2019 NHRA Heartland Nationals Sportsman Winners

Lucas Oil Sportsman final race results from the 2019 NHRA Heartland Nationals at Topeka.

TOPEKA – Final eliminations wrapped up on Sunday at the Heartland Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park. The event was the second of four-straight NHRA national events. Bruno Massel garnered his 14th NHRA national event win in Comp Eliminator to lead the sportsman winners.

Bruno was the only pre-race pick to win the event. Although, Chris Chaney won Stock, we had picked him to win Super Stock. So once again, our pre-race picks continue to perform well week in and week out. Check out our Sportsman preview articles released prior to each national event to find out who we think will win the event.

2019 NHRA Heartland Nationals Sportsman Preview

Vic Penrod showed out again this week as he made his second Super Stock final in a week. Last week Vic pulled off the win at the Route 66 Nationals. This week he settled for runner up after Gene Mosbek claimed the win.

Heartland Nationals Lucas Oil Sportsman Race Results

Competition Eliminator – Massel wins #14

Bruno Massel increased his final round record to 14-5 after defeating Shaun Vincent in the final round at Topeka. Massel and his turbocharged dragster benefited from three red-lights during eliminations.

This allowed Massel to save his index for his final round match up with Shaun Vincent. In the final round, Massel was near-perfect posting a .005 reaction to take control of the race. His -.0486 under 6.764 eclipsed Vincent’s -.0536 under 8.404 by about eight feet at the stripe.

Super Stock – Mosbek earns win #6

Divison 5 racer Gene Mosbek turned back Vic Penrod in the final round to earn his sixth NHRA national event win. Mosbek, racing on his birthday, laid down .015 total in the final to secure the win. His .001 reaction and .014 over 10.234 easily covered Penrod’s .078 initiated 9.898 on his 9.89 dial-in.

Mosbek was solid at the tree posting reaction times ranging from .001 to .035. In addition, he only dipped under his dial-in in his third round encounter with JEGS Allstars Super Comp winner Chris Dodd. He was able to stay above the index in his other rounds.

The list of hitters that fell to Mosbek included Bill Skillman, Chris Dodd, Jacob Pitt, and 2018 event champ Michael Mans.

Penrod also ran through a tough crowd to reach his second-straight final. The list included Scott Pearson, Tyler Wudarcyzk, Wyatt Wagner, and sportsman great David Rampy in the semifinals.

Stock Eliminator – Chris Chaney cashes in Stock

With three wins in Super Stock and a Division 5 championship in Stock, it was only a matter of time before Chris Chaney won a national event in Stock. The time was now as he defeated Scott Libersher in the Heartland Nationals Stock final round.

Chaney ran almost uncontested to the event win after a string of errors by his opponents. His first round opponent was way late and he received a competition bye in round two after his opponent was a no show. In round three Brenda Grubbs ran four seconds off the pace.

With a bye to the final on the line in his round four match up with Logan Wernet, Wernet was -.001 red. This gave Chris a free pass to the final round.

The final was over at the starting line as Libersher turned it red by -.002 handing the win to Chaney. For good measure, Chaney posted a dead-on 10.205 on the parade lap.

Libersher was competing in his first national event final round. To earn a spot in the final Libersher worked his way through eliminations taking advantage of his opponents mistakes. This included two breakout wins and two opponents who broke down track.

After taking a double-breakout win over Austin Williams, Libersher moved into the semifinals. There he took a .001 win over Darrel Goheen. Goheen was .009 at the tree but ran off his dial just enough to let Libersher take the win.

Super Comp – Fickler gets second 16 years later

It had been a few years since Kyle Fickler won a national event, 16 years to be exact. But he didn’t show any signs of rust in his final round triumph over Spring Nationals winner Vernon Rowland.

Although Rowland grabbed a small lead at the start, .013 to .017, it was Fickler who would triumph at the stripe. Rowland took .018 stripe to go 8.899 in the breakout loss. Fickler managed to stay above the index posting a 8.913 for the win.

The road to number two was not easy as Fickler faced a tough crowd at Topeka. He defeated Jeremy Demers, Super Street winner Trevor Larson, 2018 #4 driver Mark Grame, and Jay Bunce to reach the final.

Rowland was appearing in his second-straight final after winning in Houston in April. After posting a .024 reaction in round one, he went off posting lights of .009, .003, .008, and .002 prior to the final. Vernon’s dragster was also dialed-in as he posted laps of 8.912, 8.906, 8.899, and 8.908 on his way to the final round.

Super Gas – Carter takes Big Green to the winners circle

The Super Gas winners circle was all green after Shawn Carter parked his big green Cavalier on the dance floor. The win, his second in national event competition, included a first round win over his father, Larry.

Somehow the teammates couldn’t get away from one another and ended up racing in the first round. The double-breakout race fell in Shawn’s favor sending him on a run to the final round.

Although Carter struggled with his racecar and his reaction times during the event, he managed to be good when he needed to. This included his final round encounter with Collin Becker.

Becker had performed better than Carter leading up to the final winning a handful of double-breakout races primarily due to his excellent reaction times. In the final, Becker posted his worst reaction of the race, a .030, which lead to his down fall.

Carter stepped up in the final posting a .025 reaction to grab a small lead over Becker. At the stripe, Carter got behind by .003-second to take the double-breakout win. His 9.896 was closer to the 9.90 index than Becker’s 9.888.

The final was Becker’s first in NHRA national event competition. If he continues to drive the way he did in Topeka, there should be more finals in his future.

In the semifinals, Carter prevented two-time 2019 finalist Shannon Brinkley from making his third final round appearance of the season. Becker stopped DragChamp pick to win the race Craig Maddox in the other semifinal pairing.

Super Street – Super Class star Larson wins in a new class

Trevor Larson is a talented and feared Super class star. Although he normally competes in Super Gas and Super Comp, Larson tried out a new class in Topeka. The experiment worked well as Larson earned his seventh national event Wally and first in Super Street at the Heartland Nationals.

Larson started eliminations with a .013-pack (.013 RT, 10.900) and continued to nail the index throughout the race. In four of the first five rounds, he was within one hundredth of the index. In addition to a consistent car, Larson drilled the tree with lights ranging from .004 to .016.

Mike Campbell, appearing in his first national event final, let go -.001 too soon in the final round to hand the win to Larson. Campbell was solid throughout the event. He was decent at the tree and stayed above the 10.90 index in the first four rounds.

Had Campbell not fouled, the final would have been fun to watch as both drivers were well under the index. Heads up racing and driving the finish line is exactly what index racing is all about.

Factory Stock Showdown – Stanfield Power Rules!

The Stanfield Powered COPO’s ruled the roost at the NHRA Heartland Nationals. The final was an all-team affair with Steven Bell claiming the victory over teammate Arthur Kohn.

After the Skillman Cobra Jet’s dominated the first three events of the season, the Chevrolet’s came roaring back in Topeka. Both Skillman cars were on the trailer after tire-spinning first round losses.

The first round on Saturday proved tricky and saw most competitors blister the tires at the hit. Racers were greeted with better conditions on Sunday as they dipped into the seven-second zone with ease.

Bell opened eliminations by winning a pedal-fest over points leader Drew Skillman. On Sunday he easily outran the Mopar of Joe Welch before taking a close win over DragChamp pick to win Bo Butner to move into the final.

Kohn defeated Jesse Alexandra, Chris Holbrook, and Ryan Priddy to advance to his third final round.

In the final round, Bell posted low ET of the event with an impressive 7.908 to hold off Kohn’s holeshot-aided 7.951 by about four feet.

The win was Bell’s second in the Factory Stock class.

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