The latest update as of September 3, 2024
70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals - Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park - Clermont, IN
It's final eliminations day at the U.S. Nationals and our hard working photographer, Dale Fackler is working hard to capture all the action on the track. The event saw a lot of Canadian content, with Canuck racers top qualifying in Pro Mod, Justin Bond, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Stan Sipos, and third in Top Alcohol Dragster, Shawn Cowie. Other north of the border racers qualified in Top Fuel, Dan Mercier, Pro Stock, Siena Wildgust, and two more in Pro Mod. Taking the #4 spot in that class was Jordan Lazic, and #16 was Scott Wildgust.
After three days of varying weather conditions, including a rainy Friday, Monday morning dawned sunny and cool. The air temperature was down 20 degrees from qualifying, the track temp was down more than 30 degrees, and the density altitude was nearly 2000 ft lower. All very conducive to making BIG horsepower, with the track capable of handling it. For the 16 "survivors" entering eliminations it was time to go BIG or go home.
TOP FUEL - Eliminations Round ONE
(LEFT)The second pair of the round matched father and son, with Steve Torrence facing Billy Torrence. Steve got the party started with the second quickest run of the event, a very good 3.702 - 329.67 to easily handle an up-in-smoke Billy.
(RIGHT) Three pairs later, the newly wrapped "Direct Connection" retro look dragster of Tony Stewart faced Doug Foley. Coming out of qualifying in the highest starting position of his admittedly short Top Fuel career, Stewart cranked out a great 3.723 - 331.53 to take a close win by less than a car length.
(LEFT) With a very different appearance due to the "Arby's" wrap, Clay Millican charged hard off the line and stopped the timers with the quickest run of the round - so far - a 3.695 and top speed of the meet at 333.74 to eliminate Antron Brown who lost traction at half track and slowed.
(RIGHT) Coming into eliminations from the #12 starting spot, Josh Hart appeared to be in deep against #5 qualifier Tripp Tatum. He grabbed a big (.052 to .103) reaction time advantage, and pulled away quickly from Tatum, before hazing the tires and slowing to a 4.018 - 249.49. However, Tatum smoked the tires and was off the throttle before the 330' mark.
FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round ONE
(LEFT) Leading the way out of the lanes to start Funny Car eliminations, second-generation fuel flopper pilot, Dan Wilkerson faced another "young gun" in Bobby Bode Jr. After a strong launch, Wilkerson suffered a major engine explosion before half track, blowing the body into two pieces, but managed to wrestle the wreckage to a stop without hitting the wall. Bode made his best run of the weekend to escape the conflagration and advance to the quarter-final round.
(RIGHT) This what was left of the body as it went down the return road on a flatdeck truck. It was a sad end to an expensive weekend for Team Wilk as they had another major engine failure during qualifying.
(LEFT) With the top qualifier hat already in his wardrobe, Austin Prock absolutely obliterated the bump spot racer, Chris King. It was no contest as King was out of it early and Prock rocketed to low e.t. of the meet with a brilliant 3.850 - 334.15 timeslip.
(RIGHT) This is how they get some of the awesome overhead shots on the FOX network and NHRA.TV broadcasts. It's a quad-rotor drone with a 4K HD video camera.
(LEFT) Prock was followed by the #2 qualifier Bob Tasca III in what looked like a true David vs Goliath battle. Qualifying near the bottom of the field, Buddy Hull, in the Jim Dunn car was in deep but he pulled off the improbable upset as Tasca smoked the tires just past the 660' mark. It wasn't pretty but Hull scored the first round win of his Funny Car career with a 4.063 - 286.86 pass.
(RIGHT) Taking over the driving chores for the GOAT (John Force), former world champion "Fast" Jack Beckman was looking to start turning on some winlights after debuting in the car at Brainerd. He qualified third at 3.877 and bettered that with a new low e.t. of the event, 3.842 - 332.51 to get a leg up on teammate Austin Prock. In the other lane was long-time veteran Dale Creasy Jr. who made the quickest and fastest run of his career with an excellent 3.950 - 325.92 to give Beckman a good fight.
(LEFT) Needing at least one round win to guarantee a spot in the Countdown to The Championship, Blake Alexander turned on the horsepower to crank out a great 3.883 - 327.74. Winning the Brainerd event two weeks ago, qualifying #4 here and advancing to the second round with lane choice proved that the Jim Head car is a worthy championship contender. His first round opponent, Chad Green left first but lost traction early and slowed.
(RIGHT) It's been another tough season for Cruz Pedregon, but he worked hard to qualify in the top half of the field and earned a holeshot victory over Paul Lee. Pedregon's 3.923 - 323.58 was enough to take a car length win over Lee's hard running Charger. The loss put Lee's chance to gain a berth in the countdown in serious jeopardy.
(LEFT) Sporting another Don Prudhomme tribute paint scheme, Ron Capps hoped for a three-peat at Indy following victories in the two previous editions. He had a slight advantage over opponent J.R. Todd off the line, but fell back a little before Todd smoked the tires as Capps sailed on to a winning 3.946 - 333.33 and a ticket into the next round.
(RIGHT) The round closed with a pressure packed match between Alexis DeJoria and defending world champion Matt Hagan. The most pressure was on Paul Lee, who would be eliminated from the countdown if DeJoria won the round. She qualified just three thousandths slower than Hagan but crew chief Del Worsham turned up the wick and it resulted in a very good 3.886 - 327.98 win over a tire smoking Hagan.
TOP FUEL - Eliminations Round TWO
With the track temperature up nearly 25 degrees, air temp up 10, and the corrected altitude up 600 feet, conditions weren't quite as good as the opening round, but still better than four out of the five qualifying sessions. While it would be a safe bet that there wouldn't be any 3.60 runs, mid to low 3.70's were more than possible.
(LEFT) First up in the second round, and coming off a great run earlier, Tony Stewart faced a tough competitor in Justin Ashley. Stewart was two hundredths slower off the line but the race was over quickly in a cloud of smoke coming off Ashley's slicks, as Stewart ran away to a very convincing 3.747 - 330.88 victory.
(RIGHT) In only her second NHRA national event, Ida Zetterstrom was hoping to go into the semifinals again. She nearly did as she left on Steve Torrence and held the lead until after the 660' mark before dropping a cylinder and losing the race by a third of a car length. Her 3.797 - 317.12 was a very creditable performance, albeit in a losing cause.
Closing the round with a very good 3.753 - 332.18 run, Clay Millican advanced to the semifinals over a tire hazing Josh Hart. Millican's e.t. was only the third best of the round but it was good enough to earn lane choice over Brittany Force.
FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round TWO
(LEFT) Making another strong run, but having to win on a holeshot is not the usual route to victory for Austin Prock. His 3.879 - 331.61 run was excellent by any standard, but it took an .057 to .084 reaction time advantage to take the win over Alexis DeJoria's valiant, but losing, 3.876 - 327.90 pass.
(RIGHT) The other Force team member, Jack Beckman faced off against veteran Cruz Pedregon for the right to advance to the semifinals. "Fast Jack" slowed a little from his low e.t. in the first round, but a great 3.870 - 330.15 was more than enough to turn on the winlight and grab lane choice over Ron Capps in the semifinals.
TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations Round THREE
After setting low e.t. of the event (5.194) in the second round, Langley, BC Canada's Shawn Cowie looked to advance to his fourth final round at the U.S. Nationals. However, he was still looking for his first event win at the "Big Go". His opponent, Angelle Sampey, hadn't run as well as Shawn, but she left on him and took a holeshot win over Cowie's extremely good 5.205 - 277.54 effort.
TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round THREE
(LEFT) As the low qualiifer, Victoria, BC Canada's Stan Sipos earned the bye run in the semifinals. Partnered with ace tuner Les Davenport (Calgary, Alberta), the veteran team took it easy on this run, shutting off before half track and coasting to a winning 6.169 - 170.64 time that gifted lane choice to the winner of the next pair.
(RIGHT) In a great side-by-side race, Sean Bellemeur took a close win over Chris Foster, with an excellent 5.457 - 267.16 to hold lane choice and back up his low e.t. of the meet 5.423 from the previous round. That set things up for a great final round between two very experienced and successful teams.
TOP FUEL - Eliminations Round THREE
With 21 previous final round appearances at NHRA national events, but never at the U.S. Nationals, Clay Millican, in the Rick Ware Racing entry, was looking to take another winlight. Facing Brittany Force, Clay was ready for her and ran away to a very convincing victory when she smoked the tires almost instantly. The scoreboard read 3.750 - 332.18 as Millican advanced to the final.
FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round THREE
(LEFT) Hoping to make it an all-JFR final round, Austin Prock did his part with another consistent 3.80-range pass, a 3.887 - 332.34 to eliminate a tire-smoking Blake Alexander.
(RIGHT) It wasn't a successful conclusion for Jack Beckman as he smoked the tires early and could only watch Ron Capps run away to a win that ended with the tires breaking loose and the throttle closed. Capps' 4.315 - 252.52 wasn't anywhere near Prock's 3.887 effort, but it was still good enough to move into the final round.
FUNNY CAR - Eliminations FINAL ROUND
With only one racer, Ron Capps, standing between him and the winner'c circle, Austin Prock was primed for a great finish to an outstanding weekend. He stayed in the 3.8-zone with a great 3.885 - 327.98 to turn on the winlight. He left on Capps by nearly three hundredths, and ran half a tenth quicker than Ron's valiant, but losing 3.935 - 331.45 performance.
TOP FUEL - Eliminations FINAL ROUND
Then there was one - race that is - with Clay Millican, in his new Arby's livery, facing multi-time world champion Steve Torrence (not shown). Millican had lane choice, and had been quicker than Torrence in two of the three rounds leading up to the final. Although Torrence left first by a small margin, it was nearly a dead heat at the 330' point before he started hazing the tires and fell back. On the top end it was all Millican as he roared through the lights with a strong 3.792 - 327.82 winning time, while Torrence slowed and blew the engine before stopping the clocks at 4.317 - 192.30. Adding insult to injury, Torrence was fined 10 points for oiling the track, dropping him to #5 in the final "regular season" standings.
That's the complete report from the 70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals. It was a six-day tour de force of drag racing with great performances, challenging weather and track conditions, large crowds and nearly 1000 competitors. Best of all, we had a great photographer on site for the entire event, providing us with the images to go with the stories that made up our coverage of the most iconic event in drag racing.