The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series heads north to Washington for the Protect the Harvest Northwest Nationals in Seattle, Washington. It will be the last of the three consecutive races in the NHRA Western Swing. Furthermore, drivers in Funny Car, Top Fuel and Pro Stock divisions will fight for their position in the top 10.
As a result, they will qualify to compete in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship. The final eliminations in the Northwest Nationals will be televised live on the FOX national broadcasting network.
There only three drag racing contests left before the Championship playoffs begin. Therefore, the racing teams are putting in the extra hours to improve their cars and make it into one of those top 10 slots in points. Others speedsters like Top Fuel’s Steve Torrence and Brittany Force, have clinched a place in the Count Down to the Championships.
Ron Capps and Courtney Force are among the Funny Car drivers to seal a spot in the Countdown. Pro Stock racers Greg Anderson and Jason Line will also be in the mix for the title. Angelle Sampey, Pro Stock Motorcyclist, also is the latest competitor to clinch their Countdown berths.
Depending upon their performances in the Northwest Nationals, the next drivers you can most likely see lock down a spot in the playoffs would be Top Fuel dragster Tony Schumacher, veteran Funny Car pilot Jack Beckman, and Pro Stock’s Allen Johnson.
John Force collected victories in the Mile High Nationals and again in Sonoma. Force, the 16 time Funny Car champion, will look to continue his recent hot streak by claiming his third victory of the season. As a result, he would sweep the Mello Yellow Drag Racing Series Western Swing.
In 1994, the future Hall of Famer, swept the Western Swing. Also, Force would become the first driver in NHRA history to have swept all three races twice in a career. Force will also be competing in his 700th career race at the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle this weekend. The most recent driver to have swept the three race series was Top Fuel racer Antron Brown. The veteran speedster accomplished the feat in 2009.
J.R. Todd scored his first victory of the 2015 in Seattle when he out-raced fellow competitor Shawn Langdon in the Top Fuel division’s final round. Funny Car speedster Tommy Johnson Jr., collected his second victory on the year when he beat out Del Worsham in the final round. Worsham would go on to claim the 2015 Funny Car championship. The Pro Stock Series saw Chris McGaha out-drag Jeg Coughlin Jr. and reel in his second straight title of the 2015 season.
Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria will have to sit out the Northwest Nationals in Seattle. Unfortunately, she endured a broken pelvis in an untimely accident during the first round of competition at Sonoma. DeJoria, who won the Las Vegas event earlier this season, sits tenth in the points standings.
Furthermore, DeJoria is 150 points ahead of Chad Head, who is in the 11th spot. If Head is able to make it to the second round in the next three events, he will have enough points to surpass DeJoria. As a result, Head would claim the last available spot for the Countdown to the Championship.
KB Racing team’s reign had finally come to an end when Allen Johnson won in the Mile High Nationals. It was short lived when Greg Anderson placed himself a top the podium once again by tallying his seventh triumph of the 2016 season in Sonoma.
Things aren’t becoming as predictable as they once were in the first half of the Mello Yellow Drag Racing season. Shane Gray shuffled things up when he became the first driver not with KB Racing, to earn the number one qualifying spot in Chicago. Also, rookie Alex Laughlin scored his first career low qualifier position in Denver, Colorado.
Obviously, the KB Racing streak wasn’t going to continue for the duration of the 2016 season, but their performance didn’t stop their dominance count completely. It will be fun to watch and see how teammates Greg Anderson, Jason Line, and Bo Butner will place in the next few contests as the rest of the field continues to gain momentum.
