Head, Brown, Enders-Stevens No. 1 Qualifiers at Topeka

Chad Head

Second-generation driver Chad Head will race for his first career Funny Car victory Sunday at the NHRA Kansas Nationals from the No. 1 qualifying position.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel) and Erica Enders (Pro Stock) also remained at the top of their categories based on their Friday qualifying performances and will lead their categories into Sunday’s 11 a.m. eliminations at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series event.

Head captured his second career No. 1 qualifying position and first since 2013 Saturday at Heartland Park Topeka based on his Friday track record time of 3.967 seconds. No one was able to improve on his performance Saturday as teams got one qualifying attempt in before rain washed out the final qualifying session. The time is the fifth-quickest run in NHRA Funny Car history.

Head, son of NHRA legend Jim Head who now serves as his son’s crew chief, says he was surprised that his career-best time remained No. 1 after an onslaught of three-second performances during another unseasonably cool temperature session on Saturday.

"There were a lot of threes in that last session and I expected for us to get knocked off," Head said. "Actually, I was very shocked. There are a lot of good cars, and they made great runs, don't get me wrong. I was just very shocked we didn't get knocked off that No. 1 spot. We were just trying to keep it."

Atlanta winner Tim Wilkerson had the quickest Saturday run and improved to second in the lineup with a career-best 3.971 at 322.58. Wilkerson will race Tony Pedregon in the opener. Four-time Heartland Park Topeka winner Cruz Pedregon qualified third in his Snap-on Tools Camry with a 3.979 at 316.01 and will face John Hale in the first round.

Although she qualified 11th, defending event winner Courtney Force posted a 325.06 mph speed in her Traxxas Chevy Camaro SS, good enough to claim the national speed record in the category if the effort holds by the end of the race weekend.

Antron Brown

In Top Fuel, Brown took his second No. 1 of the season and 39th of his career with a track record time of 3.727 at 313.37. Brown will face Luigi Novelli in the opening round as he goes for his milestone 50th victory in the Mello Yello Series.

Series points leader Brown is riding a wave of momentum, after winning last weekend at Atlanta Dragway. The 2012 world champ, who has two victories this season, has never advanced to a final round at Heartland Park.

“The whole team has been doing a great job," Brown said. “We were trying to go for it on the run today, but we literally hurt the engine when we did the burnout. Even though we didn’t make the run we wanted to make, I’m glad it happened today and not on our first run tomorrow. The car still ran an .86, but the ol’ girl was hurt."

Richie Crampton qualified second in his Lucas Oil dragster and will race Kyle Wurtzel in the opener, while defending world champ and 2010 Kansas Nationals winner Tony Schumacher qualified third and will meet Gas Monkey Garage driver Kebin Kinsley.

Erica Enders

Enders claimed her third No. 1 of the season with her track record performance of 6.515 at 211.43. It is Enders’ second top qualifying position at Heartland Park.

"My guys tend to give me a pretty consistent race car, and that makes my job a little bit easier to where I just have to focus on driving and not wonder what the car is going to do," Enders said. "Being low for every session is pretty exciting. We were able to do that a lot together last year and accumulate those three bonus points per round that you're low. Coming into that final race last year, every point mattered, so we'll take 'em when we can get 'em."

Four-time Topeka winner Greg Anderson qualified second in his Summit Racing Chevy and will face first-round foe David River, while Texan Chris McGaha will start third and race Deric Kramer in the opening round.