It was not the “usual suspects” that took top honors on Sunday at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis. It was all-Torrence in the Top Fuel final and all-Kalitta Motorsports in Funny Car.

Brittany Force was eliminated by Pat Dakin in the first round of Top Fuel while Austin Prock lost in the second round to Leah Pritchett. For the DSR drivers, Pritchett first defeated Antron Brown then Prock before bowing to Billy Torrence.

In Funny Car, Robert Hight ousted Bob Bode and Ron Capps before losing to J.R. Todd. John Force got past Terry Haddock before meeting Todd in the second round. DSR driver Matt Hagan lost in the first round to Jim Campbell while Ron Capps defeated Blake Alexander but then lost to Hight. Tommy Johnson Jr. and Jack Beckman were both out in round one.

Billy Torrence (far lane) got the win against his son Steve, who has struggled in the Countdown after dominating the regular season. It was the second time they have met in the finals, with Steve taking the first matchup.  (Ron Lewis photo)

Shawn Langdon (near lane), a former Top Fuel world champ, became just the second driver in NHRA history to win in both nitro classes at St. Louis, going 4.068-seconds at 310.41 mph in his Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry to beat J.R. Todd, the defending world champ.  (Ron Lewis photo)

In the Pro Stock classes, it was ladies day as Erica Enders got her first win of the year in her Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Camaro and Karen Stoffer got her first win in four years aboard her Suzuki. It was the first time in NHRA history that women won in both Pro Stock classes at the same race.

Opponent Matt Hartford had a .003 RT, but his 6.621/207.30 was not enough to hold off Enders’ 6.598 at 208.36 mph.  (Ron Lewis photo)

“We just had to pick ourselves up and we redeemed ourselves after our poor performance in Reading,” Enders said. “I’m ready for the remaining four races. I put my money on us. It’s all come together at the right time. It feels like it’s been eternity since we last won in 2018. We just continue to keep our heads down and working hard, and this definitely means a lot to our entire program. I knew every time we fired that bad boy up, we were going to go out and make a really great pass.”

Stoffer far lane) was quick off the line against points leader Andrew Hines and held on for the 6.869/197.74 to 6.871/196.59 win. She has bested Matt Smith and Eddie Krawiec on her way to the final.  (Ron Lewis photo)

Going into the third of six Countdown events, the points are:

Top Fuel: 1. Doug Kalitta, 2,232; 2. Steve Torrence, 2,230; 3. Mike Salinas, 2,191; 4. Brittany Force, 2,184; 5. Leah Pritchett, 2,170; 6. (tie) Antron Brown, 2,159; Richie Crampton, 2,159; 8. Austin Prock, 2,153; 9. Billy Torrence, 2,152; 10. Clay Millican, 2,125.

Funny Car: 1. Robert Hight, 2,235; 2. John Force, 2,222; 3. Jack Beckman, 2,211; 4. Ron Capps, 2,191; 5. J.R. Todd, 2,182; 6. Bob Tasca III, 2,156; 7. Shawn Langdon, 2,155; 8. Tommy Johnson Jr., 2,138; 9. Matt Hagan, 2,132; 10. Tim Wilkerson, 2,109.

Pro Stock: 1. Jason Line, 2,254; 2. Erica Enders, 2,243; 3. Bo Butner, 2,232; 4. Matt Hartford, 2,197; 5. Alex Laughlin, 2,171; 6. Jeg Coughlin, 2,160; 7. Greg Anderson, 2,147; 8. Deric Kramer, 2,132; 9. Chris McGaha, 2,113; 10. Val Smeland, 2,062.

Pro Stock Motorcycle: 1. Andrew Hines, 2,266; 2. Karen Stoffer, 2,232; 3. Eddie Krawiec, 2,215; 4. Matt Smith, 2,205; 5. Jerry Savoie, 2,200; 6. Hector Arana Jr, 2,169; 7. Angelle Sampey, 2,136; 8. Angie Smith, 2,116; 9. Ryan Oehler, 2,075; 10. Hector Arana, 2,064.  [09/30/19]

Rickie Smith finished up an impressive weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway with his first victory of the season in E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service action, beating points leader Stevie “Fast” Jackson in the final round on Sunday.

Smith, a three-time world champion in the class, was on top in his nitrous-powered Bahrain1 Racing Camaro all weekend, qualifying No. 1 for the second straight race and going 5.768-seconds at 252.19 mph to beat Jackson in the final round. It also is Smith’s class-best 15th career victory.

Jackson stretched his commanding points lead to 156 points heading into the final two events of the 2019 season at Charlotte, NC, on Oct. 11-13 and Las Vegas, Oct. 31-Nov. 3.  (Ron Lewis photo)   [09/30/19]

Chris Rini slammed the door on his closest rivals Saturday, Sept. 28, winning the feature event at the Original Super Chevy Show at Rockingham Dragway and, with it, the championship of the 2019 Carolina Xtreme Pro Mod Series.

Rini, who moved from in Carmel, NY to Hickory, NC, drove his 1969 Chevy Camaro to the No. 1 qualifying position at 3.810 seconds with North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame member Tommy Mauney close behind. After an easy 4.179-second victory over Tony Wilson in round one, Rini stopped the timers in 3.788 seconds to turn back another Hall of Famer, Charles Carpenter, in semifinals before going even lower in the final round to take out Mooresville’s Chris Cline and his unique 1957 Plymouth replica.

The biggest all-Chevrolet event in the Carolinas also crowned champions in several bracket racing categories and awarded “best of” trophies to standout General Motors cars and trucks in a host of show classes.

In a special exhibition, Terry Rosberg drove the “American Thunder” jet dragster to consecutive victories over the Black Pearl jet-powered Chevy Nova Pro Mod driven by veteran David Douthit.

Driving the 1965 Corvette owned by the late Randy Prince, Tommy Hilburn of Hope Mills, NC, took one of the two Top Eliminator titles, beating the newly married Paul Warwick of Lumberton in the Sunday final after Timothy Thomas hoisted the hardware on Saturday.

In Footbrake, two-time former Rockingham Dragway track champion Staten Nichols, who won the track’s Street class in 1992 and 1993, got the Sunday victory after Lauren Edwards prevailed on Saturday.

Ray Dupont won the D.O.T. class and Ronnie Locklear picked up the victory in the Trophy class.   [09/30/19]

A note written on a Landshire sandwich wrapper was in the mayo jar on the Phlegm Building second story penthouse porch this morning. The news is that Monster Transmission has moved to a new 60-acre location and will be opening an eighth-mile drag strip in Hernando County, Florida. Good news, indeed!   [09/30/19]

The National Mustang Racing Association has announced its national event schedule for next season. Two events will be run in conjunction with the NMCA.

New for the coming year, the Gateway Rumble and Ford Motorsports Nationals will be three-day events with testing on Thursday and qualifying and eliminations rounds on Friday and Saturday.

Feb. 27-Mar. 1: NMRA Spring Break Shootout, Bradenton, FL

Apr. 2-5: NMRA/NMCA All Star Nationals, Atlanta, GA

May 14-16: NMRA Gateway Rumble, St. Louis

June 25-27: NMRA Ford Motorsport Nationals, Reading, PA

July 30-Aug. 2: AMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing, Joliet, IL

Oct. 1-4: NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival, Bowling Green, KY    [09/30/19]

The south Louisiana Dragway Reunion is scheduled for Nov. 23-24 in Houma, LA. The event starts on Saturday with a Bayou Car Cruise and Poker Run at the Houma Area Convention & Vistors Bureau in Gray, LA, and continues with drag racing and a cacklefest in downtown Houma. Sunday hosts a car show, drag racing and another cacklefest. For more information go to www.southlanddragway.com.   [09/30/19]

The new Strange Pro HD Aluminum case bridges the gap between their popular Lightweight Aluminum case and the race proven Ultra Case. The Strange Pro HD Aluminum case is designed for Drag Race and the most abusive Hi-Performance Street/Strip applications. The case is crafted from superior 206-T4 heat treated aluminum which has a 32% higher tensile strength than the commonly used 356-T6 aluminum. The billet aluminum support is held in with 7/16” ARP bolts and contains a unique oil channel to maximize oil flow to the pinion bearings for extended use. The robust billet caps and 9/16” thru bolt design compliment the case to significantly reduce gear deflection extending the life of the gear. The Strange Pro HD Aluminum case is available in 3.062”, 3.250” & 3.812” bore sizes.  [09/30/19]