The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series tour returned to the fan-friendly Virginia Motorsports Park over the weekend for the first time in three years. Despite a slew of thunder storms passing through the area, drivers and teams were pleased by the tour’s return Virginia Motorsports Park’s smooth surface for the seventh race of the 2022 season.
With sunshine blasting through partly cloudy skies, crew chiefs were often perplexed by the changing track conditions and teams constantly had to adjust for differences in track temps as the weekend progressed. Friday’s top qualifiers in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycles lost their favored positions during Saturday’s rain-delayed qualifying rounds before reclaiming their Number One qualifying spots.
Regardless of Saturday’s not-so-friendly weather forecasts, everybody was anxious to lay rubber down on the rain-washed track surface at Virginia Motorsports Park. Although a long day for racers and fans, five of the six track records would fall before the day’s end. Brittany Force broke both ends of the Top Fuel track record with a 3.710 elapsed time in her Flav-R-Pac dragster. Her 335.82 mph speed was the eighth fastest in class history and the ninth time she posted a top 10 speed to the NHRA record book. After race officials had to delay the final runs of the day due to setting West sun, Virginia-native Matt Hagan thrilled local fans and his boss at Tony Stewart Racing with a 3.853 ET to regain the Number One qualifying spot that he had lost earlier in the day to Ron Capps.
Force Claims Her Third Top Fuel Wally in Four Events
John Force Racing crew chief David Grubnic had the added challenge of finding a race-day tune for the record setting Flav-R-Pac Top Fuel dragster. As the weather continued to cooperate on Sunday, Brittany Force proved that her two victories in last three nationals was no fluke. After blowing the tires during her Round One bye, Force rebounded with wins over Shawn Langdon and Mike Salinas to meet up with defending Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence.
Steve Torrence finished qualifying as the number three seed and eliminated Scotty Palmer, Tony Schumacher, and Austin Prock enroute to the Final Round showdown with Force. For everyone in the pits of the Capco Contractors Dragster, the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series had not gone as expected, but Steve Torrence left the tree right with Force. Nonetheless, Brittany posted a 3.770 ET at 334.07 mph to Torrence’s 3.781 ET at 326.24 mph and claimed the Wally.
Three-Time Champs Hight and Hagan Square Off
Robert Hight struggled his way through Funny Car qualifying with a 4.01-second elapsed time and seeded in tenth for the elimination rounds. On Sunday, the Jimmy Prock prepared Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS came alive and Hight posted three consecutive runs in the low 3.9s. Hight eliminated Tim Wilkerson, Ron Capps, and Bob Tasca III to face-off in his 88th career final.
Making his 300th career start, Number One qualifier Matt Hagan powered his Smithfield Dodge SRT to three consecutive mid-3.9s and reached his 76th career final when John Force redlighted in the semifinal run. It doesn’t get any better than a final featuring a pair of three-time world champions. Hight’s first win at Virginia Motorsports Park helped secure a Nitro Sweep for John Force Racing.
Matt Smith Stops Steve Johnson’s Winning Streak
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, fans were eager to see a final round matchup against defending NHRA world champion Matt Smith and the red-hot Steve Johnson who was going for three in a row. To reach the final at Virginia Motorsports Park, Smith defeated Chris Bostick, Jimmy Underdahl, and Eddie Krawiec. Johnson posted wins over Ryan Oehler, Karen Stoffer and Marc Ingwersen.
As he staged his Denso Auto Parts/Stockseth Matt Smith Racing Suzuki, the defending class champion was seeking his first Wally for the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and his first career win on a Suzuki. The victory at the Virginia Nationals was Smith’s 33rd, tying him with the late three-time world champion John Myers for fifth all-time in Pro Stock Motorcycle class victories
Up Coming:
NHRA New England Nationals
Next up for NHRA teams is the New England Nationals on June 3-5 at New England Dragway from Epping, NH.
