2NHRA drag-racing fans know a Friday night nitro qualifying session provides the optimal conditions for Funny Car and Top Fuel teams to make passes. That’s what drivers and crew chiefs save some of their best efforts for and what fans anticipate, hoping to see record performances. And Northern California’s almost-sea-level Sonoma Raceway is one of the few venues at which everyone expects the hero runs—and usually gets them.
But Friday night’s program at the Denso Sonoma Nationals was a disenchanting bust, like a July 4 fireworks show being canceled. Jordan Vandergriff opened the nighttime Funny Car session with the quickest elapsed time the class has seen all season (3.849 seconds at 332.43 mph on the 1,000-foot course) and provided the only real thrill for the full grandstands.
But only one pair of Top Fuel dragsters made an appearance. The rear end of Clay Millican’s car let go, dumping particularly nasty rear-end gear oil on the track and leaving a mess too labor-intensive to clean up before the area’s noise curfew arrived. NHRA officials justifiably canceled the day’s activity after a lengthy attempt to fix the problem…