91°µÍø

For most racers, the thrill of victory never gets old, but by the same token, a first win is almost always the most memorable. Five of the 10 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series champions crowned at the AAA Texas 91°µÍø FallNationals got to experience that unique thrill as they scored their first national event Wallys. The other five champions crowned at Texas Motorplex were relatively new to the winner’s circle, having combined for just nine previous national event titles.

Leading the pack of new winners was Top Alcohol Dragster champ Bradley Thompson, who drove Tom Conway’s injected nitro dragster to a final-round win over Shawn Cowie, who fouled. Thirty Top Alcohol Dragsters were competing for 16 spots, so just making the field was half the battle, especially after rain reduced qualifying to two sessions. Though qualifying was shortened, the end result was a record 5.352 bump spot, and Thompson was in the thick of the battle with a 14th-best 5.326. Thompson stayed in the 5.3-second range in the first three rounds, first topping Bill Litton. He then defeated Chris Demke and Joey Severance, who have combined to win the last three TAD season titles. []

Sean Bellemeur successfully defended his 2015 Dallas win in Top Alcohol Funny Car when he drove Tony Bartone’s Steve Boggs-tuned entry to a 5.527 in the final to beat John Lombardo Jr., who shook the tires and shut off. Bellemeur opened eliminations with a win over Kris Hool, then delivered a pair of impressive runs with back-to-back 5.49s in his victories against Doug Gordon and Shane Westerfield, who had earlier won the rain-delayed Seattle final. []

Comp winner Keith Hall has been racing for nearly a half-century, and his patience and perseverance were finally rewarded with a victory. Hall, in his D/SM Cobalt, reached the final of the 2014 Dallas event but was turned back by Clark Smiley’s swift supercharged BB/A Pontiac. This time, Hall defeated Smiley in the semifinals and returned to win the final round after Dick Maris, another longtime Comp racer, red-lighted. Hall, who has already won three Lucas Oil Series events this season, has also moved into the top 10 in the battle for the national championship. []

Thirty-four years after his first national event win at the 1982 Baton Rouge, La., race, James Caro returned to win his fourth title when he drove his Drag Pak Challenger to the Super Stock title over Norvell Bowers. Caro left first by .014-second and sealed the deal by running right on his 9.84 dial with a 9.847. Caro’s path to the final featured wins against young gun Aaron Stanfield and veteran Elisha Boyd, who won his first national event in 1977. []

Stock winner Rusty Hall fulfilled a longtime goal by finally winning a national event in his home state of Texas. Hall, whose three previous victories include an Indy title in 2002, won a classic Ford vs. Chevy muscle car battle when he drove his ’67 Shelby GT500 Mustang to a win over Bobby Brannon’s big-block ’69 Camaro. Hall won with a 10.218 on his 10.20 dial after Brannon broke out. Interestingly, Hall was driving the same car that longtime family friend Charlie Ford drove to the Dallas Stock title in 1987. []

Jeremy Demers, son of current Top Dragster points leader Larry Demers, chalked up the win in Super Comp following a great final-round performance that included a .008 light and an 8.912. Demers left virtually no room for his opponent, four-time national champ Gary Stinnett, to get in on. It was the second win of the season for Demers, who also won the Division 3 Lucas Oil Series event in St. Louis. []

Another first-time winner, Super Gas champ Christopher Best, began eliminations with a round-two win against five-time national champ Edmond Richardson and finished the job with a 9.92 to 9.93 win against Heidi Robison. Best, competing in his first NHRA national event of the season, also defeated two-time Indy champ Troy Coughlin Jr. []

Chase Huffman earned his first national event Wally in Super Street when he defeated Tom Phillips in the final, 10.97 to 11.05. Huffman’s most impressive performance came in round two, where he put together an almost perfect run with a .001 reaction time and a 10.900 to stop John Leibham. []

The field in Top Sportsman presented by Racing RVs included some of the best drivers in the class, including Keith Raftery, Greg Lair, Bob Gulitti, and Jimmy Lewis, yet the last man standing was first-time winner Scooter Hampton. Facing Roger Massey in the final, Hampton won with a .01-over 7.17 after Massey fouled. []

The final of Top Dragster presented by Racing RVs ended on the starting line after chassis builder Danny Nelson fouled by two-thousandths, making Jeff Koron a winner for the second time in his career. Koron used a string of 6.3-second runs to reach the final, including a perfect 6.348 on his 6.34 dial in round one to stop William Kruse’s 6.0-second dragster. []

Previous events:
Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals
NHRA Carolina Nationals
AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals
Dodge NHRA Nationals