NHRA: Steve Torrence’s fourth win of season highlights wild day in Chicago

By Jun 2, 2019, 6:01 PM EDT
NHRA
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JOLIET, Illinois — In a wild day of exploding cars, wall-banging incidents and unusual runs, Steve Torrence (Top Fuel), Tommy Johnson Jr. (Funny Car), Deric Kramer (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) emerged victorious in Sunday’s finals of the NHRA Route 66 Nationals.

Sunday’s finals marked the ninth race of the 24-race NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule, and also marks the halfway point of the 18 regular season races before the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Here’s how things played out:

In Top Fuel, defending series champ Torrence earned the 31st win of his career, holding off Mike Salinas.

“Hopefully we can just keep the momentum going,” Torrence said of his fourth consecutive win in the first nine races of the season. “We’re doing the best we can and having fun doing it.”

Torrence’s four-race winning streak started over a month ago at Charlotte, followed by triumphs at Atlanta, Richmond and now on the outskirts of the Windy City.

But even more impressive is, going back to the 2017 season, Torrence has won 22 of the 26 final rounds he’s been in, an outstanding 85 percent winning percentage.

“That’s pretty surreal, I didn’t know that,” Torrence said. “Seven years ago, if you said I’ve have 31 wins now, I’d say you were full of crap. I just wanted to have one win. It’s been an awesome ride if it were to end today.

“Any time you can win two or three in a row and keep doing it, and then get four in a row, you’re really doing something.”

In Funny Car, 16-time NHRA Funny Car champ John Force was hoping to finally earn the 150th win of his career, but fell in the semifinals to Johnson.

Then in the final round, Johnson defeated Robert Hight — president of John Force Racing — in one of the most unusual paths to victory seen in a long time.

Johnson’s car exploded about halfway down the 1,000-foot drag strip, but he was able to coast all the way to the finish line to defeat Hight, who lost traction early in the run and was unable to catch Johnson, who earned the 17th win of his Funny Car career.

“You keep trying to get these wins, you keep coming up short, but you have to keep coming up to the starting line,” Johnson said of his first win since 2017. “I felt good coming here. I’ve had a lot of success here, like four final rounds in the last six races.”

But coming into Sunday’s final round, Johnson had failed to win in his seven previous final round appearances.

“I came up in the final round and didn’t feel nervous at all,” Johnson said. “I was waiting and waiting for Hight and thank goodness I didn’t see him. That was the longest coasting of my career. I kept looking to the right and the finish line, to the right and to the finish line. It’s amazing how many things go through your mind. It seemed like five minutes instead of a split-second.

“(Having gone 0-for-7), you just have to keep at it. You can’t get bummed out or dejected.”

In Pro Stock, Erica Enders, who is one of the best when it comes to getting a jump at the starting line, had an uncharacteristic red-light foul, jumping the go light by a mere split-second, giving a free pass to the win to Deric Kramer. It was Kramer’s third career Pro Stock win.

It was Kramer’s first win since Brainerd, Minnesota, last summer, and his third career win in Pro Stock.

“Not make mistakes, that’s been our biggest detriment since Brainerd last year,” Kramer said. “We laid down a great pass (vs. Enders).”

It helped that Kramer saw the win light in his lane go on at the end of the track as soon as the green go light went on.

“It’s a relief, to be honest,” Kramer said. “There’s pressure on in the starting line and if you don’t perform, you go home. When you see the win light, you can enjoy the ride.”

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, while a record six females qualified for the 16-bike eliminations, they couldn’t hold off defending series champ Matt Smith, who defeated Karen Stoffer in the final round of eliminations.

“We were on kill today,” said Smith, who even defeated his wife Angie in the semifinal round to reach the final round matchup with Stoffer. “It was a good day. We needed to get a win in the column and we pulled out our championship motor (from last season).”

The day saw a number of other significant mishaps. Fortunately, all drivers were uninjured:

  • Leah Pritchett’s Top Fuel dragster exploded, with resulting debris cutting the right rear tire off the vehicle, during a first-round loss to Chicago-area driver T.J. Zizzo.
  • A few minutes later, in the first round of Funny Car eliminations, Tim Wilkerson, of downstate Springfield, Ill., hit the right wall hard, losing to Cruz Pedregon.
  • In the scariest incident of the day, in the quarterfinals of Pro Stock Motorcycle, Jianna Salinas hit two of the center line timing blocks, and then her bike shot hard toward the right-side wall. Salinas fell off the bike just before it impacted the wall. After laying on the pavement for a few seconds, Salinas was able to get up under her own power and was taken to the medical center to be examined. Hector Arana Jr. claimed the win. Torrence went over to speak with Jianna Salinas — daughter of Mike Salinas — after she was cleared from the medical center and put a smile on her face when he told her, “You need to drive one of these things (a Top Fuel dragster). You can’t fall off it.”
  • In the semifinals of Top Fuel, Antron Brown suffered a big motor explosion shortly after leaving the starting line, allowing Torrence to take the win.

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FINAL RESULTS AND UPDATED STANDINGS:

FINAL FINISHING ORDER:

TOP FUEL: 1. Steve Torrence; 2. Mike Salinas; 3. Doug Kalitta; 4. Antron Brown; 5. Jordan Vandergriff; 6. Pat Dakin; 7. T.J. Zizzo; 8. Richie Crampton; 9. Austin Prock; 10. Clay Millican; 11. Shawn Reed; 12. Dom Lagana; 13. Scott Palmer; 14. Terry McMillen; 15. Leah Pritchett; 16. Brittany Force.

FUNNY CAR: 1. Tommy Johnson Jr.; 2. Robert Hight; 3. John Force; 4. Jack Beckman; 5. Ron Capps; 6. Jeff Arend; 7. Cruz Pedregon; 8. Matt Hagan; 9. J.R. Todd; 10. Bob Tasca III; 11. Jim Campbell; 12. Blake Alexander; 13. Bob Bode; 14. Paul Lee; 15. Shawn Langdon; 16. Tim Wilkerson.

PRO STOCK: 1. Deric Kramer; 2. Erica Enders; 3. Greg Anderson; 4. Alex Laughlin; 5. Richard Freeman; 6. Jason Line; 7. Matt Hartford; 8. Bo Butner; 9. Jeg Coughlin; 10. Fernando Cuadra; 11. Chris McGaha; 12. Alan Prusiensky; 13. Shane Tucker; 14. Val Smeland; 15. Rodger Brogdon; 16. Kenny Delco.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE: 1. Matt Smith; 2. Karen Stoffer; 3. Hector Arana Jr; 4. Angie Smith; 5. Eddie Krawiec; 6. Angelle Sampey; 7. Andie Rawlings; 8. Jianna Salinas; 9. Scotty Pollacheck; 10. Ryan Oehler; 11. Hector Arana; 12. Marc Ingwersen; 13. Kelly Clontz; 14. Andrew Hines; 15. Michael Ray; 16. Steve Johnson.

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FINAL RESULTS:

TOP FUEL: Steve Torrence, 3.763 seconds, 326.32 mph def. Mike Salinas, 4.102 seconds, 213.74 mph.

FUNNY CAR: Tommy Johnson Jr., Dodge Charger, 4.175, 229.86 def. Robert Hight, Chevy Camaro, 4.438, 202.55.

PRO STOCK: Deric Kramer, Chevy Camaro, 6.532, 210.70 def. Erica Enders, Camaro, Foul – Red Light.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE: Matt Smith, EBR, 6.807, 198.88 def. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.885, 193.71.

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FINAL ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS:

TOP FUEL: ROUND ONE — Jordan Vandergriff, 3.814, 313.88 def. Clay Millican, Foul – Red Light; Richie Crampton, 3.758, 322.73 def. Austin Prock, 3.770, 327.51; Doug Kalitta, 3.752, 326.63 def. Shawn Reed, 3.786, 324.83; Mike Salinas, 3.736, 325.69 def. Scott Palmer, 3.825, 325.30; Antron Brown, 3.736, 327.11 def. Brittany Force, 5.776, 112.30; Steve Torrence, 3.741, 329.34 def. Terry McMillen, 4.282, 194.74; Pat Dakin, 3.798, 318.47 def. Dom Lagana, 3.801, 324.12; T.J. Zizzo, 3.821, 313.22 def. Leah Pritchett, 4.736, 137.39;  QUARTERFINALS — Kalitta, 3.812, 321.04 def. Dakin, 3.946, 294.88; Torrence, 3.748, 327.59 def. Crampton, 4.627, 164.29; Salinas, 3.799, 317.12 def. Zizzo, 4.013, 256.75; Brown, 3.789, 322.96 def. Vandergriff, 3.805, 318.54;  SEMIFINALS — Salinas, 4.083, 209.17 def. Kalitta, Foul – Red Light; Torrence, 3.804, 322.42 def. Brown, 6.050, 89.27;  FINAL — Torrence, 3.763, 326.32 def. Salinas, 4.102, 213.74.

FUNNY CAR: ROUND ONE — Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger, 3.930, 329.18 def. Blake Alexander, Ford Mustang, 4.250, 222.77; Jeff Arend, Mustang, 4.366, 259.76 def. Shawn Langdon, Toyota Camry, 5.234, 117.81; Robert Hight, Chevy Camaro, 4.040, 262.33 def. Jim Campbell, Charger, 4.044, 314.39; Tommy Johnson Jr., Charger, 3.946, 325.85 def. Paul Lee, Charger, 4.673, 180.72; Ron Capps, Charger, 3.944, 325.53 def. Bob Bode, Mustang, 4.349, 215.51; John Force, Camaro, 3.956, 328.46 def. J.R. Todd, Camry, 3.938, 319.98; Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.954, 328.46 def. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.014, 320.28; Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 4.016, 321.19 def. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, Foul – Outer Boundary; QUARTERFINALS — Hight, 3.956, 323.35 def. Pedregon, 4.030, 298.21; Beckman, 3.962, 329.75 def. Arend, 4.028, 317.49; Force, 3.961, 325.53 def. Capps, 4.018, 298.47; Johnson Jr., 3.941, 323.81 def. Hagan, 4.071, 274.16;  SEMIFINALS — Hight, 4.105, 239.40 def. Beckman, Foul – Red Light; Johnson Jr., 3.972, 321.81 def. Force, 3.953, 322.42;  FINAL — Johnson Jr., 4.175, 229.86 def. Hight, 4.438, 202.55.

PRO STOCK: ROUND ONE — Bo Butner, Chevy Camaro, 6.594, 211.03 def. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, Foul – Red Light; Alex Laughlin, Camaro, 6.565, 209.26 def. Fernando Cuadra, Camaro, 6.576, 210.11; Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.561, 210.44 def. Rodger Brogdon, Camaro, 11.655, 76.22; Richard Freeman, Ford Mustang, 6.571, 209.20 def. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.612, 209.23; Jason Line, Camaro, 6.548, 210.44 def. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 13.795, 61.92; Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.566, 210.44 def. Shane Tucker, Camaro, 6.681, 207.85; Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.537, 211.23 def. Alan Prusiensky, Dodge Dart, 6.680, 206.45; Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.558, 209.46 def. Val Smeland, Camaro, 7.558, 136.14; QUARTERFINALS — Kramer, 6.559, 209.98 def. Hartford, 6.638, 209.56; Enders, 6.566, 209.75 def. Freeman, 6.560, 210.24; Laughlin, 6.570, 209.23 def. Line, 6.568, 210.41; Anderson, 6.541, 211.06 def. Butner, Foul – Red Light;  SEMIFINALS — Kramer, 6.550, 209.98 def. Laughlin, 6.582, 210.18; Enders, 6.573, 210.41 def. Anderson, 6.552, 212.39; FINAL — Kramer, 6.532, 210.70 def. Enders, Foul – Red Light.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE: ROUND ONE — Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.867, 195.14 def. Ryan Oehler, Buell, 6.939, 192.60; Jianna Salinas, Suzuki, 7.008, 184.62 def. Hector Arana, 7.020, 193.60; Angelle Sampey, Harley-Davidson, 6.887, 191.70 def. Scotty Pollacheck, 6.928, 192.49; Angie Smith, 6.967, 194.66 def. Marc Ingwersen, Buell, 7.084, 189.95; Hector Arana Jr, 6.865, 195.19 def. Kelly Clontz, Suzuki, 7.182, 185.95; Andie Rawlings, Suzuki, 7.255, 179.52 def. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.622, 194.21; Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.824, 197.74 def. Michael Ray, Buell, 7.914, 122.50; Matt Smith, 6.798, 199.76 def. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, Broke – No Show; QUARTERFINALS — A. Smith, 6.925, 195.19 def. Rawlings, Broke; Arana Jr, 6.974, 193.57 def. Salinas, Foul – Centerline; Stoffer, 6.883, 193.93 def. Krawiec, 6.868, 195.76; M. Smith, 6.874, 198.03 def. Sampey, Foul – Red Light; SEMIFINALS — Stoffer, 6.877, 194.10 def. Arana Jr, 6.867, 193.71; M. Smith, 6.833, 198.17 def. A. Smith, 6.956, 195.22; FINAL — M. Smith, 6.807, 198.88 def. Stoffer, 6.885, 193.71.

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UPDATED POINT STANDINGS:

TOP FUEL: 1. Steve Torrence, 820; 2. Doug Kalitta, 574; 3. Mike Salinas, 573; 4. Brittany Force, 572; 5. Antron Brown, 544; 6. Clay Millican, 523; 7. Leah Pritchett, 497; 8. Richie Crampton, 410; 9. Terry McMillen, 383; 10. Austin Prock, 375.

FUNNY CAR: 1. Robert Hight, 818; 2. Tommy Johnson Jr., 650; 3. Ron Capps, 610; 4. John Force, 596; 5. J.R. Todd, 593; 6. Matt Hagan, 559; 7. Jack Beckman, 553; 8. Tim Wilkerson, 495; 9. Shawn Langdon, 435; 10. Bob Tasca III, 401.

PRO STOCK: 1. Bo Butner, 598; 2. Alex Laughlin, 431; 3. Erica Enders, 393; 4. Jason Line, 390; 5. Greg Anderson, 389; 6. Matt Hartford, 379; 7. Deric Kramer, 357; 8. Jeg Coughlin, 330; 9. Rodger Brogdon, 286; 10. Chris McGaha, 273.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE: 1. Andrew Hines, 606; 2. Eddie Krawiec, 534; 3. Hector Arana Jr, 514; 4. Matt Smith, 444; 5. Karen Stoffer, 349; 6. Ryan Oehler, 296; 7. Angie Smith, 275; 8. Angelle Sampey, 263; 9. Hector Arana, 239; 10. Jerry Savoie, 233.

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‘It’s gnarly, bro’: IndyCar drivers face new challenge on streets of downtown Detroit

By Jun 2, 2023, 7:32 PM EDT
IndyCar Detroit downtown
James Black/Penske Entertainment
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DETROIT – It was the 1968 motion picture, “Winning” when actress Joanne Woodward asked Paul Newman if he were going to Milwaukee in the days after he won the Indianapolis 500 as driver Frank Capua.

“Everybody goes to Milwaukee after Indianapolis,” Newman responded near the end of the film.

Milwaukee was a mainstay as the race on the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 for decades, but since 2012, the first race after the Indy 500 has been Detroit at Belle Isle Park.

This year, there is a twist.

Instead of IndyCar racing at the Belle Isle State Park, it’s the streets of downtown Detroit on a race course that is quite reminiscent of the old Formula One and CART race course that was used from 1982 to 1991.

Formula One competed in the United States Grand Prix from 1982 to 1988. Beginning in 1989, CART took over the famed street race through 1991. In 1992, the race was moved to Belle Isle, where it was held through last year (with a 2009-2011 hiatus after the Great Recession).

The Penske Corp. is the promoter of this race, and they did a lot of good at Belle Isle, including saving the Scott Fountain, modernizing the Belle Isle Casino, and basically cleaning up the park for Detroit citizens to enjoy.

The race, however, had outgrown the venue. Roger Penske had big ideas to create an even bigger event and moving it back to downtown Detroit benefitted race sponsor Chevrolet. The footprint of the race course goes around General Motors world headquarters in the GM Renaissance Center – the centerpiece building of Detroit’s modernized skyline.

INDYCAR IN DETROIT: Entry list, schedule, TV info for this weekend

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Motor City is about to roar with the sound of Chevrolet and Honda engines this weekend as the NTT IndyCar Series is the featured race on the nine-turn, 1.7-mile temporary street course.

It’s perhaps the most unique street course on the IndyCar schedule because of the bumps on the streets and the only split pit lane in the series.

The pit lanes has stalls on opposing sides and four lanes across an unusual rectangular pit area (but still only one entry and exit).

Combine that, with the bumps and the NTT IndyCar Series drivers look forward to a wild ride in Motor City.

“It’s gnarly, bro,” Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward said before posting the fastest time in Friday’s first practice. “It will be very interesting because the closest thing that I can see it being like is Toronto-like surfaces with more of a Long Beach-esque layout.

“There’s less room for error than Long Beach. There’s no curbs. You’ve got walls. I think very unique to this place.

PRACTICE RESULTS: Speeds from the first session

“Then it’s a bit of Nashville built into it. The braking zones look really very bumpy. Certain pavements don’t look bumpy but with how the asphalt and concrete is laid out, there’s undulation with it. So, you can imagine the cars are going to be smashing on every single undulation because we’re going to go through those sections fairly fast, and obviously the cars are pretty low. I don’t know.

“It looks fun, man. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. It’s going to be learning through every single session, not just for drivers and teams but for race control. For everyone.

“Everybody has to go into it knowing not every call is going to be smooth. It’s a tall task to ask from such a demanding racetrack. I think it’ll ask a lot from the race cars as well.”

The track is bumpy, but O’Ward indicated he would be surprised if it is bumper than Nashville. By comparison to Toronto, driving at slow speed is quite smooth, but fast speed is very bumpy.

“This is a mix of Nashville high-speed characteristics and Toronto slow speed in significant areas,” O’Ward said. “I think it’ll be a mix of a lot of street courses we go to, and the layout looks like more space than Nashville, which is really tight from Turn 4 to 8. It looks to be a bit more spacious as a whole track, but it’ll get tight in multiple areas.”

The concept of having four-wide pit stops is something that excites the 24-year-old driver from Monterey, Mexico.

“I think it’s innovation, bro,” O’Ward said. “If it works out, we’ll look like heroes.

“If it doesn’t, we tried.”

Because of the four lanes on pit road, there is a blend line the drivers will have to adhere to. Otherwise, it would be chaos leaving the pits compared to a normal two-lane pit road.

“If it wasn’t there, there’d be guys fighting for real estate where there’s one car that fits, and there’d be cars crashing in pit lane,” O’Ward said. “I get why they did that. It’s the same for everybody. I don’t think there’s a lot of room to play with. That’s the problem.

“But it looks freaking gnarly for sure. Oh my God, that’s going to be crazy.”

Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing believes the best passing areas will be on the long straights because of the bumps in the turns. That is where much of the action will be in terms of gaining or losing a position in the race.

“It will also be really easy to defend in my opinion,” Palou said. “Being a 180-degree corner, you just have to go on the inside and that’s it. There’s going to be passes for sure but its’ going to be risky.

“Turn 1, if someone dives in, you end up in the wall. They’re not going to be able to pass you on the exit, so maybe with the straight being so long you can actually pass before you end up on the braking zone.”

Palou’s teammate, Marcus Ericsson, was at the Honda simulator in Brownsburg, Indiana, before coming to Detroit and said he was shocked by the amount of bumps on the simulator.

Race promoter Bud Denker, the President of Penske Corporation, and Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix President Michael Montri, sent the track crews onto the streets with grinders to smooth out the bumps on the race course several weeks ago.

“They’ve done a decent amount of work, and even doing the track walk, it looked a lot better than what we expected,” Ericsson said. “I don’t think it’ll be too bad. I hope not. That’ll be something to take into account.

“I think the track layout doesn’t look like the most fun. Maybe not the most challenging. But I love these types of tracks with rules everywhere. It’s a big challenge, and you have to build up to it. That’s the types of tracks that I love to drive. It’s a very much Marcus Ericsson type of track. I like it.”

Scott Dixon, who was second fastest in the opening session, has competed on many new street circuits throughout his legendary racing career. The six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion for Chip Ganassi Racing likes the track layout, even with the unusual pit lane.

“I don’t think that’s going to be something that catches on where every track becomes a double barrel,” Dixon said. “It’s new and interesting.

“As far as pit exit, I think Toronto exit is worse with how the wall sticks out. I think in both lanes, you’ve got enough lead time to make it and most guys will make a good decision.”

It wasn’t until shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Friday that the IndyCar drivers began the extended 90-minute practice session to try out the race course for the first time in real life.

As expected, there were several sketchy moments, but no major crashes during the first session despite 19 local yellow flags for incidents and two red flags.

Rookie Agustin Canapino had to cut his practice short after some damage to his No. 78 Dallara-Chevrolet, but he was among many who emerged mostly unscathed from scrapes with the wall.

“It was honestly less carnage than I expected,” said Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood, who was third fastest in the practice after coming off his first career IndyCar victory in the most recent street race at Long Beach in April. “I think a lot of people went off in the runoffs, but no one actually hit the wall (too hard), which actually surprised me. Hats off to them for keeping it clean, including myself.

“It was quite a bit less grip than I think everyone expected. Maybe a little bit more bumpy down into Turn 3 than everyone expected. But overall they did a good job between the two manufacturers. I’m sure everyone had pretty much the same we were able to base everything off of. We felt pretty close to maximum right away.”

Most of the preparation for this event was done either on the General Motors Simulator in Huntersville, North Carolina, or the Honda Performance Development simulator in Brownsburg, Indiana.

“Now, we have simulators that can scan the track, so we have done plenty of laps already,” Power told NBC Sports. “They have ground and resurfaced a lot of the track, so it should be smoother.

“But nothing beats real-world experience. It’s going to be a learning experience in the first session.”

As a Team Penske driver, Power and his teammates were consulted about the progress and layout of the Detroit street course. They were shown what was possible with the streets that were available.

“We gave some input back after we were on the similar what might be ground and things like that,” Power said.

Racing on the streets of Belle Isle was a fairly pleasant experience for the fans and corporate sponsor that compete in the race.

But the vibe at the new location gives this a “big event” feel.

“The atmosphere is a lot better,” Power said. “The location, the accessibility for the fans, the crowd that will be here, it’s much easier. I think it will be a much better event.

“It feels like a Long Beach, only in a much bigger city. That is what street course racing is all about.”

Because the track promoter is also the team owner, Power and teammates Scott McLaughlin and Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden will have a very busy weekend on the track, and with sponsor and personal appearances.

“That’s what pays the bills and allows us to do this,” Power said.

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500