(Photos by David Whealon) – This weekend the NHRA Mello Yello drag racing tour stops in Las Vegas after a weekend off after the Four Wide Nationals at zMax raceway outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. The event was its normal wild self with weirdness happening at the starting line, finish line, and through the middle. The new track surface was as smooth as a baby’s bottom and allowed for some incredible performances while giving other teams fits. John Force was flying the Chevrolet colors loud and proud on his car and drivers like John Hale continued to put in strong performances and maintain a top 10 status in the points.

Lots of hardcore fans dislike the four car format but personally I think it is cool that there’s something different on the tour. The world goes back on its axis this weekend in Las Vegas and frankly something that makes the drivers and crews go outside of the box isn’t entirely bad. The results of deviating from the norm become readily apparent as some guys recorded weirdo reaction times of didn’t leave at all during their “quads”. Starting line lane changes became a crazy shuffling situation with three and four cars often moving around with teams providing the motive power. In all, it was a race no one could have predicted the outcome of and Jack Beckman’s win was great for him to break a dry spell and great for his team as a confidence builder. Antron took care of business in top fuel, and Larry Morgan won in pro stock for the first time in more than half a decade. Again…who would have predicted it?!