Justin Ashley (Top Fuel) and Hagan (Funny Car) become NHRA’s first two-time winners this season.
- Justin Ashley dominates the Top Fuel competition for the second straight weekend.
- Matt Hagan becomes the first two-time Funny Car winner.
- Longtime underdog Terry Haddock shows some bite.
Top Fuel’s Justin Ashley had the perfect weekend at the Lucas Oil Winternationals at Southern California’s In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip this weekend, while Funny Car’s J.R. Todd had probably the worst in his career.
Terry Haddock, for 25 years the decided underdog in the nitro ranks who constantly says, “We’re not smart enough to quit,” had a moment of glory as he advanced to the semifinal round, eliminating heavyweights Robert Hight and Tim Wilkerson along the way. Matt Hagan was the eventual winner, scoring a second victory in three Camping World Drag Racing Series outings.
Matt Hagan Goes Back-to-Back in Funny Car
Racer Jack Beckman always said, “You have no friends out here between the burnout and the turnout.” And Matt Hagan knew that Sunday. He was determined to record a second victory in the young season’s first three events for Tony Stewart Racing.
When he knew he would be facing close friend Ron Capps in the final round, Hagan said, “I’ve got a lot of respect for him. I like the guy a lot, but we’ve got to put him on the trailer.” And he did, to become the Funny Car class’ first two-time winner.
It came on the 50th anniversary of Hall of Famer Don Schumacher’s 1973 Winternationals Funny Car victory. And Sunday, two of his former—and two of his most successful, three-time champion—drivers duked it out in the final round. Capps and Hagan have combined for 223 final-round appearances (Capps 142, Hagan 81).
Hagan earned his 45th victory and improved his race-day record this season to 9-1 in the Haas Automation Dodge Charger Hellcat for Tony Stewart Racing.
Wooooo#TSRnitro | @NHRA | @MattHagan_FC | @Haas_Automation | @Dodge pic.twitter.com/hc8tqRPWur
— Tony Stewart Racing Nitro (@TSRnitro) April 3, 2023
However, he said, “As much as I’d like to beat on my chest and say we’ve won two races out of the three, we’re still working through some stuff with the combination on this car.
“(Crew chief) Dickie Venables has been able to put his stamp on this deal with innovation on the chassis and different things. And we know we’re going to keep those things in-house. At DSR [Don Schumacher Racing], we had a bunch of teammates, so the knowledge got spread around. So you never really had that advantage. That being said, we still have a lot of things to work through on this car.”
Hagan is the points leader, 26 ahead of Capps.
Justin Ashley completed a dominant weekend with the Top Fuel win at Pomona.
NHRA/National Dragster
Justin Ashley Scores Second Victory in Two Weeks
In winning the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Saturday and vaulting to the No. 1 qualifying position as a result, Ashley started his weekend at the Winternationals off on the right note at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
And last weekend’s Phoenix victor ended by scoring his second straight victory in only this third race of the season.
“It becomes much easier when you have the kind of team that we do, I’ll tell you that much,” he said. “It really takes an entire team effort from start to finish – not only on the race weekends, but during the week, and I mean on and off the racetrack. This car has been on absolute rails, and I think it’s now 10 straight win lights. One thing that I’ve learned: that’s one win light that you never get sick of looking at.”
Ashley said he didn’t think a race weekend could be better than this one: “I think it was just really an incredible job top to bottom. To win any race is special, and then to be able to win two races in a row, with the Mission Foods Challenge in between, is just amazing. What makes it even greater is how much we really struggled in Gainesville [at the season opener in Florida]. To be able to bounce back like that really shows you how resilient our team is, and it started on Friday and Saturday during qualifying. No matter who you race, it’s going to be tough, and you have to have four almost perfect rounds of racing to give yourself a chance to win. Qualifying No. 1 did help us out, because we had that second round bye.”
The new points leader said, “It’s a long season, so we have plenty of time left, but the points that we accumulate now count just as much as the points that we accumulate later before the Countdown. So to be able to stack those points on top of each other, including in the Mission Foods Challenge, really is very significant.
“You have to collect round wins. You’re not always going to win the race. You know, these races are hard to win, but you have to do a good job of stacking round wins. I think we’ve done a good job of that,” Ashley said after defeating finalist Austin Prock. “We have to find that next step to find that consistency. There was a period last year where we didn’t win any races, but I think we went to five semifinals in a row. It’s about maintaining that consistency, learning from each and every run, and I think that was an important step in our evolution as a team.
Terry Haddock is a true underdog in the Funny Car field.
JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER
Terry Haddock Is Funny Car’s Cinderella Man
Longtime Funny Car racer Terry Haddock, who last weekend at Phoenix started from the top half of the ladder for the first time in his 25-year career, reached his first-ever semifinal Sunday
“The first thing I’ve got to do is say thanks to God, because this is amazing,” Haddock said. “It’s amazing you can come out here and give all you’ve got for all these years and when you work hard and you don’t give up, you get your chance.”
He claimed a spot in the four-driver Funny Car Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge that will run next in May at the Joliet, Ill., race. He said the $10,000 jackpot is cool to pursue, “but just going rounds is amazing. Just getting to drive this car is amazing. We don’t have a lot but we keep going.”
Crew chief Johnny West called this weekend “a blessing” and said, “These guys work so hard. You can’t even fathom how much work goes into this when they get out here.”
Matt Hagan, who knocked out Haddock in the semifinal round, complimented him from the winners circle, saying, “I’m proud of Terry. He put a lot of heavy hitters on the trailer.
Dallas Glenn was tops in Pro Stock.
NHRA/National Dragster
Dallas Glenn Tops the Pro Stock Field at Pomona
And in Pro Stock, it was Dallas Glenn over Matt Hartford in the finals. With the win, Glenn takes over the points lead in the class.
“It was a great day and anytime I’m tired at the end of it, I know it’s been a good day,” Glenn said. “I’ve got an absolutely great car and it’s been running really well. I’m comfortable in it and I was just able to make a lot of clean runs. It’s really cool to be the points leader right now. I’ve never been able to get it done in Pomona before, and it’s been so frustrating. But I knew the car was going to be really good today and I was just happy it all came together for us.”
Results
At In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip
Pomona, Calif.
Final results
Top Fuel
Justin Ashley, 3.713 seconds, 330.63 mph def. Austin Prock, 3.762 seconds, 327.43 mph.
Funny Car
Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.967, 328.06 def. Ron Capps, Toyota Supra, 4.303, 211.13.
Pro Stock
Dallas Glenn, Chevy Camaro, 6.546, 209.92 def. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.558, 210.44.
Top Alcohol Dragster
Joey Severance, 5.255, 272.23 def. Shawn Cowie, 14.374, 61.30.
Top Alcohol Funny Car
Doug Gordon, Chevy Camaro, 5.442, 268.22 def. Shane Westerfield, Camaro, 5.453, 265.64.
Competition Eliminator
Andrew Moeck, Pontiac GTO, 6.357, 220.76 def. Scott McClay, Dragster, 7.186, 183.12.
Super Stock
Anthony Bertozzi, Pontiac Grand Am, 8.983, 140.93 def. Len Schneider, Ford Thunderbird, 10.058, 131.32.
Stock Eliminator
Kyle Rizzoli, Chevy Camaro, 10.265, 120.51 def. Brian McClanahan, Camaro, 9.951, 133.18.
Super Gas
Marko Perivolaris, Checvy Camaro, 9.914, 168.35 def. Val Torres, Chevy Corvette, 9.921, 157.59.
Super Comp
Jessica Bogacki, Dragster, 8.928, 172.45 def. Logan Warr, Dragster, 8.928, 172.01.
Top Sportsman
Chris Newman, Chevy Camaro, 6.653, 208.62 def. Lance Abbott, Chevy S-10, 6.927, 196.04.
Top Dragster
Anthony Bertozzi, Dragster, 6.664, 181.96 def. Andy Spiegel, Dragster, 6.427, 201.52.
Legends Nostalgia Funny Car
Cory McClenathan, Pontiac Firebird, 4.868, 232.87 def. Tim Boychuk, Chevy Camaro, 4.895, 202.97.
Final round-by-round results
Top Fuel
First Round
Shawn Langdon, 3.740, 333.16 def. Tony Schumacher, 3.738, 327.90; Antron Brown, 3.690, 334.15 def. Doug Kalitta, 6.548, 121.98; Brittany Force, 3.690, 334.98 def. Ron August, Broke; Justin Ashley, 3.719, 329.91 def. Krista Baldwin, 5.634, 120.83; Austin Prock, 3.739, 331.53 def. Leah Pruett, 4.208, 231.60; Mike Salinas, 3.892, 322.27 def. Clay Millican, 4.148, 214.31; Steve Torrence, 3.715, 330.23 def. Josh Hart, 3.756, 326.32.
Quarterfinals
Ashley, 3.712, 329.99 was unopposed; Force, 3.729, 330.55 def. Langdon, 3.743, 331.69; Brown, 3.733, 333.91 def. Salinas, 3.769, 331.12; Prock, 3.822, 318.32 def. Torrence, 4.157, 216.55.
Semifinals
Prock, 3.734, 331.36 def. Force, 7.067, 80.14; Ashley, 3.743, 331.77 def. Brown, 3.749, 331.61.
Final
Ashley, 3.713, 330.63 def. Prock, 3.762, 327.43.
Funny Car
First Round
Alexis DeJoria, Toyota Supra, 3.945, 323.89 def. Jeff Arend, Chevy Monte Carlo, 12.709, 68.97; Bob Tasca III, Ford Mustang, 4.212, 265.43 def. Jason Rupert, Mustang, 6.613, 100.06; Cruz Pedregon, Dodge Charger, 3.881, 322.19 def. John Force, Chevy Camaro, 7.280, 89.47; Terry Haddock, Mustang, 4.015, 310.55 def. Robert Hight, Camaro, 4.341, 303.50; Alex Laughlin, Charger, 4.066, 317.72 def. J.R. Todd, Supra, 4.154, 234.57; Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.976, 312.86 def. Chad Green, Mustang, 8.387, 92.42; Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.929, 330.07 def. Blake Alexander, Mustang, 3.941, 324.36; Ron Capps, Supra, 3.947, 325.69 def. Paul Lee, Charger, 4.412, 201.97.
Quarterfinals
Haddock, 4.058, 306.12 def. Wilkerson, 4.182, 250.41; Capps, 3.997, 324.44 def. Pedregon, Foul – Centerline; Hagan, 3.950, 324.67 def. DeJoria, 4.060, 269.62; Tasca III, 3.997, 321.88 def. Laughlin, 4.972, 158.20.
Semifinals
Capps, 3.987, 323.89 def. Tasca III, 4.078, 298.47; Hagan, 3.955, 326.40 def. Haddock, 4.110, 299.60.
Final
Hagan, 3.967, 328.06 def. Capps, 4.303, 211.13.
Pro Stock
Troy Coughlin Jr., Chevy Camaro, 6.550, 210.70 def. Kyle Koretsky, Camaro, 6.550, 210.44; Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.547, 210.01 def. Cristian Cuadra, Ford Mustang, 6.568, 210.05; Fernando Cuadra Jr., Mustang, 6.573, 209.65 def. Greg Anderson, Camaro, Foul – Red Light; Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.553, 209.95 def. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 6.565, 210.93; Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.535, 210.41 def. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.588, 210.31; Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.532, 211.03 def. Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.563, 209.14; Camrie Caruso, Camaro, 6.546, 209.98 def. Steve Graham, Camaro, 6.626, 207.46; Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.562, 209.92 def. Jerry Tucker, Camaro, 6.636, 209.46.
Quarterfinals
Stanfield, 6.576, 210.67 def. Cuadra Jr., 6.595, 209.52; Caruso, 6.576, 210.24 def. Coughlin Jr., 6.566, 211.16; Glenn, 6.547, 210.80 def. Butner, 8.716, 107.48; Hartford, 6.545, 210.70 def. Enders, 6.550, 210.54.
Semifinals
Glenn, 6.573, 209.43 def. Caruso, 6.574, 209.59; Hartford, 6.558, 210.44 def. Stanfield, 6.587, 209.59.
Final
Glenn, 6.546, 209.92 def. Hartford, 6.558, 210.44.
Point Standings
Top Fuel
1. Justin Ashley, 268; 2. Steve Torrence, 223; 3. Mike Salinas, 213; 4. Brittany Force, 204; 5. Austin Prock, 201; 6. Leah Pruett, 195; 7. Shawn Langdon, 181; 8. Doug Kalitta, 167; 9. Antron Brown, 162; 10. Tony Schumacher, 117.
Funny Car
1. Matt Hagan, 277; 2. Ron Capps, 251; 3. Alexis DeJoria, 213; 4. Robert Hight, 206; 5. Bob Tasca III, 203; 6. Chad Green, 181; 7. J.R. Todd, 153; 8. Tim Wilkerson, 138; 9. Terry Haddock, 136; 10. Blake Alexander, 126.
Pro Stock
1. Dallas Glenn, 235; 2. (tie) Camrie Caruso, 230; Matt Hartford, 230; 4. Troy Coughlin Jr., 209; 5. Bo Butner, 182; 6. Aaron Stanfield, 173; 7. (tie) Greg Anderson, 165; Kyle Koretsky, 165; 9. Mason McGaha, 161; 10. (tie) Cristian Cuadra, 128, Erica Enders, 128.
Keyword: NHRA Pomona Results, Updated Points: Matt Hagan Puts Boss Tony Stewart Back in Winner's Circle