NHRA Nitro Spring Training concludes with big runs by Force, Johnson

Tommy Johnson Jr. and Brittany Force posted the quickest runs in their categories Saturday during the final day of NHRA Nitro Spring Training at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park near Phoenix.

NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car teams utilized the four-day preseason test session to prepare for the season-opening Circle K NHRA Winternationals, next weekend (Feb. 11-14) at historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California. The tradition-rich race near Los Angeles is the season-opening event for the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.

Johnson powered his Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger to the unofficial quickest run ever in Funny Car, a jaw-dropping 3.874-second run at 318.47 mph. Matt Hagan holds the quickest run in history, 3.879, set in Brainerd last season.

“We ran really well all week, and John [Collins, crew chief] kept saying we weren’t really leaning on it; we were just testing parts to learn some things,” said Johnson, who had a strong season last year with two wins in eight final rounds, three top qualifying efforts, and a third-place points finish. “This afternoon, he said we’re going to make one more run, and we’re going to lean on it a little bit. It was a really good run early, and it didn’t run as well at the top end as we were expecting, but a 3.12 to the eighth-mile is pretty awesome.”

Johnson says the strong finish to a great test session gives his team a lot of confidence heading to the season-opener in Pomona in the highly-competitive Funny Car category.

“We had our entire team stay intact after last year, and we have sort of picked up where we left off last year,” Johnson said. “The crew worked really hard during the offseason, and I am just happy for the guys to make a run like that to close out testing. It’s a good reward for them for all their hard work.”

Hight, the 2009 Funny Car world champion, sped to his quickest run during the test with a 3.885 at 329.34 in his Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro. He narrowly clipped teammate Courtney Force for the second-quickest run of the day, as she posted a 3.890 at 323.89 at the controls of her 10,000-horsepower Traxxas Camaro. In fact, John Force Racing cars claimed seven of the 10 quickest runs of the day as 16-time world champ John Force led the parade with runs of 3.914, 3.927 and 3.930 in his baby-blue Peak Camaro. Courtney also ran a 3.915 at 323.74, and Hight added a 3.931 at 323.43.

Other notable runs in Funny Car from the day included a 3.919 at 320.66 from Ron Capps in the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger and a 3.962 at 326.79 from two-time world champ Hagan in the Mopar Dodge. Past Phoenix winner Alexis DeJoria was the quickest of the Kalitta Funny Cars with a 3.972 at 320.51 in her Tequila Patron Toyota Camry, followed by defending Funny Car world champ Del Worsham with a 3.983 at 320.81 in his DHL Camry.

Jack Beckman, who had the quickest car on each of the first three days of the test session, spent Saturday making several runs to break in a brand-new chassis for the Infinite Hero Charger.

In Top Fuel, Brittany Force continued to impress in the Monster Energy dragster, racing to Saturday’s quickest run with a 3.721 at 319.07. She had three of the 10 quickest runs of the day, also clocking a 3.747 at 322.81 and a 3.758 at 317.64.

“There have definitely been some big changes for the entire Monster Energy team,” said Force, who is looking to become the first Force family member to win an NHRA race in a Top Fuel dragster and heads to Pomona riding a wave of momentum from the team’s effort this week.

“We teamed up with [consultant] Alan Johnson and [crew chief] Brian Husen,” she continued. “I’m excited to be out here. We all needed this testing, especially me; I’ve been out of the seat a few months. It feels good to get back in the car. Things are a little different, a whole new system. I’m learning that. We had some great runs. We’re ready to get to Pomona.”

Clay Millican, who is also looking to earn his first NHRA victory in 2016, posted an early number that held as the quickest for much of Saturday, a 3.739 at 288.87, in his Parts Plus/Great Clips dragster. Millican was excited about that run because his incremental numbers downtrack were close to Tony Schumacher’s testing best of 3.683 from Friday until a blower belt broke on the car just prior to the finish line.

Doug Kalitta was third-quickest of the day in his Mac Tools dragster with a 3.745 at 325.53. Aussie Richie Crampton posted a 3.748 at 319.22 in the Lucas Oil dragster, and defending world champ Antron Brown led the DSR dragster charge with a 3.768 at 297.88 in his Matco Tools dragster.

Circle K NHRA Winternationals qualifying gets under way Friday, Feb. 12, at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona with sessions at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m., followed by the final two qualifying sessions Saturday at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday’s finals start at 11 a.m. For tickets, call 800-884-NHRA (6472) or log on to NHRA.com/tickets.

Below are the quickest performances in Top Fuel and Funny Car from Saturday at NHRA Nitro Spring Training:

TOP FUEL
3.721, 319.07 – Brittany Force
3.739, 288.87 – Clay Millican
3.745, 325.53 – Doug Kalitta
3.747, 322.81 – Force
3.748, 319.22 – Richie Crampton
3.758, 317.64 – Force
3.768, 297.88 – Antron Brown
3.770, 316.08 – Shawn Langdon
3.791, 320.13 – Brown
3.802, 325.69 – J.R. Todd
3.839, 272.72 – Leah Pritchett
3.882, 251.67 – Todd
3.916, 256.75 – Terry McMillen
3.929, 255.00 – Troy Buff
3.935, 306.05 – McMillen
4.123, 242.19 – Buff

FUNNY CAR
3.874, 318.47 – Tommy Johnson Jr.
3.885, 329.34 – Robert Hight
3.890, 323.89 – Courtney Force
3.914, 327.35 – John Force
3.915, 323.74 – C. Force
3.919, 320.66 – Ron Capps
3.925, 323.66 – Johnson
3.927, 323.66 – J. Force
3.930, 328.14 – J. Force
3.931, 323.43 – Hight
3.962, 326.79 – Hagan
3.972, 320.51 – Alexis DeJoria
3.982, 289.57 – Beckman
3.983, 320.81 – Del Worsham
3.987, 319.29 – Capps
3.993, 322.58 – DeJoria
3.999, 320.97 – Worsham
4.008, 273.94 – Cruz Pedregon
4.015, 316.01 – Brian Hough
4.070, 273.39 – Worsham
4.153, 252.24 – Jim Campbell
4.211, 225.60 – Hagan

Below are the top-10 quickest runs overall in each category from the four-day test session:

TOP FUEL
1.  3.683, 325.37 – Tony Schumacher
2.  3.714, 330.15 – Dave Connolly
3.  3.716, 327.35 – Doug Kalitta
4.  3.718, 320.58 – Schumacher
5.  3.721, 319.07 – Brittany Force
6.  3.721, 318.54 – Force
7.  3.727, 322.88 – Kalitta
8.  3.729, 326.08 – Torrence
9.  3.731, 326.48 – Torrence
10. 3.733, 315.49 – Shawn Langdon

FUNNY CAR
1.  3.874, 318.47 – Tommy Johnson Jr.
2.  3.880, 325.77 – Jack Beckman
3.  3.885, 329.34 – Robert Hight
4.  3.890, 323.89 – Courtney Force
5.  3.894, 327.03 – Jack Beckman
6.  3.895, 325.06 – Beckman
7.  3.904, 318.54 – Force
8.  3.912, 324.20 – John Force
9.  3.913, 326.16 – Robert Hight
10. 3.914, 327.35 – J. Force

Saturday Notebook

Righting the ship: The final day of NHRA Nitro Spring Training was significantly more positive for John Force Racing Funny Car drivers Robert Hight (pictured) and John and Courtney Force. After suffering through three days of losing traction, all three drivers made a representative run by the end of Friday testing and recorded a series of low-3.9-second runs today. Hight and Courtney dipped into the 3.8s, with Hight running a best of 3.885 this morning that held for the quickest Funny Car time of the day until Tommy Johnson Jr.’s moon shot in the late afternoon.

“We made two really good runs yesterday that started to turn things around for us,” said Hight. “We started out 0-7 not getting the tune-up right for the track setup. I feel stupid now knowing the issue and that we didn’t have to make that big of a move to fix it. Sorting it out and running that 3.88 gave us a chance to spend the next few runs testing things like trying a different supercharger on one run.”

Exclamation point: Clay Millican didn’t come to Phoenix to showboat or earn style points, though his one attempt at lighting up the scoreboard was exceptional. Millican ran a 3.738 at only 280.89 mph when he broke a blower belt before the finish line. A comparison of his incremental numbers (2.092 to 330 feet; 2.959 at 292.84 mph to 660 feet) to Schumacher’s during his 3.683 pass (2.090; 2.952 at 293.86 mph) suggest that Millican was on a run of 3.69 had the rubber band not snapped prematurely.

“This was truly a test session with different parts on our car on every run except for one yesterday,” said Millican. “[Crew chief] David Grubnic’s plan was to run the car to the eighth-mile on every pass, but we decided to make a full run when we were in the staging lanes and saw that the conditions were the same as yesterday. We called [owner] Doug Stringer, and he gave us the OK to make a hero run. It was going the quickest that I’ve ever been until it broke a blower belt that had too many runs on it. It was an unbelievably great run. The best part is that we didn’t hurt a part all week.”

Practice makes perfect: Cruz Pedregon is an unabashed football fan, but he isn’t afraid to run the wheels off his Snap-on Toyota Camry through tomorrow’s Super Bowl if he has to in the name of starting the year strong.
“The word ‘testing’ doesn’t really apply to me,” said Pedregon, who made four attempts today. “Some people are here for testing. I’m here to practice. Like any sport, you don’t win in practice, but we needed it for darn sure, myself included.

“Our main objective is to feel good going into Pomona. My goal as a team owner is to start off strong. Even in the days when I was driving for Joe Gibbs and Larry Minor, I’ve been notorious for not starting out strong. I had to win a bunch of races in a row at the end of the season both times I won the championship. We’re testing to start faster.”

A clean slate: Crew chief Jason McCulloch joined Dave Connolly and the C&J Energy Services team during the 2015 season and played a constant game of catch-up to implement changes and improve performance. He enters a new year with a full offseason and full command of the team with new addition Ron Douglas as assistant crew chief. Connolly’s performance looked strong out of the gate with low-3.7-second runs.

“We have a clean slate and more experience on the crew in what we’re trying to do,” said McCulloch. “The new fuel system works good. It’s something I’m more familiar with that we had in the cabinet all last year but never had a chance to try. Ron is a very good contribution to this team.

“We ran for three days. Day two was a complete waste of our time because of a mechanical problem, but days one and three were good. We did what we were trying to do in testing. It’s easy to talk about. Racing is another thing.”

Something to prove: Leah Pritchett and the Quaker State team knocked the rust off from this winter, and the new driver for the team who finished No. 4 in the standings last season has quickly jelled with crew chiefs Mike Guger and Joe Barlam.

“It’s going OK,” said Pritchett. “It was running low-.70 numbers on the early-shutoff runs we made this week. I’m extremely comfortable in the car. It drives smooth. Mike and Joe are phenomenal to work with. We have high expectations that we’ve placed on ourselves. We have something to prove this year.”

Helping hands: Scott Palmer had been at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park for the past couple of days but waited until today to make his first passes of the season. Steve Torrence concluded a successful three days of testing yesterday, and the Capco Contractors team and assistant crew chief Bobby Lagana Jr. in particular are assisting Palmer’s efforts today.

“We were waiting for the show,” said Palmer. “How far we go on each run is up to Bobby Lagana. We want to start by making sure all the functions work on the car. With Torrence not running, they’re able to oversee us. They obviously had a good couple days out here. I’m excited about running. I wanted to celebrate after the first time the car started.”

Better position: There have been many changes with Terry McMillen’s Amalie Motor Oil dragster this past winter, from the car itself to the parts within it. The team has worked with Don Schumacher Racing and Todd Okuhara, DSR’s director of nitro racing, to acquire many of the same parts and pieces that are used by the Top Fuel teams within that organization. Crew chief Rob Wendland is bullish about the early results.

“2015 was a survival year, and we’re in better position this season,” said Wendland. “We changed a lot of things. We have a different car, which was the car Shawn Langdon drove last season with a new front half and minus the capsule. We’re being very weight-conscious within our budget; we have the new Weld Delta wheel, E3 spark plugs, a different clutch, and different blowers. The car did everything we wanted it to do with no malfunctions.

“We worked 122 hours in the past seven days to get here. The fab shop at DSR worked hard, too. Todd Okuhara really helped us and comes by to give us his two cents after we were pretty much on our own last year. Don Schumacher wants cars out here and makes his high-performance stuff available to us. He figures that if his crew chiefs can’t beat us with the same parts, then he needs different crew chiefs.”

Pipe dream: Troy Buff has made several laps in Bill Miller’s new BME dragster that was built in Miller’s Carson City, Nev., shop. Though adapting to conditions in the cool, dry air that feeds ample power to the internal combustion engines has been a struggle, Buff is happy about the new chassis that includes modernizations such as the tall windshield.

“It’s a nice piece,” said Buff. “It drives really straight so far. I can see through the windshield very clearly. I want to make a full pull to see what it feels like at the other end. It went 3.94 yesterday on a planned early shutoff and felt nice. It drove through the clutch a little bit, and it smoked the tires on the next run when we gave it more.”

New blood: Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Brian Hough (pictured) was all smiles after making his first full-track run in a nitro-burning coupe. Gifted the opportunity to upgrade his license in Tim Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Mustang, he recorded an impressive 4.015 at 316.01 mph.

“That was pretty awesome,” said Hough. “It’s amazing how hard it pulls. It’s OK to 60 feet, and then it goes like a rocket ship. It pulled all the way to the finish line. I’m lucky to have the opportunity from Tim. Even if nothing comes of it, I can say that I did it.”

The relationship between Wilkerson and Hough goes back to 1994, when Wilkerson sold his Top Alcohol Funny Car operation to Hough and taught him how to drive at this same track.

“For the last couple years, Tim has said, ‘Someday we’ll get you your license on a Monday after we race,’ ” said Hough. “He called and said that they were going to be here for four days if I wanted to license. I was coming here anyway to test my car.”

Speaking of newcomers in the Funny Car ranks, Jim Campbell has been making passes in Chuck and Del Worsham’s California Safety & Fire Specialists Charger to prepare for his Professional debut next week. After no problems during his licensing process, Campbell experienced some adversity for the first time this week.

“I’m just here to get seat time,” said Campbell. “After going 6-for-6 getting down the track, I experienced tire shake for the first time yesterday. There was another run where the clutch engaged all at once. Overall, I feel a lot better in the car.”

Putting the pieces into place: Richie Crampton and teammate Morgan Lucas both tested in Phoenix. Though Lucas is running his normal limited schedule, he is beginning the season in Pomona rather than Gainesville as he had during the past couple of seasons. Crew chief Aaron Brooks is sorting out the bugs in both entries, with promising runs in Crampton’s case.

“We ran a .74 shutting it off early on Thursday,” said Crampton. “We’re in test mode. We moved clutch discs around to different positions. A lot of the crew guys changed positions on the car as well.”

Crampton closed testing with a 3.74 on a side-by-side run opposite Brittany Force.

Head-ing the right direction: After a slow start to testing this week, Chad Head got the Head Inc. Toyota Camry Funny Car down the track several times to enter Pomona in full stride.

“In the seven runs we made before today, we finally got down in T6 and ran a 3.93 last night,” said Head. “The 3.93 was a little hairy. It shook and spun, and I was behind the car the whole run. I don’t think it would have made it down if we did that again in Pomona. We’re putting some weight on the nose to help with the whole laid-back header thing. We’re also running new tires for Goodyear that they have done a good job with. We usually run scuffed tires, so we put a set of old tires on for one run to see how it compares with running new sets.”

Head, who had been involved with the organization of offseason test sessions in South Florida prior to this season, was complimentary of the opportunity the racers have been given to test at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

“The NHRA guys did a great job with the track,” said Head. “It was a lot of work to put these on in the past couple of years, and they took a lot of weight off our shoulders.”

Out with the new, in with the old: One of the objectives for Del Worsham this weekend was to learn the characteristics of a brand-new chassis underneath his DHL Toyota Camry that he will run sometime in the early season. For comparison’s sake and to get in tune before the season opener, he rolled out the car that he drove to the 2015 Mello Yello world championship for a trio of runs today.

“We were running a new car with a new management system,” said co-crew chief Nick Boninfante Jr. “We ran 3.95 at 325 and had better early numbers on runs that we shut off early. We’re working the bugs out. It wants different stuff. We made sure we got down the track, which it did other than when we did some disc testing last night that made it pretty aggressive. We’re shaking down the car that won the championship today. As far as the guys, they all came back from last year and haven’t missed a beat.”

Getting in sync: J.R. Todd is running the same dragster and proven combination from last season in Connie Kalitta’s SealMaster entry. With a host of new faces working on it, the test session for Todd is about getting everybody synchronized in their new positions.

“It’s basically a brand-new crew,” said Todd. “The only guy who is still here from last year besides [assistant crew chief] James Riola is in a new position on the crew, so everybody is learning. We made a couple of good half-track runs, but the main thing is giving these guys between-rounds experience.”

Teammate Doug Kalitta has a few new crewmembers on the Mac Tools team as well. Crew chief Jim Oberhofer is happy with the results of testing their brand-new, in-house chassis. Kalitta ran a best of 3.716. Another emphasis this winter has been to fix the problems that caused several engine explosions last year.

“The testing with the new in-house-built car has been a success,” said Oberhofer. “The guys at the shop did a great job. We had a setback by blowing the thing up on Thursday. We worked hard this winter to fix the problems, and I felt pretty good about it until then. We made one more change yesterday that worked well. We made an early shutoff that would have been a low .70 and ran a .71, and the motor looked better than it has looked for a long time.”

Regarding the almost entirely new roster on Todd’s crew that is led by nitro veteran Rob Flynn, Oberhofer quipped, “Rob is figuring out the Rubik’s Cube that is Connie Kalitta, and they’ll be fine.”

Big boomer: Like several others this weekend, Ron Capps is running a two-piece TBS500 manifold that is designed to make a top-end explosion less catastrophic. Unfortunately for Capps, he was the first to test its effects with a big explosion in the NAPA Dodge Charger Thursday.

“That was a good one,” said Capps. “It could have been a lot worse. The concussion was bigger, but damage-wise, it was way less. It kept the oil in the intake valley and didn’t put any on the racetrack or on me. It cracked the body, but there were no major pieces in the air.”

“We’ve been overcoming things all week,” said crew chief Rahn Tobler. “We found a bad ignition today. The explosion on Thursday made it a tough week. We spent all winter meticulously going over every little thing on the car and then blew the [crap] out of it. We got it out of the way before Pomona.”

Other notes: John Force and the Peak Antifreeze team might have thought that the excitement was over after making their third 3.9-second run of the day. However, when Doug Kalitta drove through the shutdown area in the next pair, one of his parachutes grabbed the back of Force’s Camaro body and knocked it off the front body pole. No crewmembers were injured. … Jack Beckman ran a brand-new chassis today. Upon inspection following his midtrack wheelstand yesterday, his other chassis will need a new front half. … After shaking or smoking the tires for three straight days, Matt Hagan ended testing on a positive note with a 3.96.