CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
DODGE NHRA NATIONALS
MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY IN READING, PENNSYLVANIA
SUNDAY, SEPT. 16, 2018
Chevrolet Starts Strong in Countdown to the Championship
• Vincent Nobile earns third Pro Stock victory of season, 13th of career
• Tanner Gray retains Pro Stock points lead with semifinal appearance
• Robert Hight moves to second, Courtney Force is third in Funny Car standings
READING, Pa. (Sept. 16, 2018) – With the closing of Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, Vincent Nobile was especially pleased to win at his other “home track.”
Nobile, of Melville, New York, raced junior dragsters and watched his father compete back in the day at nearby Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania. He won the Pro Stock title in 2016 at the racetrack and his second victory at the track, in the opener of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship, was significant, too.
The driver of the Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro SS defeated Drew Skillman in the final of the Dodge NHRA Nationals. Nobile entered the six-race playoffs as the No. 5 seed and moved to second in Pro Stock points with the win. Last year, he did not participate in the Countdown to the Championship.
“Definitely a great start,” said Nobile, who registered his third victory of the season. “My team gave me a great race car and we put on four win lights. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to race this race last year, so I’m going back to back – 2016 we won this race and won again in 2018.”
Robert Hight might have qualified 11th in Funny Car competition, but the reigning champion and crew chief Jimmy Prock found the sweet spot of the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS in the first two rounds of eliminations. Hight ran low elapsed time of both sessions to advance to the semifinals.
Hight looked poised to progress to his sixth final round of the season but fouled when he tripped the red light. With two round wins, Hight upped his career total to 447 and moved to second in the Funny Car standings.
Courtney Force, who recorded her 11th No. 1 qualifier honor in 19 races this season, smoked the tires of the Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro SS at the 330-foot mark of the racetrack and fell in the first round. The quick exit dropped her from the points lead, which she had held since winning May 6 at Atlanta, to third.
“Our team was ready to go. Unfortunately, our car wasn’t happy down track. I ended up trying to pedal it to try to get it down there and it wouldn’t hook up and my opponent went on for the win,” she said. “That’s not the run that we were obviously looking to make. We’ve fallen just a couple spots, but we know we’re still in a spot where we can make things happen and turn things around at the next race.”
John Force, the No. 7 qualifier in the PEAK Coolant & Motor Oil Chevrolet Camaro SS, ran his career elimination round wins to 1,306 before falling in the second round.
Defending Top Fuel champion Brittany Force, who qualified 11th in the Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet dragster, fell in the first round. Force won at Maple Grove Raceway in 2017 on the way to the title.
Skillman’s Ray Skillman Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro SS ran the top speed of the meet in the final round (211.53 mph) and an elapsed time of 6.580 seconds to Nobile’s 6.586. Nobile’s reaction time of .013 was the difference.
“The whole Pro Stock class is tough; there’s not one easy round out there. Every round you have to do the best you can and turn those win lights on,” Nobile said.
Skillman advanced to the 14th final round of his career by knocking off Pro Stock points leader Tanner Gray in one of the semifinals. Nobile defeated four-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson (Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS), who had run his career round win total to 796, in the other semifinal.
Gray, the No. 1 qualifier for the second consecutive event in the Gray Motorsports/Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro SS, retained the class points lead.
In the second round, Skillman ousted reigning Pro Stock champion Bo Butner (Jim Butner Auto Sales Chevrolet Camaro SS) on a holeshot by .0003 of a second. Gray also took a holeshot victory over Jason Line (Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS), while Nobile defeated teammate Erica Enders (Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro SS) and Anderson beat Jeg Coughlin Jr. (JEGS.com/Elite Performance Chevrolet Camaro SS). Coughlin was making his 424th career Pro Stock start.
David Barton of Robesonia, Pennsylvania, was the No. 1 qualifier in Stock Eliminator in his Chevrolet COPO Camaro. Jim Boburka of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, and Bob Letellier of Biddeford, Maine, advanced to the second round of eliminations.
Lettelier also advanced to the second round of Super Stock eliminations in his COPO Camaro.
The NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship continues Sept. 21-23 with the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois. FS1 will telecast qualifications live at 7 p.m. ET Sept. 21 and eliminations live at 2 p.m. ET Sept. 23. Greg Anderson led the Chevrolet charge at the track in 2017 with the Pro Stock victory. Robert Hight was the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car.
An interview with Pro Stock winner VINCENT NOBILE, MOUNTAIN VIEW RACING, MOUNTAIN VIEW TIRE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 6 qualifier; third victory of the season and 13th of his Pro Stock career; second win at Maple Grove Raceway; moved to second in the standings):
THAT WASN’T A WALK IN THE PARK. LOOK WHO YOU BEAT.
“My team gave me a great race car and we put on four win lights. The whole Pro Stock class is tough; there’s not one easy round out there, especially when you get to the second round. Every round you have to do the best you can and turn those win lights on. We made a few mistakes in qualifying and come the end of the day Friday we were a little bummed out where we ended up. Saturday, we really didn’t improve like we wanted to, but once Saturday was over we kind of found a few things that we wanted to change for Sunday, not knowing for sure if it would be OK or not, but we were pretty confident in it. Obviously, it turned out to be OK. All in all, what a great way to start the Countdown.”
EVERYONE MISSED YOU IN THE COUNTDOWN LAST YEAR.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get to race this race last year, so I’m going back to back – 2016 we won this race and won again in 2018. My whole family is here and it’s great to see my brother-in-law (Hector Arana Jr. in Pro Stock Motorcycle) win.”
AT WHAT POINT DID YOU THINK MAYBE IT’S ME?
“Probably around 1,200 feet in the final round. I wasn’t counting my chickens too early. What a great day. I’ve learned my lesson that if you look over too soon you give yourself some bad luck, so I try not to do that. Definitely a great start.”
DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE IN YOUR CAR NOW?
“Without a doubt. If you’re an avid Pro Stock fan, every single team out here can win the race. It’s just who has their stuff together that weekend. The parity is there and it can’t be any better. You have to cross your Ts and dot your Is, and that’s the only way you can win in Pro Stock this year.”
YOU WERE ONLY GOING TO RUN A LIMITED SCHEDULE, BUT THEN CAPITALIZED. TALK ABOUT THAT.
“Come Vegas, earlier this year, that was going to be my last race for a little while. I’m not sure what our schedule was going to be; we were just going to play it by ear. But we had won that race and that kind of solidified my whole season. It was definitely a clutch win. Moving forward from there we went to win Atlanta. That just showed us we had a good car. We kind of fell off after Atlanta, but we were trying some things. The track prep might have messed up a little bit. Now we have to move forward. I think we have a pretty good race car. We’re not going to be the fastest car at any race; nobody is for that matter because the parity is just so tight. As long as we can be in the top five in qualifying, top six in qualifying, I think we could get the job done.”
IN THE SECOND AND THIRD ROUNDS, YOU TOOK OUT BIG CONTENDERS THAT COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE POINTS
“The second and third rounds were huge, but every little point matters. All the little points in qualifying matter. The championship cold be won by one point. Last year it went down to the last round with Bo (Butner). You want to grab those little points in qualifying. You don’t want anyone to grab all those points like Greg (Anderson) did this year. He didn’t win a race for the longest time and was still No. 1 in points because he kept getting 15 to 20 points in qualifying each weekend. That’s going to be critical in the Countdown.”
YOU HAD A SOLID CAR ALL WEKEEND AND BETTER THAN THE LAST FEW WEEKS OF THE REGULAR SEASON. WHAT CHANGED?
“We finally figured out what one of our issues was and I think we’re back. Certainly, the other teams have gotten better, not saying that we were better than the other teams at the beginning, but we were kind of behind the eight ball for a while. All the teams are pretty equal, there’s so much parity in the class and you go from race to race and it’s typically a new winner from race to race. Whoever makes the better call will win the race. Anybody can go No. 1, it’s just a matter of who has their act together.”