Rain delays NHRA finale in Seattle (2nd Update)
After multiple rain delays, NHRA officials announced the Funny Car final round between Del Worsham and Ron Capps and the Top Fuel final round between Antron Brown and Steve Torrence will be completed during the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd. The Pro Stock final between Washington native Aaron Strong and Vincent Nobile will be decided at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Aug. 31-Sept. 5.
Worsham, the defending Funny Car world champion and national elapsed time record holder, raced passed Tim Gibbons, Robert Hight, and Matt Hagan to reach the finals. Capps, a four-time winner this season, faced Brandon Welch, Tommy Johnson Jr., and Jeff Diehl en route to his eighth final round of the season.
In Top Fuel, defending world champion and points leader Brown defeated TJ Zizzo, Clay Millican, and Morgan Lucas in the earlier rounds to reach his sixth final round of the season. Torrence, the No. 2 qualifier, took down Scott Palmer, Richie Crampton, and J.R. Todd in order to secure a spot in his fifth final of the season.
Auburn, Wash., native Strong dominated in the early rounds to defeat four-time Pro Stock world champion Greg Anderson, two-time defending world champion Erica Enders, and Bo Butner to reach the first final round of his career. Strong’s opponent, Vincent Nobile, had a bye in the first round and went on to defeat Shane Gray and six-time world champion Jason Line for a chance at the victory.
NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing will continue in Brainerd with the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Aug. 18-21, at Brainerd Int'l Raceway.
08/07/16 UPDATE NHRA officials have postponed the finals rounds for the NHRA Northwest Nationals due to rain. The finals for the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes will be held during the Aug 19-21 event at Brainerd, while the Pro Stock finals will be held during the Sept. 2-4 race at Indianapolis.
08/07/16 The rain here at Pacific Raceways has largely stopped, allowing the NHRA Safety Safari to begin making better progress in getting the track dry, but it comes in fits and starts. There's about two hours until sunset, which is at 8:30 p.m. local time.
There's been no decision on the completion of today's racing.
Before the rains came, we completed one NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series final with Brad Burton defeating Ryan Warter in Stock.
Here are the other final-round pairings to come:
Top Alcohol Dragster
Joey Severance vs. Chris Demke
Top Alcohol Funny Car
Shane Westerfield vs. Nick Januik
Comp
Jeff Lane vs. Ralph Van Paepeghem
Super Stock
Cody Lane vs. Darrell Stobbe
Super Comp
Tory Lea vs. Don Knoblauch
Super Gas
Rick Cates vs. Steve Laskowske
Super Street
Doug Jones vs. Jerry Denton
Top Dragster
Chuck Glanz vs. Quentin Chambers
Top Sportsman
Brian Phillips vs. Mike Williams