DI RETURN ROAD: 2022 NHRA Winternationals|

Februari 18, 2022 Posting Komentar

Some other 87-twenty-four hours NHRA offseason has come and gone, and the get-go Wallys of the yr have already been presented to the winners of the 56th almanac Circumvolve K NHRA Winternationals, the first of 24 races of the 2022 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series flavor. The new season comes with a variety of fresh looks – a glitzy new telly package, a sweeping fix of rule changes for the Pro Stock grade and a few new driver/sponsor/squad combinations. There was plenty of familiarity besides, though, as some of the sport's greats and defending world champions in one case once more proved their mettle.

The smoke has cleared, trophies have been handed out, and the teams are already looking alee to the next race in Phoenix at the end of the calendar month. It'south time to recap some of the best and worst moments from the Winternationals.

Best Adaptation to the New Pro Stock Rules: KB Racing

464-GregAnderson-Sunday-Pomona1 With all of the rule changes introduced to the factory hot rod form over the concluding six months, no one really knew what to look when the Pro Stockers kicked off their first official upshot with flat hoods, electronic fuel injection and shorter wheelie confined. Some of the best of the best, champions like Allen Johnson and Erica Enders-Stevens, seemed to hit a couple roadblocks with the new ready-upwardly. The KB Racing entries of Greg Anderson, Jason Line and Bo Butner fabricated the transition await like shooting fish in a barrel, as the teammates qualified ane, ii and three, respectively. All 3 drivers raced into the semifinals too, and Anderson won the all-Summit final round on a holeshot.

Scariest Moment of the Issue: Gary Densham's Trip to the Beach

Retired school teacher Gary Densham made the highlight reel with his career-best 4.05 elapsed time in the fourth and final Funny Car qualifying session, just not for the reason Densham or any of his supporters would have wanted. The 69-year onetime Funny Automobile veteran'due south parachutes failed to deploy as he streaked down the curt Pomona shutdown surface area. He sailed across the pea gravel trap and ended up in the catch internet, damaging his automobile to the extent that Densham hinted that information technology might be the end of his driving career. Fortunately, he walked away from the high-speed impact without injury.

Best Performance past a Class: Funny Car

Even though a low 3.nine-seocond blast is practically the norm in Funny Automobile at this indicate, it's still absolutely incredible what kind of numbers the fuel coupes are producing. Last yr's championship runner-upwardly, Jack Beckman, led the qualifying field with his 3.888 and was followed by nine unlike drivers in the iii.9-second range. Information technology took a 3.9 et to win at to the lowest degree half of the pairings in all four rounds of elimination. Ron Capps and Robert Hight provided a tight race with their 3.938-to-3.949 semifinal pairing. In the terminal round, Capps and defending world champion Del Worsham emphasized the quick, yet extremely close, competition in Funny Machine, equally Capps stole the Winternationals Wally in a 3.981-to-3.962 race that was decided by just 0.0008, or about 5 inches.

Best Echo Performance: Jonnie Lindberg

Defending Top Alcohol Funny Car world champion Jonnie Lindberg did an excellent job of proving why he carries the #1 on his new Camaro body. The Swedish immature gun battled with number 2 points finisher John Lombardo Jr. throughout qualifying, eventually ending up with low et of qualifying at v.421 seconds. Information technology was the John and Jonnie show again in the final round, where Lindberg used a 5.423 at nigh 272 mph to defend his 2015 Winternationals title, defeating Lombardo and his five.456 at 272.83 mph lap. Lindberg, who is in charge of both tuning his racecar and getting it to the rail, fell out of the 5.iv-second zone in one case when he shook in the semifinals, but a timely red low-cal by opponent Mike Doushgounian saved the 26-year erstwhile'due south day.

Most Impressive Performance in the MPH Department: Don St. Arnaud

Canadian Height Alcohol Dragster pilot Don St. Arnaud has made a proper noun for himself as the fastest A/Fuel dragster in history over the terminal few years. Though he doesn't run as many races as the grade regulars, St. Arnaud leaves a lasting impression whenever he does hit the track, and this weekend was no exception. He claimed depression elapsed time and summit speed of the issue in his qualifying effort (5.181/285.05), which besides allowed him to reset his ain national speed tape. St. Arnaud connected his assail on the record books in eliminations, speeding into the mid-280s on three of iv runs. He leaves Pomona with viii of the 10 fastest runs in form history.

Best Event Performance by a Sportsman: Dan Fletcher

Dan Fletcher would go down in history as one of the nearly successful drag racers of all time if he parked his operation today, but the professional Sportsman racer is far from finished. At 94 national event wins, Fletcher is on the verge of the milestone 100 wins and he came awfully close to adding ii to his total this weekend. He lasted through seven rounds to take domicile the Stock title and came shut to scoring his second double-up when he lost in the Comp Eliminator final round. Considering his season-opening performance and his packed schedule, it's prophylactic to say we'll see Fletcher jubilant win number 100 very soon.

Biggest Underdog Win: Shawn Cowie

As one of the best blown alcohol dragster drivers in the state, it'due south hard to call Shawn Cowie the underdog, only Don St. Arnaud had him covered by more than a tenth of a second in qualifying and each prior round of emptying before the two faced off in the final. Coiffure chief Nib Moore tuned information technology upward for the concluding and St. Arnaud made his slowest run of the day, allowing Cowie to run away with the 2022 Winternationals Wally.