Fuel Funny Car racing at the NHRA’s Lucas Oil Nationals held at scenic Brainerd International Raceway included a very gutsy and successful team effort.

Driving for Head Racing, Blake Alexander enjoyed a terrific redemption weekend after the team battled back following a major explosion during the previous NHRA race – Sonoma Nationals.

The turnaround was impressive and Alexander ended his weekend in the winner’s circle for the first time this season, picking up the win in his Head Racing Ford Mustang when defending world champion Matt Hagan went red in the final round. Alexander would have been tough to beat, posting a 3.927 at 324.67 in the championship round after staying in the low 3.90s the entire day.

It’s the fourth career victory for Alexander – and his second in Funny Car – and he advanced to the final round on the strength of round wins against Dave Richards, Jack Beckman and Chad Green. Working with crew chief Jim Head, Alexander has turned into a legit contender and will head to the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals seventh in points, feeling fully capable his team can compete against anyone. Alexander proved that in Brainerd, taking another step forward in his career at a track that means a great deal to him.

“Sonoma was the hardest race I’ve ever had in my career and then to come here and have one of the best races I’ve ever had in my career, it means a lot,” Alexander said. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I know that when I’m on, I’m one of the top guys out here. I know when I’m not on, just like anyone else, I can be a problem for my race team. So I’m trying to keep it tight, four straight runs every single time. Saying that is really easy to do, but doing that is really hard.

“I’m really proud of this team, they worked really hard on the combination and seeing them pull the strings on it in between runs. We’re making legit horsepower now and when it turns into a horsepower game we can play that game now and I’m pretty proud of that. It’s just a nice to place to come to and when you can feel that the people who own the track and the fans care, it just makes this big difference.”

After struggling in qualifying, Hagan reached the finals for the fourth time this year and 91st time in his career, getting past Ron Capps, Daniel Wilkerson and J.R. Todd. Austin Prock remains in the points lead, holding a 218-point advantage over Bob Tasca III heading to Indy.

Points leader Austin Prock made news during the event’s Saturday running of the Mission-presented #2Fast2Tasty Challenge speciality event.

That final featured the 6th straight win for Prock who went a stellar 3.860-seconds at 334.07 mph in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to close out qualifying #1 and win the specialty race against Ron Capps.  

That gave Prock an incredible seven victories in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge series, which is the most in the history of the program, that started just a year ago.

Lucas Oil Nationals Funny Car Class Summary

WIN: Blake Alexander – 3.921 secs 324.67 mph (Career win #4)

R/UP: Matt Hagan – 5.615 secs 129.77 mph

Low ET: Austin Prock – 3.860 secs

Top MPH: Bob Tasca III – 334.98 mph

Bump: 4.444 secs

Entries – 17 cars

Posted with files by NHRA Communications & Bruce Biegler
Photos courtesy of NHRA & Auto Imagery