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QUALIFYING ROUNDS RECAPS

PRO STOCK Q1 (3:55 p.m.): Recent Atlanta champion and current points leader Vincent Nobile continued his recent hot streak with the quickest run of the first qualifying round in Topeka. Nobile, the only driver in Pro Stock with two wins this season, drove his Mountain View Racing Camaro to a 6.643, 207.75 to lead the 16-car field and earn three qualifying bonus points. Nobile edged Deric Kramer, who wheeled his KB Racing-powered American Ethanol Camaro to a 6.652, 207.88, and Jeg Coughlin Jr., who finished the session as the third-quickest driver with a 6.658,206.73. Elite team owner Richard Freeman, in his first Pro Stock event since 2015, posted a solid 6.714, 205.98. Also noteworthy, Mark Hogan made the first run for a hybrid combination at an 91���� Pro Stock event when he drove his Hemi-powered Pontiac GXP to a coasting 7.033, 172.17.

FUNNY CAR Q1 (4:09 p.m.): Courtney Force, who has not qualified lower than fourth at any event this year and has been No. 1 at four of the first seven events, is on pace for another solid qualifying performance after driving her Advance Auto Parts Chevy to a 4.020, 307.51 during Q1. Force, the winner of the most recent event in Atlanta, and the current points leader, edged Cruz Pedregon, who continued his recent string of solid qualifying runs (he's earned bonus points in five straight sessions) with a 4.025, 307.09 from his Snap-on Toyota. Tim Wikerson, who won his first national event in Topeka more than two decades ago in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class, was third quickest following a 4.048, 311.56. Jonnie Lindberg (4.060), Jack Beckman (4.086), and Bob Tasca III (4.091) were also solidly in the 4.0s in the first nitro session of the weekend.

TOP FUEL Q1 (5:10 p.m.) Billy Torrence, father of class points leader Steve, continues to shine in his limited appearances, grabbing the No. 1 spot after the first session with a blower-backfiring 3.845; he’s qualified no lower than sixth in his three previous outings this season. Torrence’s run prevented Tony Schumacher, who is second in points behind Steve-o, from grabbing the three bonus points with his 3.888, the second-best run of the session. Antron Brown, the defending event champ, is in the third spot with a 3.897. Steve Torrence was fourth with a 3.917 as teams fought a warm racetrack.

PRO STOCK Q2 (6:58 p.m.): Nearly every driver in the Pro Stock field improved their elapsed time in the second qualifying session of the day but no one ran quicker than Erica Enders. The winner of the recent Charlotte four-wide event wheeled her Melling/Elite Camaro to a 6.625, 207.59 to take the provisional pole in the 16-car field. Enders took over the top spot from teammate Vincent Nobile, who finished the day as the second-quickest driver with a 6.629, 208.01 in his Mountain View Camaro. Nobile lost some time when his car made a hard move towards the retaining wall at the start and he had to correct. That likely cost him a shot at the top spot. Defending Topeka champ Tanner Gray was third-best with a 6.640, 207.30. Greg Anderson was just a thousandth of a second slower than Gray with a 6.641, 206.42 from his Summit Camaro. The top eight cars in the quick Pro Stock field at separated by just .028-second.

FUNNY CAR Q2 (7:14 p.m.): As the final driver to make a qualifying attempt in the second session, Courtney Force saved her best for last with a 3.911, 321.73 to reaffirm her spot at the top of the qualifying charts after day one in Topeka. Force, the current points leader and a two-time winner this season, enjoys a five-hundredths cushion over the rest of the field including provisional No. 2 qualifier Jonnie Lindberg, who drove Jim Head’s Mustang to a 3.962, 316.23. Cruz Pedregon earned a bonus point for the sixth-consecutive run with a 3.983, 314. 68 from his Snap-on Toyota. The final three-second qualifier in the field is J.R. Todd, who opened the session with a 3.996, 320.89. There are 18 cars attempting to qualify for the 16-car field and the current bump spot is being held by Todd Simpson at 4.617. Jim Campbell and Shane Westerfield are currently not qualified.

TOP FUEL Q2 (8:15 p.m.): Just minutes after Doug Kalitta ran 3.798 to grab the No. 1 spot late in the session, Steve Torrence and father Billy came to the starting line as the final pair and both raced past Kalitta with respective passes of 3.770 and 3.796 to grab the two spots halfway through qualifying. Kalitta’s run stayed third in a session where seven drivers ran quicker than Billy Torrence’s first-session-leading 3.845. National record holder Clay Millican is the surprising bubble sitter after posting just a best of 4.47 on his two passes Friday. Audrey Worm has the lone car outside the field.

Pro Stock low qualifier Erica Enders: “Jeg [Coughlin, teammate] and I definitely have good race cars. We debuted them in Houston and I was able to go to the final there and get a runner-up and then win the next race in Charlotte. The more time we have with these cars the better we’re going to be with them. I’m just thrilled to have a car that’s competitive that we’re able to drive to the winner’s circle.

"Confidence is huge. We have radios in our car and I feed off of my crew chiefs. I can hear the confidence in their voices and that in turn gives me confidence. I worry about less. We were at a point [last year] where every time I let the clutch out I didn’t know what was going to happen if we were going to shake or go over the guardwall or I was going to run over the Christmas Tree. We didn’t know what was going to happen; we had struggled for so long. I had confidence that it was going to get to where it was in 2014 and 2015 and we’re getting back there. Heartland Park holds special memories because it was the site of my first number one qualifier back in 2006. That was a fond memory and then in 2015 we were able to win here.” ��

Funny Car low qualifier Courtney Force: “After we saw [Jonnie] Lindberg run that [3.962]; that’s when you step it up and push it a little harder. Obviously, we had a decent run in Q1 and it tried to spin down track that’s our speed went down to 307. I said in the top end interview that I knew we had a little bit more. Especially when you have [Brian] Corradi and [Dan] Hood tuning your car. We were able to lay down a 3.91 and get our top spot back for Advance Auto Parts.�� It’s amazing when we went into the three in a row we said that we wanted to come out on top and hopefully start moving up in the points and we’ve done that. It’s huge, it’s not by much but its pretty important. We picked up three bonus points in Q1 and three more on that run. It’s definitely a big deal to be running like this. Obviously, there is tomorrow so who knows if it will stick.

“It’s a good start for our weekend here in Kansas and hopefully we can make some more. When I come up here I think about my sister, Brittany. Hopefully she can be in that top spot with me and we can seal the deal like we were trying to do at this track a few years back and we can both end up in the winner’s circle. A lot of great memories here at [Heartland Motorsports Park].”

Top Fuel low qualifier Steve Torrence: “The main thing is that we went out there and both [Capco] cars were at the back of the pack running each other. It was a perfect photo op for all the guys at Capco. To go up there and run low E.T. and second low E.T.; you couldn’t put a better end on the day. The conditions came around to us. It was a little bit sketchy for some of the guys but [crew chiefs] Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana and all those guys over on my dad’s car seemed to figure it out and did really well. I don’t know what the conditions will be tomorrow. We just need to build off that.

I heard Tony [Schumacher] say earlier in the day that he’d really like to have conditions that are more similar to Sunday but at the end of the day, we qualify on Friday and Saturday and we race on Sunday and we deal with what we’re given. I’m sure dad would have liked to be No. 1 and I wanted to be No. 1. I told the guys whatever happened I have to take off first. I can’t let my dad leave on me. The crap talk is going to be on. That’s the only thing that we really have control over is weather or not I left the starting line first. I did my job and was able to do that so I talked a little trash to him at the far end.”

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Friday recap:��Torrence, C. Force, and Enders lead opening day of Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals

PRE-RACE FEATURES

Although he and his Army team have not reached the winner’s circle since the 2017 Gatornationals, Tony Schumacher did extend his class-record qualifying streak to 350 straight events at the Southern Nationals in Atlanta two week ago. He hasn’t missed a show in nearly 15 years, dating back to the 2003 Englishtown event, and began his current streak at this event the same year. He has qualified at 452 of his last 453 races with only eight DNQs in his near 20-year career.

“That’s a big number,” said Schumacher. “You think about an awful lot of moments that were absolute pressure cooker situations where we weren’t in ]the show going into] the last run. There are a lot of races in those 350 where we went up for Q4 and we weren’t qualified, including Indy a few years back. We’re good at big pressure moments. We’re good at just getting it done. And when most people would choke under the pressure, we get it done in those situations. Those are the most fun.

“That Englishtown DNQ was a huge part of my career. In reality, Englishtown is the reason [former Army crew chief] Alan Johnson came to DSR. Englishtown is the reason we set all those records and won championship after championship. That DNQ is a blessing in every way.”��

Schumacher’s streak is the longest in class history –- Doug Kalitta’s current streak of 173 races, which began at the 2010 Winternationals, is second among active Top Fuel drivers -- and currently ranks second among all active drivers, just four behind Pro Stock frontrunner Greg Anderson. The longest qualifying streak in NHRA history belongs to Funny Car’s John Force with 395 events, which lasted from the 1988 World Finals until he missed the field at the 2007 Gatornationals.

Antron Brown has had good success recently in Topeka over the years with four No. 1 qualifying spots (2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015), followed by a runner-up in 2016 and then, last season, his first victory at the track.

The track’s history, which dates back to 1989, is not lost on Brown or other drivers as teams enter the track on Gary Ormsby Blvd., named for the late Top Fuel world champ who meant a lot to Brown.

“Gary Ormsby, one of my heroes and mentors, you see his name on the property when you pull in," said Brown. "That’s one of the things that really stands out to me when we go here. He was very innovative. He didn’t just bring out a dragster with an enclosed canopy, like we now use at DSR, but he brought a fully streamlined car that covered the engine and everything that made it so aerodynamic.��

“I got to see him at races when I was a little kid. I never met him or knew him other than as a fan getting his autograph. He was just a cool, soft-spoken, laid-back guy, yet he still was a serious racer. He was well-respected and a genuinely nice guy and he was a hard-core racer. That’s something I’ve always tried to be – I’m very approachable, very nice, but you don’t want to line up against me on the starting line. So, the game plan is to go there and try to do the best that we can do and try to bring home another win.”

Top Fuel rookie Audrey Worm has been bannering her support for those diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, including her father, John, and welcoming them and their families to sign her Outrun PD dragster while raising awareness and accepting donations that go to the Michael J. Fox foundation to help find a cure for the debilitating neurological disease.��

She took those efforts a step further this weekend, bringing the Leverich Racing��dragster to Rock Steady Boxing in Overland Park, Kan., which runs a program designed specifically to combat the symptoms of PD. Not only was the car on display and available for more signatures, but Worm also trained alongside some of Rock Steady boxers during classes and she and her father spoke about the mental toughness and brute determination it takes to live a fulfilling life with Parkinson’s disease

“We had a great day,” she said. “I got to meet a lot of the amazing Parkinson's boxers that work out at this gym to fight back against their PD. I worked out with them in their class for an hour. They kicked my butt! We had all of them add to the signatures on the side of our dragster It was a great experience. We had some laughs, tears, and a really great time! Some of them are even coming to the event this weekend.”

The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation estimates there are more than 1 million people in the United States diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and more than 60,000 people are diagnosed each year. For more information, visit .

From the I-can’t-believe-it files: Top Fuel racer Mike Salinas woke up a few days ago to find that his Ford Explorer tow vehicle had been stolen from the hotel parking lot. The black SUV, emblazoned with team decals, appeared to have vanished into thin air as police searched for it for two days with no success.

“I figured it was long gone, or being cut up somewhere,” said Salinas, who already had begun looking into purchasing a new vehicle when he got an unusual call. The SUV, still easily identifiable by its blacked-out trim, carbon-fiber-like hood, and rear California license plate, had been spotted, but not by local authorities.

“Turns out that Alan Johnson's guys [who is Salinas’ tuning consultant] were out to dinner and they saw it sitting in the parking lot not 15 miles from where it was stolen,” he related. “They approached the guy behind the wheel but he took off. They followed him until he stopped the car, then called the police. The police staked out the car and waited for the guy to come back, and then arrested him and I got my car back.”

Other than having its identifying decals removed, the SUV was otherwise undamaged.��
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From ninth place following a round one loss in Pomona, to the points lead after her win in Atlanta two weeks ago, Courtney Force and her Advance Auto Parts team have made a steady climb in the Funny Car standings this season. Force, who has also qualified No. 1 in three of the last four events, last led the Mello Yello points standings in 2016 and he doesn’t plan on surrendering the lead without a fight.

“It is still early in the season, but we have the points lead right now and we moved up from second,” said Force. “We want to consistently hold on to that top spot for a while. I am sure it will bounce around because there are so many good teams out here. It feels good because we have a great race car, a great team and we are looking to the end of the season. We are hoping we have the car and the team to get it done and end up with that championship at the end of the season.”
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Force’s ten-career Funny Car wins include the 2014 Topeka race, where she defeated two-time world champ Cruz Pedregon in the final round to claim the 100th professional win for a woman driver in NHRA. That weekend, she shared the winner’s circle with older sister, Brittany, who also won in Top Fuel. This weekend will mark Force’s 150th career start in Funny Car.

“I have had a lot of success with this Advance Auto Parts team and my Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car,” said Force. Working with [crew chiefs] Dan Hood and Brian Corradi has been great this season and we have a consistent race car that is winning rounds. I have a lot of great memories from this track. We won the 100th race by a professional female and Brittany and I have been No. 1 qualifier together.”

It’s a little-known fact that Tim Wilkerson’s first NHRA national event victory came at Heartland Motorsports Park when he won the Top Alcohol Funny Car title in 1994. Since then, Wilkerson has competed in 476 races in the nitro Funny Car category and put together a solid career with 20 wins in 39 final rounds including a pair of runner-up finishes in Topeka.

“I don't get wound-up about history, but I'm excited about winning as many races as I have as a single-car team,” said Wilkerson. “That's pretty important to me, and if I ever quit someday, I have all those Wallys [NHRA trophies]. That's pretty cool.

“We're excited to go back to Topeka It seems like we always run well there. Last year was the exception; we had a new clutch and our car really didn't like it. It hated it, actually. But now that clutch is worn in a little bit with 150 runs on it, and it acts normal. We'll see how the track and the weather are, whether the sun is shining on it or not, but we're excited. We'll have a pretty big contingent there in our hospitality area with our friends from Levi, Ray and Shoup, Curry Transportation Services, and AXE Equipment. It should be a lot of fun.”

In just three races, Richard Townsend is doing a good job of destroying the long-held believe that there is no place for the little guy in today’s nitro classes. Townsend, a regular on the nostalgia scene, joined the NHRA big show this year. Townsend ran 4.0s in pre-season testing with his Nitroholic Dodge, which is tuned by veteran Lance Larson. Since then, he’s qualified for his appearances in Pomona, Phoenix, and Houston, and earned his first round win in Phoenix when Jack Beckman broke on the burnout.

“For a new team, I think we’re doing just fine,” said Townsend. “I’ve only made a couple of full-pulls but I’m getting more and more comfortable in this car. We had people tell us that we were nuts for trying to race in the big show but this is where I wanted to be and so far; knock on wood. The cost hasn’t been as much as we thought. We’ve been fortunate not to hurt a lot of parts. Lance has been very careful with our tune-up.”

Without a big budget or a trailer full of spare parts, Townsend has naturally taken a conservative approach; trying to make consistent 4.0-second runs rather than swinging for the fences and trying to run 3.8s alongside the class’ leaders. Townsend has also been welcomed by his nitro racing peers. Following the NHRA Springnationals in Houston, he brought his rig to Brownsburg and spent time with Richie Crampton and the crew at the Lucas Fab Shop. He also accompanied Crampton to the Wild Wednesday event at Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis. ��

“I’ll take a bunch of consistent 4.0s right now, especially with the way the tracks are being prepped right now. The key is consistency; that’s all we’re trying to do. We can go 4.0s now and by accident we might slip into the 3.9s if conditions are there. The key is to make the other guy beat you and not beat yourself. We had a great time in Indy. The Lucas crew helped us go through the car and make sure everything was good for this race. It was really enjoyable. It’s very rewarding to hear what some of the other teams have said about us. One of them said that it looked like we’ve been doing this for ten years. I was really pleased to hear that.”

A lot of jaws dropped earlier in the week when Kalitta Motorsports announced that it had released crew chief Tommy DeLago from tuning its Shawn Langdon-driven Global Electronic Technology Funny Car. DeLago’s co-crew chief, Nick Boninfante, was retained and will tune the car this weekend with the assistance from Connie Kalitta and the team’s DHL Toyota tuners. Jon Oberhofer and Todd Smith.

The team had started the year strong with rookie flopper driver Langdon, reaching the semifinals back-to-back on Phoenix and Gainesville before hitting a streak of gremlins and bad luck mixed with a few bad calls that resulted in four straight first-round losses.

“It’s the result of a number of things, it’s mostly been a lot of bad luck,” said Boninfante. “We’ve been having some problems with blowers that we’ve been working of for all four [Kalitta] cars, we’ve had our safety system shut the car off on four runs from a bad switch that we had already changed earlier, then we had a throttle cable came apart in the first round in Charlotte. In qualifying in Atlanta we broke a camshaft – which turned out to be one in a bad batch that had not been heat-treated correctly -- and then we just made a bad call on the clutch and lost first round. With all of that and adjusting to the new track prep, it’s just been a struggle.

“It’s hard to see Tommy go because we’re like brothers, but Connie felt like he needed to make a change. I feel bad because I was right there with Tommy for all of it. The good news for Tommy is that he’s so talented I can’t see him staying out for long. Someone will snatch him up.”

Langdon. who continues to acquit himself well in his new ride,��sits in ninth place, ahead of class veterans like Tim Wilkerson and John Force.

What in the world is going on with Jason Line? That seems to be a fair question since the three-time Mello Yello Pro Stock champ has hit a rough patch that now includes five-straight round one losses. Line opened the season with back-to-back finals in Pomona and Phoenix but hasn’t won a round since. In three of his last five losses, Line’s Summit Camaro did not make it to the finish line under power. Line switched cars before the Charlotte event, trading in his blue Camaro for the red car that Rodger Brogdon drove in Houston. This week, Line will be back in his familiar blue colors.

“I'm excited to be back in the blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro this weekend,” Line said. “It will be better, and after testing last week, we're optimistic about this weekend. Anything can happen in Topeka, you just never know. I raced there in the Stocker a lot back in my Sportsman days, so this is a track I enjoy going to.”

Line won the Topeka event in 2016, and now has 49-career wins including 47 in Pro Stock and two in Stock Eliminator. He’s also sitting on 99-career final rounds including his professional and sportsman appearances.

“Of course it would be nice and tidy to get a 100th final round and a 50th win on the same day,” Line said. “That obviously means you’ve won half of the final rounds you’ve been in and given how tough this class is; that’s not too bad.”

The latest NHRA sportsman driver to make the leap from the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series to the Mello Yello pro show is Division 5 Comp champion Will Hatcher, who will make his debut in the Pro Stock class this weekend. Hatcher, a native Kansan, will be wheeling the American Ethanol Dodge Dart that was raced by Deric Kramer last season.

Hatcher began racing since the age of 10 in the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League and he’s gradually progressed to Comp Eliminator, where he races a six-second, 200-mph dragster. Last year, he held off two-time national champ and Fox Sports television commentator Bruno Massel Jr. to win the Division 5 Comp title by just 21-points Hatcher also finished No. 6 in the national standings.

“I’ve dreamed of driving a Pro Stock car as far back as I can remember,” said Hatcher, who has held a Pro Stock license since 2012. “It feels a little surreal. I supposed I should be more nervous than I am but I’m just excited. I’ve waited a long time for this. There are so many people supporting me and making this opportunity possible. I’m beyond grateful and blessed by God. Hopefully we can make them proud and have a lot of fun out there. It’s especially cool that I’ll get to work on the car side-by-side with my dad. Racing has always been a family sport for us.”

Hatcher admits that he has modest expectations for his debut, especially since he’s got limited experience behind the wheel of a full-bodied race car. From his days as a Jr. Drag Racer, he’s almost always driven open-cockpit race cars.

“I know they’re not the same but my Comp dragster runs faster than a Pro Stock car and I shift it by hand,” said Hatcher. “I also got my license in a Top Sportsman car and that had to be shifted by hand. I know that I’ve got a lot to learn about driving a Pro Stock car but I’m anxious to get started. I just want to get my first run in the books and go from there.”

With just 16 cars on the grounds at Heartland Motorsports Park, Hatcher is also guaranteed to have a starting spot in Sunday’s field, which he admits helps reduce the pressure of making a representative qualifying run.

“I know that I’ve got a good car under me so we might just surprise some people,” Hatcher said. “For me, I’m more concerned about taking this one step at a time and learning as much as I can.”

For the first time since 2015, Elite Motorsports team owner Richard Freeman will put on a firesuit and helmet and compete in an 91���� Pro Stock race. Although he has a fleet of race cars at his disposal, Freeman will be driving a new Camaro that is owned by V. Gaines. The car was built by Gaines’ own chassis shop, Lazarus Race Cars, and it is powered by an Elite Performance 500-cid engine.

“This whole deal came together in the last week or so, which is an eternity compared to some of our other projects around here,” Freeman joked. “V. tested this car earlier this year and I made a couple of runs last week so we’re about as ready as we’re going to be. I haven’t driven in three years and I was sort of half-ass back then so I’ve got modest expectations. If you can’t do this on a full-time basis it’s going to be tough but we know that going in. I’m not one of those guys who has to drive; I’m perfectly happy in my role [as a team owner] but every now and then I like to get out there.”

In anticipation of his return to driving, Freeman has concentrated on his fitness for the last few months and is more than 30 pounds lighter than he was at the start of the season. Freeman also noted that the Elite team currently has 14 competitive engines at their disposal and that the difference between the best and the worst of them is not more than a few horsepower.

“I definitely have competitive power,” said Freeman. “This engine is just as good as the one in Erica’s car or Jeg’s car or any one of our other lease customers. The difference is probably going to be me. Even if I make a good run, I’ll probably be two or three hundredths behind the leader.”

In recent months, Freeman’s has spearheaded the effort to help promote the Pro Stock class. The Elite team currently runs as many as five cars at each event including lease customers Alex Laughlin and Matt Hartford, the winner of the recent Houston event. Freeman spends time each week reaching out to his fellow competitors to make sure each event has a full field. He’s also working on improving the brand diversity of the class by building a Ford Mustang that will be Chevy-powered.

“I love Pro Stock and quite honestly, I don’t think there is a lot wrong with it right now,” Freeman said. “We’ve got a very competitive class with close racing and a lot of different winners. With the new rules this year [allowing any approved engine in any approved body] we’ve had a lot of interest from guys who used to race Pro Stock and some new people who want to come in. Personally, I think we’ve got a bright future. From a cost and a competitive standpoint, there has never been a better time to race Pro Stock.”

PHOTOS

Reigning and two-time Mello Yello Funny Car champ Robert Hight showed off his new Simpson helmet, with a colorful paint scheme that was applied by Paul Stoll of PPG. ��

Recent Houston winner and National Dragster cover subject Matt Hartford spent some time at the NHRA Hospitality Center meeting fans and answering questions for the crowd at Heartland Motorsports. Hartford is the 66th different driver to win an 91���� Pro Stock race since the class was formed in 1970.

Two weeks after her most recent win in Atlanta, Leah Pritchett arrived in Topeka sporting a new look with the colors of the U.S. Army and Schumacher Electric on her Todd Okuhara-tuned dragster.��

After winning three of the first seven events of the year, there isn’t a team in drag racing that has as much confidence as Steve Torrence’s Capco crew, which is led by tuner Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana.

Longtime Pro Stock racer Mark Hogan arrived in Topeka with a Hemi engine between the frame rails of his Pontiac GXP making him the first racer to take advantage of a 2018 rules revision that allows the use of any NHRA approved engine in any approved body in the Pro Stock class.

For the first time since the 2015 season, Elite Motorsports team owner Richard Freeman has gotten behind the wheel of a Pro Stock car. The former Comp racer is wheeling a new Camaro that was built by Lazrus Race Cars and is owned by V. Gaines.