The latest update as of October 27, 2024
24 annual Ford Performance NHRA Nationals - The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, NV
There's just three races left on NHRA's calendar, two national events, and one regional. The next three weeks are going to see some tremendously exciting racing as the world championships are decided in the Pro and Pro Sportsman categories. Actually one of the championships, Top Alcohol Funny Car, has been taken by now three-time champion Sean Bellemeur in the Tony Bartone-owned car.
We can't forget Pro Mod, as 23 drivers are entered in the final event of the Congruity NHRA Pro Mod series at Las Vegas. The top 17 racers in the standings are on that list, and 13 of them have at least a mathematical chance to secure the championship. Adding some serious spice to the event, two racers, Justin Bond and Jordan Lazic, are from my home province of British Columbia. They sit just 12 and 24 points behind the leader, Khalid Al Balooshi, and could easily overtake him for the championship. However, there's four more racers within 50 points of the lead, and a total of 11 sitting less than 100 points behind Balooshi. It's going to be one very intense event for those racers, and reaction times are likely to decide many of the results.
In Top Alcohol Dragster, there's a very tight battle raging among seven of the top eight racers in the category. They are all within striking distance of the current points leader, Hunter Green, who has used up all his available points earning events, and can only act as a "blocker" to the other contenders. Closest of them are Jackie Fricke and Shawn Cowie, just 11 and 12 points respectively behind Green. While Mike Coughlin (#4) is out of contention as he's out of events like Green, there are four other racers within 75 points of the lead. Defending world champion Julie Nataas is only 39 points behind, while Matt Cummings is currently 56 back, but he could trim that margin to 35 points if he can win the weather-delayed final round of last week's Phoenix Western Regional event.
The Eastern Regional this weekend at Maple Grove made no changes to the Top Ten standings in either Top Alcohol Dragster or Funny Car and last week's Western Regional saw only Cummings improve his points totals in the Dragster category. On the Funny Car side, Maddi Gordon and Brian Hough will meet in the Phoenix semifinal round during qualifying at Las Vegas, and Hough has the most to gain as he could pass Bob McCosh and move into second place in the standings. On the flip side, if Gordon can prevail over Hough and take out Don Hudson in the Phoenix final, she could solidify her hold on the #2 spot in the standings.
One final note for today is the number of entrants in the TAD category at Las Vegas. There's 25 cars entered, the largest field since the 2018 U.S. Nationals. It's going to be an absolute war in every round of eliminations, and qualifying is going to be a major battle just to be in the elite 16 that go into eliminations. The bump spot at Vegas for the fall race has been 5.337 for the past two years, and the all-time quickest bump in the category was set just two weeks ago at Dallas, at 5.315. Could we see an all 5.20's or better field this coming week? Stay tuned for that and don't forget, our photographer, Bob Snyder, is already packed and warming up the van for his trip to The Strip.