The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series made its way to Indianapolis Raceway Park just outside of downtown Indianapolis recently for the final race before the six-race playoff to the championship. The Dodge Power Brokers US Nationals played host to three of the four professional class winners repeating from just a year ago.
In Top Fuel, three-time world champ Antron Brown repeated his 2022 victory at the end of Monday’s eliminations. After struggling during qualifying Brown made the 16-car field on the fifth and final qualifying attempt on Sunday evening, making the show in the 15th position. This would pair him off with the reigning two-time world champion Brittany Force in her Flavor-Pac Dragster. Brown put up a 3.749et @ 320 mph to defeat Force’s 3.87et @ only 244 mph as her car suffered an engine malfunction. In round two, Brown took down the Parts Plus dragster of Clay Millican, whose dragster began to lose traction just past half-track and watched Brown run a 3.791et @ 326 mph. In the semifinal round Brown took on the current points leader Justin Ashley. Both suffered from a loss of traction but Brown was able to get his Matco Tools dragster to recover quicker and crossed the finish line first. The final round put Brown up against the four-time world champion Steve Torrence and the Capco Contractors team. Both drivers left the starting line nearly at the same time but Brown’s 3.779et @ 328 mph was more than enough to hold off Torrence’s 3.87et @328mph.
A flash from the past recreated a win that had taken place 50 years before in 1973. Ron Capps debuted his Don ‘the Snake’ Prudhomme yellow hot wheels Toyota which had been painted to look identical to Prudhomme’s 1973 Plymouth Barracuda in which Prudhomme won Indy for the first time in a Funny Car. Capps got his first Funny Car ride driving for the legendary Don Prudhomme in 1997. Prudhomme was on hand to witness and share in the festivities with Capps during the course of the weekend.
Capps qualified in the fifth spot and would take on Dale Creasy, Jr. in the opening round. Capps put a stellar 3.894et @ 326mph to score the easy win over the tire smoking Creasy. Round two, Capps did a stellar job of out driving three-time champion Matt Hagan as both cars lost traction. The semifinal opponent for Capps was another three-time champion, Robert Hight. Much like Hagan the round before, Hight lost traction and could only watch as Capps posted a 4.029et @ 323mph on the score board. In the final round Capps would square off against another past champion, JR Todd. Todd had an unexpected incident after his semifinal round win over Bob Tasca. He crossed the finish line and pulled his parachutes to assist in slowing his DHL Toyota but in a rare incident, the shroud lines pulled the brake lines off the rear of his car thus leaving him with no brakes. Todd’s many years of experience saved multiple cars, including his own, from being damaged. He rounded the corner at the end of the shutdown area and made a quick turn into a grass field, missing the workers and other cars located in the area.
In the final round the DHL Team was able to repair the Toyota and pulled it to the starting line to face Capps. There, Capps went on to defeat Todd with a 3.986et @ 323mph to 4.131et @ 288mph to score the win.
In Pro Stock, Matt Hartford scored his first US Nationals victory. He marched his way through the field taking down Mason McGaha in round one with a 6.613et @206mph. Round two he took out Camrie Caruso with a 6.643et @ 206 mph to her 6.649et @ 206mph. His semifinal opponent would be five-time champion Erica Enders. She ran a solid 6.677@ 206 mph but fell short to Hartford’s 6.648et @ 206 mph. Hartford would then take on Fernando Cuadra, Jr. in the final round. Cuadra had trouble with traction and could only watch as Hartford ran a solid 6.624et @ 206 mph to capture the win.
Pro Stock Motorcycle saw the number four qualifier Matt Smith capture the win. He powered his way through the field, taking out John Hall in round one, Chase Van Sant in round two, and current points leader Gaige Herrera in the semifinal round. This would pair him off against Hector Arana, Jr. in the final round. The race was over before it began as Arana was -.003 seconds too quick off the starting line, thus giving him a red light and instantly giving the win to Smith.
