Coming into the final event of the 2021 Camping World NHRA Drag Racing season, all four professional category season titles were up for grabs. The final event featured 150 percent point values, which kept the doors open in these classes.
In Top Fuel, Steve Torrence and the Capco Contracting Team was the dominating force in the class. Torrence would need to go out in round one of eliminations and Brittany Force and her JFR Monster Energy team would need to win the event to capture the season championship. Torrence came into the event with 10 wins and has won the last three consecutive season Top Fuel championships. By the end of the opening round, the battle for the season championship was over as he took out Brandon Welch 3.769 at 326.00 mph to 3.877 at 319.13 mph to claim his fourth consecutive Top Fuel championship. This put Torrence into a small group of racers to win four consecutive Top Fuel championships. Brittany Force went out in the opening round against Billy Torrence as her car immediately lost traction. The elder Torrence won 3.73 at 328.30 mph to an instantly up in smoke 10.704 at 74.05 mph. Force had struggled to qualify 13th, her worst qualifying effort in the last 38 races. Steve Torrence then continued on to win the event by defeating Antron Brown in the final round, 3.759 at 317.12 mph to 3.803 at 312.21 mph.
Funny Car featured three cars with a chance to take home the season championship. Ron Capps came in with the lead followed by Matt Hagan and Cruz Pedregon. If Capps got past the second round, he would be the champ. If Capps lost in the second round and Matt Hagan won the event, Hagan would be the champ. Pedregon needed Capps to go out in round one and then he needed to win the race. Hagan and Pedregon would be attempting to win their third career Funny Car championships and Capps his second. By the end of round one, Pedregon was done, losing to Tim Wilkerson 3.922 at 325.30 mph to 4.808 at 170.58 mph. Hagan and Capps met in a major second round match up. If Capps won, he would be the champ. If Hagan won he would need to win the event to claim his third Funny Car championship. Capps got away first (0.043 to 0.074), but Hagan crossed the finish line first 3.948 at 322.34 mph to 3.996 at 319.45 mph, as Capp’s engine dropped a cylinder just past halftrack (losing about 1200 plus horsepower). Now it was a waiting game for Capps. Then Alexis DeJoria saved the day and the championship for Capps as she took out Hagan in the semi-final round, 3.940 at 321.04 mph to 3.9.75 at 317.79 mph. Ron Capps officially became the 2021 NHRA Camping World Funny Car champion. In the final round, Bob Tasca defeated DeJoria 3.955 at 321.65 mph to 3.974 at 322.58 mph to capture the AAA of Southern California NHRA Finals Funny Car event title.
The 2022 season shows promise with new teams and cars in both the nitro categories coming onto the NHRA Camping World Tour. Tony Schumacher will be back with his own team. Tony Stewart is coming into the sport as a team owner with his (fiancée) Leah Pruitt moving from Don Schumacher Racing along with Matt Hagan to Tony Stewart Racing. Josh Hart, who won two events in 2021, will run the complete season with his new team. He finished as runner-up for the NHRA “Rookie of the Year” award this season.
