NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The NHRA Arizona Nationals, Stop 2 of the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season, was packed with twists and turns and history-making moments. Here are five big takeaways from the event.

IS THE SUN SETTING ON WHP?

Whether or not this was the final NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series national event ever staged at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park was a point of much debate and positive thinking throughout the weekend, but if two sold-out days and the gung-ho, we-love-this-place affirmations from the racers are any guide, here’s to hoping that there’s a change in plans and we’ll be back in the Valley of the Sun in 2024.

Some racers, like Funny Car winner Robert Hight, who’s been coming here for decades, first as a crewmember for John Force and now as a three-time championship-winning driver, were downright nostalgic about it. The historic raceplant, which was built in late 1983/early 1984 in the wake of the 1983 closing of Orange County Int'l Raceway, was a haven for thirsty West Coast match race fans and a place that the teams always enjoyed heading to, whether it was for preseason testing or the annual national events that first started in 1985.

Fans showed up in huge numbers to pledge their support and to wistfully wish for a return next year.

RISING STARS SHINED IN PRO STOCK

Camrie Caruso and Cristian Cuadra both put new faces in unfamiliar places at the Arizona Nationals, each grabbing a little slice of history that long will be remembered.

Cuadra, who scored a runner-up at last year’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas, had two semifinal finishes, and notched two No. 3 qualifying berths in a great season, grabbed his first No. 1 qualifying berth and, historically, the first for a Mexican-born racer in NHRA Pro competition.

Cuadra lost in a weird second-round battle to Caruso, where she unintentionally double-bulbed the Christmas Tree (for which she quickly apologized), but that moment was not enough to detract from her becoming just the second female to win an NHRA Pro Stock title. Caruso, who last year got her first No. 1 spot and her first final-round berth in Houston, went the distance this year to take her place alongside Erica Enders in the history of the class.

IT’S A WIDE-OPEN SHOW IN TOP FUEL

The last two seasons, Top Fuel always seemed to boil down to a battle between Brittany Force and Steve Torrence, but if the first two races of the year are any indication, it’s going to be a bigger dogfight than that duo.

Mike Salinas and Justin Ashley both led the points for a period last season and both look strong again this year – Salinas with his win in Gainesville and Ashley with his score in Phoenix – and Doug Kalitta has made it known that he’s going to be in the fight after a semifinal in Gainesville and a low qualifying berth in Phoenix. Leah Pruett has impressed with back-to-back semifinal finishes in the Dodge Power Brokers machine and a current third-place ranking, just one point behind Salinas. And don’t discount Shawn Langdon, who looked very strong in his runner-up in Phoenix, or Austin Prock, who had a great qualifying outing.

HAGAN-HIGHT-CAPPS: HERE WE GO AGAIN?

Of course, it’s way too early in the season to say it’s already looking like a bit of a three-horse race in Funny Car, especially with J.R. Todd’s stock on the rise, back-to-back semifinals from Chad Green and Alexis DeJoria, and Bob Tasca III’s resurgent Ford, but with Hagan winning in Gainesville, Hight winning in Phoenix, and Ron Capps a runner-up in Phoenix, the results look a little familiar.

That trio won 10 of the first 11 races last season – only John Force slowed them down – and there’s no doubt that power trio will be the odds-on favorites, but don’t dismiss the hard work done by Jon Oberhofer and Todd Smith on the DHL Toyota, the new cool-weather power combo that Aaron Brooks and Todd Okuhara have assembled for Tasca, or the veteran wiles of DeJoria’s tuner Del Worsham. They’ll all have a say before the year is out.

2FAST2TASTY … TOO MUCH FUN

Race teams quickly adjusted to the slightly complex rules of the new Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge and have fallen in love with the new bonus program. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Alexis DeJoria (Funny Car), and Troy Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) scored wins in the inaugural challenge, held during Saturday qualifying.

The program, which rematches semifinalists from the previous event and a runoff between the winners of those two clashes for big bucks and bonus points, was on the lips of every racer. With championships over the last decade being decided by single-digit margins, the bonus points from the Mission Challenge could be huge.

The next Mission Challenge will take place at the upcoming Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals, rematching Shawn Langdon and Leah Pruett and Justin Ashley and Steve Torrence in Top Fuel; Robert Hight and Chad Green and Alexis DeJoria and Ron Capps in Funny Car; and Camrie Caruso and Matt Hartford and Bo Butner and Kyle Koretsky in Pro Stock.