Bo Butner  (Steve Justice photo)

In the second round, Bo Butner eliminated Chris McGaha, and in the semifinals he ousted Summit teammate Greg Anderson to reach the 13th final round of his young Pro Stock career. Butner was also a finalist last weekend in Denver, and so far, he has three wins in the extremely competitive category.

"It was a very good race, and I can't complain," said Butner, who retains the points lead leaving Sonoma. "The car keeps getting better, and I feel more confident every time I go up. I've been racing a long time and have raced a lot of different cars – you just have to tell yourself that this isn't rocket science. You have to go up there and do your job. It's been working.

"Going into the final, I thought I was going to win. Especially when we had lane choice. I thought if we could be .020 [on the tree], we could win the race. But they're doing a very good job over there. If Tanner keeps his head clear, he's going to be tough to beat."

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE

LE Tonglet  (Mike Burghardt photo)

LE Tonglet finished atop the Pro Stock Motorcycle field with a 6.783 pass at 197.02 on his Nitro Fish Racing Suzuki to narrowly defeat Matt Smith in the final round. After securing his first Mickey Thompson Tires Pro Bike Battle on Saturday, he notched his fifth national event victory of the season and 15th of his career.

Prior to entering the finals, Tonglet defeated Fred Camarena, Angie Smith and Hector Arana Jr. Matt Smith powered past Steve Johnson, Eddie Krawiec and defending world champion Jerry Savoie before facing Tonglet.

“It’s a big benefit to win the battle the day before which builds your confidence going into Sunday,” Tonglet said. “I could hear him (Smith) the whole way and knew it was close. I wanted to look over very badly, but I just stayed tucked in and just stared at the win light and it lit which was exciting.”

Tonglet remains the points leader, while Krawiec continues to hold on to the second position.

FUNNY CAR

(Mike Burghardt photo)

J.R. Todd was the reigning Top Fuel winner at Sonoma, but this year he would earn the 10th starting spot after switching to the Funny Car class. Unfortunately, his teammate, Alexis DeJoria, was the seventh seed leading to a first-round matchup of the two Toyota Racing Camrys. Todd got the advantage over DeJoria at the starting line and was able to take that advantage to the stripe, earning the holeshot round win.

That advanced him to the quarterfinals where he faced John Force for the first time. Todd was away first again, and his crew chiefs, Jon Oberhofer and Todd Smith, were on it with the best run of the session, a 3.973, giving Todd the round win to move to the semi-finals.

In the semifinal against Jack Beckman, Todd's DHL Toyota Camry had immediate issues, but never gave up. Beckman was ahead but broke and was idling down the track. Todd pedaled and pedaled, got the DHL Toyota to cooperate, and he was able to just drive by Beckman at the stripe moving Todd to the final round for the first time in since Charlotte and the second time in his short Funny Car career.

In the final, Todd was away first and drove his DHL Toyota straight down the track to defeat a tire-smoking Tim Wilkerson.

(Mike Burkhardt photo)

Tim Wilkerson and his relentless crew put in more than their fair share of blood, sweat and tears this weekend, and their efforts paid dividends. In fact, the tireless nature of Wilkerson and company nearly culminated in victory at the 30th annual NHRA Sonoma Nationals, but the driver of the Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Shelby Mustang came up just one win light shy.

Wilkerson remains No. 8 in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car standings and is eager to get to Seattle in less than a week, where he and his team hope to go the distance and extend their lead on No. 9 man J.R. Todd, who is nipping at their heels. Wilkerson and Todd raced in the final in Sonoma, where his opponent got the nod and closed the gap to three points.

Wilkerson knocked out Cruz Pedregon, No. 1 qualifier Robert Hight, and Courtney Force en route to the 39th final of his career and second of the season.

"We broke an airline off the throttle switch that tells every operational part of the car to start. It's pneumatically controlled, but it's electronic and has to see a signal to start," said Wilkerson. "That hose was either knocked off before the run or when I stepped on the gas. We don't know which. It started spinning about 60 feet out. It's just another way to lose. There are a million ways to lose and one way to win, and we had plenty of lucky breaks today. The last one just went the other way."

Robert Hight  (Mike Burhardt photo)

Robert Hight set the national speed record at a 339.87 mph with his 3.807-second pass in his Auto Club of Southern California / California Highway Patrol Chevy Camaro during the second qualifying session.

The pass was the third quickest in history, while the speed was the fastest in the history of the NHRA, and the first over 339 mph.

“When you have Jimmy Prock as your crew chief, he tries to get everything he can out of that race track,” Hight said. “It’s the coolest noise when you hear that nitro engine running up that kind of RPM; it’s music to your ears.”

PRO STOCK

Tanner Gray (Steve Justice photo)

Four months after recording his first Pro Stock national victory by defeating fellow Chevrolet driver Bo Butner, Tanner Gray took down the class points leader again in the final of the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

Gray’s pass of 6.572 seconds in the Gray Motorsports Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro was four-thousandths of a second quicker than the Jim Butner Auto Sales Chevrolet Camaro SS that was the No. 2 qualifier. Gray, who also won in late May at Topeka, Kansas, tied Butner with a class-leading three victories.

“I just want to thank Gray Motorsports, Valvoline, Chevy, and just everybody who makes this thing happen,” said Gray, the 18-year-old North Carolinian and No. 5 qualifier. “This is kind of surreal to come out here and be able to (win for the third time). There have been nine different winners already, so that shows how competitive this class is.“