The latest update as of March 26, 2024

64th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals

With a threatening weather forecast for the afternoon, NHRA decided to start eliminations an hour earlier than normal. Thankfully, our hard working photographer, BIG Bob Snyder set his alarm clock for the time change and was on hand to capture all the action until the rains started again just after the semi-final rounds were completed.

TOP FUEL - Eliminations Round ONE

With just two sessions to get their tuneups sorted, the 15 racers on hand were at least guaranteed a spot in eliminations, providing they were able to stage the car under power once. All the racers managed that requirement, but the final qualifying list showed only 10 cars in the 3-second zone, and only seven in the 3.70's.

(LEFT) Eliminations opened with the #8 and #9 qualifiers meeting in what is traditionally the most closely matched pair of the round. There was a gap of a full tenth of a second between their qualifying times, but when the ambers flashed it became a very tight race to the 1000' stripe. Antron Brown left first by a few thousandths, and posted a very good 3.743 - 329.18, but lost by just five thousandths of a second. Taking the win was Clay Millican (not shown), who put up a slightly better 3.730 - 332.34, but it came at a cost as the blower banged for the second run in a row. Besides a dead blower, the carbon fiber injector hat turned into some very expensive confetti.

(RIGHT) In the second pair out of the lanes, Krista Baldwin, in her newly acquired ex-Pat Dakin car, ran into early trouble with dropped cylinders. She kept on until the 660' mark before throwing in the towel and slowing to 4.370 - 193.82. In the other lane, Gatornationals winner Shawn Langdon (not shown), took full advantage of her plight, blasting out low e.t. of the meet with a brilliant 3.680 - 334.24 pass.

(LEFT) Langdon's teammate, Doug Kalitta, nearly matched his pace with a very quick 3.699 - 335.40 to advance to the second round. Not shown was his opponent, Jasmine Salinas, making her Top Fuel competition debut but had the throttle disconnect on the burnout, forcing the team to shut the engine down before staging.

(RIGHT) After a nearly four year absence, Shawn Reed is back with a new car and the financial backing to run the entire schedule in 2024. His Winternationals ended in a cloud of tire smoke and unburnt fuel as he lit the tires instantly and coasted to a 7.630 - 124.93. In the far lane, Justin Ashley (not shown) left strong but faded on the top end with a 3.831 - 317.87 clocking, the slowest winning time of the round to this point.

(LEFT) Taking the top spot in qualifying with a very good 3.711 - 335.73 earned Brittany Force a bye run in the first round. Seeing what the track could hold, crew chief David Grubnic nearly matched her qualifying e.t. with a great 3.714, coupled with a new top speed of the meet at 336.91 speed. The run also earned her lane choice over Clay Millican in the next round.

(RIGHT) Back for the full tour for the first time in a few years, "Captain Capco" Billy Torrence qualified strongly in the #3 position, and upped the ante a few hundredths with an excellent 3.716 - 335.98 to easily outrun Josh Hart (not shown). Hart left first by half a tenth, and held the lead until the 660' mark before a dropped cylinder slowed him, and crossed the finish line with a 3.903 - 274.61 pass.

Coming from the bottom (#15) of the field, Nebraska's Terry Totten launched solidly, but ran into trouble early and coasted to an 8-second e.t. at 60mph, while Tony Schumacher (not shown) blasted out a consistent 3.752 - 329.83 to advance to the next round against Shawn Langdon.

The final pair of the round featured multi-time world champion Steve Torrence (not shown), against the Top Fuel "rookie" Tony Stewart. After a good start in his debut at Gainesville with a 3.725 qualifying effort, Stewart was stuck in the 4's until he went up in instant smoke and slowed to an 8-second losing pass. Running away with the win, Torrence stopped the clocks at 3.695 - 336.65 to earn lane choice over Justin Ashley in the quarter-final round.

FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round ONE

The Funny Car pits were full, with 21 cars vying for the 16 spots in eliminations. While the bump spot was a rather weak 4.823 (Buddy Hull), the first alternate was a real shock as Alexis DeJoria failed to make the cut. The other four cars that were left by the wayside all had low 4-second runs - or better - to their credit, but with tricky track and weather conditions and just two chances to make the show, weren't able to get the power to the track long enough to qualify.

(LEFT) In a departure from the norm, the #3 qualifier Bobby Bode, (not shown) elected to be in the first pairing, facing the Dave Richards machine. With serious backing, the Richards brothers are planning to run the entire circuit but they qualified near the bottom of the field with a mid 4-second effort. Things didn't get any better in eliminations, as he left late and ran into tire smoke early, clicking it off to a 8.35 - 92 mph clocking. Bode ran away for the win with his best pass of the event, a 3.964 - 291.51 that ended with lots of green flames and death smoke out of the pipes.

(RIGHT) Sporting a new Mustang-themed paint scheme, speed merchant Bob "Mr. 341" Tasca III didn't get out of the 4's in qualifying, and he didn't do any better here as, after a strong launch, the car dropped cylinders and slowed to a losing 4.307 - 217.88 pass. In the other lane, Paul Lee (not shown) improved on his qualifying time and carded a good 3.902 - 321.73 to move into the second round.

(LEFT) The Gainesville winner found himself all the way down in the #13 position in qualifying, but J.R. Todd launched well before the tires started spinning at half track and slowed him to a 4.278 - 216.17 pass. That should have been easy to beat for his opponent Cruz Pedregon (not shown), who left later and shut off a little earlier, losing with a 4.349 - 219.94 timeslip.

(RIGHT) A rather surprising first round match featured Gainesville runner-up Austin Prock (far lane), against former world champion Ron Capps, in the near lane. While Capps qualifying in the #2 position, Prock was all the way down in #15. It was a close race until just past the 660' mark, where Prock spun the tires and danced around in his lane before clicking it off to a 4.138 - 236.22. Capps pounded out low e.t. of the meet with a great 3.891 - 328.86 to move to the second round,

(LEFT) Wearing the JHG colours this weekend, defending world champion Matt Hagan didn't quite match his low qualifying e.t., but his 3.909 - 329.67 obliterated the Jim Dunn-owned MoonEyes car with flopper rookie Buddy Hull at the tiller. Hull remained in the high 4.70's at less than 200 mph, with the tires breaking loose before half track as he did during qualfiying.

(RIGHT) Facing the "GOAT" John Force (not shown), was part-timer Jim Campbell who slid into the field in the final qualifying session, but saw his luck run out early with tire shake, a pedal, then an early shutoff at 7.842 - 83.03. Improving on his qualifying time was Force as he blitzed the timers with a very good 3.959 - 324.12 to earn lane choice over young Mr. Bode in the next round.

(LEFT) Moving up from also-ran to a real threat, Terry Haddock qualified in the top half of the field (#7) for only the second time in his career, with a great 3.999 - 308.50 effort. He kept things going in the first round by matching strides with Chad Green (not shown), before Green lifted and shut off to a 5-second e.t. Haddock had the engine get unhappy a little further down track , so he clicked it to a slowing, but winning, 4.459 - 229.51 that wasn't nearly enough to take lane choice from his second round opponent, Ron Capps.

(RIGHT) Closing out the round was SoCal veteran Jeff "The Surfer" Diehl who qualified well, in the 9th spot, with a good 4.050 - 306.81 that gave him lane choice over Dan Wilkerson (not shown). Wilkerson left first by a couple of hundredths, but the car drove into instantaneous tire smoke, forcing him to coast down to an 10-second e.t. Leaving him far behind was Diehl as he made a slight improvement on his qualifying time, lighting up the scoreboards with a solid 4.044 - 303.30 clocking. However, it didn't come close to matching Ron Capps' 3.89 pass, giving Capps the choice of lanes in the second round.

PRO STOCK - Eliminations Round ONE

As always seems to be the case, the Pro Stock field was tightly bunched with the gap between #1 (Dallas Glenn) at 6.536 down to #16 (Sienna Wildgust) anchoring the field at 6.625, less than a tenth of a second. Three of the four alternates were usually on the qualified list, but as with the other categories, only two chances to get the setup right caught them out.

(LEFT) Making only his second start in Pro Stock, Brandon Foster, part of the KB-Titan conglomerate, left the starting line more than a tenth behind Chris McGaha (not shown). But when McGaha started heading for the wall at the 330' mark, Foster pedalled his tire shaking entry and stood on the throttle long enough to register a 7.263 - 206.23 and turn on the winlight.

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TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations Round ONE

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FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN - Eliminations Round ONE

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TOP FUEL - Eliminations Round TWO

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FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round TWO

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PRO STOCK - Eliminations Round TWO

NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round ONE

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TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round ONE

(LEFT) Eliminations for the 8-car field began with Annie Whiteley ripping off an excellent 5.491 - 265.80 to set low e.t. of the meet and be the first car into the 5.40's. She left with an unreal .007 reaction time and easily outran her opponent to advance to the semi-finals.

(RIGHT) The racer that Whiteley eliminated was former world champion Shane Westerfield in the late Rick Jackson-owned car. He made his best pass of the event with a strong 5.543 - 264.96, but Whiteley's psychic leave put him two car lengths behind at the finish line.

(LEFT) The second pair of the round featured championship contender Brian Hough and he turned on the winlight with a very quick 5.494 - 266.64 that set top speed of the meet. It turned into an automatic win when his opponent redlighted.

(RIGHT) In the other lane was Will Martin, and the former nostalgia funny car racer, and son of the nitro funny car racer John "Jam-Air" Martin, turned on the red-light when he brought the revs up on the "two-step" launch control. It was all academic as Hough ran away from him.

(LEFT) Making her national event debut in front of a large Southern California audience, third-generation funny car racer Madison 'Maddi' Gordon had nothing but trouble during qualifying, shaking or smoking the tires on both attempt to sit at the bottom of the field. It all came good for the Gordon family team when she cranked out low e.t. of the meet with a brilliant 5.479 - 266.11 in her first round race.

(RIGHT) As you can see by the scoreboard shot, Gordon's numbers on the right side of the picture were better than the left side stats. Unfortunately for Ms. Gordon, her great run was pipped by just .003 due to Hunter Jones slight holeshot and his very good 5.490 - 263.62 clockings. After a few years of working his way up the ladder, Mr. Jones not only qualified #1, but took out the defending world champion car in the first round of eliminations.

(LEFT) The final pairing of the round featured two veteran flopper pilots, with Mike Doushgounian making a small improvement over his qualifying effort, clocking in at 5.515 - 262.59, coupled with an incredible .006 reaction time to take an easy win and advance to the semifinals and a meeting with Brian Hough.

(RIGHT) Dropping the decision against Doushgounian was Alaska's Ray Martin, who's taken over the seat in the M7 Performance car from Jake Guadagnolo this season. As you can see in the photo, he was falling well behind Doushgounian, and had the front wheels in the air, eventually going across the centerline and taking out the 660' timing blocks for the automatic loss.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations Round TWO

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TOP FUEL - Eliminations Round THREE

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FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round THREE

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