POMONA, Calif. — Sunday’s In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals was thrilling throughout the four NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series categories with blistering speed and a winner-take-all final in Pro Stock.
Here’s some of our observations from Sunday’s events at Pomona Dragstrip.
Anderson’s Clutch Moment
Greg Anderson’s path to a Pro Stock championship was clear as day — churn out four win lights.
The No. 1 qualifier did just that as he scorched through points leader Aaron Stanfield in the semifinals and disposed of KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn in the final round to secure his sixth championship.
“I just about can’t believe it,” Anderson said. “I’ve been thinking about this scenario the last week-and-a-half, hoping, praying, and wishing — and it came true. I’m a very lucky man, and I can’t thank all my guys, my crew, Mr. (Rick) Hendrick and the great folks at HendrickCars.com, Summit Racing, and everyone who supports us. That support is everything. This is incredible.”
While Anderson lamented throughout the weekend of struggling to stay competitive with younger competition, the 63-year-old sent a signal to the field that he’s still on top of his game.
The Prock Rocket
There’s no denying Austin Prock and his family-tuned Funny Car had the horsepower to put big numbers on the board. Fifteen No. 1 qualifiers during the season proved that point.
However, the final day of NHRA’s season saw the John Force Racing team unleash an all-time pass at 341.68 mph — the fastest by a Funny Car in an NHRA-sanctioned event in history.
While Bob Tasca III also matched Prock’s speed at the February PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton (Fla.) Motorsports Park, it was not an NHRA event.
Prock’s run came on the back of a Pomona ET track record pass at 3.804 seconds on Saturday.
Delay
Eliminations had barely gotten under way when a small single-engine plane crashed near the top end of the race track at the Pomona Fairplex. Fortunately, the pilot and three passengers suffered only non-life-threatening injuries.
After a nearly two-hour delay, eliminations continued. Notably, the marquee matchup of the day was in Top Fuel between points leader Justin Ashley and challenger Antron Brown.
The duo sat at the starting line for several minutes before being sent back to their respective pit areas.
Talk about pressure and nerves mounting. Brown later derailed Ashley’s title chances en route to scoring his fourth championship and 80th NHRA event win.
Noteworthy
Champagne, confetti and cheers were in order for the champions as darkness took over the dragstrip.
JFR not only brought the car body Prock ran during the weekend (AAA Chevrolet Camaro) for photo ops, but also its Cornwell Tools-lathered Funny Car body.
The team swapped suits to match the primary sponsor as well. It’s the little things that make the difference in keeping sponsors happy.
• Fans clamored by the winner’s stage as Prock, Brown, Anderson and Gaige Herrera were introduced as the 2024 champions. Some who ventured too close, received a champagne bath in the process.
• The NHRA Nitro Mall, the series’ official store, came prepared as champions were crowned. Following Prock’s title-clinching day on Saturday, race day saw championship T-shirts freshly stocked and ready to be repped proudly by Prock fans.
Within the timespan of Brown’s title-winning semifinal victory and his finals run against Doug Kalitta, the Nitro Mall was stocked with Brown championship shirts as well.
It makes one wonder — with eight Top Fuel drivers still in mathematical contention for a title, how many shirts were made of the non-champions?
Maybe one will show up on eBay one day and sell for triple the sticker price.