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FUNNY CAR Q1

By firing the car for his first qualifying attempt, Austin Prock earned 15 points and clinched the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Funny Car championship, the first of his young career in his first year in the class. The only thing that could prevent the coronation is the highly unlikely scenario of a complete event DQ for an egregious rules violation which, let’s face it, is not gonna happen.

Prock did it in style with a 3.842 that earned his AAA Chevy team the No. 2 spot only behind his teammate, Jack Beckman, who ran 3.828 after being basically eliminated from the championship battle although prock did "beat" him to the stripe on a holeshot, as he was quick to point out.

Blake Alexander grabbed the No. 3 spot with a 3.870 at a career-best 336.40 mph, beating his best speed by more than three mph and a run that owner/tuner Jim Head says he's been working toward “for a long time.”

Paul Lee, who dazzled in Las Vegas with a string of 3.8-second passes added another with an opening 3.875 lap at 328.46, a pass matched by Cruz Pedregon but at just 324.59 mph, giving Lee the higher spot. It’s Pedregon’s best run of the year and immediately invoked memories of his all-3.8-second flurry to win this race two years ago. There are fourth and fifth after one session.

Ten cars qualified in the threes including 10th-ranked Steven Densham, who got the three-second pass that eluded him in Las Vegas by .002-second two weeks ago, but his opening 3.98 was punctuated by a blown supercharger burst panel, a little body damage, and a little oil.��

Terry Haddock had a three-second run underway before he dropped some cylinders and slowed to a 4.04.

TOP FUEL Q1

Rain interrupted the opening Top Fuel session with four pairs still to go but the rain would not relent and the day was called.

Shawn Reed currently leads the field with a 3.712 with BillyTorrence second at 3.724.

NHRA rookie Ida Zetterström uncorked a career-best 3.738 (previous best 3.745 in Reading) that led the field for a while but is currently third.

Gary Pritchett, who’s driven everything from Nostalgia Funny Car to Super Street to event winner in Top Alcohol Dragster this year, made his first Top Fuel pass -– a “lifelong dream” -- in Travis Shumake’s dragster which ran a strong 3.72 pass in Las Vegas and blasted to a 3.75 here. At 6-foot-4, Pritchett can’t slide into just anyone’s Top Fuel ride, but luckily, he’s the same size as Shumake. Pritchett who previously worked on the multi-time championship team of Steve Torrence, will be pulling double duty this weekend as he also will do the clutch on his own car.

Doug Kalitta, Steve Torrence, Justin Ashley, Antron Brown, Brittany Force, Tony Schumacher, Clay Millican and Shawn Langdon all did no get a chance to run.
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