Photos by Mike and Jeff Burghardt
Ron Capps raced to his first nitro Funny Car victory in nearly a year this weekend at the Circle K NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the first of 24 scheduled events.
In Top Fuel Steve Torrence and Pro Stock Greg Anderson were also Professional winners at the season-opening Winternationals.
Capps emerged from a strong performing field as the winner and had to defeat defending world champion Del Worsham in the final round to take his 46th career victory. He outran Jeff Diehl, Chad Head and Robert Hight in early rounds. Capps qualified second with a 3.902 for the field, behind Jack Beckman’s 3.888 elapsed time.
In the final, Capps used a quicker reaction time and covered the distance in 3.981 seconds at 324.28 mph in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger to hold off the hard-charging DHL Toyota Camry of Worsham, which posted a quicker, but losing performance of 3.962 at 324.36.
“This is the most fabled track we go to and it’s the birthplace of drag racing; it is unbelievable to win here,” Capps said. “I can’t wait to get this season going. You wonder if you are ever going to see one of these [trophies] again. I am racing Del Worsham in the final, who is one of the best. We threw down. What a race. Just to know we can get in the circle and get another Wally feels good.”
Capps and Crew Chief Rahn Tobler discuss their victory in the Pomona Raceway Winners Circle. It was Capps’ third Winternationals win, he calls the historic Pomona Raceway a second home.
In Top Fuel, Steve Torrence (near lane) powered to his first Winternationals victory and his sixth career win by outrunning Doug Kalitta in the final round. Torrence’s Capco Contractors dragster posted a 3.735 at 326.48 to edge Kalitta’s Mac Tools machine, which trailed with a 3.753 at 324.36.
Torrence, whose car has been running like a very consistent bracket dragster since pre-season testing last week in Phoenix, used a string of low 3.7-second runs to beat Steve Faria, Morgan Lucas, and Richie Crampton in the first three rounds. He saved his quickest run on Sunday for the final to beat Kalitta.
“[Tuning consultant] Alan [Johnson] and [crew chief] Richard [Hogan] have worked really well together,” said Torrence, who becomes the Top Fuel points leader for the first time in his career. “Alan is that thorn who keeps poking Richard to tune it just a little bit farther. My crew guys have done a great job.”
Four-time Pro Stock world champ Greg Anderson (far lane) earned the first win in the new Holley EFI Pro Stock era, holding off his teammate Jason Line in a photo-finish final round. Anderson also won by using a holeshot start and finished in 6.617 at 207.85 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro to take the win over Line, whose 6.609 at 209.82 in his Summit Camaro wasn’t enough to make up for Anderson’s starting line advantage.
“I feel honored to be the first winner of the fuel injection era and get the first trophy,” said Anderson, who was the event’s No. 1 qualifier and advanced to the final with round wins over Matt Hartford, five-time champ Jeg Coughlin Jr. and last season’s top rookie Drew Skillman.
“I got a great light in the final and got it done,” Anderson said. “It was my day. I can’t tell you how proud I am of this Summit Racing team. It is getting better every run. That’s going to pay off down the road. Everybody out there is in a steep learning curve right now.”
The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues Feb. 26-28 at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix.
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POMONA, Calif. — Final finish order (1-16) at the 56th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The race is the first of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
TOP FUEL:
- Steve Torrence; 2. Doug Kalitta; 3. Richie Crampton; 4. J.R. Todd; 5. Antron Brown; 6. Terry McMillen; 7. Morgan Lucas; 8. Clay Millican; 9. Brittany Force; 10. Troy Buff; 11. Tony Schumacher; 12. Scott Palmer; 13. Steve Faria; 14. Dave Connolly; 15. Shawn Langdon; 16. Leah Pritchett.
FUNNY CAR:
- Ron Capps; 2. Del Worsham; 3. Robert Hight; 4. John Force; 5. Courtney Force; 6. Jack Beckman; 7. Alexis DeJoria; 8. Chad Head; 9. James Campbell; 10. John Hale; 11. Matt Hagan; 12. Tommy Johnson Jr.; 13. Cruz Pedregon; 14. Tim Wilkerson; 15. Jeff Diehl; 16. Gary Densham.
PRO STOCK:
- Greg Anderson; 2. Jason Line; 3. Drew Skillman; 4. Bo Butner; 5. Shane Gray; 6. Jeg Coughlin; 7. Vincent Nobile; 8. Allen Johnson; 9. Chris McGaha; 10. Joey Grose; 11. V. Gaines; 12. Deric Kramer; 13. Matt Hartford; 14. Alex Laughlin; 15. Erica Enders; 16. Aaron Strong.
Lots of empty seats. Going to be tough paying the ‘Professional” classes with low ticket sales. I think people are slowly giving a collective YAWN boring, to the NHRA.