The recent Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by Peak featured bizarre weather changes throughout the event. Just prior to the event there were several tornados that touched down in surrounding areas in Illinois. Chicago has always been known as the “windy city” and this also applies to much of the surrounding region. The host track for the NHRA Nationals event is located about 49 miles southwest of Chicago and just a couple miles south of Joliet in a town called Elwood, Illinois. Each day seemed to present different weather conditions and varying winds. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the NHRA Safety Safari team, the event was completed in a timely, successful manner.

There were many key stories that highlighted the mid-May event.

In Top Fuel, the biggest story was Tony Stewart, who qualified second with a 3.679 at 332.43, a career best run for him. This season, he has reached the finals and semi-final rounds most of the time. To top it off, his car has been performing better at each event, having collected his first win in Las Vegas. And now, he was going to another final round, this time against Justin Ashley, the best leaver in the class. But Stewart is one of the best drivers in auto racing, having won championships in every form of racing he has raced in; Indy Car, NASCAR, Sprint Cars and has a win in the top tier class in NHRA drag racing. As they staged their cars, the tension grew. The tree sequenced with Ashley getting away first, but not by much (0.044 to 0.048). Stewart’s car quickly caught Ashley’s car as he raced on to his second career win in Top Fuel, 3.777 at 329.10 mph to 3.818 at 324.12 mph. Stewart leaves with the point lead in the championship race. He has become a fan favorite as well as a serious threat to win.

In Funny Car, the two big stories involved two teammates on the John Force Racing team, Austin Prock in his Cornwell Tools/Peak Chevrolet Camaro and “Fast” Jack Beckman, who took over the driving of John Force’s Peak Chevrolet Camaro. Prock is one of the best leavers in the class and has the quickest and fastest car in the class, while Beckman is second to Prock in those categories. Beckman qualified on the pole with a 3.859 at 332.75 mph effort. But Prock, who usually sits at the top of the field, stumbled badly in qualifying, as they could not get a tune up that worked well. He was sitting 15th until his final effort, that placed him seventh in the field. Both drivers made it out of the first round but the second round of eliminations required them to make withdrawals from the “racer’s luck bank” as their cars lost traction. But, in both cases, their opponents fouled out on red-lights. This was not Beckman’s only racer’s luck withdrawal. His last qualifying attempt on Saturday was aborted due to his car not starting. Then, on race day, he suffered the same problem again, when they tried to start his car in the pits. Luckily, neither of these problems happened during an elimination run. In the semifinals, Prock was back in control with the quickest elapse time and speed of the round, as he got by a strong running Matt Hagan. But Beckman, once again, had to reach into the racer’s luck account to get around Cruz Pedregon, as both cars lost traction. Cruz’s car shut off, allowing Beckman to get to the finish line first. In the final, it was Beckman and his Peak team against the “Prock Rocket.” This track is the home track for Old World Industries (Peak) the primary sponsor on Beckman’s car and all 200-plus employees and the owner were at the track to watch and cheer him on. It was going to take a miracle to get the Peak Chevrolet into the winner’s circle.

Beckman got away first (0.049 to 0.063) and as the cars headed down the track, it brought back flashbacks of that famous 1980 Olympics USA hockey game and the call “do you believe in miracles?” And in less than four seconds the answer was “Yes”, as Beckman held on for a 3.935 at 325.77 mph to 3.393 at 329.02 mph hole-shot victory. The margin of victory was 0.012-seconds or about two feet. Beckman put the Peak funny car in the winner’s circle at the home track in front of the cheering fans. Austin Prock still leads in the championship points battle with Beckman in second.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, it came down to Matt Smith vs Gaige Herrera.

Herrera’s Vance and Hines team also rent bikes for others to race. Just to show how well their rental bike performs, they raced it at this event. Once again, Herrera qualified on the pole and went on to leave first and out run Smith in the final to take the event win. Smith did get top speed in the class at 204 mph, but Herrera dominated overall, scoring low elapse time every round and leaving first against nearly all the competitors he faced.

Next up will be the New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire from May 30 through June 1.