CLERMONT, Ind.—As if the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals needs any extra drama or buildup, more is provided through its spot as the final race in the NHRA Countdown to 1 playoff.
Sunday, the Countdown picture came into focus a day early.
Top Fuel driver Joe Hartley and Pro Stock legend Warren Johnson not only won’t have a chance to run for Full Throttle championships, they won’t be racing on Labor Day in eliminations for the 55th running of the NHRA’s most prestigious event.
Final-day qualifying was cut from two runs to one after morning showers (no surprise this year, 14 of 18 races have had rain), and while some failed to rise to the occasion in making the all-important top 16, others made the runs they had to make to bring the Countdown closer to reality.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Steve Johnson qualified sixth in his Wyotech Suzuki, moving into a 10th-place tie with Karen Stoffer thanks to bonus points for qualifying. Stoffer qualified 10th.
And in Funny Car, Robert Hight continued what could be an improbable march into the Countdown from the 12th spot in points after his Auto Club Ford Mustang held onto the pole with a 4.082-second pass at 308.35 mph to 1,000 feet.
“Winning Indy is big, but getting in this countdown is huge,” said Hight, who knows both—he won Indy last year and in 2006, and has finished fourth and second in the last two Countdowns.
Even though the Yorba Linda, Calif., resident came into the event trailing 10th-place Cruz Pedregon by 38 points and Matt Hagan by 31, the bracket sets up for Hight to leapfrog both and make the Countdown if he wins Monday. There is precedence for the feat; Doug Herbert qualified for the Countdown in Top Fuel in 2007 by winning at Reading, Pa. Hight could also get in if he goes two rounds farther than Pedregon and Hagan.
“We’ve always been close, I’ve been saying it and people are tired are hearing it, but it has been close all year,” Hight said. “I’ve gone back to basics, and there’s not a better time to do it.”
Hight’s three John Force Racing teammates qualified second, third and fifth, a near-sweep of the top spots only interrupted by Pedregon’s fourth-place effort. Team owner and 14-time series champion John Force qualified fifth, allowing him to race after falling short in qualifying the previous two years. His longtime crew chief, Austin Coil, has been hospitalized in Indy since Wednesday and will watch the finals from a hotel room—the first event he has missed since the 1970s.
Warren Johnson, another icon of the sport with his 96 Pro Stock wins (second to Force among all drivers) and six wins at the “Big Go,” failed to qualify his Pontiac GXP for the second time in three years, handing over the 10th-place spot in points to Johnny Gray. Shockingly his son, four-time series champion and two-time U.S. Nationals winner Kurt Johnson, locked into the Countdown in eighth place, also failed to qualify.
The Pro Stock and Top Fuel Countdown fields were set with Johnson’s balk and Joe Hartley’s failure to qualify in his family-owned dragster. He came to Indy 11th in points, three behind Clay Millican, in his first full-time season after nine years of part-time racing.
Millican, a 43-year-old Tennessean running only his second full-time campaign, wiped his brow for the TV cameras while sitting in the cockpit prior to his final qualifying pass, having just watched Hartley fall short of qualifying.
“Drag racing goes in cycles, so you hope your cycle is on the upswing when this weekend is over with,” Millican said.
A series of upswings ended Top Fuel qualifying Sunday evening, as three top-5 drivers posted top-this qualifying runs. First, Brandon Bernstein hung a 3.846/316.30 pole run in the Kenny Bernstein Racing Budweiser dragster. Next, five-time defending series champion and seven-time U.S. Nationals champion Tony Schumacher laid down a better 3.836/316.82 in the U.S. Army car.
But getting the final say in the session with the final pairing, points leader Antron Brown dropped the hammer with a 3.835/319.22—the second-fastest run since nitro cars moved to 1,000-foot racing last season.
Brown, a two-time U.S. Nationals winner in Pro Stock Motorcycle who is now a title favorite in his second year of Top Fuel racing, can appreciate what an Indy win means.
“Man, it would be monumental. Right there for a kid coming out of New Jersey, growing up around the sport, it will be huge,” said Brown, who now lives just down the road from O’Reilly Raceway Park in Pittsboro, Ind.
“That’s all I think about. When you look back in racing and you look at each year, you look at who won the championships and who won Indy. That’s what you’ve got on your mind each and every year.”
The run for history, and two remaining Countdown berths, commences Monday at 11 a.m. ET.
INDIANAPOLIS — First-round pairings for professional eliminations Monday for the 55th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, the 18th of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Sunday. DNQs listed below pairings.
Top Fuel
1. Antron Brown, 3.835 seconds, 319.22 mph vs. 16. Spencer Massey, 3.972, 306.81; 2. Tony Schumacher, 3.836, 316.82 vs. 15. T.J. Zizzo, 3.972, 308.14; 3. Brandon Bernstein, 3.846, 316.30 vs. 14. Bruce Litton, 3.955, 307.58; 4. Larry Dixon, 3.850, 312.86 vs. 13. Clay Millican, 3.941, 309.56; 5. Morgan Lucas, 3.851, 314.61 vs. 12. Terry Haddock, 3.914, 300.60; 6. Cory McClenathan, 3.851, 311.63 vs. 11. David Grubnic, 3.902, 313.07; 7. Doug Kalitta, 3.862, 315.12 vs. 10. Rod Fuller, 3.888, 310.63; 8. Pat Dakin, 3.875, 313.95 vs. 9. Shawn Langdon, 3.888, 312.71.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Ron August, 4.013, 298.93; 18. Joe Hartley, 4.025, 297.75; 19. Del Cox Jr, 4.848, 300.80; 20. Chris Karamesines, 4.956, 234.94; 21. Troy Buff, 5.625, 291.32.
Funny Car
1. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.082, 308.35 vs. 16. Grant Downing, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.230, 283.25; 2. Ashley Force Hood, Mustang, 4.093, 309.20 vs. 15. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 4.171, 299.46; 3. Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.093, 308.85 vs. 14. Jack Beckman, Charger, 4.166, 297.35; 4. Cruz Pedregon, Toyota Solara, 4.098, 305.36 vs. 13. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.154, 299.73; 5. John Force, Mustang, 4.107, 307.09 vs. 12. Jim Head, Solara, 4.143, 304.46; 6. Del Worsham, Solara, 4.109, 303.98 vs. 11. Tony Pedregon, Chevy Impala, 4.141, 301.67; 7. Jerry Toliver, Monte Carlo, 4.110, 302.69 vs. 10. Jeff Arend, Solara, 4.141, 301.87; 8. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.126, 302.69 vs. 9. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.128, 303.78.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Bob Bode, 4.292, 290.69; 18. Justin Schriefer, 12.015, 102.70; 19. Brian Thiel, broke.
Pro Stock
1. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 6.581, 209.01 vs. 16. Rickie Jones, Dodge Stratus, 6.689, 207.02; 2. Jason Line, GXP, 6.620, 208.23 vs. 15. Justin Humphreys, GXP, 6.665, 205.82; 3. Ronnie Humphrey, GXP, 6.630, 207.88 vs. 14. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.652, 207.56; 4. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.633, 207.91 vs. 13. Rodger Brogdon, GXP, 6.650, 207.85; 5. Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.635, 208.30 vs. 12. Jeg Coughlin, Chevy Cobalt, 6.650, 208.04; 6. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.637, 207.78 vs. 11. Steve Spiess, Cobalt, 6.649, 207.21; 7. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.640, 207.78 vs. 10. Johnny Gray, Stratus, 6.647, 207.72; 8. Ryan Ondrejko, GXP, 6.641, 206.95 vs. 9. Vinnie Deceglie, Stratus, 6.646, 207.37.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Kurt Johnson, 6.701, 207.43; 18. Steve Schmidt, 6.701, 205.32; 19. Warren Johnson, 6.703, 207.94; 20. V. Gaines, 6.715, 204.60; 21. Bob Benza, 6.731, 205.22; 22. Mark Buehring, 6.828, 202.03; 23. Jim Cunningham, 6.856, 203.83; 24. Erica Enders, 6.942, 201.46; 25. Dave River, 6.988, 197.74; 26. John Nobile, 7.149, 206.95; 27. Matt Hartford, 7.478, 206.80; 28. Mark Hogan, 7.754, 203.92; 29. John Gaydosh Jr, 8.900, 201.97; 30. Kevin Lawrence, broke; 31. Frank Gugliotta, broke.
Pro Stock Motorcycle
1. Matt Smith, Suzuki, 6.918, 192.38 vs. 16. Junior Pippin, Buell, 7.064, 184.07; 2. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.936, 191.89 vs. 15. Angie McBride, Buell, 7.063, 186.54; 3. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.957, 192.66 vs. 14. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.059, 188.49; 4. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 6.971, 191.57 vs. 13. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 7.057, 189.04; 5. Shawn Gann, Buell, 6.979, 189.66 vs. 12. Wesley Wells, Suzuki, 7.045, 187.73; 6. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.014, 188.54 vs. 11. Chip Ellis, Suzuki, 7.028, 187.68; 7. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 7.015, 186.77 vs. 10. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.023, 188.17; 8. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 7.018, 190.43 vs. 9. Douglas Horne, Buell, 7.020, 188.94.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Bailey Whitaker, 7.066, 186.54; 18. David Hope, 7.087, 185.64; 19. Joe DeSantis, 7.123, 185.82; 20. Mike Berry, 7.192, 181.40; 21. Redell Harris, 7.211, 183.12; 22. Katie Sullivan, 7.324, 183.27; 23. Geoff Godfrey, 7.549, 166.99.
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