Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Dave Connolly (Pro Stock), and Jerry Savoie (Pro Bike) were all winners in their respective classes at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals held at Gateway Motorsports Park. This was also the third of six playoff races in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship.
Funny Car Finals
Courtney Force posted a pass at 4.094 at 313.44 mph sneaking past Matt Hagen who posted 4.121 at 309.77 mph in the Funny Car final.
Top Fuel
Today’s win for Antron Brown was his third straight win at Gateway Motorsport Park and his fourth overall in St. Louis. This win snaps a three-race first round loss streak for Brown. But most importantly Brown moves to fourth in the points standings, 80 back of series leader Tony Schumacher.
Pro Stock
Connolly ran a 6.562 / 211.53 mph to edge points leader Jason Line 6.565 /211.66 in the final bracket.
Pro Bike
Jerry Savoie captured his very first career victory in NHRA Pro Bikes. He is called the alligator man because he moonlights as an alligator farmer during the day.
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Elimination Round – Semi Final Race Action
Top Fuel
Shawn Langdon took care of Bob Vandergriff to make the finals.
In the other semi final, Antron Brown continued his dominance over Steve Torrence. For the 17th time racing other Brown keeps his perfect record against Torrence and will face Langdon in the finals.
“It will be a monster match,” said Antron.
Funny Car
John Force (4.119 / 311.27) could not beat his daughter at the start of the race and Courtney with holeshot (4.143 / 311.56 mph) won the Force family semi final race.
Matt Hagen blew past Chad Head to make to finals to face the legend John Force in the finals
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Elimination Round – Quarterfinal Race Action
Top Fuel
Bob Vandergriff knocked out Top Qualifier Doug Kalitta in a rough race where both cars smoked the tires and pedaled to the finish. Vandergriff will face of against Shawn Langdon in the semi final.
In the other semi final, Antron Brown will face Steve Torrence who beat #16 qualifier, Kyle Wurtzel ending his dream race.
Funny Car
John Force will face his daughter Courtney Force in the semi final race.
In the other semifinal race, Chad Head, #14 qualifier, will continue his “upset” quest and face Matt Hagen.
Pro Stock
Dave Connolly (6.551/211.53) in nearly a photo finish edged out Vince Gaines (6.572 / 210.97).
Erica Enders-Steven once again had the low round ET 6.538 / 212.39 mph and marched into the semi-final against former teammate Dave Connolly.
Pro Bike
Hector Arana Jr. beat his father Hector Arana Sr. to advance. The younger Arana will face #2 qualifier Jerry Savoie who had a round best 6.865 / 196.19 mph..
“Pretty good,” described Savoie. “I was not sure it was as good.”
Eddie Krawiec continues to dominate and will face Andrew Hines in the semi final.
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Round 1
Top Fuel
Kyle Wurtzel pulled off the first upset of day by beating #2 qualifier Richie Cramtpon. Wurtzel’s run was 3.911 / 310.78.
Then Terry McMillen shocked #3 qualifier Tony Schumacher with a run of 3.878 at 316.90 mph.
“This is a long time coming,” said McMillen. “We knew if we do our thing and don’t make a mistake, we would be good.”
Doug Kalitta, Bob Vandergriff, J.R. Todd, Shawn Langdon, Steve Torrence, and Antron Brown all also advanced.
Funny Car
The Force family already guided their cars to the next round. John Force took care of Brian Stewart and Courtney Force ran past Bob Tasca.
The second time today, an upset of a #2 qualified car by a #15 . Jeff Arend with a run of 4.500 / 231.79 mph upset Cruz Pedregon in a rather slow race as both driver “pedaled” their cars to the finish line.
Upsets continued as #14 qualifier Chad Head got his car down the track with 4.21 / 305.08 mph to beat Robert Hight.
Tommy Johnson, Jr upset Gateway crowd favorite Tim Wilkerson. As always, the Wilkerson had a large crowd of fans who were disappointed early.
Del Worsham, Matt Hagen, and Ron Capps also moved on to the next round.
Pro Stock
Unlike Top Fuel and Funny Car, the Pro Stock division the top qualifiers tried to avoid upsets. But in the last run of the session, Vince Gains upset Shane Gray.
Erica Enders-Steven continued her fast weekend with a 6.514 pass at 212.66 mph
“I could not be more proud of team,” said Enders-Steven. “We are going to take one race at time.”
Jef Couglin, the #2 qualifier also won his race.
“Felt really good,” described Coughlin. “Track is a bit different today.”
Gray, Connolly, Johnson, Line and Nobile all advanced to the next round.
Pro Bike
Eddie Krawiec, top qualifier, once again had a powerful run and will be in the next round.
The Arana Family moved all their bikes to the next round. Hector Sr will race his son Hector Jr in the next round. Adam also advanced.
Hines, Johns, Savoie, Hall moved to the next round.
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Pre Race
The early bird race fans were treated with opportunity to walk the drag strip.
Photos by Larry Vancil
Story by Kevin Proot
St. Louis Motor Racing News