NHRA MELLO YELLOW DRAG RACING SERIES
NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS
PACIFIC RACEWAYS
KENT, WASH.
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING RECAP
McGAHA NO. 1 QUALIFIER IN PRO STOCK CAMARO SS
KENT, Wash. (Aug. 8, 2015) – A week after taking his first career NHRA Pro Stock victory, Chris McGaha was the No. 1 qualifier Saturday after the fourth and final round of qualifying for the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways. McGaha, in the Harlow Sammons of Odessa Chevrolet Pro Stock Camaro SS, made his final qualifying pass count to take the top spot as Team Chevy drivers took the top five positions in Pro Stock ahead of Sunday’s final eliminations.
McGaha’s best time of 6.501/212.86 mph was a track record and moved him from eighth to first on the ladder. He was a tick quicker than Jeg Coughlin Jr. in the No. 25 Stockseth Racing-Elite-Jegs Chevy Camaro SS. Coughlin Jr., the 2013 Northwest Nationals runner-up and five-time NHRA Pro Stock Champion, had set a track record Friday.
The top eight Pro Stock cars – seven of them Camaro SS entries – were within 0.08 seconds in elapsed time.
“I honestly thought someone else would go faster than us,” McGaha said. “I knew we made a good run, but I knew we swung for the fence so surely someone else who ran fast yesterday would do the same. Turns out we got that No. 1 with our Harlow Sammons Chevrolet Camaro. We have lots of momentum and confidence going right now, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Jonathan Gray in the Gray Motorsports Camaro SS was the No. 3 qualifier at 6.502/212.13 mph, just head of Pro Stock Championship leader and 2010 Northwest Nationals event winner Greg Anderson, who ran a 6.503/212.76 mph in the Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS.
In Funny Car, John Force went into the 3-second bracket to claim the No. 3 qualifier spot in the John Force Racing Peak Antifreeze Chevrolet Funny Car Camaro SS. The eight-time Northeast Nationals event winner posted a time of 3.996/318.32 mph to move up from eighth in the competitive Funny Car field.
Robert Hight in John Force Racing’s Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny car made a huge jump to the No. 4 qualifier from 11th on his final run of the day with a pass of 4.000/318.69 mph. He was nearly 0.1 seconds quicker than his best previous run.
Courtney Force in the John Force Racing No. 4 Traxxas Radio Control Cars Chevrolet Camaro SS was the No. 6 qualifier after starting the final round of qualifications ninth.
In Top Fuel, Brittany Force in the Monster Energy/John Force Racing/Chevrolet Top Fuel Dragster was the No. 4 qualifier with a final pass of 3.760/325.14 mph. She had been ninth-fastest.
Eliminations for the Northwest Nationals are scheduled to start at 11 a.m. PT Sunday. Live audio coverage can be found at https://www.nationaldragster.net/login.html. All of Sunday’s action from Pacific Raceways can be seen tape delayed on ESPN 2 starting at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday.
PRO STOCK
CHRIS McGAHA, HARLOW SAMMONS OF ODESSA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 1 QUALIFIER: “It was kind of shocking. We figured it was going to be better today, but because there was humidity we didn’t really know what would happen. The clouds started going away and the sun came out – we knew the starting line couldn’t take it, but then here came the cloud cover. Yeah, then we swung for the fence.
“We’re going to try to do the same thing we did last week. We aren’t going to change a thing. I have socks that have a Nike logo on the outside, so there is a right and left, and last week in Sonoma I looked down and saw that I had on two right socks. Well, they were washed and waiting in the suitcase, and you better believe I’m going to wear them tomorrow.”
JEG COUGHLIN, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, STOCKSETH RACING/ELITE/JEGS CAMARO SS, NO. 2 QUALIFIER: “Look at this field: We’re packed in there as tight as can be. I’m fortunate to have such a great ride underneath me and such a great team behind me. I feel great behind the wheel, and game day can’t come soon enough. I think we’ve got something for ’em, without question, and that’s what we’re here for.
“The ultimate goal is to be No. 1. This team certainly deserved to be on top the way they’ve been thrashing since I’ve been on board the last two weeks. They’re real smooth operators, and I’ve really working beside them and with them. No. 1 would’ve been fantastic for them.
“We’ll go into Sunday qualified No. 2, and that’s a great spot to be. We’ve got one bad hot rod here, and it’s a matter of making the right calls in the pits and doing what I love to do. We’ll see if we can’t turn some win lights on.”
JONATHAN GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 3 QUALIFIER: “Our Gray Manufacturing Chevrolet Camaro is a really good car in all aspects right now. It’s not running the speed that we’d like to see, but speed isn’t necessarily what wins you the race. I think we’ll get it to where it needs to be (in terms of the last half of the racetrack0, and I’m really, really happy with the car. It’s showing us something. We were trying some things today, something we haven’t done before on these cars, and we got pretty far out of the box and it didn’t like it – so we just went back to the way it was for the first and second qualifying sessions, and it picked up right where we left off. There was just .001-second separating three of us, and I can’t really ask for much more. We wanted the pole, but this is the highest I’ve ever qualified. It’ll come. We’ll get it. We’re too close.”
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: NO. 4 QUALIFIER: “My Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro is very fast and very consistent, and I’m very happy. I just wanted to crack that 6.49. I thought I had it on that last run, but just didn’t quire run in high gear how it’s been running. We were off a little bit on speed, and I lost it. I was actually ahead of Chris McGaha at the 1/8-mile, and it slowed down the last half. Missed it by a whisker, but you treat qualifying like a learning experience. You change things trying to learn, and sometimes you go backward. We went a little backward on that run, and we’ll make her faster for tomorrow. We might have lost our chance at the pole, but we still know our car is fast. We had four good qualifying runs and learned a lot of things. We’re ready to race tomorrow and looking forward to it.
“I race V. Gaines tomorrow morning, and I certainly need to get some revenge. He got me pretty good the last time we raced, and he got Jason (Line, Summit Racing teammate) a few times, so he’s been a thorn in our sides; no question about it. I need to bring my A-game tomorrow focus, and find a way to whoop him. You can’t win a race if you don’t win first round, and it really doesn’t matter who is over there – they gotta go. They have to step aside if we’re going to win. You treat it like a final round, give it your best shot, and hopefully you come up the winner.”
SHANE GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, GRAY MANUFACTURING TECH CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 5 QUALIFIER: “We have the confidence tonight that we are going to have a good day tomorrow. I feel good about my Gray Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, and with eight cars in the 6.50s, we’re real happy to be No. 5. We’ll just take it one round at a time tomorrow and see if we can get by. It’s a good racetrack out there, and with Jonathan (Gray, Gray Motorsports teammate) on the opposite side of the ladder, we’re sure hoping for an all-Gray Motorsports final. That would be the perfect day.”
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 7 QUALIFIER: “It’s the closest field that I can remember. I’ve been racing a long time, and to have the top eight separated by less than a hundredth of a second is crazy.
“Tomorrow is going to be a driver’s race, and to be quite honest, I’m perfectly fine with that. I’m excited about the opportunity to race in Seattle again. It’s been really nice to hear how excited all the fans have been to have us back.
“I’m hoping for a long race day tomorrow. It’s going to be crazy, crazy competitive.”
JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 8 QUALIFIER: “I was happy to qualify in the top half, because this is a crazy field. To have eight cars within .008-second, has that even ever happened before? It’s pretty darn tight; the top eight all qualified with a 6.50 and that is a pretty rare deal. It’s great for the fans. If you like close racing, I don’t know what else you could ask for. Tomorrow should be a lot of fun for the fans, and it’ll be a big challenge for us because man, it’s stacked. If you want to win tomorrow, you better be faster, that’s for sure. We’re going to have our work cut out for us, and it’s going to be a tough deal, but Team Summit is certainly looking forward to the fight. The racetrack is phenomenal. I don’t think it could get any better. Tomorrow should be a good day.”
LARRY MORGAN, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, FIREAIDE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 11 QUALIFIER: “I’m going to turn both bulbs on him (Allen Johnson) when I do the burnout… No, who knows what will happen? We might both sit there all day and run out of gas. Think the fans will like that?
“Hey, the Denver final was a lot of fun, but that was Denver. Allen is a fierce competitor and one of the best out here. We’ll have to be ready for him tomorrow, with the car and on the starting line.
“We’ve had a consistent race car. But we’ve also had trouble getting the thing to go straight. It wants to go left when I dump the clutch, and I have to steer it back in the groove to keep it straight. That’s no good for ET, of course. If we can get it to stay in the groove all the way down, we’ll be right there with the best of them. We’ll be all right.”
FUNNY CAR
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK ANTIFREEZE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 3 QUALIFIER: “We aren’t where we need to be but we have gone through a lot. I have told all my sponsors and fans if this bothers me and I told them that nothing bothers me. I told everyone that I will fix this and I will. I am excited about race day and I am excited that all my race cars qualified in the top half of the fields.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 4 QUALIFIER: “That is exactly what we needed. I am sure that is going to put us in the top half, which is what we are looking for. We were kind of looking for that last night. Everything didn’t cooperate. Good job to Mike Neff. We just have to keep moving up and that is what we are working on. We are working very hard over here.”
COURTNEY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, TRAXXAS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, NO. 6 QUALIFIER: “We have another tough first round match-up with Alexis (DeJoria), but I feel good that my team is giving me a great car and I just have to perform well as a driver tomorrow. Hopefully we can take the win. This has always been a favorite track of mine because I got my first win in Top Alcohol Dragster and my first win in Funny Car here. We have another big race tomorrow and we’re going to do the best we can.
“We’ve had some consistent passes out here in Seattle. We’re really excited. We improved today from yesterday running a better 4.06 earlier today and came out in the second run with great conditions. We improved with a 4.01. This Traxxas car seems to be really coming around and I’m hoping that we can have some better luck on race day tomorrow,”
TOP FUEL
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING-MONSTER ENERGY TOP FUEL DRAGSTER, NO. 4 QUALIFIER: “(The Q3 run was) absolutely the kind of run we were looking for. We made a pretty decent run last night. We got lucky with the conditions but we should have nailed it better so we wanted to improve on that. That first run was exactly what we wanted.
“We wanted to go down there (in Q4) and get it set up for tomorrow. I am very proud of the entire Monster Energy team. I have to thank my crew chiefs Todd Smith and Ronnie Thompson. They are figuring this dragster out and I am ready to go into race day.”