in Car Stories, General, Motorsports, News

NHRA arches into St. Louis, Torrence, Hight, Enders, Smith take home wins

by KyraSage 2 October, 2022, 5:27 pm 118 Views

Good Afternoon race fans!

This weekend the NHRA made their way to St. Louis for the NHRA Midwest Nationals, the third race of the Countdown and it was not to be missed.

So, timing and scoring was a little screwy today and I don’t have all the information that I normally would, so I’m going to write it a little differently.

In Top Fuel, there was a new speed record set by, you guessed it, Brittany Force, and she now owns the fastest run in the history of Top Fuel drag racing, at 338.43 mph. On the left side of the ladder, No. 1 qualified Steve Torrence started his day by taking on No. 16 Buddy Hull. He made quick work of Buddy, advancing with a 3.71. In the second round he faced Clay Millican and drove around him with a 3.76. His semifinal matchup was against Doug Kalitta, and I want to mention again that Kalitta Motorsports has partnered with Feeding America and for every Kalitta round win they donate 20,000 meals and today all three of their cars went rounds today, so they donated a lot of meals which is fantastic. But with a 3.72, Steve and the Capco team were into the finals. On the other side of the ladder, No. 2 qualified Josh Hart started his day by taking on No. 15 Scott Palmer and with a 3.96, he was able to drive around him. In the second round he faced Mike Salinas and with a 3.76, was moving on. His semifinal matchup was against Shawn Langdon, and with a 3.71, he and the R&L Carriers team were into the finals. This was a close final round. Steve was (.027) on the line to Josh’s (.048) and that definitely helped, because it was neck and neck until the finish line, where with a 3.741 to a 3.749, Steve took home the win and the Wally.

Over in the Funny Car ranks, on the left side of the ladder, No. 1 qualified Robert Hight started his day with a bye run and went 4.07. In the second round he faced Tim Wilkerson and got around him with a 3.90. His semifinal matchup was against Matt Hagan and with a 3.91, he and the AAA team were into the finals. On the other side of the ladder, No. 3 qualified Ron Capps started his day by taking on No. 14 Dan Wilkerson. With a 3.93 he was able to drive into the second round. In the second round he faced Cruz Pedregon and advanced with a 3.92. His semifinal matchup was against John Force, and with a 3.88, Ron and the NAPA Auto Parts team were into the finals. This was a really great final, Robert had the advantage (.041) to (.059) and that helped him get the holeshot. So with a 3.91 to a 3.90, Robert took home the win and the Wally.

Moving to the world of Pro Stock, we have Pro Stock Cars. On the left side of the ladder, No. 4 qualified Erica Enders started her day by taking on No. 13 Chris McGaha and with a 6.52 was moving on. In the second round she faced Troy Coughlin Jr. I don’t have a number for that round, but she moved on. Her semifinal matchup was against Kyle Koretsky and with a 6.53, her and the Melling Performance/Elite team were into the finals. On the other side of the ladder, No. 6 qualified Dallas Glenn started his day by taking on No. 11 Mike DePalma and with a 6.53 was moving on. In the second round he faced Aaron Stanfield and with a 6.56, was into the semis. His semifinal matchup was against Matt Hartford and with a 6.56, he and the RAD Torque Systems team were into the finals. This was an example of an old school Pro Stock race, they had a bit of a burndown and neither of them wanted to stage first, but once they did, Dallas went red by. (-.075) giving Erica the win immediately and she ran a 6.53.

And finally we have Pro Stock Motorcycle. On the left side of the ladder, No. 1 qualified Matt Smith started his day with a bye run and he went 6.77. In the second round he faced Kelly Clontz, and with a 6.78 was moving on. His semifinal matchup was against Joey Gladstone and with a 6.75, he and the Denso team were into the finals. On the other side of the ladder, No. 7 qualified Jerry Savoie started his day by taking on No. 10 Ryan Oehler and with a 7.03 was moving on. In the second round he faced Angelle Sampey and with a 6.78, advanced. His semifinal matchup was against Eddie Krawiec and with a 6.81, he and the White Alligator Racing team were into the finals. It was a good and pretty close race, but with a 6.75 to a 6.81, Matt Smith took home the win and the Wally.