Friday Sportsman Results from NHRA 4-Wide Nats

Charlotte – Rain and high winds didn’t keep the NHRA from getting in a full day of racing at the NGK Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway on Friday. You have to hand it to the Safety Safari, they are the best in the business.

Friday Overview

Friday’s action included time trials and qualifying for the sportsman competitors. The Super classes had two time trials in the morning while Super Stock, Top Sportsman, and Comp Eliminator received two qualifying attempts. After one qualifying shot, Stock Eliminator moved into class eliminations. And last but not least, Factory Stock was limited to one qualifying attempt due to the weather delays.

NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Sportsman Preview

Competition Eliminator

Art Hodges drove his D/A ’16 Camaro to the top spot with a -.723 under 7.627 lap to edge out Randy Daniels. Daniels, the DragChamp pick to win this week, posted a -.675 under 8.425 to claim the two spot.

Final Comp Qualifying Order

Competition Eliminator Ladder

Super Stock

Craig Gualtierre drove his Texas based GT/HA ’05 Cavalier to the one spot with a -1.128 under 9.372 lap. He was followed closely by Scott Gove’s SS/AM ’93 Daytona who posted a -1.112 under 7.888 lap.

Final Super Stock Qualifying Order

Super Stock Ladder

NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Sportsman Preview

Stock Eliminator

Marion Stephenson earned the number one qualifying spot with a -1.102 under 10.148 lap from his B/SA ’15 Camaro. Mark Howes was second was second in his D/SA ’70 Duster with a -1.071 under 10.479 effort.

Stock Eliminator Final Qualifying Order

Stock Class Eliminations Winners

Stock Eliminator Ladder

Top Sportsman

As we predicted, the Top Sportsman field has a huge range of ET’s as Lester Johnson led the field with a 6.176 lap in his turbo-powered ’55 Chevy. Johnson gaped the field by almost three-tenths. While several competitors didn’t make full passes, the field does include a handful of mid-to-high seven-second cars. This is definitely a larger spread that we’re accustom to seeing in Top Sportsman.

Top Sportsman Final Qualifying Order

Top Sportsman Ladder

NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Sportsman Preview

Factory Stock Showdown

The highly anticipated return of the Factory Stock Showdown class didn’t disappoint. As expected, the Skillman team captured the top spot after Bill Skillman posted a 7.823 lap in his Cobra Jet. Pro Stock racer Bo Butner’s 7.827 just missed the pole.

I’m not sure the NHRA got exactly what they wanted after making changes to slow down the Ford’s and Chevy’s after Gainesville. The Cobra Jets are still fast, taking the top four spots, but the gap to the rest of the field has narrowed somewhat since Gainesville. I believe NHRA wanted to keep the FSS cars around the 7.90 – 8.00 range but it looks like we’re going to have another all seven-second field.

Factory Stock Showdown Qualifying Order Session 1

While the Factory Stock cars will have additional qualifying attempts on Saturday, the remaining Lucas Oil classes will move into final eliminations Saturday morning.

DragChamp will have daily updates from the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway. Check back daily to keep up with the latest news and results from Charlotte.