The National Hot Rod Association had announced earlier in the season that the Pep Boys All-Star Callout for select Funny Car and Top Fuel drivers would run their semifinal and final rounds of the $80,000-to-the-WINNER specialty event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Over the holiday weekend, drivers took to the Indianapolis track as part of the weeklong Dodge Power Broker NHRA U.S. Nationals. The event where drag racing fans have experienced a sensory overload for the last sixty-eight years. Eight drivers pre-qualified to participate in each of the Nitro divisions based on a combination of points earned in qualifying events.
Ron Capps Wins Allstar Callout in Funny Car
Top-seeded Ron Capps, the defending NHRA Camping World champion in Funny Car, picked longtime rival Tim Wilkerson as his opponent for round one of the Pep Boys Allstar Callout. Moreover, Capps made no bones about his decision for a revenge matchup after Wilkerson had eliminated him in the final round of the 2021 U.S. Nationals to deny the two-time champ his first Big Go Wally.
The hungry first-year team owner clocked a 3.896 ET at 333.58 mph to top the timing sheets and again earn the first callout for the next round. Capps chose to faceoff with the legendary John Force where he posted a very quick ET at 3.86 seconds for the win in his NAPA AutoCare Center Toyota GR Supra.
In the other semifinal, Matt Hagan had advanced his Dodge Power Brokers Charger Hellcat to the final round for Allstar Callout. But, Capps wouldn’t be denied and took home the $80,000 cash prize with a holeshot win that featured a 3.936 ET at 330.47 mph. Another first for this very-fast first-year Funny Car team.
Steve Torrence Wins Allstar Callout in Top Fuel
Historically, the callout features intense competition as the top drivers in the sport of drag racing compete for “Big Bucks”. For the opening round of the semifinals in Top Fuel, Brittany Force had earned the right to make the first callout after posting the lowest ET in the first round of the All-Star Callout, which was run at Gainesville Raceway earlier this year in conjunction with 53rd annual NHRA Gatornationals.
On Friday night, Force picked Mike Salinas as her Final Four opponent. It turned out to be a great decision. Salinas had mechanical issues just after the start and Force easily advanced. Steve Torrence had defeated Leah Pruett back in March to earn the second seed and picked Justin Ashley for his semifinal round matchup at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway.
Torrence eliminated Ashley to advance to the Final, which is a rematch of last year’s Top Fuel final round for the 67th annual Big Go between the Capco Contractor’s driver and the driver of the 11,000-horsepower Monster Energy dragster. Torrence posted a 3.682 ET to Force’s 3.704 elapsed time to take home his $80,000 share of the Allstar Callout purse. The IRP track has been good to Torrence, as it was his second all-star victory having won the 2017 Traxxas Shootout.
