Hot-rod racing champs return to Baytown
BAYTOWN — Defending champions Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), and Erica Enders (Pro Stock) return to the Royal Purple Raceway for this week’s NHRA Spring Nationals.
In Top Fuel, Kalitta raced to his first win of 2015 in Houston, pushing his Mac Tools dragster past eight-time world champ Tony Schumacher in the final round. Kalitta raced to three victories in four finals last season to finish fifth in the points standings. He has two career wins at the NHRA Spring Nationals and is currently third in points. Kalitta will hope to defend his title against a very tough Top Fuel field that includes a couple of recent first-time winners.
Leah Pritchett and Brittany Force earned their first career victories in Phoenix and Gainesville, respectively. Pritchett powered her dragster past Force in the final round in Phoenix to collect her first Wally, and then at the following race in Gainesville, Force piloted her Monster Energy dragster past Terry McMillen in the final to take the win and the points lead.
Force will hope to ride the momentum of her second career victory, last weekend in Charlotte at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals presented by Lowes Foods, into the winner’s circle in Houston. The excitement is sure to continue in Top Fuel as everyone on the entry list, including seasoned veterans like Schumacher, defending world champ Antron Brown, Texan Steve Torrence, and 2014 rookie of the year Richie Crampton, will put up a fight for the race victory.
Capps is a three-time Houston winner and already has one victory in two final-round appearances this year. Currently second in points, Capps will enter Houston looking to hold off points leader Robert Hight, teammate Beckman, two-time season winner Tim Wilkerson, John Force, Courtney Force, and reigning world champ Del Worsham, among others.
Hight took control of the Funny Car points lead when he raced his Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS to victory past Capps in Gainesville. Hight, a member of the John Force Racing clan, is a two-time Houston winner, and his teammate John Force has a staggering seven victories at the NHRA Spring Nationals. Force, the 16-time world champ, was the runner-up in Phoenix in late February and is currently third in points. He hasn’t won in Houston since 2002 but will hope to change that at the end of April.
Two-time and reigning Pro Stock world champ Enders will be eager to defend her title at her hometown track. The driver of the Mopar Performance/Elite Motorsports Dodge Dart GT and Houston native tallied her second win of 2015 in Houston when she beat Odessa, product Chris McGaha in the final round. She won a total of eight races last season en route to her second consecutive Pro Stock championship. With the changes to the category, Enders is still trying to hit the right combination in her Mopar/Elite Motorsports Dodge Dart GT.
This season, Jason Line and Greg Anderson have combined to win the first five races of 2016. Line, who won in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and last weekend in Charlotte, is the points leader, and Anderson, who won in Pomona and Gainesville, is in second.