DRAG RACING’S
QUICKEST AND FASTEST
CLASSES RETURN AT
INDY DOUBLE HEADER
BY NATE VAN WAGNEN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SHAWN CROSE
s tracks and regional series
across the country were
starting to reopen and get back
to business following the coronavirus
shutdown, the sport’s
largest sanctioning body was
conspicuously absent from the headlines. With
a wide network of host tracks and the needs of
dozens of professional teams to consider, the
NHRA Mello Yello series was slow to return to
racing, coming in second to its big brother in
the motorsports world, NASCAR.
So it was a tremendous victory when the series
fired back up for a pair of semi-national events at
Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis in mid-July.
The E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals, July 11-12,
featured Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and
Pro Stock Motorcycle, plus Top Sportsman, Top
Dragster and Super Quick. Pro Stock and Pro
Stock Motorcycle were dropped for the Lucas Oil
NHRA Summernationals, July 18-19, and Pro
Mod, Nitro Harley, Factory Stock Showdown
joined the show, along with a points race for the
track’s weekly bracket series.
The events followed a new format for NHRA
national events: two qualifying sessions in the
heat of the day on Saturday, followed by eliminations
starting at 9 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. Sunday,
respectively.
As could be expected from events with unprecedented
circumstances, some unprecedented
results followed. Fans witnessed major upsets
at both races, and two pairs of first-time finalists
came out of the second race. They’ll have
to wait to decide winners, though, as a summer
thunderstorm shut down the Summernationals
as the finalists were getting ready to head to the
staging lanes. The final rounds will be completed
at the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals over
Labor Day weekend.
Drag Illustrated photographer Shawn Crose
was on the grounds at both races, where he captured
scenes of on-track action and mask-covered
faces in the pits and staging lanes.
INDEPENDENT RIDER
“Flyin’ Ryan” Oehler
and his team made the
most of their extended
offseason, as he collected
his first NHRA Pro Stock
Motorcycle Wally in his
first-ever final round.
Riding his B&K Cylinder
Heads EBR, Oehler
qualified No. 5 and
knocked down two-time
world champion Matt
Smith in the final round.
“We’ve been hunting
for this for a long time,”
Oehler said. “This has
been my dad’s dream
and we just keep working
every day. Just to have it
all come together for my
dad, my mom, my wife, my
team, I love it all.”
IN HIS 80TH RACE in NHRA Top Fuel competition, T.J. Zizzo is finally going to his first final round. The
Chicago-area fan favorite, who praised the NHRA’s new two-session, two-day event format in the weeks
leading up to the double header, took advantage of the very conditions he believed would benefit small teams
like his. Unlike fellow first-time finalist Justin Ashley, Zizzo defeated a string of his single-car team colleagues
- Terry Totten, Todd Paton and Terry McMillen - after qualifying in the No. 8 spot. A win in September would
make Zizzo one of a handful of drivers to win events in NHRA and IHRA Top Fuel competition.
August 2020
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