The thunder of tens-of-thousands of horsepower reverberates again through the golden hills of Sonoma Valley as some of the most powerful vehicles in existence race at the DENSO National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway July 26 to 28. The Friday night winds and cool temperature led to a series of wild events at day one of the series.
Van Sant stuns again
After 11 wins and 46 consecutive round wins, Gaige Herrera’s unbeatable run was finally rung up. Chase Van Sant, the 2023 rookie of the year in Pro Stock Motorcycle, defeated Herrera in the finals on Sunday in Seattle. Van Sant currently holds the top spot again Friday after two rounds of qualifying at Sonoma.
“It’s been kind of a whirlwind of a couple of weeks, but it’s cool to knock out my first provisional and my first qualifier,” Van Sant said. “We’re making a lot of really good strides. That 60 foot[er] was my best 60 foot[er] ever.”
Van Sant reflected on his second week of dominance, “I think it’s just super reassuring that we can get the job done.”
He started out in third after the first heat, behind husband and wife Matt and Angie Smith, who came in at first and second respectively. He finished the second heat with the best time of the day at 6.768 ET at 197.42 mph, leaving Matt and Angie in second and third place heading into Saturday.
Pro Stock
Matt Hartford had the fastest run of the day at 6.515 and 210 mph. If it is held after the second day of qualifiers on Saturday, it will be his first pole position of the year.
“This almost feels like it’s our first race. We’ve not been good this year, but as everyone keeps telling me, all my friends, family and our team, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish,” he said.” And our team is resilient. We’ve worked night and day trying to figure out what we need to do to make a difference in the rules package.”
Hartford said he started the year with little confidence but he is regaining it.
Top Fuel
Top Fuel racer Doug Kalita set a new Sonoma Raceway record with a whopping 3.649 second ET at 336.4 mph, besting the previous record of 3.662 second ET set by Brittany Force in 2022.
With his record Kalita gained his fifth win of the season and first ever at the Sonoma Raceway.
“That thing hooked up and you could definitely tell it was on a run, so I just kept it in the middle. That’s the key when you’re running like that, to just keep that thing as straight as possible. It was a fun one for sure,” Kalita said.
Funny Car
Bob Tasca III is looking to repeat his Sonoma victory in 2022 and he is on track to do so, posting up an ET of 3.839 at 338.43 mph. JR Todd, whom won last year, rests at fourth place at the end of Friday’s qualifying.
Smoke Returns to Sonoma
After 18 years in the sport, NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony “Smoke” Stewart has stepped into the NHRA Top Fuel racing circuit to fill in for his wife, NHRA Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett, who is pregnant with their first child.
Despite his experience behind the wheel, Stewart is still learning how hard this new style of racing is. “There are just so many things that are drastically different from any other form of motorsports I’ve been a part of. It’s not just what you do when the lights change and go into the finish line. It’s all the procedures and the cadence of procedures,” he said.
Stewart has some help though. Pruett, alongside Smoke’s teammate Matt Hagan have helped him perform better as the season progresses. “I’ve definitely got the Cliff Notes version of a lot of things that have happened and are going to happen [from Pruett and Hagan],” he said.
The DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals continues with its second day of qualifying on Saturday, July 27 with Pro Stock kicking it off at 11:30 a.m.
