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John Force raced to his 134th career Funny Car victory Sunday in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Los Angeles County).
The 62-year-old used a holeshot start to pick up his sixth win at this event and 15th at this track with a performance of 4.080 seconds at 315.84 mph in a Ford Mustang.
Runner-up Mike Neff finished in 4.036 at 316.82 in his Mustang.
“It was good to get a win under my belt,” Force said.
“Last year, we struggled all year and only won one race. You really want to perform. We knew we had to go after (Neff) and it just went. It wasn’t quick enough to beat him. He was late and I got the win. We have the old team back together like the way it used to be. It’s a good start for us this weekend.” San Francisco Chronicle
Spencer Massey (Top Fuel) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also were winners of the season-opening NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.
Massey, who finished second in the points standings last year, opened the new season in first place by outrunning Antron Brown in the final round to take his seventh career Top Fuel victory and first at Pomona. Massey posted a 3.750 at 325.77 in his FRAM/Prestone dragster to hold off Brown’s charging Matco Tools dragster, which trailed with a 3.794 at 320.43.
“Coming up a little short and ending up in second place last year made us that much more hungry and motivated to win a championship, so we focused this winter and acted like there wasn’t an off-season,” said Massey, who beat Steve Faria, Clay Millican, and Tony Schumacher in early rounds.
In Pro Stock, Anderson raced to his 71st career victory and fifth at the Winternationals by powering his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac to a 6.549 at 210.87 to hold off Jeg Coughlin Jr.’s JEGS.com/Mopar Dodge Avenger, which trailed with a 6.586 at 209.62.
Anderson raced past Larry Morgan, Allen Johnson, and teammate and defending world champ Jason Line to advance to the final.
“I wasn’t the quickest driver out here today, but I was very consistent,” Anderson said. “We managed to stop the big yellow Mopar [of Coughlin in the final]. He sure came out swinging. You’re always aware of how good Jeg is driving. I’ve never been very good at tuning that kind of stuff out, but it worked today. The crew made great decisions, and here we are back in the winner’s circle again.” NHRA.com
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