Three-time Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown slipped past points leader Doug Kalitta in the final round of the 18th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, racing to his 76th career win on Sunday at Summit Motorsports Park.
Bob Tasca III (Funny Car), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock), and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 10th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.
Brown denied Kalitta, the reigning world champ, his second straight win, going 3.736-seconds at 330.55 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Matco Tools/Toyota dragster to get past Kalitta’s 3.747 at 334.65 in a fantastic side-by-side duel. It is Brown’s second win this season – and the 60th Top Fuel win in his spectacular career – and he reached the final round after defeating Dan Mercier, Clay Millican, and Justin Ashley. Brown then led wire-to-wire against the No. 1 qualifier, moving to fourth in points with the thrilling victory.
“This is the best one right now, but your best one is always your next one,” Brown said. “We’re going to celebrate like rock stars tonight because this class is unbelievably tough. You can be on the outside looking in really quick. Coming here, we really felt we had a package that compete and run with anybody.
“The fans here live, eat and breath drag racing and you could tell the way the fans showed out. To be part of that and go rounds, come out the victor – my hat is off to my team. I’m in awe of how we got this done. It’s truly a blessing to be part of this team and get this win and John Force, this win is for you.”
Kalitta reached his fourth straight final of the year and the 117th in his career with round wins against Kyle Wurtzel, Billy Torrence and Steve Torrence. His points lead now stands at 134 over Justin Ashley.
In Funny Car, Bob Tasca III made the most of his second straight trip to the final round in his 11,000-horsepower Ford Performance Dark Horse Mustang, taking down Ron Capps with a standout run of 3.908 at 330.47. It gives Tasca his second win this season and the 17th in his career and the veteran also obliterated the track speed record, going 336.82.
That came in the first round of eliminations against Dave Richards and Tasca then proceeded to knock off Paul Lee and No. 1 qualifier and points leader Austin Prock. That semifinal must-see matchup didn’t disappoint, as Tasca won on a holeshot, going 3.929 at 334.73 to hold off Prock’s 3.927 thanks to a .046 reaction…
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