It didn’t take long to establish an early favorite for the Funny Car race of the year after
Bob Tasca III defeated reigning Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan in round one. Hagan, the No. 8 qualifier, left first by .002-second but Tasca was .002-second quicker down track and turned on the win light with a 3.920 to 3.922. The final margin of victory at the finish line was just .0001-second, or about one inch. Hagan had previously been 18-11 against Tasca in 29 head-to-head meetings. A round later, Tasca personally ended the Don Schumacher Racing Funny Car win streak at 14 races when he also defeated Ron Capps. The DSR team, which featured four cars last season, had won every race in 2020 and the last three of the 2019 season.
The 2020 Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals was held just months ago due to the pandemic, but we’re back at Gainesville Raceway for the traditional March date of the East Coast season opener, which now marks the kickoff of the new season. For all the things that have changed in the last year, there are a few that have not, including the performance of NHRA’s reigning Professional world champions. Last season, Steve Torrence, Matt Hagan, Erica Enders, and Matt Smith captured titles in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. For Torrence and Hagan, it was their third title, and Smith and Enders are now four-time champions in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, respectively.
L-R: Wally Parks, Janell Coles-English and Chelsey Trowbridge
US prodco Wheelhouse Entertainment has added executives from All3Media America, Discovery Studios and Truly Original to its team.
From All3Media America is Wally Parks, who joins Wheelhouse as exec VP of production. Parks held the same role at All3 and, prior to that, worked for All3 label Studio Lambert and Tijuana Entertainment. He has over 20 years’ experience in the industry.
Taking up the role of senior VP of business and legal affairs is Janell Coles-English, who joins Wheelhouse from Discovery Studios, where she was VP of business and legal affairs.
8 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Milestones Worth Rooting for in 2021
NHRA turns 70 years young, but that s just the beginning of what should be a historic season.
By Susan Wade Icon SportswireGetty Images Racers in all classes of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series have chances to reach milestones this season, starting with the season-opening Gatornationals at Gainesville, Florida, March 12-14.
Here s some of the things worth keeping an eye on:
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Erica Enders is eyeing a fifth Pro Stock title that would launch her into the class-legend stratosphere with Jeg Coughlin, Warren Johnson, and the late Bob Glidden.
In the rich soil of Central Florida’s Lake County, traditional citrus crops and sweet berries take root and prosper in “the Golden Triangle” named after the yellow color of the clay beneath the fertile sandy earth. The Treadwell family has been farming the land there for more than 100 years, and the tropical foliage plants that for the last 40 years have sustained not only Glen and Sharon Treadwell and their three daughters have also nourished a racing team that likewise was being cultivated and constantly growing.
From a humble bracket racing team in the late 1980s, the family now fields two world championship-capable Competition eliminator entries, one driven by patriarch Glen and the other by middle daughter Jenny. Glen is a three-time NHRA U.S. Nationals winner, a six-time Division 2 champion, and a past world champion runner-up. Jenny is the only female in NHRA history to have won a division championship in Comp, and she’s done it twice, including last season.