Tucson Dragway

GRUBNIC FORCE LEAD NITRO FIELDS IN FINAL DAY OF TESTING AT THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Story by NHRA

LAS VEGAS – Dave Grubnic and John Force turned in the top performances of the day in Top Fuel and Funny Car during the final day of formal testing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Grubnic piloted his Zantrex Top Fuel dragster to a 4.483-second pass at 322.27 mph.

“We made some changes in the clutch just before the (Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals),” Grubnic said. “We’re continuing to work with it. We’re just not going to count our chickens before they hatch. We’re going to continue testing.”

Many of the marquee drivers in the 23-race, $50-million NHRA POWERade Series opted to take advantage of the first testing weekend, one of three scheduled before the 47th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif., Feb. 8-11. The second optional test will be in Phoenix next weekend.

Force powered his Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang to a 4.783 at 286.80 to pace the Funny Car field, while daughter Brittany got back in her ride after her Super Comp dragster made contact with the wall on Friday.

“I learned mostly from my kids today, because I forgot the cardinal rule,” Force said. “We’ve been out of the car for two months, we’re on a green race track and if anything goes wrong, get off the gas. Never drive until you know it’s safe. But Ashley got to the lights today. We had some breakage (in Eric’s) car, but we’re getting back into the game because we love it. We’re excited for what’ll happen next.”

Pro Stock Motorcycle's Mike Berry rode his Suzuki to a 7.328 at 173.47.

This season professional drivers will vie for valuable points toward NHRA POWERade world championship titles in the multitiered Countdown to the Championship.

Utilizing the final-elimination-round concept synonymous with the sport of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing, where winners move on and losers go home, the NHRA POWERade Countdown to the Championship features three distinct periods during the 23-race NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series when competitors will be eliminated from the championship hunt in a playoff-style format.

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