NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

After a rocky start to the 2019 season, Steve Torrence and his Capco creew have found the momentum that helped them win last season's Mello Yello Top Fuel championship. A recent winner in Charlotte, Atlanta, and Richmond, Torrence ran his win streak to 15-straight rounds with a final round  victory over Mike Salinas in Chicago. Torrence now has 31-wins in Top Fuel including 16 since the start of the 2018 season.

While Torrence can apparently find his way to the winner's circle blindfolded, the rest of the Chicago champions claimed their first victories of the season including Tommy Johnson Jr., Deric Kramer, and  Matt Smith. Johnson Jr. won for the first time since 2017 when he drove the Make-A-Wish Dodge past Robert Hight in the final round. Johnson fireballed an engine in the final, but held on to finish ahead of Hight, who smoked the tires early in the run. Johnson, a runner-up earlier this season in Las Vegas, has won a combined 18 titles in Top Fuel and Funny Car.

Kramer ended a winless drought that extends back to last year's Brainerd event when he wheeled his American Ethanol Camaro to a final round win against Erica Enders, who fouled in the final. Kramer would have been tough to beat with a 6.537, the quickest run of eliminations. The former Comp racer now has three wins since moving to the Pro Stock class.

Smith gave up a starting line advantage to Karen Stoffer in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final but rode his Denso EBR to a 6.807 to successfully defend his 2018 Chicago victory. Smith, the reigning and three-time NHRA Mello Yello champion, has 18 wins in his career. His first victory also came against Stoffer at the 2006 Englishtown race.

TOP FUEL WINNER STEVE TORRENCE: "These are the kind of conditions that we really do well in. Richard [Hogan] and Bobby [Lagana] excel on tracks that are hot and humid. This was a little tricky to navigate and they did an exceptional job. To be 22-4 in final rounds is a little surreal. I didn't realize that and if you had asked me seven or eight years ago that I'd have 31 wins I'd have said your full of crap. I just wanted one win but I have a really good group of guys.

"When you see guys that go out and do well and continually win, it's guys that have been together for years and they just work well together. That's what we have. If one guy were to fall out, we'd find the missing piece of the puzzle that we didn't have. It's been an awesome ride if it ended today."

FUNNY CAR WINNER TOMMY JOHNSON JR.: “I’ve blown up three times already this year. I said that wasn’t even a blow-up, that was just a little bang. It makes your heart stop for a second cause you’re sitting there coasting and you know he’s got to be somewhere. He didn’t come and I thought, thank goodness. When I beat [Matt] Hagan here in 2015 he smoked the tires at the hit and it did the same thing. It spun and knocked the [blower] belt off and I coasted to the win. I don’t know what it is about this place. I saw the light come on and I was just thrilled for my guys and [sponsor] Doug Chandler. He’s continued this program, so I’m happy to get a win.

[on racing John Force in the semi’s]

“I was in the other lane when he won 100 so if I can do anything about him winning 150 I will. I don’t know if he did it by accident but he double-bulbed me and I though, ‘Oh, you just did the wrong thing because I’m going to let you sit there and think about it for a minute.’ It’s funny because you and I are the two longest active drivers out here. You don’t get to 149 wins by being a chump so you have to respect that.”

PRO STOCK WINNER DERIC KRAMER: "We won by not making any mistakes, that's been our biggest problem since Indy through the Countdown last year. We started off the year with again, more mistakes and when you make mistakes in this class its so close you can't win."

"I got lane choice in the semifinals and that was big. We made the best runs out of that particular lane and when you make good runs you put the pressure on the other driver to give it all they've got and luckily I came out ahead. We laid down a great pass in the final. When you see that win light on in your lane before you're in high gear you can just enjoy the ride at that point."

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE WINNER MATT SMITH: “Our red rocket showed up. This Denso bike was on kill today. We made a little blooper in the second round but overall we had the quickest bike in every round. I just can’t say enough about my crew and my wife, Angie, and everyone who helps us. We had a good day. We needed to get a win so we pulled out our championship engine. It needs to be freshened to its going back to Elite to get honed after this race, and it will be better when we get it back and decide to use it again.

“Karen did an awesome job this weekend. She was .00 every time in eliminations. I wanted to be .04 or .03 and I was a little later than that. We put a new tire on for the final. It had one lap on it. We had our best 60-foot time of the weekend and that’s what got us the win was the call of changing tires before the final. We’re still working on our new clutch and we’ve got a lot to learn but we’ll be ready for the Countdown.”

LUCAS OIL SERIES FINAL-ROUND RESULTS

Top Alcohol Dragster
Chris Demke def. Megan Meyer

Top Alcohol Funny Car
Shane Westerfield def. Doug Gordon

Comp
Greg Kamplain def. Van Puckett

Super Stock
Vic Penrod def. Justin Lamb

Stock
Randi Lynn Shipp def. Jeff Lopez

Super Comp
Dave Dahlem def. Megan Strassweg

Super Gas
Nathan Vrooman def. Devin Isenhower

Super Street
Rodger Sauder def. Wayne Christopher

Top Sportsman presented by Racing RVs.com
Lester Johnson def. Brandon Baxter

Top Dragster presented by Racing RVs.com
Jim Prevo def. Jeff Strickland