CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
LUCAS OIL NHRA WINTERNATIONALS PRESENED BY PROTECTTHEHARVEST.COM
AUTO CLUB RACEWAY AT POMONA, CALIFORNIA
FEB. 20, 2022
Chevrolet opens NHRA season with strong performances
• Erica Enders claims the 900th win in the Pro Stock class
• Robert Hight picks up 54th career Funny Car victory
• Austin Prock returns with Top Fuel runner-up finish
• Leo Glasbrenner claims Stock Eliminator victory in all-COPO Camaro final
POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 20, 2022) – Chevrolet started the 2022 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World Drag Racing Series season with two victories and a pair of runner-up finishes in the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com.
A Chevrolet COPO Camaro added the win in the Sportsman Stock Eliminator class in front of an enthusiastic crowd at sun-splashed Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.
Four-time Pro Stock champion Erica Enders added to her impressive CV by claiming the 900th victory in the class, guiding the Melling Performance Chevrolet Camaro SS past Elite Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield in the final.
Three-time Funny Car champion Robert Hight, the No. 2 qualifier in the Auto Club of Southern California Camaro SS, earned his 54th career win.
Austin Prock, the 2019 NHRA Rookie of the Year who had competed in only three Top Fuel races the past two seasons, made an impressive return in the Montana Brands/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster with a runner-up finish. Prock beat No. 1 qualifier and John Force Racing teammate Brittany Force in the semifinals (3.687 to 3.700 seconds).
John Force, who qualified 16th for only the fifth time in 784 race day appearances, fell in the first round in his BlueDEF Platinum Camaro SS to reigning Funny Car champion and first-year team owner Ron Capps. It was the 111th time that the 16-time Funny Car champion faced off against Capps in eliminations, and the first time that Force lost a first-round match when qualifying 16th.
Hight avenged the defeat by slipping past Capps, the No. 1 qualifier, (3.861 seconds to 3.882) in their 10th final-round matchup.
“This is a big day for John Force Racing,” Hight said. “(For our Auto Club team) That wasn’t a lot of fun last year. Since Jimmy (Prock) came back, we’ve been in the thick of things every year. Won two championships, set records. But the guys stayed focused, worked really hard and looked at what bit us last year.
“If you look at our runs in testing and our runs here, I think they’ve found it. I’m happy.”
Enders, the No. 1 qualifier, lifted the custom trophy — topped with a silver-plated Hurst shifter symbolic of the manual shift early days – for the 900th event.
“This 900th is pretty dang cool,” said Enders, who collected her 34th career Pro Stock victory and first in the Winternationals. “It means an awful lot as a kid who was first and foremost a fan of Pro Stock. For Pro Stock, for all the hard work KB (Racing) and Elite (Motorsports) have put in to making this class what it is today – with 20-plus competitors – we couldn’t be more proud.”
Pro Stock Eliminator was introduced as an NHRA national event in January 1970, emerging from the popular Super Stock, Modified Production and Factory Experimental battles of the previous decade. Bill Jenkins, driving his ’68 big-block Chevrolet Camaro, was the first of 70 drivers to claim victory in the class by defeating Ronnie Sox in the final round of the Winternationals at Pomona.
Chevrolet has dominated the class with 348 wins, including 229 by the Camaro. Enders leads all drivers with 28 wins in a Camaro. Contributing to the win total: Cobalt (54), Cavalier (36), Beretta (11), Vega (11), Monza (6) and Lumina (1).
Enders denied reigning Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson, driving the HendrickCars.com Camaro SS, of his 100th career win with a semifinal victory. The two champions met in the semifinals at Pomona three months earlier, with Anderson winning and going on to his claim his fifth class title.
Leo Glasbrenner of Murrieta, California, earned his eighth national event Wally with his Stock Eliminator victory in an all-Chevrolet COPO Camaro final against Jeff Lane of West Bend, Washington.
“It’s pretty special to win at home. I’ve been here a lot of times and been in the final a couple of times. I won the world finals in ’15 but never have won the Winternationals. It’s really special,” Glasbrenner said.
Round 2 of the season will take place Feb. 25-27 with the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona. FS1 will telecast eliminations at 7 p.m. ET Feb. 27.
An interview with Funny Car winner ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier):
HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN YOUR COMPOSURE IN A MOMENT LIKE THAT (car body clipped the injector while being closed during pre-stage, endangering crew members)?
“It’s pretty tough. I saw Trevor (Huff) off to the side and he didn’t look like he was hurt. Trevor is all right. You’ve got a job to do so I just followed Jimmy (Prock) and he said to come on in and stage. You have to gather your thoughts. He put the body down and hooked the injector. Never had that happen. When the win light came on, the first thing I asked – I didn’t even care if we won – was whether he was OK. I’m going to give this trophy to Trevor. He deserves it.”
IT TURNED OUT TO BE A GREAT RACE.
“I knew it was going to be a great race. If you looked at our last qualifying run last night, it was four thousandths apart (Capps in the other lane). It was neck and neck all day long. It’s one of many battles, the first race of the year. To get the job done is a big day. We’re going to have a lot more of those this year.”
LAST YEAR WASN’T WHAT YOU WANTED. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE COMING OUT HERE WITH
SOMETHING TO PROVE.
“Without a doubt. That wasn’t a lot of fun last year. Since Jimmy (Prock) came back, we’ve been in the thick of things every year. Won two championships, set records. But the guys stayed focused, worked really hard and looked at what bit us last year. If you look at our runs in testing and our runs here, I think they’ve found it. I’m happy. We definitely have more consistency than we had last year. I can only see it getting better.”
ARE YOU CREATING A NEW 2022?
“We have to work race by race, run by run. This is a long road to win this championship. There are five or six cars out there that are right in the thick of things. You’ll come here in November and you’ll see the same guys battling it out separated by thousandths of a second. It’s not going to be easy. We’re up for the task. We on a mission, we’re focused and we’re going to do the best we can.”
An interview with Pro Stock winner ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, MELLING PERFORMANCE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier):
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HAVING YOUR NAME ATTACHED TO THE 900TH WIN?
“It means an awful lot as a kid who was first and foremost a fan of Pro Stock. Most kids you ask them what they want to be when they grow up – aside from astronauts, lawyers and doctors – if you’re talking about drag racing they’re talking about Top Fuel. It was always Pro Stock for me. I liked the fact that you left with a clutch and that you had to shift the car. That meant a lot to me, and to have such big dreams and aspirations as a kid, then driving junior dragsters for nine years and racing in the Lucas Oil Series for five before coming into Pro Stock, we’ve accomplished way more than I thought we would be able to. So, to be able to leave our mark on the class, no matter how much longer this career lasts, is something that is really special. We’ve stuck kit out, had a lot of tenacity and had a lot more valleys than we’ve had peaks. This is my 18th season in Pro Stock and this win is very significant. You treat every race day the same, but this 900th victory for Pro Stock means a lot to me.”
WHAT DOES THIS SIGNIFY AS YOU KICK OFF THIS DRIVE FOR FIVE?
“I came in here with the mindset that there’s no more nice Erica. Not to be said in a negative connotation, but I’m quite frankly sick of getting my butt stomped. These guys put in all the hard work in the engine shop in the offseason. This 900th is pretty dang cool. We were able to get the 150th for the women and this is pretty cool. For Pro Stock, for all the hard work KB (Racing) and Elite (Motorsports) have put in to making this class what it is today – with 20-plus competitors – we couldn’t be more proud.”
YOUR Q1 WAS A MONSTER SHOT.
“It was awesome. We opted not to go to Phoenix because with all the fuel cars there we would probably only make three runs per day. With seven cars and 45 crew guys, we kind of wanted to make our own cluster at Bakersfield. We were able to do really well. We knew when we got our butts whipped here last year at the world finals that we had to go to work, and the guys did just that.”
CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPIT
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 1 qualifier; fell in semifinals to teammate Austin Prock): “This Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pac team is off to a great start. Coming in here, we were a little on edge. We’ve been out of the seat for a while, so qualifying we got one solid run in (Q1) and we were in safe, so we were allowed to push a little bit. We did it in that last run. It was a beautiful run and it moved us to No. 1. (about the semifinal loss) It’s tough; you need to let it go and move forward. That’s my new perspective coming into this season. Get back to having fun and not overthink things, because it didn’t work for me last season. (about what can do differently) It’s about learning from our mistakes last year and gaining from it.”
AUSTIN PROCK, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONTANA BRANDS/ROCKY MOUNTAIN TWIST CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 4 qualifier; runner-up): “I thought I executed perfectly today, and the guys did as well. They know we’re here now. We’ll celebrate the great job everybody did. I love this place. Last time I was here I was in the final against Doug Kalitta. Really enjoy racing here and proud of my guys. We literally got the news (of racing full time in 2022) two weeks before we left (for testing) and put together an all-star team together.”
FUNNY CAR:
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, BLUEDEF PLATINUM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 16 qualifier; fell in first round): “It was a great weekend. NHRA, we’re growing our sport. That’s what it’s all about. I didn’t come here to beat a champion. I came here because I love driving. Ron Capps won the championship, but I don’t quit because he won the championship. I don’t quit because I lost first round. I drive race cars because I love driving race cars and I will fix it. It will only make me stronger.”
PRO STOCK:
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 4 qualifier; fell in semifinals): “Lit the tires up at 1,000 foot, just like it did in the last run. I have no earthly idea what they’re doing on that racetrack the last 300 foot, but it’s insufficient for these kinds of cars and absolutely impassable. I’m just thanking my lucky stars I still have a HendrickCars.com Chevy. It should be upside down and tumbling into the weeds.”
KYLE KORETSKY, KB RACING, LUCAS OIL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier; fell in first round, did not make start): “I think we had a malfunction with the starter, but I appreciate all the fans coming out here to support us. We ran good Friday night and qualified No. 3, so it was a good start to the season. We’ll be back with this fast Chevy Camaro.”
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
