The latest update as of September 19, 2022

Monday Morning Musings

The first of six events in the NHRA Countdown to The Championship was completed at Maple Grove Raceway yesterday. The Pep Boys NHRA Nationals saw good weather all weekend, but Sunday's eliminations was littered with tire smoking/shaking runs for both the Pros and Pro Sportsman racers. There were some upsets, some great runs from unexpected sources, and as always, some very close races. The points standings in all categories saw adjustments; some minor, some major.

With the re-settting of the PRO points following the U.S. Nationals, the gap between the top and bottom was tightened, but after one race in the countdown, the gaps have again widened, considerably, to more than 200 points in Funny Car and Pro Stock, and no less than 137 (Pro Stock Motorcycle). However, that gap between #1 and #10 for the bikes comes with a serious caveat, in that they only have four more events in their season. The Pro Stock Motorcycle class is not being run at this week's Betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at Charlotte NC's ZMAX Dragway.

Top Fuel

Third generation fuel racer Austin Prock rebounded from a miserable stretch of five consecutive first-round losses, and a season littered with a class "leading" 90 oil-down penalty points. Young Mr. Prock marched through eliminations with a trio of 3.70 passes, and one pedalling win over veteran Antron Brown. Facing Prock in the final was the new points leader, Justin Ashley, and the two young guns engaged in a very close race, decided by just FOUR thousandths of a second in Prock's favour.

The points leader going into Maple Grove, Brittany Force, lost in the second round and fell to second, just nine points behind Ashley and one point in front of #3 Mike Salinas. The semi-finalist at Reading, Antron Brown picked up two spots on the ladder, from #6 to #4 and now sits just 4 points behind Ashley. The biggest gainer was obviously Austin Prock, who zoomed from #12 to #6, just 74 points out of first place after the first event of the countdown. On the losing side of the ledger were first round runner-ups, Josh Hart, Shawn Langdon, and Tony Schumacher, who all dropped two spots on the list.

Funny Car

The standings didn't change at the top, as season-long leader Robert Hight continued his domination of the class with his seventh victory of the season, four more than anyone else.

TAD & TAFC Championship Points Standings