History and Drama at 55th US Nationals!
Story and photos by: Drew Hierwarter
Back in the day there was only one, The NHRA National Championship Drag Races. Held for the first time in 1955 at
This year marked the 55th edition of the oldest, richest, biggest, and most prestigious race on the NHRA calendar. And it will go down in the record book as the most historic and certainly the most dramatic of all. From the last minute shuffling of points right at the cut-off to the “Countdown”, to the record setting performances, heated emotions, and rivalries, the NHRA “Mac Tools US Nationals” had it all.
Coming into this event Tony Schumacher had an additional reason for wanting to win. Not only was he looking for the usual prestige of winning Indy, but the seven Indy wins he already had was only one less than Top Fuel legend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits.
“I haven’t seen [Don Garlits] yet,” Shumacher said, “but we did a TV segment that I think started the show this morning, and he was cool as could be. He said, ‘I’m pulling for you, and I hope you do it. To have a man of that caliber say something like that is just special.”
His win tied Garlits’ record of eight US Nationals wins and was the 60th national event win of his career in his 93rd final round. To add even more drama was the fact that he faced Larry Dixon in the final.
Over on the Funny Car side, Ashley Force-Hood became the first female in history to win the Funny Car title at Indy as she became only the third female to do so at Indy in the pro ranks. But to get that win she had to ignore the drama that swirled all around her involving her teammate Robert Hight, her father John Force, and Cruz Pedregon.
At the beginning of eliminations Hight and Pedregon were locked in a heated battle for the tenth and final transfer spot into the “Countdown to 1” championship chase. In the second round, John Force took out Cruz Pedregon setting up his semi-final race against teammate Hight. Now Hight had to win to keep his championship hopes alive while Pedregon could only stand by and watch.
As the two team cars prepared for the round there was wide spread speculation that Force would throw the race to get Hight the points he needed. NHRA has a rule against team orders and intentionally losing a race to advance a teammate and Force denied that he had any intention of doing so. But at the line Force left uncharacteristically late, the car lurched hard right and smoked the tires, and John shut it down while Hight streaked away to the win light.
At the top end of the track, Cruz Pedregon’s brother Tony was waiting and had some harsh words for John Force. The two then engaged in a heated conversation that had to be broken up several times by NHRA officials and track security. Officials also went to the Force team trailer to view the data from the car’s computer to see if there was indication that Force threw the race intentionally. The official word from NHRA was that there was no conclusive evidence that Force had done anything against the rules and the results of the race would stand.
The final round was almost anti-climatic as Hight and Ashley Force-Hood staged and it was Force-Hood all the way, running 4.170 at 294.75 mph to Hight’s 4.217 at 271.19 mph. It was Force-Hood’s second Indy win and her first in a Funny Car. She won Indy in 2004 in an Alcohol Dragster.
Jeg Coughlin won his third Indy Pro Stock title by defeating Greg Stanfield 6.689 at 206.48 mph to Stanfield’s losing 6.691 at 206.35.
Hector Arana defeated Michael Phillips in Pro Stock Motorcycle. It was the first time for both riders in an Indy final round.