The 2015 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season will come to a fitting conclusion at the 51st annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Nov. 12-15, as world champions will be crowned following the grueling 24-race tour across America.
The lucrative event, which is the final of six playoff races in the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship, will feature drag racing at its finest as teams compete for victories amid the pageantry of a world championship atmosphere on full display. Drivers will arrive in Pomona ready to earn series crowns following the first five Countdown to the Championship races – the NHRA Carolina Nationals, AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, NHRA Keystone Nationals, AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals and the NHRA Toyota Nationals.
Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were last year’s winners of the tradition-rich Southern California event that will once again be televised on ESPN2.
The Top Fuel and Pro Stock championships were decided early, at the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas, in favor of Antron Brown and Erica Enders, respectively, but the crowns in Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle are both still very much up for grabs.
Pomona could be the site of an incredible final duel between local favorites Del Worsham and Jack Beckman to settle the Funny Car championship. Worsham leads Beckman after five races in the Countdown, but both drivers have been dominant in different points of the season.
Worsham was strong at the beginning of the playoffs, driving his DHL Toyota Camry to back-to-back wins at Charlotte and St. Louis and resetting the elapsed time national record in St. Louis. A first round exit in Reading opened the door for his competition and Beckman rose to the occasion, winning the event in Reading and earning a 20-point bonus after resetting the national record that Worsham had just broken, but Worsham bounced back with a win in Dallas. Both Southern California natives have world championship pedigrees: Worsham was the 2011 world champ in Top Fuel and Beckman, driver of the Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R/T, won the Funny Car championship in 2012.
Despite the battle between Worsham and Beckman, several other competitors are certainly ready to jump in the mix. Don Schumacher Racing teammates Matt Hagan and Tommy Johnson Jr. are certainly capable of making title runs of their own in the final race. Hagan, the two-time and defending world champ, has a good track record in the latter stages of the Countdown. Johnson Jr. has been one of the most consistent cars this season and that consistency could help him be a factor in the championship.
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s thrilling season will also come to an end in Pomona with the possibility of a familiar face on top. Despite not dominating the season like last year, Andrew Hines is in position for a fifth world championship. The four-time and defending world champ entered the Countdown under the radar but wins at Charlotte andReading gave him the points lead.
The rider of the Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson claimed his 42nd career victory in Las Vegas . He currently holds the points lead over Indianapolis winner Jerry Savoie and teammate Eddie Krawiec, who was the points leader for most of the regular season.
Even though the championships have been decided in Top Fuel and Pro Stock, drivers will still be working hard for prestigious event titles and to finish as high in the top 10 points standings as possible. Brown, driver of the Matco Tools dragster, will be challenged by teammate Tony Schumacher. The eight-time and defending world champ has a U.S. Army dragster that is capable of producing magical moments when the season comes to crunch time. “The Sarge” is also gunning to become the winningest Top Fuel driver at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona with a seventh victory, which would break a tie with “Big Daddy” Don Garlits.
Other contenders for the win at Pomona include Brittany Force, four-time 2015 event winner Richie Crampton and five-time Pomona winner Larry Dixon.
Enders, who became the first female Pro Stock world champion and the third female to win a series crown in the Mello Yello Series last year, is now a two-time champ, but you can be certain that four-time world champ Greg Anderson will prove no slouch in his Summit Racing Chevy Camaro is primed for the playoffs. In addition to Anderson, Chris McGaha, the winner at Reading, and Larry Morgan have shown recently that they have the high-horsepower cars to challenge both Enders and Anderson.
Drivers in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series also will be racing hard in their quest to become winners of the thrilling event as well as national champions during the weekend.
