Reliving Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals Most Adrenaline Pumping Moments, Weekend Recap

It’s that time of year again, the NHRA schedule is in full swing as racing season shifts into high gear.

After being treated to a pair of action-packed events in March, NHRA fans would turn the page to April and be greeted by a Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals event that was one to remember.

Right from the top of the show, the “wow” factor was high as NHRA legend John Force ended up in an unwelcome situation. During a qualifying pass against JR Todd. Fans would watch the car skate across the track and take a hard hit at high speeds.

Force relayed to a reporter that he felt the car moving around a bit but thought it was ok. Shortly after though, he recalls that the car “struck the tires,” which sent the car into the wall.

All drivers were ok. Force did have a backup car but was unable to qualify for the event.

In the funny car class, it was the number 10 overall qualifier, Matt Hagan who was able to take home the Wally at Pomona.  The Funny car team owned partially by Tony Stewart managed to edge out Ron Capps.

It seemed like Hagan was bound to have the better pass overall but was also aided by a pass from his opponent that led Capps to stray toward the center line and lift out of the throttle, thus awarding Hagan the Wally.

Over in Pro Stock, Dallas Glenn was able to execute well enough to take home his fifth career Wally. Glenn found himself sitting in fourth after qualifying and was consistent enough to charge his way all the way to the finals where he would meet Matt Hartford.

Hartford had the advantage from the beginning as he lept from the starting line almost one-hundredth of a second quicker than Glenn. He maintained a half-car length advantage to the eighth mile. Glenn managed to drive around Hartford, though, by a slim margin that stood at .0033-seconds to take home victory.

We had to save one of the best for last as Top Fuel was certainly the fastest final of the event. In the final round, 12-seed Austin Prock met 1-seed Justin Ashley.

From the jump, Ashely had Prock’s number as Ashley managed to leap out with a reaction time that was more than two-hundredths of a second quicker than Prock. The lead only stood to extend as Prock’s car began to slide around a bit, awarding Ashley a .0702-second margin of victory on a stellar pass.

Photo credit – NHRA