{"id":4265,"date":"2016-06-18T23:10:06","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T04:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=4265"},"modified":"2016-06-24T10:24:19","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T15:24:19","slug":"torrence-capps-and-line-sprint-to-no-1-qualifiers-at-nhra-thunder-valley-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/18\/torrence-capps-and-line-sprint-to-no-1-qualifiers-at-nhra-thunder-valley-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Torrence, Capps and Line sprint to No. 1 qualifiers at NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRISTOL, Tenn.\u00a0 \u2013 Steve Torrence<\/strong> claimed the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel on Saturday at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals<\/a> at Bristol Dragway<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"172-SteveTorrence-Saturday-Bristol\"<\/p>\n

Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) also were No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the 11th of 24 events on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.<\/p>\n

Torrence posted a 3.745-second pass at 324.12 mph in his Capco Contractors \/ Torrence Racing dragster to secure his sixth No. 1 qualifier of the year and 11th of his career. Torrence raced to victory in Englishtown, N.J., last weekend as the No. 1 qualifier and posted a runner-up finish the weekend before in Epping, N.H. He has two wins this year and will hope to earn his second Thunder Valley victory tomorrow. He will meet Terry Haddock in the opening round of Sunday\u2019s eliminations scheduled to begin at noon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great and I did win here a few years ago and it\u2019s always Father\u2019s Day when we race and this year I have my dad with me so that adds a lot to it,\u201d said Torrence, who won at Bristol in 2013. \u201cTo be able to share success with him while he\u2019s here, with the way the car is running and with the team, the moral is at an all-time high. We\u2019re going to try to repeat and go all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three-time 2016 winner Doug Kalitta qualified in the No. 2 spot with a 3.767 at 323.97 in his Mac Tools dragster. Kalitta, a three-time Bristol winner, will battle Kyle Wurtzel in the opening round. Brittany Force, who has two wins in 2016, is third in her Monster Energy dragster. She will face Chris Karamesines.<\/p>\n

Reigning world champ Antron Brown is fourth in his Matco Tools dragster and will race Scott Palmer in the first round while Phoenix winner Leah Pritchett is fifth and will meet Aussie Richie Crampton.<\/p>\n

\"173-RonCapps-Saturday-Bristol\"<\/p>\n

In Funny Car, Capps raced to his third consecutive No. 1 qualifying position with a track-record time of 3.884 at 323.66 in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R\/T. Capps, who has won the last two races and three so far this year, has 21 top qualifiers in his career and will be gunning for his fourth Thunder Valley Nationals victory on Sunday. He will race Jim Campbell to open eliminations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wipe it clean every night and we wipe it clean every race,\u201d said Capps, who with a win tomorrow could become the first driver since John Force in 1996 to win three consecutive Funny Car races from the No. 1 spot. Capps would also tie his former team owner, NHRA legend Don \u201cThe Snake\u201d Prudhomme on the all-time wins list at 49 career victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re glad we can continue on to the next race,\u201d Capps continued. \u201cThe streak, starting in Epping, then going to completely different weather conditions and track conditions in Englishtown, and then here, again completely different, just shows the versatility that (crew chief Rahn) Tobler has. Then the NAPA guys continually give him a car without nuts or bolts loose and nothing strange. It\u2019s a fun car to drive right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reigning world champ Del Worsham sits second with a 3.888 at 329.42 in his DHL Toyota Camry. Worsham, a two-time Bristol winner, will meet Jeff Diehl in Sunday\u2019s first round. Robert Hight, who won in Gainesville, Fla., is third in his Auto Club Chevy Camaro and he will battle John Hale in the opening round of eliminations.<\/p>\n

Matt Hagan, a two-time 2016 winner, qualified third and is matched up with Dave Richards while Houston winner Courtney Force is fifth and will race Cruz Pedregon.<\/p>\n

\"174-JasonLine-Saturday-Bristol\"<\/p>\n

In Pro Stock, Line pushed his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro to a 6.652 at 208.01 to earn his fourth consecutive No. 1 qualifier and sixth of the year. Line, who has 47 top qualifiers in his career, won this event 10 years ago. The five-time 2016 winner and points leader will face Dave River in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting to run that quick, so that was a really good run,\u201d said Line, a two-time world champion. \u201cI was pretty excited about that. It\u2019s a lot of fun. This is not going to last forever and I\u2019ll spare you of the \u2018They\u2019re Gaining on Us\u2019 speech, but that was a really good run. We were missing something on the previous runs and I think we figured out why. It feels good and we should have three really fast (Ken Black Racing) hot rods for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Line\u2019s Ken Black Racing teammate Greg Anderson qualified second with a 6.675 at 206.95 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro. Anderson, a two-time Bristol winner, is second in points with five wins and two runners-up this season. He will meet John Gaydosh Jr. in the opening round of eliminations.<\/p>\n

Bo Butner, the third and final member of the KB Racing team, is third and will battle V. Gaines in the first round. Drew Skillman is fourth and will race five-time world champ Jeg Coughlin Sunday morning while Vincent Nobile is fifth and will go heads-up with teammate and back-to-back world champ Erica Enders.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sunday’s first-round pairings for eliminations for the 16th annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, the 11th of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.\u00a0 Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.<\/p>\n

Top Fuel — 1. Steve Torrence, 3.745 seconds, 324.12 mph\u00a0 vs. 16. Terry Haddock, broke; 2. Doug Kalitta, 3.767, 323.97\u00a0 vs. 15. Kyle Wurtzel, 5.564, 195.25; 3. Brittany Force, 3.773, 323.04\u00a0 vs. 14. Chris Karamesines, 4.253, 216.13; 4. Antron Brown, 3.774, 317.34\u00a0 vs. 13. Scott Palmer, 4.082, 237.21; 5. Leah Pritchett, 3.799, 323.35\u00a0 vs. 12. Richie Crampton, 3.947, 280.84; 6. Shawn Langdon, 3.802, 323.12\u00a0 vs. 11. Terry McMillen, 3.918, 299.66; 7. Clay Millican, 3.805, 318.39\u00a0 vs. 10. Pat Dakin, 3.867, 314.02; 8. Tony Schumacher, 3.808, 322.42\u00a0 vs. 9. J.R. Todd, 3.825, 319.60.<\/p>\n

Funny Car — 1. Ron Capps, Dodge Charger, 3.884, 323.66\u00a0 vs. 16. Jim Campbell, Toyota Camry, 6.992, 89.20; 2. Del Worsham, Camry, 3.888, 329.42\u00a0 vs. 15. John Hale, Charger, 6.589, 98.90; 3. Robert Hight, Chevy Camaro, 3.897, 321.27\u00a0 vs. 14. Jeff Diehl, Toyota Solara, 5.476, 135.33; 4. Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.914, 327.51\u00a0 vs. 13. Tim Wilkerson, Ford Mustang, 4.236, 266.16; 5. Courtney Force, Camaro, 3.938, 322.81\u00a0 vs. 12. Dave Richards, Mustang, 4.197, 266.53; 6. Tommy Johnson Jr., Charger, 3.948, 320.51\u00a0 vs. 11. Cruz Pedregon, Camry, 4.167, 258.47; 7. Chad Head, Camry, 3.955, 320.36\u00a0 vs. 10. Alexis DeJoria, Camry, 3.999, 314.83; 8. John Force, Camaro, 3.956, 320.43\u00a0 vs. 9. Jack Beckman, Charger, 3.976, 318.84.<\/p>\n

Pro Stock — 1. Jason Line, Chevy Camaro, 6.652, 208.01\u00a0 vs. 14. Dave River, Chevy Cobalt, 18.977, 201.10; 2. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.675, 206.95\u00a0 vs. 13. John Gaydosh Jr, Chevrolet Camaro, 6.801, 202.85; 3. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.689, 209.26\u00a0 vs. 12. Jeg Coughlin, Dodge Dart, 6.755, 204.57; 4. Drew Skillman, Camaro, 6.695, 206.70\u00a0 vs. 11. V. Gaines, Dart, 6.755, 205.35; 5. Vincent Nobile, Camaro, 6.700, 206.54\u00a0 vs. 10. Erica Enders, Dart, 6.746, 205.10; 6. Allen Johnson, Dart, 6.708, 206.51\u00a0 vs. 9. Alex Laughlin, Camaro, 6.741, 205.04; 7. Shane Gray, Camaro, 6.713, 206.61\u00a0 vs. 8. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.713, 205.60.<\/p>\n

Story and photos courtesy of the NHRA<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BRISTOL, Tenn.\u00a0 \u2013 Steve Torrence claimed the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel on Saturday at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) also were No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the 11th of 24 events on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[262,6,264],"class_list":["post-4265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-bristol-dragway","tag-nhra","tag-nhra-thunder-valley-nationals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/172-SteveTorrence-Saturday-Bristol.jpg?fit=2200%2C1464","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-16N","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4270,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4265\/revisions\/4270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}