Skillman Motorsports Doubles at NHRA 4-Wide
Charlotte – Skillman Motorsports dominated the Lucas Oil series at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals hosted by zMAX Dragway. Bill Skillman captured his first NHRA national event win after defeating Bo Butner in the Factory Stock final.
A few minutes later Drew Skillman, Bill’s son, collected his eighth Stock Eliminator win and his 17th overall. Drew has doubled in two different ways. He’s personally won two classes on the same day and now he’s shared the winners circle with his father. It was a very special weekend for the Skillman Motorsports team.
Our DragChamp pre-race picks, see them here, had quite the weekend at Charlotte. While we didn’t pick Drew Skillman to win Stock, we did have him winning the event, in Factory Stock though.
DragChamp NHRA 4-Wide Sportsman Preview
We also predicted the Skillman Motorsports team would be the class of the Factory Stock field. That was true as Bill Skillman won the event from the number one spot.
We also owned the Super Comp final round as Jonathan Anderson squared off with Ray Miller III. Both racers were pre-race picks to win Super Comp. In Comp and Super Stock, we narrowly missed when Randy Daniels and Joe Santangelo both came up short in the final round.
Starting with the Gatornationals earlier this year, DragChamp has picked at least one event winner in each of the last four national events. Looks like we’re getting pretty good at this stuff.
Final Lucas Oil sportsman class results below:
Competition Eliminator – Kimbrough Wins First
Jim Kimbrough used a near-perfect .003 reaction time to hand Randy Daniels his second runner up finish in a row. Kimbrough was solid at the tree throughout the weekend with a .040 and two .02 lights prior to the final.
After qualifying #2 at -.674 under his index, Kimbrough managed to save his index until the final round. After cutting a .003 light Kimbrough powered his B/DA dragster to a -.609 under 6.781 lap to gap Daniels for the win.
Daniels, appearing in his second straight final, earned his second runner up effort of the season. Much like the final at Gainesville where Craig Bourgeois threw a perfect .000 reaction time at him, Kimbrough basically did the same thing. Daniels is a win waiting to happen as he has a fast hot rod and has been driving well.
Super Stock – Monty Bogan almost doubles
A handful of racers had a shot to double up on Sunday but Monty Bogan was the only one to make two final rounds. After losing the Stock Eliminator final round, Bogan came right back and collected his third national event Wally.
Bogan, driving his SS/BS ’92 Camaro, was solid on the tree averaging a .028 light through six rounds. He saved his best light of the weekend for the final where he let go .001 for the win. His killer reaction was wasted as opponent Joe Santangelo turned is -.004 red in the final.
In earlier rounds Bogan took out talented racers Ed Longhany, Bryan Worner, and 2019 multi-time winner Anthony Bertozzi.
Team DragChamp pick Joe Santangelo didn’t disappoint. Driving the Hatari Firebird that Peter Biondo campaigned for years, Joe was stellar throughout eliminations. He averaged a .019 light prior to going red in the final.
Stock Eliminator – Drew collects Wally #8 in Stock
Drew Skillman continues to showcase his driving talents as he wins in everything he drives. After dominating Factory Stock at the Gatornationals, Drew raced to the win in Stock at Charlotte.
Driving his familiar FS/A ’12 Mustang, Skillman ran through a handful of tough racers to make the final round. Skillman combined solid reactions with a super consistent hot rod to defeat Chip Johnson, Shane Oakes, Dan Fletcher, Clay Bullard, and Mike McMahan to reach the final.
Fletcher, Oakes, and McMahan were Team DragChamp picks to win the event. Drew dropped them all on his way to his latest victory.
Waiting in the final was Monty Bogan who was also in the Super Stock final. Drew removed any hopes Bogan had of a double when he posted a .002 light. The near-perfect light gave Skillman a huge .08-second advantage which he used to force Bogan under the dial at the finish.
Skillman dropped a dime on Bogan with a .002 and a 8.868 ET on a 8.86 dial in. Bogan drove his beautiful D/SA ’67 Camaro to a -.038 under 10.832 lap in the loss.
Racers Looking to Double Up at 4-Wide Nationals
Super Comp – Anderson goes back-to-back
Jonathan Anderson, a DragChamp pre-race pick, won the NHRA 4-Wide nationals for the second straight year. To collect his third national event win, Anderson took out Ray Miller III, arguably the hottest 8.90 racer in 2019.
Anderson averaged a .014 light in eliminations while posting his worst light (.027) in the final. He twice ran dead on the 8.90 index including the final round.
After both drivers posted .02 lights at the hit, Anderson managed to find more brake pedal at the finish line than Miller resulting in a 8.904 to 8.881 win.
Miller once again drove the finish line like a champ during the weekend and was solid on the tree. After winning his first three Lucas Oil series races, his final round finish today will put him well in front of the championship chase.
Super Gas – Joe Harper Wins all D4 Final
Division 4 Super class competitors have traveled well this season after picking up numerous out-of-division wins. At the National level, Craig Anderson won in Arizona, Holden Laris at the Gators, and now Joe Harper at the 4-Wide Nationals. Ross Laris and Cole Cummings have also took home trophies at some D2 Lucas Oil events this season.
Keeping with the theme, Joe Harper paired up with fellow D4 racer Shannon Brinkley in the Charlotte Super Gas final. Both racers had previous wins but it would be Joe Harper collecting his third national event Wally today.
Harper carried a huge .006 to .054 starting line advantage to the top end and converted it into a 9.913 to 9.881 breakout win.
Joe used a .010 reaction average to drive his ’98 Avenger to the final. Other than the first round, he stayed above the index in ever round. His last four reaction times were .004, .007, .003, and .006 in the final.
Brinkley was solid on the tree but posted two .05 lights during eliminations including a .054 in the final. He also ran under the index in all six rounds.
Ray Miller III came within a few thousandths of making two final round appearances at Charlotte. Miller lost a close double-breakout match with Brinkley in the quarters. After both drivers left together (.013 and .012), Brinkley’s 8.896 was just good enough to take out Miller’s 8.893. The win gave Brinkley a bye to the final round.
2018 event winner Ken Griffiths came up one round short of back-to-back finals. Griffiths fell behind .022 at the tree against Harper in the semifinals and came up .010 short after his 9.910 couldn’t best Joe’s 9.922.
Top Sportsman – Albert grabs 4th Wally
Jerry Albert drove his ’97 Camaro to his fourth national event win after Chuck Harris broke-out by -.003-second in the final round. Albert was consistent on both ends of the track cutting .02 – .03 lights and running within .02 of his dial.
Albert took a .011 decision over Team DragChamp’s David Tatum in the semifinals. A small .007 reaction time advantage secured the win after both driver’s posted dead-on elapsed times.
Harris, driving his ’67 Camaro, was spectacular at the tree in rounds one through three. His .009, .003, and .000 lights sent him into a fourth round match up with 2018 world champ Ronnie Proctor. After leaving together, Harris ran closer to his dial to turn back the champ.
After killing the tree in earlier rounds, Harris posted a .041 reaction in the final which trailed Albert’s .035. At the stripe Harris took .010 to breakout by -.003 while Albert posted a .012 over 6.732 for the win.
Factory Stock – Bill Skillman Dominates
Once again, the Factory Stock class put on a show at the 4-Wide Nationals. and for the second straight event, Skillman Motorsports dominated qualifying and left with the Wally. This time it was Bill Skillman holding the Wally after taking a close 7.94 to 7.95 win over fellow car dealer Bo Butner.
Much like Pro Stock, the #1 and #2 qualifiers met in the final round. Skillman took his second straight pole with an impressive 7.823 just edging out Butner’s 7.827.
While Butner struggled in the first couple of rounds, Skillman’s Cobra Jet was consistent throughout all four rounds. Butner got it turned around in the semifinals after Drew Skillman was a no-show. After finding the tune-up, the two Cobra Jets put on a show in the final.
After two events, and a rules change, the Cobra Jets are still leading the pack. This was evidenced by Mustang’s taking the top four qualifying sports. The COPO’s are just behind the Ford’s and the Mopar’s have a ways to go. We’ll see if NHRA thinks more adjustments are necessary.
The NHRA 4-Wide Nationals are in the books. Look for more NHRA coverage on DragChamp as we’ll post the Sportsman Preview for Atlanta later this week.
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