POMONA — No more waiting. Three months of resting, research and testing has ended. It’s time for the start of the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
Traditionally the season opens at Auto Club Raceway on the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona with the Winternationals, the first of 24 scheduled national events. This year marks the 57th edition of the event, second-oldest on the NHRA schedule behind the U.S. Nationals, which enter their 63rd year.
Auto Club Raceway will also host the season-ending Auto Club Finals in November.
On Friday afternoon, a pair of qualifying sessions for the three pro classes will get the Winternationals started, although sportsmen racers were on the track Thursday. The 16-car fields in Top Fuel dragster, Funny Car and Pro Stock will be decided following Saturday qualifying, with final eliminations set for 11 a.m. Sunday.
As with the start of any new season, there are plenty of questions, including whether Antron Brown, Ron Capps and Jason Line can repeat as champions.
A quick look at what could lie ahead:
Can Brown continue his Top Fuel championship streak?
The Don Schumacher Racing driver has captured the past two titles, the first driver in seven years to achieve that feat. And if that isn’t dominant enough, note that Brown has finished first in four of the past six years.
Will Capps repeat in Funny Car?
In his NHRA career that started in 1995, Capps had finished second four times in the class. However in 2016, Capps put together a stout season that included five wins and an equal number of runner-up finishes to end his title frustration. The DSR driver is second on the all-time Funny Car win list with 49.
Will Pro Stock remain a family feud?
Ken Black Racing teammates Jason Line and Greg Anderson dominated the class in 2016, with Line pulling out a three-point margin for the title. They jumped ahead after working on the new rules during the 2015 offseason and were never seriously challenged during the regular portion of the schedule or in Countdown.
What about Erica Enders and Jeg Coughlin Jr.?
After a rather forgettable season, the Elite Racing drivers have eyes on returning to the title room. Coughlin has five titles in the class, the last in 2013, and Enders was the dominant force while winning in 2014-15. They have switched from Dodge back to Chevrolet.
Will Jimmy Prock put John Force back on top?
Yorba Linda’s Force — father of Funny Car’s Courtney and Top Fuel’s Brittany, plus father-in-law to fellow Funny Car driver Robert Hight — is the all-time NHRA leader in titles (16) and wins (147). His last title was in 2013, with Prock serving as his crew chief. However, Prock bolted for DSR following the 2013 title run. This season, Prock has returned to JFR and will be aided by Chris Cunningham, and Force was among the quickest at the recent test session in Phoenix.
Will family prevail?
Del Worsham started racing with his father Chuck in 1990. After leaving the family operation in 2008, Worsham won a Top Fuel title with Al-Anabi Racing in 2011 and a Funny Car championship with Kalitta Motorsports in 2015.
On Friday, father and son will be reunited once under the Worsham & Fink Racing Funny Car banner. Worsham is in elite company at Pomona — he joins Don Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein and Gary Scelzi as the only drivers to win Funny Car and Top Fuel titles.
Will making a switch pay off for J.R. Todd?
When we last saw Todd at Pomona, he was behind the wheel of a Kalitta Motorsports dragster. On Friday, Todd will make his official debut in a DHL-sponsored Funny Car that dates to the late Scott Kalitta and, more recently, Worsham.
Although it’ll be Todd’s first appearance in the class, he does have experience. Before his Top Fuel career, he served for three years as a crewman on Bob Gilbertson’s Funny Car and maintained a desire of racing one.
Who will be the rookies to watch?
In Top Fuel, a familiar name in the sport will compete for the first time. Troy Coughlin Jr., Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s nephew, has competed in several NHRA classes and was selected by Kalitta Motorsports to replace Todd in the dragster.
The Gray family has been a stalwart in Pro Stock. In 2017, third-generation driver Tanner Gray will pilot the family’s Chevrolet. He is the son of Shane Gray, who will compete in selected events this season, and the grandson of Johnny Gray, a seven-time class winner who will serve as his crew chief.
Will women continue to create headlines?
In 2016, there were five female winners in Top Fuel and Funny Car. Early in the season, Redlands’ Leah Pritchett defeated Brittany Force in the Top Fuel finals at Phoenix, the first time since 1982 two females had reached the finals. Force followed with her first win in the next event at Gainesville.
Other females to achieve victory: Courtney Force in Funny Car, including a win in Houston that marked the 125th female win in the Mello Yello Series, and Angelle Sampey, whose Pro Stock Motorcycle victory in Englishtown, N.J., was her first since 2007.
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