NHRA qualifying report from O’Reilly Raceway Park

Dixon fastest in Top Fuel
Rhonda McCole/AR1.com

As the Countdown to the Championship begins, the records continued to fall at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series 56th Annual Mac Tools US Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis as excellent track conditions led to new track records and new top qualifiers in all four classes and a new national record in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Larry Dixon grabbed the provisional pole in Top Fuel while Matt Hagan bested the Funny Car division. Jeg Coughlin made a big comeback to take the top spot in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines posted the fastest run ever in Pro Stock Motorcycle to vault to the top of the grid.

Hines backed up his qualifying time in Friday’s session with a new track record of 195.17mph and a new national record time of 6.815 in Saturday’s first session.

Hines topped the national record of 6.851 set by Hector Arana last October at Memphis, earning him 20 bonus points in the championship standings.

“That 20 points (for the record) is huge when you only have a 30-point lead to start the Countdown," said Hines. “I didn’t know what to expect. I saw Eddie (Krawiec) run 6.86 and my bike had same tune-up, so I thought it would be good. We ran 4.34 at the eighth-mile and we’ve never seen that before. The air got dry and bikes like that. This afternoon, it had more moisture and we slowed down.

“I have a motorcycle that is capable of going rounds on Monday. I haven’t had one this good in a long time. I’ve also been good on the lights; I’m happy with the way I’m riding. This is my best chance to bring home an Indy Wally."

Eddie Krawiec moved up from fourth to second after posting a low E.T. of 6.867, while defending race winner Arana moved up to the third position with a 6.900. L.E. Tonglet dropped from second to fourth with a 6.907 and Matt Smith dropped from third to fifth with a 6.938.

Countdown contenders Craig Treble and David Hope are still on the outside looking in, with Hope finishing out Saturday’s session dead last in 21st position. Both will get two more chances on Sunday to race their way in.

After faltering in the first round of Top Fuel qualifying on Friday, Larry Dixon secured the top spot with a record-breaking 3.776 to top Cory McClenathan, who himself beat the track record in the first round. McClenathan was just a few thousandths faster on Saturday with a 3.784 to take second.

Eight-time Indy winner Tony Schumacher beat the track top speed record with a run of 3.790 at 324.83 mph to move up to the third qualifying spot, followed by Brandon Bernstein (3.802) and Antron Brown (3.808).

Jeg Coughlin roared back from a disappointing showing in Friday’s Pro Stock session with a record-breaking run in Saturday’s third round, posting a 6.580 to jump from eighth to the top of the grid. Mike Edwards moved back to the second spot after briefly falling to fifth, posting a 6.585. Ron Krisher was third with a 6.586 ahead of Allen Johnson, who put up a 6.587 along with a new track top speed record of 209.75 mph. Jason Line rounded out the top five with a 6.587.

Rodger Brogdon remains the only Countdown driver not yet qualified in 18th place, looking for a strong showing on Sunday to get into the field.

Matt Hagan moved from fifth to the head of the Funny Car class with a track-record low ET of 4.039 over Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps, who was just one hundredths of a second slower at 4.049. Friday’s top qualifier Robert Hight dropped to third with a 4.055 while Cruz Pedregon moved into the top five posting a 4.057.

“Wow, what a run," said Hagan. “You know, Tommy DeLago (crew chief), he really knows how to tune these race cars up. He said, ‘If it makes it past 60 foot, it’s going to haul the mail.’ To look at the numbers and what Tommy DeLago thinks, he thinks it may have been on a 4-flat lap.

“It would have been hard to back it up tomorrow. I think the best times are already over here. It’s going to be a little warmer tomorrow. We just had a good front come in. Hopefully, we can get in a situation where we can run that well and back something up. It was just a great run. It’s a great race car, and the guys are just doing a phenomenal job."

14-time Funny Car champion John Force dropped to fifth with a 4.058 and a record-setting top speed of 312.86 mph.

Tony Pedregon and Del Worsham both finished outside the top-12 and will need to try and get into the show in Sunday’s qualifying sessions.