NHRA Photo
PRE-RACE NOTES
The last time that NHRA nitro roared at The Rock in 1998, top speed in Top Fuel was 320.97 mph by Joe Amato while Cruz Pedregon, the only driver still racing who competed in the 1989-98 Winston Invitational here, had low e.t. in Funny Car with a 4.88. Of course, all of these numbers were recorded on quarter-mile passes, but these would be the unofficial track records that will surely be bettered today.
Top Fuel: 4.585 by Gary Scelzi; 320.97 by Joe Amato
Funny Car: 4.884 by Cruz Pedregon, 313.47 by Whit Bazemore
Pro Stock: 6.888 by Warren Johnson, 200.13 by Johnson
Shawn Langdon will go for his second three-race win streak of the season this weekend. He won last week’s Great Lakes Nationals in Martin, Mich., and the prestigious U.S. Nationals three weeks ago. He has six wins on the season, including three consecutive wins at Valdosta, Ga., Joliet, Ill., and Budds Creek, Md., and the Arizona Nationals early in the season. Team Kalitta dragsters won 10 of the season’s 15 races and competed in 57 of the 59 rounds of racing.
Langdon owns the four fastest runs in NHRA history. At the Great Lakes Nationals, he recorded speeds of 346.95 and 346.15. At the Southern Nationals in Georgia in May, he recorded speeds of 345.00 mph and 344.91 mph.
Antron Brown enters the weekend after clocking a career-best speed of 339.62 mph at last weekend’s event in Martin, Mich.
“We’re going in with some motivation,” said the four-time world champ. “We’ve got some confidence. We’re in a good place with the race car. All the testing that we’ve been doing has been paying off. The team is gelling. We’re hungry, and yet we are still humble going in here because the competition is at an all-time high and everybody is running so good right now.”
Alexis DeJoria, who celebrated her birthday yesterday, is seventh in the point standings after 15 of 20 races, just 11 points behind sixth place and 51 out of fifth place. Her 16 round wins is five more than last year’s total and, with 20 more rounds of competition remaining, there’s every reason to believe the Mike Neff/Jonnie Lindberg-led team will add significantly to the current total.
Two-time season Funny Car winner Chad Green is hoping for a rebound weekend after the team discovered the source of problems that had been plaguing them recently.
“We want to return to the combination we had earlier this year with the wins at Gainesville and Chicago,” said Green. “We found an issue with our car’s chassis in recent races, and we have worked hard to improve on that for Rockingham. We believe we have it figured out for the last five races.
“That problem cost us some points in recent races, and we want to get back to winning rounds. It’s important to win the early rounds and gain points when you are racing for the championship. That is our plan for Rockingham and the rest of the season. If we can get the car on a roll, I think we can close in on the leaders with five races left.”
Green will be running solo at this event, as son Hunter’s entry was damaged in a first-round explosion last weekend in Martin, Mich., repairs that could not be made in the short turnaround time between events and probably will not return until the Dallas event.
Pro Stock Motorcycle Countdown participant Jianna Evaristo will have a third different rider earning points for her this weekend as she continues to rehab from an off-track training injury. Matt Smith Racing tuner rode her JHG entry at the U.S. Nationals to help her maintain her spot in the playoffs, and Ron Procopio Jr. took her bike to the semifinals last weekend in Martin. For this event and reportedly for the rest of the season, three-time race winner Joey Gladstone will be riding the bike.
***
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q1
Cool conditions played into the favor of the two-wheelers, who lit up the Rockingham scoreboards, led by Matt Smith, whose team has tested extensively here. Smith clocked a 6.681 at 204.17 to lead the way, a run matched by Ryan Oehler but at a slower speed, 202.25. Those are the two quickest runs of the season in the class.
World champ Richard Gadson made what is, unbelievably, his first 6.6-second pass, a 6.683 to grab the No. 3 spot while Smith’s wife, Angie, was right there with a 6.692 at 200.71. Gadson’s 202.34-mph speed is also a career best by a few hundredths of a mile per hour.
Gaige Herrera (6.714), Joey Gladstone (6.749), Steve Johnson (6.762), and Chase Van Sant (6.774) round out the quick eight.
***
PRO STOCK Q1
North Carolina-based KB Titan Racing’s familiarity with the track, where they test often, was evident in the opening qualifying session as KB-powered cars held down five of the eight top spots, including the first three. Martin runner-up Matt Hartford leads the pack with a 6.476 — about four-tenths quicker than Warren Johnson’s incoming 1998 track record — with world champ and Indy winner Dallas Glenn second with a 6.479 and Eric Latino third at 6.490.
Martin winner Troy Coughlin Jr., ranked fifth with a 6.493, a number matched by Cody Anderson, who earned his Pro Stock license at this track, but at a faster speed, 212 to 210 mph.
Coughlin’s uncle, Jeg, was next with a 6.496, followed by fellow Elite Motorsports runner Greg Stanfield’s 6.497 and Matt Latino’s 6.500.
Greg Anderson spun hard at the start and ran just 6.500 for the No. 9 spot.
***
FUNNY CAR Q1
Eight Funny Cars ran in the threes on a track that had never seen one, with Jack Beckman leading the way with a 3.911 in the John Force Racing Peak Camaro. Ron Capps was right on his heels with a 3.926 to make a very quick leading duo.
Paul lee, who set the pace on the first run of qualifying with a 3.934 in the IGTG/Perimeter.One Dodge Charger (the body is actually the first modern-era Dodge Charger body ever produced, originally campaigned by Matt Hagan) with J.R. Todd on his heels with a 3.937.
Two-time world champ Austin Prock sits fourth with a 3.942 and is followed by Chad Green, who made a feel-good 3.963 after a rough weekend in Michigan, Daniel Wilkerson (3.982), and Hagan (3.983).
***
TOP FUEL Q1
Doug Kalitta put another three points into his account as he narrows the lead on teammate Shawn Langdon (now eight points) after a 3.747 in the final pair of the opening session.
Rookie Maddi Gordon, like the rest of the Top Fuel field, got her first look at Rockingham Dragway and came away impressed, even thoiugh her 3.771-second pass didn’t give her a long look.
“I was a little distracted going back from that burnout,” she said. “Look at those fans. That is the best place to watch a race, except for where I’m sitting. The fans are so close. It’s so awesome. That run was awesome, man. This racetrack isgreat and the car was ripping and ripping, and it felt good. I knew it was a good run.”
First-time crew chief Ryan Elliott, tabbed as Shawn Reed’s new tuner after the U.S. Nationals, impressed everyone with a 3.796, which was good for third ahead of Tony Stewart’s 3.801.
Billy Torrence (3.812), Shanwl Langdon (a cylinder-dropping 3.825), Josh Hart (3.833), and Will Smith, who made career-best runs of 3.699 and 336.83 mph last weekend in Michigan, rounds out the top half of the field with a 3.914.
The tuning department shakeups at Rick Ware Racing continued as, following the departures of Jim and Jon Oberhofer, Todd Okuhara was brought in to tune Tony Schumacher’s car but left before this event, so Rob Wendland is tuning the cars of both Schumacher and Clay Millican. Tony Shortall and Johnny West are also providing their decades-long guidance. Interestingly. Schumacher and Millican were paired in Q1, and neither made it down the track.