Scrappers Racing’s Jasmine Salinas, returning to the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series this weekend at Charlotte after skipping the past two events, is going to get a double dose of what she has been missing.
“NHRA drag racing is always so exciting and intense, but when you put four 12,000-horsepower machines on the line at the same time, it goes to a different level,” she said.
Four-wide racing started with one event, at Las Vegas. Then it became two, back to back. Then last year it grew to three, with both zMAX Dragway stops on the tour in the non-traditional format and the novelty tossed into the six-race Countdown to the Championship. This year, with Charlotte no longer part of the playoffs, this weekend’s NHRA Four-Wide Nationals is the lone such race.
But it’s just as wild and loud and spectacular—and sometimes chaotic—as it always has been.
“Four-wides are always kind of crazy,” Matt Hagan, who’s tied with Ron Capps for the Funny Car points lead, said. “I’ve done everything from red-light to not stage the car to win the race. So you never know what you’re going to get at four-wide, but I think that’s why we do it, too. It’s something different. It’s just you pull that feather out of your hat there and you set it on the table and hopefully you can put it back in your hat at the end of the day. So it’s just one of those things where it’s always fun. It’s always interesting. And I never really put too much weight in it, because you never know what’s going to happen. So it’s kind of like throw your name in the hat there and see what happens. So we’ll get out there and have some fun with it.”
J.R. Todd, who’s chasing Capps and Hagan in the standings at No. 3, said, “I don’t really change my driving style [for four-wide racing]. You have to pay a little more attention with three other drivers on the starting line as opposed to one. You just have to be focused on your lane and your light. There’s definitely a lot more going on, but it’s just focus on the mission at hand. I don’t want to say it’s harder or you have to be more focused, but you have to remind yourself what lane you’re in, because it can get confusing on the stage lights. You’re looking at a different side of the tree, so you have to focus on the right stage lights depending on what lane you’re in. It’s still drag racing. The yellow light comes on, you have to hit the gas on time.”
This is what speed sounds like. 🔥🔊@NHRA | #CarolinaNats pic.twitter.com/W5PYiJZgnD
But even for Funny Car veteran Jack Beckman, who has won at zMAX one in two-wide fashion and twice in four-wide (in 2011 and 2015), it requires an extra effort.
He said, “Racing four wide is quite a spectacle. If a normal race is ‘Ready. Set. Go!’ racing four-wide is ‘Ready. OK, check the other track set. OK, there’s two more cars here than you’re used to. Wait. And then go.’ It takes a little bit of getting used to, but I’ve adapted pretty well in that format and gone late rounds a lot. By the time we stage for Q1 on Friday, I’ve gone over it several dozen times in my head, so we will be fine.”
Top Fuel’s Josh Hart said, “We, as drivers, just have to pay attention. So, as long as you know what lane you’re in and you can focus on the [starting-line] bulb that you need to focus on, you should be able to do your job.” The staging process, he said, ”is a little bit more time- consuming. When you’re sitting on the light, it feels like an eternity. It’s not, but when you’re waiting for three other souls to stage properly, it feels like forever.“
For Top Fuel rookie Maddi Gordon, this will be her first time to tackle the four-wide format in a dragster. But she said, “I’m always really excited to go racing, no matter where we’re going. But the Four-Wide Nationals in particular is really exciting, especially with this being the only one of the year.
“And I personally love a four-wide race. I think it’s super-exciting for the racers, super-exciting for the fans, and what’s better than 48,000 horsepower taking off at the same time?” she said. “It’s just a really cool format. As a driver, it definitely changes up your staging procedure and how you approach a run, because if you’re going down the track and you have to pedal it, you can’t give up because you don’t know what the other two cars across the way are doing. So, it really pushes you to be the best driver you can be, especially if you make it to the final quad, because you have to beat three people to win the race. And this is the only time we’ll race four across this year, so everyone’s going to be gunning hard for that one Four-Wide diamond Wally trophy. It really raises the stakes.”
“We’ve got some good momentum with my family, too,” she said. “My dad won in Pomona [in Top Alcohol Funny Car], my sister won in Vegas [in Top Dragster at last Saturday’s sportsman event], and they got their first diamond Wallys. So hopefully we can keep the Gordon win streak going this weekend. Our guys have been working really hard and doing a great job, and we’re just trying to push harder and harder with every race – and hopefully, we’ll see our first 340[-mph speed] this weekend.”
Jordan Vandergriff has raced at zMAX before on a two-wide track but is a Funny Car rookie, and he said he has no idea what to expect.
"I think I’m going to have a lot of those experiences this year, so I’m just going to go for it," he said. As a FOX reporter the past two years, Vandergriff said he has watched the procedures and "been told many things by many different people already, so I think I’m very prepared for it."