Millican Among Leaders In NHRA Spring Nationals Qualifying

Story By: SCOTT SMITH / NHRA – BAYTOWN, TX – Clay Millican powered his Parts Plus / Great Clips Top Fuel dragster to the qualifying lead Friday at the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway Park.

Courtney Force (Funny Car) and Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) were also provisional leaders in their respective categories at the fifth of 24 events on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season schedule.

Millican, who is still seeking his first NHRA Top Fuel win, set the track elapsed time record with his 3.722-second run at 325.69 mph during the second qualifying session.

“I got to do my favorite thing and go out there and stomp on the loud pedal,” said Millican. “I didn’t expect to go No. 1; I really didn’t. I hope it’s a typical Houston day tomorrow at 100 degrees and we stay No. 1.”

Antron Brown, three-time and defending  Top Fuel champion, is qualified in the second position with a 3.723 pass at 322.50 in his Matco Tools dragster, Doug Kalitta is qualified third in the Mac Tools dragster  and Brittany Force is fourth.

Courtney Force set both ends of the track record with her 3.851 run at 330.23 during the second qualifying session in her Advanced Auto Parts Chevy Camaro SS Funny Car. Force won here last season and is hoping to secure her first win of the season.

“I don’t care if I have a million distractions to get the car running down there. To run a 3.85 and to get that track record on both ends felt amazing,” Force said. “To do it in front of all of these fans down here in Texas, at the track that we won at last year; we’ve definitely got something to prove.”

Defending world champion Ron Capps is qualified in the second position with a 3.884 at 326.56 in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T, John Force is third in his PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS and Cruz Pedregon is fourth after running a career best 3.897.

In Pro Stock, Coughlin Jr. raced his JEGS.com / Elite Performance Chevy Camaro to the qualifying lead with a 6.557 pass at 210.70 in the second round of qualifying. Coughlin Jr. is in pursuit of his first No. 1 qualifier since the 2014 Las Vegas spring race.

“The Q2 run was a really nice run,” Coughlin Jr. said. “It feels fantastic. The car was letter perfect and I hardly touched the steering wheel the whole way down. It is a testament to the Elite Performance groups’ hard work as we transitioned into Chevrolets this year.”

Bo Butner is in the No. 2 spot with a 6.560 at 210.80 in his Jim Butner’s Auto Chevy Camaro, Greg Anderson is third in the Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro and rookie Tanner Gray is fourth.

Qualifying for the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals continues Saturday at 1:15 p.m. with the final qualifying session slated for 4:00 p.m.

Mike Castellana powered to the qualifying lead Friday during the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Real Pro Mod Association, is the second of 12 events this season.

Castellana ran quickest in both qualifying sessions to hold onto the qualifying lead in his Al Anabi Racing ’17 Camaro. He ran a 5.759-second pass at 250.46 mph during the second qualifying session to set the track elapsed time record.

“It feels great, you know,” Castellana said. “I owe it all to my crew. I got the easy part – I just let the clutch out and steer. They do all the hard-work and they make all the calls, so all the credit goes to them.”

Jonathon Gray, who is racing Rickie Smith’s second car while Smith recovers from back surgery, is qualified second with a 5.788 at 250.97, Shane Molinari is third with a 5.792 at 257.24 and currently fourth is Danny Rowe who raced a 5.800 at 250.00.

Castellana is currently second in the points standings behind Steven Whiteley who won the season-opening Pro Mod Series event in Gainesville, Fla. Whiteley is currently not qualified for eliminations and sitting in the 24th spot.

J&A Service Pro Mod Series qualifying continues Saturday at approximately 3 p.m. with the first round of eliminations slated for 5:30 p.m.

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BAYTOWN, Texas — Friday’s results after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway, fifth of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.  Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday’s final eliminations.

Top Fuel — 1. Clay Millican, 3.722 seconds, 325.69 mph; 2. Antron Brown, 3.723, 322.50; 3. Doug Kalitta, 3.731, 327.03; 4. Brittany Force, 3.745, 327.27; 5. Leah Pritchett, 3.747, 326.87; 6. Bob Vandergriff, 3.781, 320.43; 7. Tony Schumacher, 3.814, 307.51; 8. Shawn Langdon, 3.825, 314.53; 9. Scott Palmer, 3.832, 316.52; 10. Shawn Reed, 3.869, 320.43; 11. Steve Torrence, 3.980, 258.52; 12. Troy Coughlin Jr., 4.094, 209.07; 13. Terry McMillen, 4.254, 208.04; 14. Terry Haddock, 4.701, 168.77; 15. Steven Chrisman, 5.767, 119.17; 16. Troy Buff, 7.023, 87.97.

Funny Car — 1. Courtney Force, Chevy Camaro, 3.851, 330.23; 2. Ron Capps, Dodge Charger, 3.884, 326.56; 3. John Force, Camaro, 3.890, 325.53; 4. Cruz Pedregon, Toyota Camry, 3.897, 324.98; 5. Jack Beckman, Charger, 3.931, 327.11; 6. Jonnie Lindberg, Camry, 3.961, 323.50; 7. Alexis DeJoria, Camry, 3.995, 320.97; 8. J.R. Todd, Camry, 4.250, 223.65; 9. Tim Wilkerson, Ford Mustang, 4.551, 183.67; 10. Matt Hagan, Charger, 4.862, 167.76; 11. Robert Hight, Camaro, 5.315, 135.97; 12. Del Worsham, Camry, 6.346, 104.53; 13. Tommy Johnson Jr., Charger, 7.144, 86.40; 14. Todd Simpson, Camaro, 8.421, 85.90; 15. Jim Campbell, Charger, 8.527, 74.10.

Pro Stock — 1. Jeg Coughlin, Chevy Camaro, 6.557, 210.70; 2. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.560, 211.03; 3. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.563, 211.10; 4. Tanner Gray, Camaro, 6.575, 209.79; 5. Jason Line, Camaro, 6.576, 211.20; 6. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.591, 210.44; 7. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.602, 209.85; 8. Vincent Nobile, Camaro, 6.611, 209.59; 9. Alex Laughlin, Camaro, 6.620, 209.36; 10. Drew Skillman, Camaro, 6.623, 209.72; 11. Allen Johnson, Dodge Dart, 6.656, 208.84; 12. Alan Prusiensky, Dart, 6.667, 209.01; 13. Richie Stevens, Dart, 6.888, 188.07.

Friday’s results after the first two of three rounds of qualifying for the 30th annual NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway, the second of 12 events in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Saturday’s first round of eliminations.

Pro Modified — 1. Mike Castellana, Chevy Camaro, 5.759, 250.97; 2. Jonathan Gray, Camaro, 5.788, 250.97; 3. Shane Molinari, Pontiac Firebird, 5.792, 257.24; 4. Danny Rowe, Chevy Corvette, 5.800, 250.00; 5. Steve Matusek, Camaro, 5.813, 252.28; 6. Mike Janis, Camaro, 5.815, 247.29; 7. Troy Coughlin, Corvette, 5.820, 253.90; 8. Bob Rahaim, Corvette, 5.837, 248.11; 9. Khalid alBalooshi, Camaro, 5.847, 249.53; 10. Larry Morgan, Camaro, 5.861, 249.44; 11. Shannon Jenkins, Ford Mustang, 5.868, 247.02; 12. Kevin Fiscus, Mustang, 5.893, 249.95; 13. Chip King, Dodge Daytona, 5.895, 245.49; 14. Steve Jackson, Camaro, 5.913, 233.96; 15. Kevin Rivenbark, Corvette, 5.916, 241.54; 16. Michael Biehle, Mustang, 5.920, 252.19.  Not Qualified: 17. Doug Winters, 5.928, 241.80; 18. Jim Whiteley, 5.936, 245.27; 19. Todd Tutterow, 5.946, 244.16; 20. Eric Latino, 5.967, 251.34; 21. Pete Farber, 5.986, 244.29; 22. Sidnei Frigo, 6.119, 228.27; 23. Chuck Little, 6.235, 234.90; 24. Steven Whiteley, 6.355, 175.62; 25. Ruben Tetsoshvili, 6.540, 174.87; 26. Clint Satterfield, 7.067, 228.31; 27. Harry Hruska, 8.349, 113.93; 28. Mike Knowles, 9.262, 97.51.