NHRA Winternationals back with new features

Drag racing opens another season this week in Pomona with the NHRA Circle K Winteationals competing at Auto Club Dragway on the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. It will be the debut of so many new items that even hardcore fans may not know which way to tu.

Among the first-time attractions to the traditional opener:

• A new logo for series sponsor Mello Yello, which starts its fourth year as the series’ title sponsor. The logo, which features the outline of a dragster complete with headers, was designed by Coca-Cola, which owns the brand.

• An entirely new look for Pro Stock, long regarded as factory hot rods. Most notably, the hood scoops that have dominated the look of the class have been eliminated as a result of new rules. The class will switch to fuel-injected engines with a 10,500-rpm limit and wheelie bars will be shorter.

• Another new look will be the NHRA television partner. Fox Sports will replace ESPN in broadcasting the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series and have live coverage of 17 national events and provide more than 500 hours on various Fox networks for the season. Dave Rieff retus as the play-by-play aouncer and will be joined by former Fuy Car champion Tony Pedregon, who will provide analysis in his broadcast debut. Others on the broadcast will include pit reporters Bruno Massel and Jamie Howe.

• For the first time, national records will not result in bonus points. Before the aouncement last month, a backup within 1 percent of the record for elapsed time and speed was required for the mark and the 20 bonus points for time. “People took a lot of pride in the record, especially in the Countdown,” said Erica Enders, the two-time defending Pro Stock champion. “You could make a record-breaking run, back it up, and get the points you needed. That was worth one round of eliminations, and I know that was something that played into our mindset.”

• If there ever was a drag racing class that was inspired and promoted by Southe Califoians, it’s the Fuy Car. And the unique class will celebrate its 50th aiversary this year with an all-star lineup of Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, “The King of Speed” Key Bestein, Ed “The Ace” McCulloch, Al Segrini, iovator Tom Prock and the first Winteationals Fuy Car wier, Clare Sanders, at a special question-and-answer session at Hot Rod Junction in the midway hosted by legendary aouncer Bob Frey. And if that wasn’t enough, Southe Califoia Fuy Car pioneer Gas Ronda will also make a special appearance.

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Winteationals weekend

The season will open Thursday with sportsmen qualifying for Sunday’s finals.

The three professional classes — Top Fuel dragster, Fuy Car and Pro Stock — will begin qualifying Friday and are scheduled to make four passes to determine the 16-car fields.

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel dragster), Matt Hagan (Fuy Car) and Jason Line (Pro Stock) are the defending class champions.

Top Fuel

Langdon won twice last year at Pomona for different owners. The former Mira Loma resident won in February for Alan Johnson and closed the year by taking the Auto Club Finals for Don Schumacher after Johnson folded his team. Langdon signed with Schumacher after Johnson made the decision he would not field a team this year.

Schumacher did field the 2015 Top Fuel champion in Antron Brown.

For 2016, Brown will be challenged by the likes of DSR teammates Tony Schmuacher and Langdon; Brittany Force; Bob Vandergriff Racing teammates Dave Coolly and Leah Prichett; Steve Torrence; Kalitta Motorsports teammates Doug Kalitta and J.R. Todd; and Clay Millican.

Force posted three of the quickest runs at recent testing in Phoenix working with a new crew chief (Brian Husen) and Johnson as a consultant.

“Things are a little different, a whole new system. I’m leaing that,” Force said. “We had some great runs. We’re ready to get to Pomona.”

Fuy Car

Del Worsham is the Fuy Car defending champion. With the title, Worsham joined Gary Scelzi and Bestein as the lone drivers to win in two different pro classes.

Tommy Johnson Jr. set an unofficial elapsed time record for a Fuy Car at Phoenix, a 3.874-second run at 318.47 mph. DSR teammate Hagan holds the record at 3.879 set last year.

“We had our entire team stay intact after last year, and we have sort of picked up where we left off last year,” Johnson said. “The crew worked really hard during the offseason, and I am just happy for the guys to make a run like that to close out testing. It’s a good reward for them for all their hard work.”

Challengers for the championship will include teammates Jack Beckman, Hagan and Ron Capps; John Force Racing entries Robert High, Courtney and John Force; and Cruz Pedregon.

Pro Stock

The rule changes won’t be the only new look in Pro Stock. Enders, the 2015 champ, will be joined on her Elite Performance team by five-time class champion Jeg Coughlin, plus talented drivers Vincent Nobile and Drew Skillman, the 2015 rookie of the year. Nobile drives for Upland-based Mountain View Tire and will drive the car Enders used in wiing her second consecutive title.

“This season is going to be a challenge for all of us, but I’m ready for it,” Nobile said. “Sometimes, change is good and a lot of people including myself felt that it was time for Pro Stock to get a facelift. We’re excited about the new technology and we think the fans will appreciate it as well.”

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