TOPEKA, KS (May 25, 2014) – Courtney Force and the Traxxas Ford Mustang made more history at the 26th annual NHRA Kansas Nationals racing to victory and claiming the 100th pro win by a female in the history of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Force outran Cruz Pedregon in the final after dispatching Dale Creasy Jr., Jeff Arend, and Tommy Johnson Jr. leading up to the final.
BAYTOWN, TX – Mello Yello Funny Car points leader Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team did not let two sub-par runs on Friday distract them on Saturday at the 27th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals. All three John Force Racing Funny Cars qualified for the race and Hight was the highest positioned driver in the No. 4 spot with a solid 4.073 second pass at 312.42 mph. Brittany Force and the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster will go into race day as the No. 8 qualified Top Fuel dragster.
GAINESVILLE, FL ---- Robert Hight may not have had a strong two days of qualifying at the 45th annual Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals but when it counted his Auto Club Ford Mustang Funny Car was the class of the field winning for the first time in 2014. Hight reached the final two weeks ago in Phoenix but today he notched his thirtieth career win tying him with Funny Car legend Kenny Bernstein for sixth all-time in the Funny Car class. Hight outran John Force, 4.074 to 6.345 seconds.
CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 22, 2014) - Experimenting with a 10,000-horsepower Funny Car sounds dangerous, but it is exactly what crew chief Rob Flynn did with Jack Beckman's Valvoline MaxLife Funny Car in the fourth and final qualifying session at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.
The historic Los Angeles County Fairplex in Pomona, CA has been called the “Birthplace of Drag Racing” and twice a year, the National Hot Rod Association takes center stage there with two prestigious national events on their professional Mello Yello schedule.
POMONA, CA ---- For the seventh time in his career, John Force drove his Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang Funny Car to victory at the 54th running of the Circle K NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. This was John Force’s sixth final in a row going back to the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello season but today’s final can be described as an epic rematch between two of the strongest Funny Cars in recent memory. It was at this same spot at the conclusion of the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello season during the Auto Club Finals that John Force and Matt Hagan squared off against each other with John coming up on the losing end.
POMONA – John Force picked up right where he left off in 2013 when he raced to his unprecedented 16th Mello Yello Funny Car championship. On the first day of the 2014 NHRA season at the 54th annual NHRA Circle K Winternationals the winningest driver in NHRA history lowered the track elapsed time record he set in November at the Auto Club Finals twice en route to unofficially setting the national elapsed time record. NHRA national records become official at the conclusion of the race but his 3.966 second pass to close out the second qualifying session has a great chance of standing up for a long time.
POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 10) – JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. added another page to his already stellar racing resume by clinching the 2013 Pro Stock championship Sunday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway.
Coughlin became just the eighth driver in NHRA history to win a fifth professional championship, as he earned previous Pro Stock titles in 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2008. As a sportsman driver, Coughlin also won the NHRA Super Gas championship in 1992.
POMONA, CA---- John Force ended his 2013 Mello Yello NHRA championship season on a high night but not the highest note. Force lost a close final round to Matt Hagan at the 49th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang had been nearly invincible the past five races. In the final he covered the 1000 ft. race track in 4.0057 seconds but Hagan was slightly quicker with a 4.018 second pass. His win streak may have been stopped at three races but the competitive fire was fanned heading into the off-season.
POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 10, 2013) - A close friend of Matt Hagan and member of the Mopar/Rocky Boots Funny Car team couldn't come to this weekend's NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season finale in Southern California.
Their friend and crew chief, Dickie Venables, had to stay back in Indianapolis after having successful intestinal surgery on Wednesday. He was released from the hospital on Sunday.
Hagan and his crew, led at the Auto Club Finals by first-year assistant crew chief Michael Knudsen, could have passed the hat to collect enough money to send Venables flowers, candy or a really nice card.
Instead, the Mopar/Rocky team delivered an unbelievable weekend to the recuperating Venables that culminated Sunday with Hagan beating 2013 Funny Car world champion John Force in the championship round Sunday.
"I'm on cloud nine that our assistant crew chief stepped up and was able to fill some big shoes," Hagan said. "Mike Knudsen has never tuned a race car by himself before. There hasn't been another crew chief in our lounge all weekend.
POMONA, CA (November 9, 2013) –John Force will go into race day at the 49th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals as the No. 1 qualifier. Force was the provisional No. 1 qualifier on Friday on the strength of his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang Funny Car’s 4.015 second pass. Today during the final qualifying session Force was bumped back by Matt Hagan’s 4.014 second pass before the newly crowned 16-time Mello Yello NHRA Funny Car champion raced into the record books with the first three second pass in Funny Car history at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, 3.995 seconds at 319.37 mph.
POMONA, Calif. -- Jeg Coughlin Jr. is so close to the 2013 Pro Stock title he can almost feel the golden Wally trophy in his hands. But the five-time world champ won't let his mind wander that far, even though he enjoys a 71-point lead in the Mello Yello points as he arrives at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona for the season-ending 49th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals.
BROWNSBURG, Ind. - The 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series has been a remarkable turnaround for Matt Hagan.
In 2012, Hagan never won an event title or led qualifying, suffered nine first-round losses and failed to make the Countdown to the Championship playoffs for a chance to defend his 2011 NHRA Funny Car championship
Driver of Castrol EDGE Top Fuel Dragster Hopes to Affect Strong Finish
POMONA, Calif. – For rookie Brittany Force, the world’s fastest credentialed schoolteacher, this week’s season finale at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif., represents a final exam, of sorts, in this her first year of post graduate study at the UHP, the University of High Performance.
For the 27-year-old graduate of Cal State-Fullerton, who also spent a semester at New York’s Hunter College, the 49th annual Auto Club Finals offers one last opportunity to make the Dean’s List
16-Time Champ Aims for Ninth Victory in Season-Ending Auto Club Finals
POMONA, Calif. – He may already have clinched a record 16th NHRA Funny Car championship, but rivals know that John Force isn’t just going to “mail it in” this week when the 2013 Mello Yello tour concludes with the 49th annual Auto Club Finals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Auto Club NHRA Final
Auto Club NHRA Finals
Auto Club Raceway Pomona
Pomona, CA (Nov 7-10)
The Auto Club NHRA Finals is the sixth and final event in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff that will determine the 2013 Full Throttle Champions. Jeg Coughlin Jr. enters the event as the leader in the Pro Stock class. He currently leads second-ranked Jason Line by 71 points
YORBA LINDA, CA (October 29, 2013) --- With one more day of testing behind her, Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future contender, Brittany Force is eager to get to the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona. The rookie driver of the Castrol EDGE Top Fuel dragster, the first Top Fueler ever campaign by the 18-time Funny Car championship team, picked up another round win at the Toyota NHRA Nationals giving her eight round wins which leads all rookies this season.
LAS VEGAS (October 25, 2013) – After the first day of qualifying at the 13th annual Toyota Nationals, Courtney Force sits at the top of the ladder in the provisional No. 1 spot. Force slipped in the first session, but her Traxxas Ford Mustang rallied in the second qualifying attempt to put a 4.052 on the board with not only top speed of the event, but a track record of 318. 24 mph.
READING, Pa. (Oct. 6) – JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. took command of the Pro Stock points lead with a brilliant performance in winning the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals on Sunday at Maple Grove Raceway.
CHARLOTTE, NC ---- For one afternoon history repeated itself at the 6th annual Carlyle Tools Carolina NHRA Nationals as Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang won and made a dramatic jump up the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings. In 2009 Hight defeated Matt Hagan in the finals and in the process jumped from 10th to 3rd in the point standings. Today in front of a packed crowd at zMax Dragway Hight again bested Hagan and moved from 9th to 3rd heading to the second race of the Countdown to the Championship.
CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 15) – JEGS.com/Mopar Pro Stock driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. added to his already impressive resume with an important victory in the NHRA Carolina Nationals on Sunday at zMAX Dragway.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (Sept. 13, 2013) – Motorsports historian, car collector and retired racer Peter Sachs will speak about his racing years and his work with the Klemantaski Collection photography archives on Oct. 5 at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen.
CHARLOTTE, NC (Sept. 14, 2013) – On the eve of the Countdown to the Championship’s first race John Force and Robert Hight served notice that they will be ready for race day. The tandem posted the quickest or second quickest runs in both sessions today at the Carlyle Tools Carolina NHRA Nationals.
CONCORD, N.C. — If Top Fuel standout Shawn Langdon could pick a place to continue to his red-hot momentum after recently winning the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals and the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, zMAX Dragway would likely be one of his top choices.
Langdon’s first career Top Fuel win came there during the Countdown to the Championship playoff opener a year ago and when the Carlyle Tools NHRA Carolina Nationals presented by NAPA Auto Parts gets underway Sept 13-15, the No. 1 seed will have plenty of good vibes about what has transpired since that important victory.
RICHMOND, VA - RIS - Brian Scott dominated the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway. So much so that the usually lively track seemed almost, dare I say it, boring, but the defending Sprint Cup champion had other ideas. Driving a car that got better the loonger the race continued, the champ gave the Penske Ford Mustang it's 5th victory of the season and expanded the lead for the team in the owner's championship.
BRAINERD, MN ---- On a day when the winner’s circle eluded John Force Racing the team kept their eyes on the bigger prize as John Force and Courtney Force both clinched their berths in the 2013 Countdown to the Championship. By virtue of their first round wins and a first round loss by Del Worsham the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang and the Traxxas Ford Mustang will be running for the championship over the last six races of the season.
NORWALK, Ohio (July 3) -- Halfway through the 2013 NHRA Pro Mod Series schedule, defending world champion Troy Coughlin is right where he wants to be -- at the top of the national points ranking. It's a perch he plans on keeping, which means a big outing at this weekend's tour stop in Norwalk, Ohio, is a top priority
After big weekend of bracket racing, Troy Coughlin Jr is ready for NHRA glory.
DELAWARE, Ohio -- Third-generation drag racer Troy Coughlin Jr. is heading to Route 66 Raceway for the next stop on the NHRA Mello Yello tour. The 22-year-old upstart will compete in both Super Comp and Super Gas, two categories where he's had multiple successes in the past.
BRISTOL, TN ---- John Force continued to rewrite the record books winning for the 135th time in his Funny Car career today. This is the 26th season the 15-time NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car champion has won at least one race in a season. Force defeated daughter Courtney Force, Matt Hagan, Blake Alexander and Cruz Pedregon on the way to his fourth Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Ford Dealers victory. This was Force’s fifth win at Bristol Dragway. He also won the inaugural race, the 1999 Winston Showdown, when he defeated Bob Vandergriff’s Top Fuel dragster and collected $210,000 for the win and being No. 1 qualifier at that race.
TOYOTA Racing -- Antron Brown -- Notes & Quotes - Motor Mile Speedway - May 29, 2013
TOPEKA, KS – It is only the first day of the NHRA Kansas Nationals but it was a great day for Robert Hight and Courtney Force who finished each qualifying session 1-2 in the Funny Car category. It was the first time all season Hight’s Auto Club Ford Mustang has been the quickest of the first two sessions and the two-time Kansas Nationals winner was pleased with his first day effort. Hight gave a lot of the credit to his crew chief Jimmy Prock and his pre-race decision to try a new tune-up.
Morgan hoping to make the grade
in his Lucas Oil/MAVTV Mustang
PHOENIX - RIS - The best way to get back on track, according to Lucas Oil/MAVTV Pro Stock driver Larry Morgan, is to put your head down and go to work.
That's just what Morgan and his race team did to prepare for this weekend's NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Int'l Raceway, the second stop in the 24-event Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
Morgan failed to qualify for the season opener in Pomona because of issues that hurt parts in three different engines.
"The only good thing that happened this week was my kid making the dean's list," Morgan said. "I called to tell him because he didn't even know. We get the report card at home. He said, 'Tell me about you Dad.' I said, 'Well, I stunk. I was 19th and didn't do very well.' He said, 'Well, there's one way to look at it: There's only one way to go, and that's up.' And he's right."
COMMERCE, Ga. (RIS) - Matt Hagan doesn't want to be reminded about the 2012 season when he was not one of the 10 drivers to qualify for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoff.
Or that he was the only member of Don Schumacher Racing who did not win a pole last year.
But that was then.
The 2011 NHRA Funny Car world champion, who won a Mello Yello series title three weeks ago at Charlotte after going winless last season, broke another streak Friday when he won the pole for Saturday's championship eliminations in the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.
Schumacher surprised with unveiling of tribute Funny Car
before induction into International Motorsports Hall of Fame
TALLADEGA, Ala. (RIS) - Jack Beckman will have a Hall-of-Fame look this weekend at the NHRA Southern Nationals near Atlanta when his Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car carries a paint scheme honoring team owner Don Schumacher's induction Thursday into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
The "Don Schumacher Hall of Fame Tribute Car" replicates the look of the Plymouth Funny Car Schumacher campaigned in 1970 when he won the NHRA U.S. Nationals.
"That was my favorite car because it had independent front suspension," said Schumacher, who won five NHRA event titles as an owner/driver/crew chief between 1970 and 1974. He since has added 198 titles and 11 NHRA world championships as an owner.
Lucas Oil/MAVTV racer Morgan ready to do some damage in Atlanta
ATLANTA (RIS) - Lucas Oil/MAVTV driver Larry Morgan is loaded for bear for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals ris`at Atlanta Dragway this weekend. He believes he has turned a corner with the new Ford Mustang and is ready to go some rounds.
"I need to make up for lost time," Morgan said. "All the guys have worked so hard on this car, and we think we have something for the competition now. Houston was a pretty good race for us, and we're all itching to win some rounds and show what we've got."
Atlanta Dragway a favorite stop for five-time world champion Coughlin
ATLANTA (RIS) -- The week when the Mello Yello NHRA Drag Racing Series visits Atlanta is always a special one for five-time world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. Not only is Coughlin a former winner at Atlanta Dragway, making him as anxious as ever to hit the quarter-mile strip, his status as a past series champion has additional perks.
"I'm really looking forward to the week in Atlanta, beginning with the Champion's Celebration on Wednesday night at Coca-Cola headquarters," Coughlin said. "That's a really neat tradition and it's one I'm particularly honored to be a part of each year. You definitely walk in that hall and feel special, thanks to the great Southern hospitality the Coca-Cola folks always show us.
"That party sets up a great weekend at a track I always enjoy. It's one of those tracks I remember going to as a kid and watching my dad race there. I also went there with my older brothers and helped them when they started racing. Later, I was fortunate enough to raise a few Wally's myself at that track. Atlanta is just a special place for me."
HIGHT SET BUILD ON ATLANTA SUCCESS THIS WEEKEND
ATLANTA, GA (RIS) --- Robert Hight had planned to start his race weekend by attending the Mello Yello Champions Banquet on Wednesday night in downtown Atlanta. This prestigious event is a celebration of new and previous NHRA champions and as the 2009 Funny Car champion Hight has a standing invitation to attend. Unfortunately, just like unpredicted rain showers at a race track sometimes your plans have to change. Hight will be foregoing the Champions Banquet due to business obligations in Yorba Linda, Calif., and will instead travel to the East Coast on Thursday.
“There were a few things I needed to get done here in California and I just couldn’t get them wrapped up in time to leave tomorrow. That doesn’t change the fact that the banquet is a huge deal and I am sorry I’ll miss it this year. Being a Funny Car champion is a huge honor for me, my team and for the Auto Club. We came close a couple of time before I won in 2009 and that made the championship even more special,” said Hight. “It has been a few years and there have been three different champions after me. In the past six years there have been six different Funny Car champs. If that doesn’t tell you this is one of the toughest classes out there I don’t know what will. I am focused on winning every round and that mindset will continue this weekend in Atlanta.”
Tough day for Don Schumacher Racing organization
in eliminations at Royal Purple Raceway near Houston
HOUSTON (RIS) - For the first time since July 10, 2011, at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago, a Don Schumacher Racing entry did not make the final round of NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competition.
Don Schumacher Racing drivers and crew chiefs faced the most challenging race track and conditions in 2013.
Torrential rains on Saturday and overnight left a beast of a race track for teams to navigate their temperamental 10,000-horsepower machines.
Ron Capps' NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge was the lone competitor left for DSR in semifinal competition and the tricky race track bit him, causing tire smoke and ending the day for the seven-team organization.
Spencer Massey's Battery Extender carried DSR to the second round after defending Top Fuel champion Antron Brown and seven-time champion Tony Schumacher both suffered first round losses.
Final round results from Sunday’s 26th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway, sixth race in the 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series:
POINTS BATTLE TIGHTENS AT O’REIILY SPRING NATIONALS
HOUSTON, TX ---- At the conclusion of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals the Mello Yello Funny Car point standings tightened up as Matt Hagan class points leader lost in the first round and only two of the top eight drivers advanced beyond round two. Unfortunately for John Force Racing team leader and 15-time Funny Car champion John Force came the closest to racing live on ESPN2 in the semis.
Force, the 2002 Funny Car winner at the O’Reilly Spring Nationals, took out Blake Alexander in the first round before dropping a close race to veteran Tim Wilkerson. In the battle of the Ford Mustangs Force left on Wilkerson and his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang was charging down the track when it hazed the tires. Wilkerson who tunes and drives the Levi Ray & Shoup Mustang made one of the quickest runs of the session to defeat Force. At the top end it was Wilkerson 4.198 to Force’s 5.719.
Jeg Coughlin Jr. starting Sunday's SpringNationals from No. 1 spot in Pro Stock
HOUSTON - RIS) – The rains washed out most of Pro Stock qualifying on Saturday at the NHRA SpringNationals, prompting an overnight strategy session for Jeg Coughlin Jr. and the JEGS/Mopar Dodge Avenger team at Royal Purple Raceway.
Coughlin earned his first No. 1 qualifier since 2010 but was one of the few Pro Stock cars in the field that didn’t get three shots at the track. His Friday pass of 6.569 seconds at 211.20 mph held up despite cooler, overcast conditions for the cars that did make runs on Saturday.
"It speaks volumes to where our team has come this year," Coughlin said. "We owe a lot of credit to Allen and Roy Johnson. When we decided to put a two-car team together, literally one (crew). We communicate extremely well.
"To get our first pole in a couple of years is fantastic, and we'd like to perform well tomorrow."