NHRA U.S. Nationals!

[Mad Scientist]

ESPN2 will be broadcasting qualifying from Indianapolis Raceway Park from 11:30-2:00 EST and again from 5:00-7:00 EST.

NHRA Raceday is from 11:00 if you wanna' check that out. (I never have)

The race is normally run on Monday and ESPN2 will televise the whole race from 1:00-6:00 pm EST.

I have to work tomorrow so I'll miss it!

 

[Big Black Dog]

I will try my best to watch!!!!! Love that drag racing.

 

[trams]

It is shown again on ESPN classic at1 am tues. morning. Loves me some drag racing

 

[Big Black Dog]

I watched the whole show from noon until 5:00 pm. Had some mixed feelings about the results. Picked a couple of winners and had a couple of upsets. The funny car semi-final really smelled. Although you can't actually prove it, I am quite certain that John Force threw his race with team mate RobertHight so Hight would beat out Cruz Pedregon for that last number 10 spot in the race for first. I knew he was going to do that when I saw the match up for the semi-finals races. Just as I suspected, John Force threw the race and now he and the other three members of his team are in that race for 1st. Ashley Force and Robert Hight were the funny cars in the finals and I just knew that Hight was going to throw that race so Ashley Force would win it. It wasn't as obvious as John Force when he threw his race but I'm sure they discussed it before they went out to do the race. You know that Hight wasn't going to beat the boss's daughter. This puts her in the list of only a few women who have won titles at the US Nationals. Cory McClenathan (Cory Mac) had a spectacular fire in his dragster. He wasn't hurt at all but it certainly was a very bright blaze. In the process of blowing up his engine, he lost the front oil seal and oil was pumping out onto the back of the dragster seat and curling around it to reach him as he sat in the seat. He got it stopped pretty quickly and did a good job of bailing out of the burning dragster. I liked both of the drivers in the top fuel finals so I wasn't disappointed when Larry Dixon lost to Tony Schoumacker (sp?}. By winning the race he tied Don Garlits (my favorite all time drag racer) record of winning the US Nationals eight times. Garlits was at the race and he's starting to look pretty old but seems to still be getting around ok. All in all, it was an ok National. I hate it that Ed Krawic lost in the bike races. My favorite Pro Stock racer, Jeg won and I was glad. He sure did have a lucky day though! He should have probably lost in either the first or second round but won those two races only by the seat of his pants and luck.

So, did anybody else watch the race and feel that John Force threw his race with team mate Height?

 

[Mad Scientist]

Hey BBD, thanks for the recap!

Yeah, I'm sure the Force team worked it out ahead of time, it wouldn't surprise me at all. Doesn't really bother me either. F-1 and NASCAR team mates block for each other all the time.

Reminds me of the time Dick LaHaie won the Top Fuel title in 1987. All he had to do was win in the semis to clinch. In the second round(?) He was up against his team mate and Dick smoked the tires right off the line. His teammate who hadn't gone up in smoke obviously let off the gas, Dick recovered and won the round. He denied it but it was obvious to all who saw it what happened.

EDIT: ESPN is showing the fight between Force and Pedregon.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Yeah. I saw Force and Pedregon have words while they were televising the Nationals. Pedregon was pretty outspoken about it saying that while he was a member of the Force Team things like this went on all the time. The announcer even said that Force would most likely throw the race. it wasn't a surprise to anybody there or anybody watching it on tv.

 

[trams]

I love Force, but that was sad. It was a complete set up. Big Daddys gettin up there.

 

[Wicked Jester]

Definitely some great racing this past weekend. Team Force played it legit. Pedregon has always been a neo-whiner. He only wishes he could have the legacy that is John Force.
I still miss the days when I was kid, going to the races at OCIR.
Don "The Snake Prudhomme vs. Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen
"Cha Cha" vs. Garlits
Garlits barrel rolling into the sand trap.
Young John Force bracket racing.
Muldowney and Kalitta, lovers quarreling in the pits.
Those were some good days indeed!

 

[Mad Scientist]

Definitely some great racing this past weekend. Team Force played it legit. Pedregon has always been a neo-whiner. He only wishes he could have the legacy that is John Force.
I still miss the days when I was kid, going to the races at OCIR.
Don "The Snake Prudhomme vs. Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen
"Cha Cha" vs. Garlits
Garlits barrel rolling into the sand trap.
Young John Force bracket racing.
Muldowney and Kalitta, lovers quarreling in the pits.
Those were some good days indeed!

I grew up in So Cal too! I went to a 64 Funny Car show at OCIR in 1980(?). Went to Lions, Terminal Island, LACR and Pomona of course. Never made it to Bakersfield though.

Street races in Long Beach on Wednesday night too!

 

[Big Black Dog]

I was a 17 year old teenager working at my local drag strip in Suffolk, Virginia back in 68-69. All the big names worked their way through the track at one time or another. Match races were the big thing back then. Now and then they would have a huge funny car race at Suffolk. For some reason, Don Garlits seemed to show up at our track a lot. What a great guy he was. I spent lots of time talking with him when he came to Suffolk. Truly the "man".

 

[trams]

Bakersfield Raceway was a cool place. Went there when I was a kid.

 

[Wicked Jester]

I was a 17 year old teenager working at my local drag strip in Suffolk, Virginia back in 68-69. All the big names worked their way through the track at one time or another. Match races were the big thing back then. Now and then they would have a huge funny car race at Suffolk. For some reason, Don Garlits seemed to show up at our track a lot. What a great guy he was. I spent lots of time talking with him when he came to Suffolk. Truly the "man".

Don Garlits is the man. Always put on a great show. What impressed me most about him was his willingness to try new technology even though he might have found himself with his hair on fire. Not sure where you're from, but if you ever get out to so. cal, check out the NHRA museum at Pomona. It's a drag racing junkies dream. So many of the cars we've been watching through the years are on display. It's truly an amazing collection.