What We Learned from the Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals at Indianapolis

Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER
Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER

From Autoweek

Some NHRA drivers, notably Top Fuel’s Terry McMillen and Funny Car’s Ron Capps, and the entire Pro Stock class all received something they had wanted for a long time this past weekend at the Dodge Indy Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.

At the same time, it became clear that public-health restrictions and the uncertainty that the coronavirus has caused throughout the United States have started to wear a little on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competitors.

After years of almost-made-its, a few costly engine explosions, and being typecast as the underdog, Terry McMillen is emerging as a top-tier Top Fuel driver. The Amalie Oil Dragster driver didn’t win his final-round match Sunday against current champion Steve Torrence.

Torrence surprised no one by claiming his 38th victory, 30th in the past five and half years, and second at Indianapolis–third counting the 2017 $100,000-to-win Traxxas Shootout bonus event. His 22-11 round-win record at Lucas Oil Raceway means he has won two-thirds of his appearances at the historic facility.

Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER
Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER

But McMillen lost by a only six-hundredths of a second, despite the fact he was embarrassingly late on the launch. McMillen qualified No. 1 Saturday for the first time in his career, acing out No. 2 Torrence. So, in this showdown between the two quickest qualifiers, neither knew who won at the end of track. Torrence had smoked his tires, and McMillen came on strong. Torrence thought he had lost. McMillen, who had the quicker and faster clocking (4.153, 240.59 to Torrences’s 4.273 224.17) thought he had won. And neither was correct.

McMillen, who won the 2018 U.S. Nationals, has proven he can hold his own with the class’ elite. And he said his new, built-in-house dragster that could enable him to score more final-round appearances consistently.

“The biggest positive out of today is we have a wicked-good car. This race car is just stout. Ever since we brought it out, it has been good,” McMillen said. “We have been taking it to the shop and reworking a couple things on it and making it better. We have a good team behind that car led by (crew chief) Rob Wendland. We continue to modify things, we have a fresh car, and after we are done making all these changes, I think the car is invincible. It is amazing what it can do. So you take that and couple it with the team that we have (and) the combination could be deadly.”

Capps won the Funny Car final round over DHL Toyota Camry driver JR Todd, completing his quest for the past quarter-century to earn a Wally trophy at Indianapolis. None of his 65 previous victories (including one in Top Fuel) came at the home of the U.S. Nationals that has become the NHRA’s go-to racetrack lately.

Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER
Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER

In capturing his 66th victory, Capps, who’s second only to iconic John Force in class triumphs, helped Don Schumacher Racing’s Funny Cars underscore their dominance. His feat Sunday gave DSR its seventh straight victory, dating back to last October’s Dallas race. Each of the four DSR drivers (including Jack Beckman, Matt Hagan, and Tommy Johnson Jr.) has won once in this year’s four completed events, and Beckman and Hagan will race in the rain-delayed Summernationals, guaranteeing DSR the victory.

Sunday’s victory for Capps pushed DSR to the brink of its unprecedented 350th victory, a mark that stands out in all of motorsports. The DSR fleet of Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats control the standings leaderboard.

"This trophy is going to my wife, Shelley, who has been coming to this racetrack with me for 26 years and has ridden that emotional roller coaster with me, getting close and not winning,” Capps said Sunday. “On top of it, her birthday is always at the Indy (U.S. Nationals) race, and all those years she rode along with me and seen the emotional wreck I've been not winning and knowing how much it means to me. I just called home, and she was crying. It just means so much to us. For a driver to be able to say that he's won at every track on the circuit is pretty incredible, and it shows you the talent that I've had around me since I started my career.”

Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER
Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER

Pro Stock

During the past three years, drag-racing fans have been prepared to host a candlelight vigil for the Pro Stock class. A switch from carburetors to electronic fuel injection, other costly mandates, threats to cut the fields from 16 cars to eight, complaints that the TV broadcast ignored the class and its sponsors, the defection of 2017 champion Tanner Gray and the retirement plans of Bo Butner, Jeg Coughlin, and Jason Line have worried fans of the factory hot rod class.

The NHRA trimmed the Pro Stock schedule from 24 races to 18, which actually proved to be a popular move among the racers. But the class has either welcomed or seen increased participation from at least six young drivers: Troy Coughlin Jr. (Sunday’s runner-up against his Uncle Jeg), Kyle Koretsky, Mason McGaha, Robert River, Aaron Stanfield, and Bruno Massel.

TV personality and multi-time NHRA sportsman champion Massel is a young-acting 46, and he said he’s happy to be lumped in with the “young guns.” Massel said, “Maybe I should be at the age I’d should be retiring instead of getting my feet back inside. Sometimes timing is everything, and the opportunity Mark Stockseth gave me to come and drive a Pro Stock car once again is a dream that I've always had. And I didn't see it coming. I didn't expect it so given it, I was jumping at the chance.

“The Pro Stock category a couple years ago, people were writing it off. They said it was done. Richard Freeman and the guys at KB Motorsports said absolutely no way. Their blood, passion, sweat, tears, all that piled in and they brought this class back alive,” he said.

Added, River, 27, “It's always going to change, and it's always going to evolve. It's going to be sad to see some of those good competitors go away, but we've got four or five young guns out here. So yeah changing of the guard . . . We’ll miss those guys when they decide to stop racing, but hopefully I'm welcomed in. I certainly want to welcome in the rest of the young guys and keep it rocking.”

As Stanfield, who like Koretsky, River and Massel, is a second-generation driver, acknowledged, the newcomers don’t necessarily have new names. But the 25-year-old versatile racer who competed in three classes last weekend said, “It's just really cool to see a lot of new faces, a lot of youth. I think that's going to be important for the future of the class.”

Recent high-school graduate McGaha was a little more direct: “There's just a whole group of us that need to take over after all these old guys are stepping back.”

Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER
Photo credit: JERRY FOSS NHRA/NATIONAL DRAGSTER

Missing the Fans

While Pro Stock is filling the pipeline, fans still aren’t filling the grandstands. And the racers are beginning to say they miss the energy spectators bring.

Funny Car’s Tim Wilkerson is grateful for the three or four hundred who showed up last weekend. He gave “a big thank-you to the fans. They have not left us through the years, and that means a lot to me personally. That's what's so special about NHRA: you really get to know the fans, and to be honest, I need that. I thrive off of it, and to hear them in the stands is just a great thing.

"I look at everything from a business standpoint,” he said. “I like the business aspect of the two-day races. We're out here trying to support the sport of drag racing, and we're all trying to get fans back out and make sure we continue to have a sport. Hopefully, we can get through this and rebound for 2021. We may not ever get back to what was normal before, but we'll adjust."

For 2016 Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Jerry Savoie, not having the larger turnouts has spoiled the fun – and he said the financial ramification is ominous. “I'm going to be honest with you: I don't know if I make the whole season this year, because this is a screwed-up mess,” he said. “Without fans here, it’s not fun. I mean, it's boring. It's fun to go race down the track, but you spend a whole weekend at the track doing nothing. Without the fans, there's nothing. It's not fun. You have nobody to share it with.”

Dark Cloud on U.S. Nationals Horizon

The announcement that the Indianapolis 500 will race without fans in the stand at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has raised doubts with some about the fate of the Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals scheduled for Sept. 3-6 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indinapolis.

"The restrictions and rules that NHRA has got to follow from state to state, county to county, has to be the biggest headache in the world to try to figure out and navigate," part-time NHRA Top Fuel racer Kyle Wurtzel said. "At any moment in time, all that can change. So I can't imagine trying to run an organization or an event that requires spectators to work. It's got to be a nightmare.”

Ryan Oehler, winner of the Pro Stock Motorcycle final at the first Indianapolis race in July, looked at the feasibility of fans being willing or able to abide by the NHRA’s public-health restrictions and requirements at the dragstrip. He said, “Here’s the tough thing: You’re trying to be politically correct. We're all trying to appease NHRA. You're not going to come out to one of these outdoor venue of things and wear a mask all day long.”

All four-time Pro Stock titlist Greg Anderson wants, he said, is “to race as much as we can, because that's what we love. We can't wait to get out there and put on a good show for the fans, and we're all very happy that NHRA is continuing to do everything they can to make sure the fans can be there in person. That's what makes this sport special."

His retiring teammate, Jason Line, said, “It’s definitely a season we'll never forget. You hope it's unforgettable for the right reasons, when it's all said and done, so every time we get to go racing, we're grateful for the opportunity."