Over the weekend, drag racing fans in the mid-west gathered at Brainerd International Raceway for 41st annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals for four days of ground-pounding racing at one of the fastest drag strips in country. In Top Fuel and Funny Car national records were shattered for the first time in NHRA history by a pair of women drivers.
In both nitro classes and Pro Stock, the world’s fastest drag racers rolled into Brainerd eager to get on one of the circuit’s premier race tracks. But on Friday, just about the time of day teams were expecting to post some of the best times of the weekend, the Funny Car of Blake Alexander blow engine parts and oil all over the left lane causing the day to be cut short.
Like racing fans at the other two-wide NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, Brainerd locals lined the fence and filled the stands for the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. The penultimate specialty race has invited semifinalists from the previous national event to compete side-by-side in a redemption race. Antron Brown, Robert Hight and Erica Enders claimed wins.
Antron Brown Takes Top Fuel Win at Brainerd
Having already earned bonus money and points with a victory in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, Antron Brown was ready to top the weekend off with a dominant finish. After settling for a sixth place qualifying position, Brown eliminated Shawn Langston, four-time champion Steve Torrence, and Mike Salinas enroute to a final round match against Leah Pruett.
Leah Pruett defeated Tony Schumacher, defending world champion Brittany Force and current points leader Justin Ashley enroute to her third Final of the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series in Top Fuel. Brown was off the tree first and ran an impressive 3.715 ET at 326.08 mph for the victory. With two impressive wins at Brainerd, Brown moved into third place in the Top Fuel points standings, as the driver of the MATCO Tools Toyota aims for his fourth NHRA world championship title.
Ron Capps Claims Victory at Lucas Oil Nationals
It’s that time of year that Ron Capps, driver of the NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra starts to pick up the momentum heading into the NHRA Countdown to the Championship. Long-time rival Robert Hight had already beaten Matt Hagan on winning the Mission Foods NHRA Challenge. On Sunday, Hight reached his 99th career Funny Car final round on Sunday by defeating Bobby Bode, Dave Richards, and teammate John Force.
Capps posted a 3.887 elapsed time at 332.75 mph to defeat Hight’s 3.900 ET at 324.90 mph. This marked Capps’ second win of the 2023 season and his seventh Wally at the Minnesota track. It was also Capps seventy-fifth career win on Sunday at the 41st annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals and he leaves Brainerd International Raceway leading the nitro Funny Car division by 21 points for the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.
Glenn Gets Fourth Win of 2023 Pro Stock Season
In Saturday qualifying, Greg Anderson claimed the Number One qualifier for the 41st annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. But, a holeshot win by Kyle Koretsky in round two eliminates the winningest Pro Stock driver in NHRA history. Koretsky repeated the good start and used a .025 RT in the semifinal round to defeat Deric Kramer enroute to the final.
Dallas Glenn defeated Jerry Tucker, defending champion Erica Enders, and Aaron Stanfield on his way to the final round. He posted a 6.566-seconds elapsed time at 207.56 mph against Koretsky. Glenn’s victory was his eighth career Wally in Pro Stock and the driver of the RAD Torque Systems Camaro leaves Brainerd with a comfortable 284-point lead over Matt Hartford in the points standings.
Artwork courtesy of NHRA
UP COMING:
Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals
Nitro and Stock classes for the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series return to action Aug 30 thru Sept 3 at the 69th annual Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The Pep Boys NHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout will feature a race-within-a-race of the top seeded drivers and awarding $130,000 in additional prize money during the U.S. Nationals. Plus, the #2Fast2Tasty Mission NHRA Challenge will pit semifinalists from the previous race in the pro classes during Saturday qualifying for bonus points for the Countdown.
