,_Mike_Neff_(Funny_Car),_Greg_Anderson_(Pro_Stock),_and_LE_Tonglet_(Pro_Stock_Motorcycle)_are_the_2011_OReilly_Auto_Parts_Route_66_NHRA_Nationals_champions.jpg)
Mike Neff gave Ford its 200th NHRA Funny Car victory Sunday when he won the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago.
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Neff scored his fourth Funny Car victory of the season and Del Worsham (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and LE Tonglet (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were the other class winners.
“The heat is what was hard for everyone out there today,” Neff said. “It was a challenge. With the conditions it was one of those races where you have to get your car down the racetrack if you want to win. It’s a tribute to our Ford Mustang body. It’s a great car and we have great preparation by the team because the car is so consistent right now.”
Neff, who defeated Justin Schriefer, Bob Tasca and Jack Beckman in the first three rounds, produced a winning pass of 293.22 mph to top Jeff Arend in the Funny Car final. AHN | All Headline News
Del Worsham feels like a rookie again.
After almost 20 years spent mostly in a Funny Car, Worsham made the transition to a Top Fuel dragster this season. He padded his lead in the Full Throttle point standings after his first-place finish at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals on Sunday in Joliet, his fifth victory of the season.
“Crazy,” Worsham, the 1991 NHRA rookie of the year, said of his success. “I’m surprised by it, but I guess I shouldn’t be with this caliber of a team.”
“The car throws something new at you constantly,” said Worsham, who beat David Grubnic with an elapsed time of 3.978 seconds at 299.40 mph in the final round. “It’s just a little different style, but the basics of racing are the same. Some of the runs are absolutely easier [than Funny Car]. Sometimes with that dragster, it’s so long, it’ll go straight down there. But sometimes it requires some driving. About the time you think everything’s going to be smooth and easy, it’s not that easy at all.” Chicago Sun-Times
Anderson earned his second victory of the season and 67th of his career, denying Erica Enders her first win in her fourth career final round. Anderson took his first Route 66 Raceway victory with a holeshot victory when he drove his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP to a 6.670 at 207.18 mph to cross the finish line in front of Enders, who had a quicker, but losing, 6.659 at 206.89 mph in her ZaZa Energy Chevy Cobalt.
“When the track temperature is 135, there is not a lot of traction, and it becomes a crew chief’s race,” Anderson said. “The driver has to find a way to make it happen, too. I don’t know how it worked out, but it did. This was the last track I hadn’t won at, and now I have, so that’s cool at least until we go to someplace new.”
Anderson beat Steve Spiess, Rodger Brogdon, and Shane Gray to advance to the final round from the No. 1 qualifying position.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Tonglet rebounded from a DNQ at the last event to claim his second victory of the season and pick up his second consecutive win at this event. He pulled away from Chip Ellis in the final with a 7.047 at 188.46 mph on his Nitro Fish Suzuki. Ellis, whose last final round was in 2008 in Englishtown finished in 7.153 at 185.49 mph on his Kuryakyn/Lartigue Racing Buell.
“We are back to our old motor from the end of last year,” said Tonglet, the defending Full Throttle Series world champ. “We had a bad race in Englishtown and blew up all of our motors, so we had to get Vance & Hines to fix them all. We were just hoping to qualify after Norwalk. We were confident here after qualifying number three. For the final, it stepped up and almost made a perfect run.” NHRA.com
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