The National Hot Rod Association speeds into the Puget Sound region this weekend in the middle of one of its most grueling stretches and with the points race as tight as it can be.
The 19th Annual Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals are at Pacific Raceways in Kent today through Sunday. Racers will compete for $1.4 million in the 14th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
This will be the second of three consecutive weekends the series will have competed. Last week, it was in Denver and next week it travels to Sonoma, Calif. The triple-header marks the second half of the season and the points race is as tight as it has been in years. Doug Kalitta leads Melanie Troxel in the Top Fuel division by 22 points; Ron Capps leads John Force by 26 points in the Funny Cars; and Jason Line leads Greg Anderson by 22 points in the Pro Stocks.
One of the story lines of the season for the NHRA has been the rise of women legitimately competing for a championship. The headliner is Troxel, who last week was nominated for two ESPY awards, including Female Athlete of the Year. Also near the top of their divisions are Hillary Will in the Top Fuel and Erica Enders in the Pro Stocks. Also, Angelle Sampey leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle series and Karen Stoffer is fifth in that division.
Besides the fact that she’s competing for a title, Troxel also gets plenty of attention because she’s part of what’s being billed as “Motorsport’s Fastest Couple.” Troxel, of Avon, Ind., is married to Tommy Johnson Jr., and the two compete in separate categories. At 331.45 miles per hour, Johnson holds a slight advantage over his wife’s 331.04 mph in the competition within the family. Troxel is trying to become just the second woman – after Shirley Muldowney – to win an NHRA Top Fuel title.
All three of last year’s winners in Kent – Brandon Bernstein (Top Fuel), Eric Medlen (Funny Car) and Kurt Johnson (Pro Stocks) will return and hope to repeat, but there will be stiff competition. Just five drivers in NHRA history have swept the Western swing. After wins in Denver last week, J.R. Todd in the Top Fuel, Gary Scelzi in the Funny Car and Dave Connelly in the Pro Stock will try to keep the chance of a sweep alive.
A number of Snohomish County racers are entered in various categories, led by Lynnwood’s Terry Haddock in the Funny Car division. Everett’s Ray Hadford is in the Competition Eliminator and Marysville’s Rodney Stults is entered in the Super Stocks. In the Super Comp, there’s Scott Sandvigen of Snohomish, Ed Hauter Jr. of Lynnwood and Emmett McKillop of Lynnwood. Jerry Earp (Edmonds), Ronald Hopkins (Lynnwood), Jeff Pool (Lynnwood) and Lloyd Fatum (Everett) are in the Super Gas. Marysville’s Alan Alexander and Leon Elliott, Snohomish’s Tony Hopkins and Marysville’s Michael Scheffler are in the Super Streets.
Evergreen preps for 250: With one week to go until the Washington 500, Evergreen Speedway will hold one more week of its regular series before getting ready to play host to one of the bigger stock car events on the West Coast.
Saturday is Truck Night, featuring the ARCA West Series making its only appearance in Monroe this season. There will also be a Monster Truck show, a truck demolition derby as well as the Stinger 8s, the Extreme Contact Figure Eights and the Super Figure Eights.
There’s a thrilling points race still alive in the Extreme Contact division, as Monroe teenager Sean Peters continues to hold a slight five-point lead over Bill Wade, with Troy Simianer just 10 points back. Sean’s dad, legendary Figure Eight racer Steve Peters, is running away with another Super Figure Eight title, leading Jerry Funden by 60 points. Steve Baumgartner leads the Stinger 8s by 10 points over Mike Middleton, who has a division-high three wins. Cody Koroshes is 14 points back and Daniel Koester is 21 points out.
Next Saturday, Evergreen plays host to the NAPA Autoparts Washington 500. The Super Stocks get the action going at 5:15 p.m. with the Speedway Chevrolet 100, followed by the NASCAR Northwest Series Elite Division’s Washington Army National Guard 150. The night concludes with the NAPA 250 featuring the Grand National West Series.
Skagit moves to second half: With half of the season behind it, Skagit Speedway now heads for the home stretch with just a few points races left in the season. Both Lake Stevens’ Travis Jacobson (410s) and Steve Kilcup (360s) earned their second straight wins a week ago to maintain their points lead. Jacobson did it by taking the lead with three laps to go and surviving several re-starts. He leads Chad Hillier by 20 points. Kilcup took advantage of second-place Brock Lemley running in the Clay Cup in Deming to open up his points lead by leading the final 14 laps. Kilcup leads Lemley by 18 points
Racing continues Saturday with Chamber Night, and just four nights of points race remain in the season.
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