NHRA Update: Johnson, Capps maintain positions; Coughlin qualifies

The Team Mopar/J&J Racing Avenger remained second in Pro Stock qualifying at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 32nd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. Allen Johnson had two more good passes but his Friday ET was still his best. Johnson still had the fastest speed of any of the contenders, but Jason Line trimmed a few more fractions of a second off his ET to clinch the top spot.

Vincent Nobile jumped a spot to in eighth following two more good runs on Saturday. Jeg Coughlin finally made it into the field in the third round of qualifying and even moved up a spot in the expanded field going into Sunday’s eliminations.

V.Gaines’ Saturday was worse than his Friday and his racing weekend ended with traction problems that dropped him to 20th in the qualifying order. Chris McGaha was also unable to close the deal on Saturday with two 15-plus-second runs that left him dead last in the pecking order.

The top of the Funny Car field remained unchanged as Friday times remained unbeaten for the top nine qualifiers. Johnny Gray shaved almost a tenth of a second from his best time Friday to make sure there was a full card of Dodges for the Sunday dances.

Johnson, Capps, second after two qualifying rounds

After two rounds of qualifying in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 32nd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, Dodges have qualified second in Pro Stock and Funny Car. The racing was very tight in Pro Stock with just .108 seconds separating the top qualifier from the slowest DNQ. Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson qualified first in the opening round and improved his time in the second round, but Jason Line came roarig back from a first-round DNQ to take the top spot in Round Two.

Fiat 500 class leader in World Challenge series

Jonathan Start, of Caledonia, Mich., drove his Fiat 500 to two Touring Car-B race wins on Saturday, April 28 at the 2.2-mile Miller Motorsports Park West Course configuration, winning two out of three of the new series’ races.

Saturday’s event featured two 30-minute races separated by just ten minutes. Start completed the inaugural race weekend with a fourth-place finish in the third race yesterday, just missing the podium after a race-long duel at the front of the pack.

Start has the early lead in points, with a 54-point lead over Honda driver Sage Marie and a 62-point lead over Ford driver Craig Capaldi. Fiat holds the manufacturers’ lead with 22 points, followed by a tie between Mazda and Ford with 16. Honda has 15 points, while Kia has scored 3.

In the debut race for the new series, Start, in his No. 00 Fiat USA/SRT/Carbotech Fiat 500, took the lead late in the 17-lap race and went on to finish 2.171 seconds before anyone else.

“Race number one was exactly what this new B-Spec should be,” Start said. “Close, tight, and very similar cars all competing hard. I had the race of my life in the fun category. We were able to flip and flop, and we raced each other clean. This is what World Challenge is all about.”

In the second race, with the grid based on the finishing order from the first race, Start took off from pole position at the green flag and led every lap to the finish, taking a 1.392-second victory to sweep the doubleheader.

Start said, “I wanted to be smooth, I wanted to be consistent, and I wanted to take care of my tires in the first race and I think I did. I watched the other guys and there were some moves where I was like, you guys are nuts. You guys are going to scrub your tires.”

Start began the final race in the third spot in class and quickly became part of a four-car scrum made up of Start’s Fiat, a Honda Fit, and two Ford Fiestas. The battle raged for much of the early part of the race, with Marie’s No. 45 Honda Fit trading the lead with Capaldi’s No. 86 Ford Fiesta every other lap for the first four. All the fighting for second place allowed Marie to steadily pull away, driving off to a 3.354-second margin of victory. Start came home in fourth.

The Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) B-Spec series was set up to be an affordable gateway into SCCA racing and to let manufacturers show off a new class of cars in competition. B-Spec cars are built for B-Spec racing and must run on the same brand and model of tires. Cars competing in B-Spec include the Fiat 500, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Mazda2 and MINI Cooper.

Nobile wins in Houston

Vincent Nobile and the Mountain View Tire Dodge Avenger took home their first Wally of the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season, coming in three feet ahead of Dave Connolly in the Alamo Iron Works Cobalt at the 25th Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas, just east of Houston. In a first-class Pro Stock matchup, Nobile was 0.002 seconds faster off the line and 0.009 seconds quicker at the end of the quarter-mile.

Nobile and Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson were the only Dodge drivers to qualify for Sunday’s eliminations. Johnson had qualified first in all four rounds and Nobile had qualified third coming into Sunday’s action.

Johnson made it all the way to the semifinals where Connolly turned a 0.021-second starting advantage into a hole-shot victory. The Team Mopar/J&J Racing Avenger had the lower ET and higher speed but it wasn’t enough to overcome Connolly’s quick start.

Over in Funny Car, Ron Capps, the top Dodge qualifier, made it all the way to the finals where the NAPA Auto Parts Charger was up against Mike Neff in the Castrol GTX Mustang. Both drivers had identical 0.071-second starts and Capps had the early lead but he began losing power and drifting toward the centerline. Neff sailed down the track with an ET of 4.239 seconds at 301.67 mph, while Capps had to settle for a 4.476 at 211.79 mph.

Johnny Gray and Matt Hagan were eliminated in the first round. Gray got off to a good start but the NTB/Service Central Charger’s tires began to smoke and the engine started making unpleasant noises; he was almost two seconds behind Tim Wilkerson’s Levi Ray & Shoup Mustang at the finish line.

Hagan’s Aaron’s Dream Machine Charger was matched up with Jeff Arend’s DHL Solara in a clean race. Hagan had the faster start and made his best pass of the weekend but Arend was 0.0181 seconds faster and tripped the timers about eight feet ahead of Hagan.