Surprises, struggles: NHRA at one-third mark of ’15 season

By Jerry BonkowskiMay 28, 2015, 6:49 PM EDT

With the completion of the Kansas Nationals this past Sunday, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series has reached the one-third point of the 2015 season.

Not surprisingly after eight races on the 24-race schedule, there have been some significant surprises and disappointments.

With this weekend off before the middle part of the season begins June 4-7 with the Toyota Summernationals at one of the most popular tracks on the circuit, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., let’s break down the four major pro classes to see who’s hot and who’s not.

Top Fuel: Don Schumacher Racing has made a big statement in the first eight races. Teammates Antron Brown (1st), defending 2014 champ and eight-time champ Tony Schumacher (2nd) and Spencer Massey (4th) have been leading the way.

source: — Antron Brown leads the Top Fuel points standings. (Photo courtesy NHRA)

One of the biggest surprises is the driver sandwiched among the three DSR drivers, namely Australian native Richie Crampton. With his win at Kansas, Crampton is now up to 3rd in the standings.

Crampton (Las Vegas, Topeka) and Brown (Charlotte, Atlanta) are the only two-time winners thus far this season.

Shawn Langdon, racing for Alan Johnson Racing, is a respectable seventh in the standings, despite the fact the team had its sponsorship pulled by former benefactor Al-Anabi just a month before the start of the season. Langdon won the season-opening Circle K Winternationals in storybook fashion, but has trailed off of late.

As for drivers who have struggled, Brittany Force, who signed with Monster Energy three weeks ago, is sitting 11th and continues in search of her first career Top Fuel win.

And Dave Connolly and Terry McMillen are 13th and 14th respectively, certainly not off to the kind of season start either expected.

Race winners thus far this season:

Pomona: Shawn Langdon
Phoenix: Tony Schumacher
Gainesville: Spencer Massey
Charlotte: Antron Brown
Las Vegas: Richie Crampton
Houston: Doug Kalitta
Atlanta: Antron Brown
Topeka: Richie Crampton

Top Fuel standings

(Following event 8 of 24 events)

(Includes events through Topeka, Kan.)

Position	Driver	Points	PB	Change	Make
1	Antron Brown	628	0	–	DSR
2	Tony Schumacher	575	-53	–	DSR
3	Richie Crampton	547	-81	–	MLR
4	Spencer Massey	530	-98	–	DSR
5	Doug Kalitta	502	-126	–	Hadman
6	Larry Dixon	476	-152	–	Hadman
7	Shawn Langdon	473	-155	–	Hadman
8	J.R. Todd	411	-217	–	Hadman
9	Clay Millican	395	-233	–	Hadman
10	Steve Torrence	392	-236	–	Hadman
Drivers that have struggled thus far this season:
11	Brittany Force	384	-244	–	Force
12	Leah Pritchett	315	-313	–	Hadman
13	Dave Connolly	274	-354	–	Hadman
14	Terry Mc Millen	228	-400	–	MLR
15	Troy Buff	126	-502	–	Bill Miller

Funny Car: It’s a very tight battle in the Funny Car ranks as we head into the middle third of the season.

Three drivers have won six of the first eight races – two each: Defending 2014 champ Matt Hagan (Pomona, Phoenix), Jack Beckman (Charlotte, Topeka) and Ron Capps (Gainesville, Houston).

The resurgent Capps is off to one of the best season starts of his career and holds the points lead in the standings. But Hagan is only five points back and Beckman, with former John Force crew chief Jimmy Prock, is 49 points behind Capps.

Perhaps the biggest positive surprise is series veteran Del Worsham. Even though he hasn’t won a race yet in 2015, Worsham is in fourth place in the standings, 73 points behind Capps and just five points ahead of fifth-ranked and 16-time Funny Car champ John Force, who has just one win this season (Las Vegas) thus far.

Force’s daughter, Courtney, is having a difficult time of it this season, currently ranked 11th. But perhaps having the toughest time among the top 15 drivers in the Funny Car ranks is former champion Tony Pedregon, who is 14th in the standings, already a massive 325 points behind Capps.

Race winners thus far this season:

Pomona: Matt Hagan
Phoenix: Matt Hagan
Gainesville: Ron Capps
Charlotte: Jack Beckman
Las Vegas: John Force
Houston: Ron Capps
Atlanta: Tim Wilkerson
Topeka: Jack Beckman

Funny Car standings:

Position	Driver	Points	PB	Change	Make
1	Ron Capps	580	0	–
2	Matt Hagan	575	-5	–
3	Jack Beckman	531	-49	–
4	Del Worsham	507	-73	–
5	John Force	502	-78	–
6	Robert Hight	460	-120	–
7	Tommy Johnson	456	-124	–
8	Tim Wilkerson	447	-133	–
9	Alexis De Joria	395	-185	–
9	Cruz Pedregon	395	-185	–
Drivers that have struggled thus far this season:
11	Courtney Force	388	-192	–
12	John Hale	369	-211	–
13	Chad Head	347	-233	–
14	Tony Pedregon	255	-325	–
15	Jeffrey Diehl	82	-498	–

Pro Stock: Although she got off to a slow start at the beginning of the season, 2014 Pro Stock champ Erica Enders has rallied back to become the hottest driver not just in Pro Stock of late, but in all four major NHRA pro categories.

Enders (who recently shortened her name from Enders-Stevens for business reasons) has won three of the last four Pro Stock national events (Las Vegas, Houston and Topeka).

As a result, she’s taken a commanding lead over 2nd-ranked Jason Line (58 points back) and 3rd-ranked Greg Anderson (65 points back).

After that, Enders spread over the rest of the field gets massive: 4th-ranked Chris McGaha is 177 points back, while 5th-ranked and Phoenix winner Rodger Brogdon is 226 points in arrears.

It’s good to see veteran drivers like Anderson and Larry Morgan having comeback seasons. Both earned victories this season (Anderson at Gainesville, Morgan at Charlotte) after long dry spells in their careers.

One big name missing from the Pro Stock class is five-time champion Jeg Coughlin, who announced earlier this year that he will not compete on a full-time basis.

This is the second time Coughlin has taken a hiatus from NHRA racing, having sat out the entire 2011 season, as well.

As for drivers who have struggled thus far in 2015, the most notable names are 11th-ranked Jonathan Gray (364 points behind Enders) and 12th-ranked V Gaines (425 points back).

Race winners thus far this season:

Pomona: Jason Line
Phoenix: Rodger Brogdon
Gainesville: Greg Anderson
Charlotte: Larry Morgan
Las Vegas: Erica Enders
Houston: Erica Enders
Atlanta: Jason Line
Topeka: Erica Enders

Pro Stock standings:

Position	Driver	Points	PB	Change	Make
1	Erica Enders	719	0	–
2	Jason Line	661	-58	–
3	Greg Anderson	654	-65	–
4	Chris McGaha	542	-177	–
5	Rodger Brogdon	493	-226	–
6	Larry Morgan	452	-267	–
7	Drew Skillman	424	-295	–
8	Vincent Nobile	421	-298	–
9	Shane Gray	401	-318	–
10	Allen Johnson	369	-350	–
Drivers that have struggled thus far this season:
11	Jonathan Gray	355	-364	–
12	V Gaines	294	-425	–
13	Jimmy Alund	250	-469	–
14	Deric Kramer	155	-564	–
15	John Gaydosh	93	-626	–
15	Joey Grose	93	-626	–
15	Matthew Hartford	93	-626	–

Pro Stock Motorcycle: Because PSM riders compete in a 16-race schedule, there have only been three races to date. The majority of events (13 will be contested at all but three of the remaining NHRA national event weekends) start with next week’s Summernationals.

Thus far, the competition has been spread fairly even, with different winners in each of the first three races.

Not surprisingly, those three winners are all in the top five in the PSM points standings.

Former champ Eddie Krawiec, who won at Charlotte in late March holds a 74-point lead over defending series champ Andrew Hines. Hines has yet to win an event this season.

Veteran driver Hector Arana Sr., who is ranked third, 85 points behind Krawiec, won his first race since 2009 at Atlanta. Six points behind the senior Arana is his son, Hector Arana Jr., who like Hines is also seeking his first win of 2015.

Rounding out the top five is Karen Stoffer, who shocked the category by winning the season-opening race at Gainesville in March.

Race winners thus far this season:

Gainesville: Karen Stoffer
Charlotte: Eddie Krawiec
Atlanta: Hector Arana Sr.

Pro Stock Motorcycle standings:

Position	Driver	Points	PB	Change	Make
1	Eddie Krawiec	286	0	–
2	Andrew Hines	212	-74	–
3	Hector Arana	201	-85	–
4	Hector Arana Jr	195	-91	–
4	Karen Stoffer	195	-91	–
6	Scott Pollacheck	175	-111	–
7	LE Tonglet IV	165	-121	–
8	Angelle Sampey	161	-125	–	Star Racing
9	Shawn Gann	155	-131	–
10	James Underdahl	128	-158	–
Riders that have struggled thus far this season:
11	Matt Smith	125	-161	–	Victory
12	Angie Smith	112	-174	–	Victory
13	Chaz Kennedy	93	-193	–
14	Mike Berry	92	-194	–
15	Gerald Savoie	78	-208	–

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After 19th Indianapolis 500 win, Roger Penske never stops; focusing on Detroit, Le Mans

By Bruce MartinJun 2, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT

Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images

DETROIT – Roger Penske never stops.

Just consider what the 86-year-old billionaire has accomplished last Sunday.

At 12:40 p.m. last Sunday, Penske greeted the massive crowd of 330,000 spectators at the 107^th Indianapolis 500 and gave the command, “Drivers, Start Your Engines” to begin the big race. Since 2019, Penske has been the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar.

Over three hours later, Penske was standing on top of the Pagoda, the massive suite and command post of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, watching the dramatic conclusion of the Indy 500 with his wife, Kathy, son Greg, Penske Corp. marketing director Jonathan Gibson, and Penske Corp. president Bud Denker.

When Penske saw his driver, Josef Newgarden, cross the start/finish line as the winner, he thrust his left fist in the air in an enthusiastic fashion and celebrated with his closest associates.

“I’m up on the very top of the Pagoda and I have a screen up there with all the times of every (Team Penske) car, each lap and I have a TV and a radio that I can’t talk (to the teams) on,” Penske said. “I can go from the channels of 2 (Newgaren), 3 (Scott McLaughlin) or 12 (Will Power) just listening to where we are.

“I have my own idea to what I might have done, but when I heard (Team Penske president) Tim Cindric say we had to take our time, when he said we were on plan at 100 laps, we were actually ahead of where we wanted to be. They were saving fuel, to be in the right window, which was right on.

“It was amazing when you think about all of the things that happened. If we didn’t have that wreck on the front straightaway, it would have been different.

“It’s a crazy place. It’s rewarding. That’s why we are here to race.”

In addition to owning the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Penske is also the winningest car owner in Indy 500 history and Sunday’s win was a record-extending 19^th win in the 500-Mile Race.

It was the first time Penske, the car owner, won the Indy 500 since Penske, the track owner, officially took over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Jan. 6, 2020.

With the purchase, he also put some professional distance between himself and Team Penske after calling strategy in the race for many years.

“After you have been on your face for three of four years qualifying here, it’s nice to be up again,” Penske said. “We won nine races last year, won the championship and qualified in the back half of the field. Then we came back here this year, and we worked so hard.

“Guys have better ideas than we do. You have to hand it to them. The cars are legal, I’m sure. Rocket (IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch) and those guys aren’t going to let that happen and we don’t want it to happen.

“We have to figure out what the magic is so we can be up front at the beginning (of the Indy 500).

“You have to take the good with the bad. You have to eat crow when you have to eat crow. I’ve had good days and bad days, but the good news is we are the same team whether we win or whether we lose and that is the most important thing.

“We are committed.”

Penske was still celebrating in Victory Lane when the placard that designates his parking spot (between the Pagoda and IMS media center) was changed from “18” to “19” to signify the number of times he has won the Indianapolis 500.

“He was hoping to get to 19, and it happened,” Penske’s son, Greg, who is the Vice Chairman of the Penske Corporation told NBC Sports. “It was special for our whole team, our family, and our 70,000-plus team members around the world. And our partners. Shell, in its first race to win with renewable fuel and it happened to be their car. They have been such a great partner over the years.

“That was so exciting to see that all come together as one team.

“It’s always a great feeling to wake up and say, ‘Man, we did this as a team, and we did this together.’

“Now, we move on to Detroit and move forward. Bud Denker and the team, it will be exciting over there, too.”

On Monday night, Penske attended the Indianapolis 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. About 565 miles away, Penske’s NASCAR Cup Series team was competing in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I watched it until I had to go to the banquet,” Penske said Thursday morning in Detroit. “Then I had my iPhone sitting on the table there.

“With 50 laps to go, I didn’t know who to watch or what to watch while I was at the (Indianapolis 500) banquet.”

One of Penske’s NASCAR drivers, Ryan Blaney, went on to win the Coca-Cola 600.

It was yet another first for Penske – the first time he won the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same year. The only reason it wasn’t in the same day is because the NASCAR race had been rained out and rescheduled for the following day.

The accomplishment, however, remains impressive.

“That’s what we are here for, to set goals for other people to try to achieve,” Penske said. “The 19^th win at Indianapolis was long overdue when you think about the past. It was a great race. It could have been anybody’s race.

“We were able to execute at the right time.”

Penske enjoyed more success in 24 hours than most team owners or businessmen would experience in a season, or even in a career.

But Penske immediately switched his focus to this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The NTT IndyCar Series race is the first time this event has been contested on the streets of downtown Detroit since 1991 and is a massive undertaking.

There isn’t anything too big that Roger Penske and his team can’t accomplish, however.

“The good news is we have great weather, and we will be able to showcase the people in the city that don’t normally get a chance to go to the race at Belle Isle in the past can get a chance to come here and see what is going on,” Penske said Thursday. “The economic benefit for the city is going to be terrific.

“Mike Montri, Bud Denker and Chevrolet and the whole team, what they have put together here is an amazing job. Knowing what it takes to start fresh in a city on the city streets is amazing.”

Moving the race from Belle Isle, its home since 1992, back to the streets of Detroit is a massive undertaking, but Penske said it was time to leave the Island.

“We had a lot of noise from people because we were taking Belle Isle, a place where a lot of constituents in Detroit have weddings and things like that,” Penske said. “We cleaned up the island.

“We are going to make this a big event by coming to downtown Detroit. With the support of GM and ourselves, it was a home run.

“Last week, when the mayor of Detroit and the city council took down the 25 mph street signs and put up 200 mph, that was the day when I knew that we had made it.”

Win the Indianapolis 500 win on Sunday, the Coca-Cola 600 victory on Monday and then turning downtown Detroit into a street course and stage the race this weekend, it would be easy to expect Penske to take a break afterward.

Not so.

He will be off to Le Mans for the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans Sports Car race June 10-11 with Porsche Penske Motorsport aiming for an overall victory with its 963 hybrid prototype.

“We want to win Le Mans, that is what we would like to do,” Penske said. “We have three good cars. It’s going to be competitive. The Balance of Performance, we’ll see how that works. They made some changes, but right now, I’m sure the Toyotas have the edge.

“Just to go there and compete this first year with Porsche is something we have wanted to do for a long time. It’s a quality brand, a long-term contract so we can build on it this year.”

Penske and his son Greg are constantly looking forward, instead of taking too much time to celebrate their successes.

*Greg Penske with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden (Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)*

But both men realize what a huge success last week’s Indianapolis 500 was from both a competitive and business standpoint.

“After being stewards of the place here and all the hard work that everyone has put in and the team, what they have done to get back to winning, it was exciting,” Greg Penske told NBC Sports. “We had a lot of competition. Probably the best competition we’ve ever had to race against.

“It was exciting. To be up there and see the move Josef made and how they raced. It was quite a finish for the fans and for everybody.

“Great news. No one left. It was nice to see everyone staying and they wanted to see a great finish. That was exciting.

“It was exciting for everybody.”

The massive crowd of 330,000 fans was the largest to watch the Indianapolis 500 since 350,000 fans attended the sold-out 100^th running in 2016.

It serves as proof of what can be done when people such as Penske and his staff get out and promote the event.

“The Indy 500 has always been a spectacular event,” Greg Penske said. “People want to come. It’s Americana. It’s amazing when you take a look at it. The people that came here from 50 different countries and all around the world.

“There is nothing like it. To get this many people to come in, but it’s still one guest at a time. That is something that is really important to us. Every experience is a good one. We have to keep working on that. I’m sure there will be opportunities for us to execute and get even better.”

The day after the Indianapolis 500, Roger Penske spoke to a small group of reporters during the annual Indianapolis 500 victory photo shoot at the Yard of Bricks.

He emphasized it wasn’t just the size of the crowd, it was also the changing face of those in attendance.

“That was some crowd,” he said. “And it was real.

“Owning the track is something we have done over the years. When (former IMS owner) Tony George came, I didn’t realize when I said yes, what I was really signing up for.

“What we signed up for was to make it better and make it a place where everybody wants to come and have fun. The demographics, so many kids coming out here with their families.

“I stood out at Turn 3 here earlier in the week and watched those cars go into Turn 3 at 240 miles an hour and to think you can go out there for $45 with your kids and watch it. It costs me more than that to go to a movie in Detroit than to sit out there.

“This is what we have to do. It’s generational. People come here. They want to keep their tickets. If we can make it fun and exciting as it was yesterday at the end, not many people left. It was amazing that not many people left.”

*Roger Penske with his wife, Kathy, at the Indy 500 awards ceremony (Bruce Martin Photo)*

Penske is involved in all aspects of his business. He revealed that he used helicopters to take overhead shots of the crowd before and after the race to help improve crowd control in future Indianapolis 500s.

“We had a helicopter every half hour from 7:30 a.m. on taking pictures so we could sit down as a team and look exactly how the place filled up and how it was at closing,” Penske explained. “We can look at where we had pinch points. That’s the most important thing, to make it easier to get in and easier to get out.

“Over in the Snake Pit, there are some things we can do where people can sit on the mounds.

“We had two screens on the back straightaway that were temporary. I want to put a big screen on the back of the grandstands coming off Turn 4 – a big one – so that when you are on the viewing mounds, you can see. Those are the things we have to do and that will only make it a better experience and to grow it.

“I don’t want to take any credit for filling it up. What we are doing is trying to take a product that took 106 years to build into what it is. All we are trying to do is sustain it and bring it up to the current standards from the standpoint of expectations. Whether it’s you as a family or kid, it’s whatever you have.

“That’s how we run our business.

“No risk, no reward. It was great.”

Penske has taken plenty of risks during his career, but he is calculated with every move that he takes when guiding his race team, or his business empire.

That is why he is able to enjoy the tremendous rewards that come with his success.

“Every victory for us and for the team and for my father, what he has been able to build over the years, it is exciting for all of us,” Greg Penske admitted. “He feels the same way.

“Being on top of the podium, as we all know, never gets old. But it takes execution, and it takes hard work.

“The teams here and how they commit to be here and make sure we are successful; I’ve never seen it so competition. Think about qualifying being 14 inches over 10 miles. That’s a pretty close margin.

“It’s always exciting. For him to continue to drive and to work the way he does is pretty amazing.

“I’ve had a front row seat for that and I’m very excited to be a part of it.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500