today vs. the cooler, cloud cover seen yesterday, few, if any, people really expected Jason Line's 6.568 to be challenged today, and that was most definitely the case. Though a few drivers, including Line, were able to dip into the 6.5s, the best time of Saturday was a 6.591. That kept Line, the points leader, atop the order heading into final eliminations. It is his first No. 1 start since Bristol in June.
'Wow, I didn't realize it was that long. Thanks for bringing that up. I guess it's real good. Wow; that's a long time ago. I had no idea it was that long, so I guess that's great,' said Line, of the gap between No. 1 starts. 'We knew we were going to be slower, so we used the two runs as a tune-up for tomorrow. Everybody's close, and it just really comes down to making the best decision. It's like a big chess match. I think we had a good day with all three cars. I think we used them wisely today, so we learned some things, and hopefully all three cars will be good for tomorrow.'
Line will face Alan Prusiensky in the opening round. This will be the third time this season the pair has lined up in eliminations. Line won the previous two matches.
After what could only be described as a disastrous outing in Reading, where an oil leak prevented him from making a run in the lone qualifying session, resulting in a DNQ, things appeared to be getting back on track for Steve Johnson here yesterday after runs of 6.95 and 6.88. However, though that 6.88 was good enough to place Johnson 10th, the run wasn't without challenges, and that left Johnson feeling as if he maybe had a black cloud following him.
'This sport doesn't want me anymore,' he lamented at the top end following the run. 'I am out of resources. I think it broke in the lights. I don't know, but we broke all our engines. Attitude can fix your soul. It's just that I don't have a good attitude right now. My soul is going to meet with my attitude, and hopefully we'll be at this race because right now, I don't think that we're going to be here on Sunday because we don't have an engine.'
Once Johnson got his Suzuki back to the pits and his team looked it over thoroughly, they discovered the damage was not quite as bad as it initially appeared, and Johnson plans on being part of the race tomorrow.
'Last night, the chain had wrapped up underneath the countershaft sprocket, so I tried to downshift and upshift it to try and get it to move, and it wouldn't. It was like the motor was locked up,' said Johnson. 'What had happened was the chain guard, when it got destroyed, it bent so badly that it rubbed against the tire, so then the bike wasn't rolling. It just got me into this thinking of, 'Wow; my bike's a piece of junk now. Now the engine's locked up. I can't even get it out of gear,' but I am working on my attitude.'
In addition to the damage to the chain guard, the broken chain broke the wheelie bar, forcing Johnson to a backup. Johnson sat out the first run today but returned for the final session, entirely due to the new wheelie bar.
'The wheelie bar is totally different,' said Johnson, who ran a 6.91 on that final pass. 'It's a spare one, and I took it off for a reason, so I'm not real excited about it. You can't win if you're not on the track.'
When talking about potential contenders each week, LE Tonglet's name inevitably comes up as one who could step up at any time and cause big problems for anyone who lines up against him, and the former world champion and his team are continuing to work hard to live up to that reputation and make it a reality.
'We're trying some new stuff,' said Tonglet, who opened his weekend with 6.90 and 6.86 runs that had him seventh entering today's final sessions. 'We've had some problems throughout the year, and we're just trying to figure it out, and we just have to try something totally different. It sucks that we had to wait this long and do it in the Countdown, but there comes a time when you just have to get it done and deal with it.'
Tonglet posted a pair of 6.9s on his two attempts today and remained seventh in the order. Tonglet faces Steve Johnson in the first round.
Though his bike has gone quicker this year, running a 6.94 with Michael Phillips aboard it in Chicago, Joe DeSantis made his quickest pass of the year in the first session today, riding his Suzuki to a 6.961, and DeSantis attributes his improved performance to a familiar face in his pits this weekend.
'We're working with Harry [Lartigue] this weekend,' said DeSantis. 'He's been a big, big help tuning the bike. That's why we're going as quick as we are.'
Lartigue, who was a fixture on the Pro Stock Motorcycle tour for many years but stepped away in recent years to focus on family, including running Jr. Dragsters with his grandchildren, jumped at the opportunity to help DeSantis when he hauled his equipment out to Lartigue's house following the St. Louis event.
'Joey came by, and he's been hanging out at the house the last couple of weeks, and he needed some help, so I said I'd give him a hand,' said Lartigue. 'Then we'll go to Vegas with him. My wife loves to gamble, and since I stopped racing, I figured out it's cheaper to go gamble than it is to race.'
Though he slowed in the final session, DeSantis' 6.96 held on for the 16th spot in the field, and he will line up against No. 1 qualifier Jerry Savoie tomorrow.
It's fair to say that no one was happier following the final round of qualifying than Joey Gladstone, who ran a career-best 6.947 and qualified 15th in the field.
'We've been working hard for that,' said Gladstone, who goes up against Andrew Hines in the first round. 'I can't thank the bike owner, Joe Riccardi, enough for keeping faith in me and just keep letting me go out there and make passes and Gary Stoffer and Greg Underdahl - you're the man; thank you for your advice. Man, I'm just so happy right now. That's better than winning the race. That's what we wanted to do. We knew the bike made power. Vance & Hines gave us a great motor. Eddie Krawiec, thank you for mentoring me, and thank you to my sponsors.'
On the flip side, no one was more frustrated following qualifying than Chip Ellis, and that showed at the top end following his final attempt of the weekend when Ellis kicked his Junior Pippin Racing Buell before walking away. The frustration stems from a series of aborted passes that began in Reading, where Ellis never made it past 60 feet under power. After a solid first run here yesterday, the gremlins returned, and Ellis has yet to make another full pull. The starting-line woes of Reading returned in Q2 and Q3. For the final session, Ellis' team removed the two-step in hopes of correcting the problem. Ellis did make it off the starting line this time, but his bike did not go all the way downtrack under power, and when Ellis stopped it just past the scoreboards, the frustration from the challenges showed when he kicked the bike.
After dominating last year's AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals, Jerry Savoie entered this year's event with a high level of confidence. That confidence got a big boost today when Savoie laid down a 6.805 in the third round of qualifying to move to No. 1 on the sheets. It is his first top start of the year and second straight at this event.
'I don't know if I'm more excited about being No. 1 than winning a race because I've been getting bumped around all season. Friday night we come into the [pressroom] and are speaking to you guys, but then on Saturday, they just come on around us,' said Savoie. 'If I have to remember any race in my entire life, other than my first win because there will never be another one, this race last year was the most amazing day of racing on a Pro Stock Bike that I could ever imagine. It was unbelievable. The bike was good, I was good, Tim [Kulungian, crew chief] was good, the whole team was clicking, and it takes a team effort to do all of this. I will never forget that. After the showing here last year, hopefully we can repeat it and have some fun.'
Though many were surprised to see someone better Andrew Hines' 6.81 from yesterday, Savoie and his group were not, especially because he did not make a representative run last night.
'This environment here, we knew it was a possibility to run these numbers,' said Kulungian. 'I think we can actually go a little bit quicker than we did in Q3. There's some areas that we are working on. We've had a tough time managing from 60 [feet] to 330. If we can get these numbers where Andrew [Hines]' are, we could even go a little bit faster. In Q4, we were trying a few different things, trying to see what we could do for first round of eliminations and get us set up for race day.
The final rounds of the alcohol classes from the rain-affected Protect the Harvest NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Lucas Oil were completed Saturday morning, putting the final touches on an event that began in Seattle in August and was completed in parts in Brainerd, Indy, and finally here. Joey Severance, far lane, who has already clinched the national championship in Top Alcohol Dragster, collected his fifth win of the year when he defeated Chris Demke, 5.28 to 5.32.
Shane Westerfield, far lane, got his second win of the season and the fourth of his career in Top Alcohol Funny Car when he defeated Nick Januik, 5.56 to 5.60.
A popular draw every Saturday is the autograph session in the Mello Yello Powerhouse. Today's session featured, from left, Steve Torrence, Chris McGaha, Eddie Krawiec, and Tommy Johnson Jr.
Before the opening round of qualifying, fans were invited to learn more about the cars they would be seeing take to the track later in the day at NHRA Nitro School. Today's school, which was held on the Auto Club stage, was hosted by Alan Reinhart and Funny Car racer Robert Hight
Jeg Coughlin Jr., who has wins in seven classes, is pulling double duty this weekend, racing one of his family's Super Comp dragsters in addition to his Dodge Pro Stocker. After getting past the first two rounds, Coughlin bowed out in a great 8.958 to 8.958 match against defending event champ Chris LeBlanc in the third round.