Steve Torrence, Ron Capps, Karen Stoffer also nail down top qualifying spots at Houston Raceway Park.
Camrie Caruso and Erica Enders, the only two women ever to qualify No. 1 in the NHRA’s Pro Stock class, got together Saturday during the SpringNationals in the shutdown area of the Houston Raceway Park dragstrip—literally.
In just her fifth professional outing, 24-year-old rookie Caruso duplicated Enders’ feat 16 years after the four-time class champion broke the barrier in 2006 at Topeka.
Pro Stock racer Camrie Caruso
NHRA/National Dragstger
So the tears trickling down Caruso’s cheeks should have been ones of joy. Instead, they represented a jumble of unexpected emotions after Enders’ parachutes damaged Caruso’s Sand Haulers of America Chevy Camaro in an apparent misunderstanding about top-end track etiquette or procedure.
Within minutes, Caruso was all smiles as she and Enders exchanged hugs and Enders brushed tears from the young racer’s face and playfully, in big-sister-like fashion, slapped the top-qualifier’s yellow Camping World hat onto Caruso’s head. The situation was defused quickly, but Caruso’s crew faced some repair work into the night.
The incident occurred when the veteran and newcomer went head to head on the racetrack in the final qualifying session, with Enders trying to capture Caruso’s provisional top starting spot. Caruso held onto it by nine-thousandths of a second (6.547 seconds to 6.556).
However, a turnout snafu, along with a late-afternoon breeze, sent the parachutes from Enders’ Melling Performance Camaro crashing over the top of Caruso’s car. When they stepped from their race cars, Enders said something to Caruso, who declined to repeat it.
Erica Enders’ Chevrolet Camaro
NHRA/National Dragster
“Doesn’t matter,” Caruso said, “We’re going to focus and get it fixed and go move on. Is what it is.”
Later, she said, “The race car’s going to get fixed. It’ll be all good. It’ll be ready for race day.”
And so will Caruso, who said after composing herself, “It could have been anybody. She’s a great racer, and I’m sure she didn’t want the incident to happen, either. Sucks that it happened. But it’s racing, and anything could happen.”
Enders, who has weathered more cruel remarks in her career than she cares to remember, said, “I hate it for her, because they’re going to talk about that crap instead of her being No. 1. That’s her first No. 1 qualifier, but they’ll joke all they want about two girls being on the racetrack at the same time. But you know, whatever.”
Still, the two had different versions of what happened.
“Well, we crossed and then she shot past me, right? So, I tucked in to follow her around, and as we’re making the turn, she just dead stopped on an active racetrack. So I swerved to the right to not hit her and I mean, you just coast around the corner,” Enders said.
Caruso’s explanation was that “I think she veered toward me. When we got up there [at the shutdown area], they (Safety Safari personnel) had their hands up, so I stopped. And it didn’t go as planned.”
At that point, Caruso and Enders had patched up their differences. But according to her, crew chief Jim Yates—in the driver’s words—was “a little fired up about the car right now. He’s not too happy at the moment. That’s his baby, just as it is ours.”
Drama aside, Caruso said the top-qualifying distinction “means the world to me and my team. I’m super-grateful for the opportunity. I never would’ve thought we could’ve achieved such a cool thing so soon. I have my team to thank and everybody else, everybody who backs me. And I’m just really thankful and grateful for the opportunity.”
Yates said of his driver, “She’s done such a great job adjusting. I mean, I talked to her earlier today about what a great job she’s done just being in the car and being right up to speed and know what to do in the circumstances. You can’t teach that. She feels it in her body and she knows whether the car is going left or right, how to correct it, getting on the shift points really good. I mean, the more runs we make the better she’s going to get but for coming from where she’s been to where she’s at today. I’m really awful proud of her, awful proud of her.”
Caruso will meet Fernando Cuadra in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations, which have a pushed-back start of 12:30 p.m. ET.
Steve Torrence qualified first in Top Fuel at Houston.
NHRA/National Dragster
NHRA SpringNationals Qualifying Results
Sunday Pairings
Sunday’s first-round pairings for eliminations for the 35th annual NHRA SpringNationals at Houston Raceway Park, the fifth of 22 events in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.
Top Fuel — 1. Steve Torrence, 3.693 seconds, 323.66 mph vs. 16. Buddy Hull, 3.916, 280.37; 2. Brittany Force, 3.695, 333.58 vs. 15. Josh Hart, 3.806, 325.22; 3. Doug Kalitta, 3.696, 328.70 vs. 14. Billy Torrence, 3.799, 323.27; 4. Justin Ashley, 3.697, 330.80 vs. 13. Doug Foley, 3.789, 319.45; 5. Austin Prock, 3.701, 330.15 vs. 12. Alex Laughlin, 3.782, 317.12; 6. Antron Brown, 3.704, 330.55 vs. 11. Clay Millican, 3.775, 324.20; 7. Leah Pruett, 3.711, 329.26 vs. 10. Shawn Langdon, 3.728, 325.30; 8. Tony Schumacher, 3.720, 326.79 vs. 9. Mike Salinas, 3.722, 329.18.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Cameron Ferre, 3.927, 307.79; 18. Mitch King, 4.083, 295.72.
Funny Car — 1. Ron Capps, Dodge Charger, 3.864, 326.16 vs. Bye; 2. Robert Hight, Chevy Camaro, 3.865, 331.36 vs. 15. Terry Haddock, Ford Mustang, 4.445, 205.04; 3. Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 3.881, 324.67 vs. 14. Paul Lee, Charger, 4.097, 308.99; 4. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 3.882, 329.58 vs. 13. J.R. Todd, Toyota Supra, 4.044, 319.90; 5. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.887, 330.47 vs. 12. Jim Campbell, Charger, 4.034, 311.77; 6. Alexis DeJoria, Supra, 3.910, 325.61 vs. 11. Bobby Bode, Mustang, 4.016, 280.31; 7. Blake Alexander, Mustang, 3.911, 326.71 vs. 10. Chad Green, Mustang, 3.984, 297.02; 8. Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.924, 329.34 vs. 9. John Force, Camaro, 3.945, 324.12.
Pro Stock — 1. Camrie Caruso, Chevy Camaro, 6.547, 209.39 vs. 16. Fernando Cuadra, Ford Mustang, 6.615, 209.10; 2. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.553, 210.87 vs. 15. Cristian Cuadra, Mustang, 6.611, 206.70; 3. Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.555, 210.57 vs. 14. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.602, 208.71; 4. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.557, 208.97 vs. 13. Fernando Cuadra Jr., Mustang, 6.599, 209.10; 5. Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.559, 209.82 vs. 12. Rodger Brogdon, Camaro, 6.588, 209.20; 6. Kyle Koretsky, Camaro, 6.560, 210.70 vs. 11. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.585, 209.33; 7. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.568, 209.52 vs. 10. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.585, 209.75; 8. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 6.571, 209.69 vs. 9. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.582, 209.43.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Shane Tucker, 6.615, 209.49; 18. Alan Prusiensky, 6.663, 208.65; 19. John Callahan, 6.822, 203.92; 20. Troy Coughlin Jr., 12.093, 148.40.
Pro Stock Motorcycle — 1. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.738, 200.35 vs. 16. David Barron, EBR, 7.172, 186.23; 2. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.739, 199.76 vs. 15. Michael Ray, Victory, 7.078, 193.88; 3. Eddie Krawiec, Suzuki, 6.798, 200.08 vs. 14. Ryan Oehler, EBR, 7.006, 196.90; 4. Angie Smith, EBR, 6.798, 199.97 vs. 13. Chris Bostick, Suzuki, 6.985, 193.49; 5. Matt Smith, Suzuki, 6.814, 199.40 vs. 12. Kelly Clontz, Suzuki, 6.934, 193.40; 6. Joey Gladstone, Suzuki, 6.833, 198.90 vs. 11. Marc Ingwersen, EBR, 6.893, 195.39; 7. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 6.846, 198.38 vs. 10. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.879, 195.14; 8. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 6.858, 198.03 vs. 9. Jerry Savoie, Suzuki, 6.860, 197.54.
Keyword: NHRA Houston Qualifying Results, Elimination Pairings: Camrie Caruso’s Milestone Marred By Incident