During this unbearably long for all the fans and supporters during the off-season pilots and then changed sponsors and team boss thoroughly shake up its staff.
Work on the car was in full swing, day after day, and forecasts of the major contestants promise us new records and first-class show. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, and we shall understand what happened at Pomona Raceway in more detail, starting with the tradition of the fastest class Top Fuel.
Top Fuel
Of course, to make any conclusions based on the first event of the season it would be rash, but you can not ignore the fact that the unconditional favorites of past years were to NHRA Circle K Winternationals badly. The most titled racing driver in the division, Tony Schumacher went into the pits after the first round of races Shootout, giving Terry MakMillenu, which is not even a year has passed in the Countdown To The Championship. His teammate and reigning champion Antron Brown goodbye to hopes of a podium in the quarter. Revelation was a victory for all of Steve Torrence, noted last season just one win in Denver and eighth place in the standings in the championship.
Painfully Torrens looked convincing in the races Shootout, and first place in qualifying the previous day leaves no doubt that this podium is the result of a thoughtful work of the whole team and the highest quality «spacer between the wheel and the seat.»
In the final, Steve defeated Doug Kalittoy for which against the backdrop of frequent equipment failures in the past year, second place in the first event of the national championship, you can definitely be considered a satisfactory result. Thus, Torrens first lead on points, and how long he can hold his position — time will tell.
Funny Car
Ron Capps, conceding by quantity produced in the Wally class only John Force, managed to put an end to a protracted series of eighteen stages without a win, having gone round in the finals of the defending champion by Del Vorshema with a minimum margin of 0.0008 seconds, which in fact is equal to about five inches.
Perhaps only in this division alignment of forces at the moment resembles the situation in the standings after the end of last season: Robert Hight, Force Sr. and Jack Beckman, stamped records last year with the pipeline stability, quite expectedly are located in the top-5 points standings. It can not be said about the double champion Matt Hagan, defeated by the apparent outsider Chad Heda in the first round. Currently victor last NHRA Winternationals takes tenth place standings.
Not without incident. During the qualifying rounds brake parachutes did not open on the car Gary Denshema and stop dregster could only net at the end of a sand trap. Fortunately, the pilot was not injured, and equipment was recovered the next day, which, however, did not save the veteran from defeat at the beginning of the races Shootout. Also worth noting is the success of Courtney Force, which is demonstrated in a single race best speed Event — 329.34 mph. This result was the sixth in the history. And for another the pilots first stage of the season it was the anniversary: Alexis DeZhoriya the hundredth time came to start as a pilot Funny Car dregster.
Pro Stock
More surprises awaited all of us in this class, it is no surprise in a context of radical changes in the regulations. Not all participants got properly configure the engines with electronic fuel injection, and the pilots features such configuration requires a fundamentally different manner of piloting. And, despite the many test sessions, to adjust to the new reality has turned out not all.
For example, the unconditional leader last season and two-time champion Eric Enders-Stevens in the first round lost to his newly made teammate Jag Coughlin Jr., flying, so the top ten standings. And here is another favorite of Greg Anderson, who persistently had no luck in the second half of last year, this time rose to the occasion and safely udelal his colleague Jason Line team in the final, and this opened the scoring victories in the new era only in professional drag racing aspirated class. Until the pile four-time champion confidently won first place in qualifying, much to the surprise of all, without exception (maybe even yourself), because it is Anderson acted as one of the most ardent opponents transition to injection engines.
This weekend, in principle, was marked by the undisputed triumph KB Racing, which suggests that the pilots and mechanics of this team is much better than its competitors were able to adapt to new realities. However, the winner is well aware that the density of competition — it's only a matter of time, and after a few steps the passions and the level of intrigue inevitably reached its climax.
This was the NHRA Winternationals: something unexpected, something even shocking, but always bright and eventful. In any case, this is only the beginning. So do not switch and stay tuned.
Photo: open source
