NHRA MELLO YELLOW DRAG RACING SERIES
NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS
PACIFIC RACEWAYS
KENT, WASH.
TEAM CHEVY POST-EVENT RECAP
McGaha Races Pro Stock Chevrolet Camaro SS to Second Straight Victory
Topped Jeg Coughlin Jr., in all-Chevy Pro Stock final at Northwest Nationals
KENT, Wash. (Aug. 9, 2015) – Chris McGaha wasted little time in claiming his second Pro Stock victory in the NHRA Mello Yellow Drag Racing Series. McGaha drove his Pro Stock Chevrolet Camaro SS to consecutive event wins by beating Jeg Coughlin Jr. in an all-Team Chevy final at the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
McGaha’s Harlow Sammons of Odessa Camaro SS ran down Coughlin after being beaten off the line to become the first Pro Stock driver since 2012 to win back-to-back victories from the No. 1 qualifier position. McGaha defeated Jonathan Gray a week prior in Sonoma for first career NHRA victory.
The victory was doubly important as McGaha clinched a spot in the Pro Stock Playoffs of the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.
“I wasn’t ready. I have no idea what the lights were or any of that. But we’re here… wow!” an elated McGaha said. “I didn’t know how long I was going to have to wait (for second win) but I only had to wait seven days. I don’t know what to say at this point. Man, I’m right there (in championship points). I have a chance. We’ll see what happens in Brainerd (Minnesota in two weeks).”
On Sunday, McGaha posted the fastest ET and speed (6.488/213.40 mph in a first-round victory over Joey Grose’s Skyler Electric Pro Stock Camaro SS). He came out on top in four all-Camaro SS match-ups by beating Vincent Nobile’s Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro SS in the second round and Shane Gray’s Gray Manufacturing Tech Camaro SS in the semifinals.
Three of the four semi-finalists were Pro Stock Camaro SS entries as Coughlin beat Allen Johnson in his third-round matchup.
John Force advanced to Sunday’s Funny Car semifinals in his Peak Antifreeze Chevrolet Camaro SS. The 16-time Funny Car champion topped Jeff Diehl in the opening round and Alexis DeJoria in Round Two before missing out on the Funny Car final by 0.06 seconds to Del Worsham.
Courtney Force in the Traxxas Radio Control Cars Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car lost in the first round to DeJoria despite being slightly quicker off the line. Robert Hight in his Southern California Auto Club Camaro SS Funny Car also went out in the first round to Chad Head; Hight was quickest off the line.
Brittany Force advanced to Round Two in Top Fuel in her Monster Energy/John Force Racing Top Fuel Dragster. She topped Troy Bluff in the opening round before falling to Larry Dixon by 0.1 seconds.
The next stop for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Race Series is the 34th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on Aug. 20-23 from Brainerd (Minnesota) International Raceway.
FUNNY CAR
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK ANTIFREEZE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: Winner in round one over Jeff Diehl; winner in round two over Alexis DeJoria; defeated in semifinals by Del Worsham: “We are getting back financially which was the plan at the start of the season. Beyond that we are getting our personnel right and that is the strongest thing we have going for us right now. We are working better together and making the call easier. Now we are trying things. You can’t try things when you are already screwed up. I have some cars that have to make a move over these next couple of races. We ran some good numbers when you look at the overall weekend. We know the direction we need to go.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: defeated in first round by Chad Head: “We needed to go rounds today. Mike Neff and the guys are looking at this Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car to figure out what happened. There are two races left so we are treating these next two races like Countdown races. We aren’t putting pressure on ourselves we are just ramping up the focus. I have a lot of confidence in this team and we showed we can run with anybody during qualifying.”
TOP FUEL
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING-MONSTER ENERGY TOP FUEL DRAGSTER: winner in round one over Troy Buff; defeated in round two by Larry Dixon: “I am very happy with our weekend here in Seattle. We improved when you look back at last year. We had a tough finish in Sonoma but we bounced back this weekend. We had a consistent race car in qualifying and we improved every run in qualifying. We got past the first round and unfortunately Larry Dixon took us out. We had some good runs and we are continuing to get better. We are going to keep figuring it out and get it ready for Brainerd.”
PRO STOCK
CHRIS McGAHA, HARLOW SAMMONS OF ODESSA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: winner in round one over Joey Grose; winner in round two over Vincent Nobile; winner in semifinals over Shane Gray; winner in finals over Jeg Coughlin Jr.: “We moved up in the points, and we’re real excited about that. We knew we were close to Jason Line, but going around him… wow, that’s a big deal. At this point it makes me think of Lou Brown – you know what you call that? A winning streak! And now you’re probably saying, ‘Who’s Lou Brown?’ He was the manager for the Cleveland Indians in the movie Major League.
“The fact that we’ve gotten on a roll here, it gives us a legitimate chance. I’ve seen guys in the past who maybe peak too early. I don’t know if we have or not, but I don’t really care at this point. We have two wins, and I’m ready to go right now. Anyone that wants to go right now, I’m ready.”
JEG COUGHLIN, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, STOCKSETH RACING/ELITE/JEGS CAMARO SS: winner in first round over Aaron Strong; winner in second round over Erica Enders; winner in semifinals over Allen Johnson; defeated in finals by Chris McGaha: “We were one round closer. We got to our 100th final round and were knocking on the door for that big 75, which would have been pretty sweet.
“I had a great car all day and felt great behind the wheel. I was shooting to be .010 to .012 on the Tree, and I thought we could run .51 or .52 in the final. When I let the clutch out, the thing started to go and then just broke the tire loose and started spinning. I was trying to hold it low gear as long as I could.
“It kind of spun up and then drove down, and then I got it into second gear. I was coercing that thing as best I could; it seemed like it took forever to go through the next three gears and the finish line.
“You’ve got to tip your hat to the McGaha group. They did one helluva job, and he’s driving well. That’s what it takes, and they got it done again.
“I’m just honored to be the shoe behind this car. They’re a great group of people, and I’ve got to thank Mark Stockseth and Richard Freeman, Elite Performance – and the Skillman family for allowing us to utilize their rig.
“It made things very seamless for us in these two races. I was telling (wife) Samantha last night, coming into today, I think I’d made 11 runs with this team, but it felt like it was a couple hundred. They made me feel right at home and gave me all the confidence in the world. I think I gave them the same.”
SHANE GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, GRAY MANUFACTURING TECH CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: won in first round over Matt Hartford; won in second round over Greg Anderson; defeated in semifinals by Chris McGaha: “Today was actually a lot of fun. We had a good car this weekend with our Chevrolet Camaros, and our Gray Motorsports guys worked real hard. We didn’t see the results we wanted with our cars, but I tell you what, we saw some great moves in the right direction here in Seattle, and we expect that it will just get better from here.”
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: won in first round over Bo Butner; defeated in second round by Jeg Coughlin Jr.: “I fired the car and had no oil pressure and no vacuum, so I radioed my guys and told them. My crew chief just waved me in the water to start the burnout. I went to start my burnout, and then they were waving their arms to stop, so I aborted the burnout.
“They told me to shut it off, and they pulled my front-end clip off. Turns out, the oil sump belt had come off, so there was no oil turning to the motor. They put that on, put the front end back on, and I fired it up. I had to reset all my switches, and the starter said I could do a short burnout. As I was pulling up, they were like, ‘No, back up.’ I backed up through the water and started my whole procedure over again. It was extremely rushed, and I was unable to do a burnout across the starting line, which means we couldn’t put any rubber down or burn through the resin.
“We did what we could with what we had. I pulled in and pre-staged, but to be quite honest, I didn’t rise to the occasion today. I’m pretty disappointed in myself as a driver. Regardless of the distractions up there, I’m a world champion for a reason, and I didn’t show it today. It makes me mad, but at the same time, there were eight things that were horribly wrong all at one time, and it was a distraction. This is a game that’s won and lost by thousandths of a second.
“There have been multiple times when I did rise to the occasion, but today just wasn’t one of them.
“The fortunate thing is my teammate Jeg Coughlin waited for me. He didn’t have to, but we’re a team back here, and we’re a team up there. He shut his car off, and he wasn’t going to pre-stage without me. That speaks a lot about his character and the class he brings to this operation. The good thing about that round was that I was racing a teammate. Nobody else would have waited, and one of the red cars was going to the semifinals.
“We feel like we made a really good move in the right direction with our race car. We’d been struggling the last two weeks, and that was evident by the scoreboard. But we fixed it, so that’s something else to be proud of.
“You can bet I’ll show up in Brainerd mad and wanting to win that race.”
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: winner in first round over V. Gaines; defeated in second round by Shane Gray: “We just overestimated the racetrack the second round. This was the hottest the track got all weekend, and the Summit Racing team just didn’t make big enough moves. It shook the tire and spun real hard – we missed it on that one, but I also could have done a better job driving my Summit Racing Chevy Camaro. I could have got the thing shifted and tried to save the run. I didn’t catch it in time, and I wasn’t able to do that, but we also learned some things on all four of the KB Racing Camaros. We were able to make them run better as the weekend went on, and that’s the positive. The negative is that we didn’t go far and get the trophy on Sunday.
“The bottom line is that this was a learning weekend for Team Summit, and what we learned will help us down the road. We will look forward to Brainerd, and we’ll get home as quick as we can so that we can do as much work as possible in the next week. Then we’ll go to Brainerd with our equipment freshened and with fresh minds. We plan to have a good weekend there. This is going to be a very, very busy week – but that’s good. The KB Racing team is looking forward to it and can’t wait to work on our stuff. That’s what we love to do, and after three weeks on the road, it’s time to get home and go to work.”
JONATHAN GRAY, GRAY MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: won in first round over Deric Kramer; defeated in second round by Allen Johnson: “It was a tough way to lose, shaking like that, but if we look at the rest of the weekend we can feel pretty good about where we are with our Gray Manufacturing Chevy Camaro. It’s a good car, and we’ll get to where we need to be. We need to run the speed, and that’s one of the things we’ll be working on for Brainerd. The car has shown us what it wants, we’ve tried out a few things, and we’ll be getting ready for the Countdown to the Championship with what we’ve learned. We’ll be okay.”
JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: defeated in first round by Vincent Nobile: “Today was not a great day. It could have been, because our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros are getting better each weekend, but the track got the best of us this time. The good news is that we get to go home and work on a few things before the next race, and we’re confident that we’ll be ready by the time we get to Brainerd. We look forward to it.”
LARRY MORGAN, GRAY MOTORSPORTS, FIREAIDE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: defeated in first round by Allen Johnson: “He got me this time. Allen is as tough as they come out here, and it was going to be tough to get by him. We did it in Denver but couldn’t do it again. That’s OK; well, it’s not, but there’s always another race.
“I never really go up there with a plan to stage first or last or anything like that. I didn’t go up there with a plan in Denver, and I didn’t do that today. We both went and pre-staged, and A.J. went right in and staged. That was that.
Next time, who knows? Maybe I’ll double-bulb him or maybe we’ll both sit there all day again. You’ll have to wait and see.
“I can’t wait to get this thing home and go through it. It’s been acting a little weird, so there’s something going on. We’ve been lucky this year to not have many issues, but something’s not right, and we need to figure out what it is.”