Steve Torrence and Robert Hight have qualified first in their respective Nitro categories at the largest drag racing event on the planet, the US Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The ‘Big Go’ has long been the largest and most prestigious event on the NHRA Tour, stretching over six days and with in excess of 1000 competitors.
It is also the home of numerous specialty Shootouts throughout qualifying including the Hemi Challenge and the Pep Boys All Star Callout for Nitro Funny Cars.
After the 5 rounds of qualifying, Top Fuel is arguably one of the tightest fields in US Nationals history, with only 0.12s covering the entire field from Number one qualifier Steve Torrence to number sixteen Will Smith.
With the best conditions of the weekend well past after Friday night qualifying, teams that were not qualified coming into the final session had a nervous time with very warm and humid conditions not favourable.
Three-time Top Fuel Champion Antron Brown was the biggest name not qualified heading into the final session but put his Matco tools Dragster into the field in the #15 position with a 3.806 in a last-ditch effort and will race the reigning world champion and #2 qualifier Brittany Force in Round 1.
Current points leader Justin Ashley qualified solidly in the third spot, followed by a resurgent Doug Kalitta and Mike Salinas who recorded the top speed of the event so far with a 335.32 mph (539.64km/h) blast.
Leah Pruett (driving for Tony Stewart Racing), TJ Zizzo and Josh Hart round out the top half of the field.
Interestingly, Championship contenders Force, Brown, Ashley, Pruett and Austin Prock are all on the same side of the ladder, meaning big implications for the championship in the last race of the regular season.
In Funny Car, Robert Hight will lead the field into race day in his Chevy Camaro, a day after winning the $80,000 bonus in the All-Star Callout, with a 3.853.
Hight and crew chief Jimmy Prock seemed to have a handle on the warm weather tune-up, putting the car down the track in every session over the weekend, and will race Paul Lee in round one.
Bob Tasca III and Alexis DeJoria sit second and third and will race Terry Haddock and Bobby Bode in round one respectively, with three-time Champion Matt Hagan in fourth.
Reigning champion Ron Capps, this weekend driving a tribute car to the 1973 US Nationals winning car of his former team owner Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme, will start from fifth and will take on Dale Creasy Jnr in round one.
If both Capps and Hagan win round one, they will race each other in a huge matchup in round two on Monday (US time).
Pro Stock is traditionally one of the toughest categories in the NHRA, and this weekend is no different with only .095 covering the top 15 qualifiers.
Matt Hartford is number one with a 6.56s run, with fellow championship contenders Troy Coughlin Jnr and Aaron Stanfield in two and three.
Five-time Pro Stock World Champion, Erica Enders qualified fourth and will race longtime rival Chris McGaha in round one.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gaige Herrera continued his dominance of the class in his rookie season, scoring another number-one qualifier to add to his growing list of accomplishments.
Herrera has won 6 out of seven finals that he has contested this season, only missing the final round at one event so far.
He is widely expected to win the NHRA rookie of the year title and could be the first rookie to win a Pro Stock Motorcycle championship.
Final eliminations are scheduled for Monday US time on the Labor Day long weekend.
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