The Mission Foods drag racing series made its way to Las Vegas for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at the strip. Racing is a little different in four-wide vs. two-wide. In the four-wide format the two cars to reach the finish line first come back to race in the following round until there are just four cars left. Then it is winner takes all. The race is three rounds instead of the traditional four rounds of eliminations. In addition to the round format, there is a uniqueness of having four 11,000-horsepower machines all ripping down the track at the same time.
In Top Fuel, reigning champion Doug Kalitta conquered all. He qualified on the pole with a 3.738 et@ 336 mph. In his opening round he led the charge with a 3.728 et @ 335 mph followed by Steve Torrence who would advance with him to the next round. In round two he would again lead the charge with a 3.751 @ 336 mph and Torrence would again follow him, thus ending two-time series champion Brittany Force and Josh Hart’s days. In the final quad of the day, Kalitta would once again lead the pack, this time with low elapse time of the event 3.715 @ 333 mph followed by Justin Ashley and his 3.745 @ 333 mph, Torrence finished third with a 3.745 @ 334 mph and three-time NASCAR and one-time Indy Car champion Tony Stewart finished fourth with a 3.769 @ 324 mph.
In Funny Car, Bob Tasca came out on top. Tasca, who qualified fourth, won his opening quad with a 3.92 @ 333 mph and Chad Green runner-upped with a 3.971 @ 305 mph advancing them both to round two. In his round two quad Tasca runner-upped to Austin Prock, who laid down low et of the round with a 3.907 @ 3243 mph. Tasca put a solid 3.922 @ 333 mph on the scoreboard advancing them both to the final quad. In the final quad Tasca pulled off the hardest of feats; a triple holeshot. Tasca cut a .034 reaction time and had the slowest car with a 3.915 @ 329 mph to Prock, who himself had a double holeshot to runner up with his reaction time of .054 running at 3.904 @ 318 mph. Three-time Funny Car champion Ron Capps would finish third with his.056 reaction time and his 3.902 et @ 333 mph; and four-time champion Matt Hagan, who was last off the starting line with his .066 reaction, set low elapse time of the event with a 3.895 @ 328 mph and finished fourth.
In Pro Stock, four-time champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. found his way back to the winner’s circle. Coughlin, fresh out of his second retirement from driving, took no prisoners in the final quad. He left first with a .013 reaction time and drove away with the best run of the round with a 6.616 @ 207 mph. Jerry Tucker finished second with his 6.617 @ 206 mph effort, Brandon Foster came in third with a 6.63 @ 205 mph. In the surprise of the day six-time reigning champion Erica Enders finished fourth with her 7.045 @ 205 mph as her car struggled to gain traction off the starting line.
Next stop for the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Zmax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina.
