Dissecting the Western Swing – RacingJunk News

What can we learn from the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing series pass through the west?

We have little more than a week to unpack the Western Swing just completed at Seattle last weekend. Those three races in Denver, Sonoma and the Pacific Northwest gave us no reason to doubt the health of drag racing’s prominent Camping World Drag Racing series, despite a lack of entries for some of the contests. It costs a lot to do those three races, so teams and drivers have to be invested in championships in order to make the tough trip.

Now there are just three races before NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series begins its Countdown to the Championship, the six-race playoffs that decide Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle championships. Next weekend all classes compete at Topeka, KS, followed by Brainerd, MN and the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Of course everyone is gunning for the Wally trophies from the U.S. Nationals; it’s the biggest race of the year.

So what did we learn at Denver, Sonoma, Seattle? Legacy teams and drivers aren’t over the hill is the first lesson: Tony Schumacher scored his 86th national event win in Seattle; Robert Hight bookended the Western Swing by being victorious at both Denver and Seattle; Matt Smith knows how to win on a Buell at Denver and go fast on a Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle; Bob Tasca III can bring victory for Ford Motor Co. in Sonoma; Joey Gladstone can win one of these things at Sonoma after being runner-up [too] many times in Pro Stock Motorcycle and, finally, Troy Coughlin Jr. carries on his family’s Pro Stock legacy, taking out the class of his class (and teammate) Erica Enders in Seattle to earn his first national event title.

Tony Schumacher’s season has been uneven at best, driving full-time again after being on the sidelines since the U.S. Army declined to continue its sponsorship. Schumacher did a partial schedule in 2020 and 2021, always with the intent of returning to full-time competition, which he did at the start of this year’s campaign, thanks to the Maynard Family that started as an associate sponsor with Don Schumacher Racing last year. Earning his fifth Seattle win in that event’s 33rd running, Schumacher turned his topsy-turvy season around with one run down the 1,000-foot drag strip.

Schumacher beat Brittany Force, who intended to bring home the Wally for the race’s sponsor, who happens to…