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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Pro Stock legend Greg Anderson is one win away from his landmark 100th career win and figures Heartland Motorsports Park, where he has won four times, is just as good a place as any to make that happen.
Five-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson will be shooting for his 100th race win in Sunday's Menards NHRA Nationals. {Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The five-time world champion will have that opportunity on Sunday after wrapping up the No. 1 Pro Stock qualifying spot in the Menards NHRA Nationals.
"It's kind of funny because each race you go to it's like I've got fond memories,'' Anderson said. "I've been able to win at pretty much everywhere we've been and I'm not sure where I would pick out as my favorite place to win it. Every one of them has special meaning to it, this place as well.
"I grew up in the Midwest so this place woud be extra special cool just like a whole lot of other places. It would be a great place for it to happen, to be honest with you, and I'd certainly like to get it done and stop worrying about it.''
But Anderson, who is looking for his first win of the year, knows it won't be easy.
"No. 100 should certainly be a struggle and it certainly has proven to be,'' said Anderson, the 2021 series champ. "It's like chasing a snake, but I'm going to catch that snake.''
Anderson, who will receive a first-round bye, picked up his second straight No. 1 qualifier and the 120th of his career with his run of 6.623 seconds at 205.44 miles per hour from Friday's opening qualifying session in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro.
Seattle winner Troy Coughlin Jr. qualified second with his 6.632 run at 208.04 from Friday while points leader Erica Enders, who has six wins this year, qualified third at6.632/207.62.
Mike Salinas (front) and Justin Ashley qualified No. 1 and 2 in Top Fuel for Sunday's Menards NHRA Nationals eliminations at Heartland Motorsports Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Mike Salinas earned the No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel for Sunday's eliminations (10:30 a.m. start) while Bob Tasca III is No. 1 in Funny Car and Joey Gladstone in the top spot in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Tasca was a No. 1 qualifier for the second straight race and the ninth time in his career, securing the top position with Friday's run of 3.930 seconds at 323.81 mph in his BG Products Ford Mustang.
Bob Tasca III (left) will start Sunday's Funny Car eliminations in the No. 1 spot while defending race champ John Force qualified No. 3. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Tasca will be looking for his second win in three races on Sunday, as well as his first career victory in Topeka.
“Hats off to the guys, but I’ll tell you one thing, we got a yellow (No. 1 qualifier) hat in Seattle and we didn’t get to trade it in for a blue (winner’s) hat,'' Tasca said. "Tomorrow, we want to trade this thing in for a blue hat.”
Points leader Robert Hight, who is looking for his seventh win this season, qualified second thanks to his 3.931 run at 323.81 from Friday, while defending event winner John Force’s 3.932 at 312.71 secured the third spot for the 16-time world champion.
"Really good day for the Auto Club team,'' Hight said. "This combination has really been good for us. Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, they’ve figured it out in the heat. We’ve been consistent.
"It’s hard not to be confident heading into tomorrow. The competition in Funny Car is so close though, we can’t let up. We have to strive for perfection and these Auto Club Chevy guys, they’re up for it.”
Force is also confident heading into eliminations.
“Hot out here in Topeka but everyone is dealing with it and we’re getting down there, putting on a show for all these fans that sat through the heat,” said Force. “We look good for tomorrow, after running well today, Danny (Hood) and Tim (Fabrisi), they’re giving me a good race car. Just need to go out there and take it one run at a time and see how it goes.”
On the strength of his standout run of 3.754 at 323.19 from Friday, Salinas clinched his third No. 1 qualifier of the season in his Pep Boys/Scrappers Racing dragster.
It’s also the 11th career top spot for Salinas, who will open eliminations against Terry Totten. Salinas, who is second in points, will be looking for his fifth win of the season and his first victory in Topeka.
“This year will be the best year in Top Fuel racing that I’ve ever seen,” Salinas said. “The competition is almost like a bracket car. It’s so close and you can’t make any mistakes. You have to be on your ‘A’ game every run and all the people we’re racing against, you can’t take any of them lightly because everybody is doing such a great job.
"Look at how close the fields are. It’s just amazing and I’m happy to be a part of this thing, and I’m happy to beat up on them, too.”
Justin Ashley, a two-time winner this year, qualified second with a 3.765 run at 320.43 mph and Josh Hart took the third spot with his pass of 3.766 at 310.41 from Friday. Points leader Brittany Force qualified sixth.
“It has been a great weekend thus far,'' Ashley said. "There is a lot going on – on and off the track – and it is awesome. We love it. Obviously, we have people from Phillips Connect here, and a lot of people from Velociti. It was important for us to go out and perform well. We will be ready for race day tomorrow.”
Joey Gladstone earned his first No. 1 qualifier in Pro Stock Motorcyle for Sunday's Menards NHRA Nationals elimination rounds. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Gladstone earned his first career No. 1 qualifier in Pro Stock Motorcycle with a run of 6.831 at 195.08 on his J&A Service Suzuki Hayabusa.
Coming off his first career victory in the class, Gladstone will start race day as the points leader, slipping past Angelle Sampey with his standout performance over the past two days of qualifying.
“I hope this wave never crashes,” Gladstone said. “I’m enjoying this ride while it lasts and I’m so happy. I’ve been waiting my whole life for moments like this and I can’t say enough about my team and how much fun we’re having. They’re so great and I’m so thankful for all they do and allowing us to come out here.”
Sampey, who won at Topeka in 1997 in Pro Stock Motorcycle’s last race at the track, qualified second with a 6.882 run at 195.14 mph, and is just four points back of Gladstone. Eddie Krawiec improved to a 6.913 at 194.16 to take the No. 3 qualifying spot.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The most dominant driver in drag racing history admits that he does wear down.
But usually all John Force needs to do to get his second, third or fourth wind is get to the race track.
A beaming John Force, the winningest driver in NHRA history, visits with a race fan Saturday at Heartland Motorsports Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"I'm not Superman, I ain't no different than anybody else out here,'' said Force, who has won 16 world Funny Car championships while posting 155 race wins. "I'm 73 and you bet I get tired, but if you're doing something you love your energy changes. You get up and want to do a good story and I want to give you a good story.
"Let me tell you, the racing's not hard for me, it's the best part. Driving down a racetrack, being with a team of guys, that's what I love. Chasing (sponsorship) money's getting tougher and tougher and that's what we've got to keep doing, but we're just coming out of a pandemic and we've had a lot of problems in the world, so it's not easy. We've having to make deals and we are.''
Force, who has won a track-record 10 times at Heartland Motorsports Park, including the 2021 race, is the midst of another very solid 2022 season, starting the weekend fourth in Funny Car points and earning the No. 3 qualifying spot for Sunday's Menards NHRA Nationals elimination rounds.
"I'm making some mistakes as a driver but I've got a good racecar and if I can correct some of this stuff we've got a shot at the title,'' Force said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Sitting 12th in Top Fuel points at the start of the weekend is uncharted territory for three-time world champion and 68-time NHRA race winner Antron Brown.
But Brown, who launched AB Motorsports this season, said he's confident that it won't be long until the Matco Tools Top Fuel team returns to its accustomed place as a perennial title contender.
Three-time Top Fuel world champ Antron Brown has struggled this season, but sees much better days ahead for the Matco Tools team. {Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN
"The hardest part is I'm a very competitive person and not just me, but everybody that's on our team,'' Brown said Friday at Heartland Motorsports Park, where he is competing in the Menards NHRA Nationals. "Everybody on this Matco team, we show up to win all the time.
"The last year and a half we've been beat down, but we have never given up and the cool part is to see our hard work and our determination to get back to where we need to be.''
Brown, the 2017 race-winner and a four-time No. 1 qualifier in Topeka, said the biggest challenge this season has been on the performance side of things, but he is confident that that the team has made big strides in that department.
"On the performance side we took some bumps and bruises, but we started off with so much new stuff,'' Brown said. "We could have come out and purchased exactly what we ran in years prior, the tried and true, but it was time for us to elevate and go with all the new latest, greatest widgets and gadgets. It's been taking us awhile to figure it all out but now after the Western Swing we finally figured some things out and now we're not coming to a race trying to figure something out, we're working on a program to make it better.
"Last race we did good. We qualified in the top five, right where we wanted to, and we just didn't run quick enough first round. That was our fault, but our car was performing well enough where we actually ran second and third low of the round on Saturday, so we're getting right back to the realm that we used to do years ago. The thing about it is we learned a lot through all those struggles and now it feels good to see it come to fruition, all the hard work that we put in.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
In a career that's included 59 race wins and three NHRA Funny Car world championships, Robert Hight has never had a year quite like 2022.
"Without a doubt, it's not even close,'' Hight said Friday at Heartland Motorsports Park, where he is competing in the Menards NHRA Nationals. "I've already tied my career-high in wins, I've got a big ol' points lead and everywhere we go we're running good in lots of different conditions. It's been really good.''
NHRA Funny Car star Robert Hight, making a qualifying pass Friday night at Heartland Motorsports Park, will be looking for his seventh win of the year in this weekend's Menards NHRA Nationals. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Hight, driver of the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS, has already posted six victories on the year and is in position to become just the sixth Funny Car driver in NHRA history to win as many as seven races in a single season, joining John Force Racing boss John Force (who has done so seven times), Don Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Ron Capps and Jack Beckman.
Hight, who has picked up four wins in five final-round appearances over the last seven races, could get that seventh win as soon as Sunday at a Heartland Motorsports Park dragstrip where he has won three times, most recently in 2019. Hight has been the No. 1 qualifier at HMP four times.
Now the goal for Hight is to finish what he's started this season.
"What counts is what you do at the end and we're not taking any of this for granted,'' he said. "We're working hard, we're not getting complacent and we want to be there in the end.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Four-time defending NHRA Top Fuel champ Steve Torrence hasn't always been a fan of the Countdown to the Championship format that adjusts the points at the start of the playoffs, placing an enormous importance on the final six races of the year.
Four-time defending Top Fuel world champ Steve Torrence will chasing a fifth straight title in the upcoming NHRA Countdown to the Championship. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But this is one season that the Countdown format could pay dividends for the 39-year-old Texan, who is trying to become just the fourth driver in NHRA pro drag racing history to win as many as five straight series championships.
Torrence, who is competing in this weekend's NHRA Menard’s Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park, saw a huge points lead erased by the Countdown format in 2017, with Brittany Force going on to win the Camping World Drag Racing Series championship.
But Torrence is one of the drivers in chase mode this season and having the points re-set in three races could be a benefit.
“We’re just trying to use the Countdown to our advantage, like Brittany did,” Torrence said in a team release. “Whether you like the rules or not, if you’re gonna play the game, you have to play by whatever’s there. That’s the lesson we learned.”
After the disappointing end to 2017, Torrence made history when he in '18 when he swept the Countdown races to win the first of his four straight titles.
Now, Torrence and his Capco Contractors crew chiefs, Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana Jr., are trying to make sure the car is at his best when the playoffs start on Sept. 15 at Maple Grove Raceway.
“We’re just using the races before the Countdown to work through some issues,” Torrence said. “We haven’t been the dominant car all season but we’re trying to see if we can be the dominant car the last six races I feel confident (in the changes we’ve made) even though it hasn’t paid off in wins. I think that you just have to stay the course. You don’t get to be on top of the mountain by not having to overcome obstacles.
"I think we're getting there. I'm starting to see some consistency, which has been the hardest thing to get back to. I know what these Capco boys are trying to do and I know what the car is doing and it’s aligning itself very closely. We’re just picking away at it a little bit at a time. It’s a mental game. We had a plan and to be successful, we know we have to execute that plan to the end.
“We’ve got three more races to fine tune everything before we really have to kick it in gear for the Countdown. We’re a solid fourth in points and could gain a spot or two. When Brittany won, she started sixth.”
Torrence has gone to the semifinals or beyond in his last five appearances in the Menards Nationals, winning a family feud with dad Billy to reach the winners’ circle in 2019, the only time he has started the race No. 1.
The first round of Top Fuel qualifying is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, followed by a pair of qualifying sessions at 3 and 6 o'clock on Saturday.
Eliminations will begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
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