2026 16th Annual FABO NHRA "Pick 'Em" Game - New Tracks, Lot's of Team Changes, Here We Go!!!

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I read today that there was a violent accident at the Winternationals on Saturday, but I don't remember hearing any mention of it during the television coverage nor was there any mention of it in The Orange County Register newspaper.
The online article said that during the first round of Eliminations late Saturday, Top Alcohol Dragster driver James Stevens of Gothenburg, Nebraska, was scheduled for surgery on Sunday for a broken arm, broken left wrist, broken C-7 vertebrae, bruised lung and fractured ribs. The following statement was on nhra.com: "During the first round of Top Alcohol Dragster eliminations, James Stevens’ dragster crossed the center line and then made contact and went over the guard wall before coming to a stop. Stevens exited the car and was alert, and was examined onsite by NHRA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Surface before being transported to a local medical facility."
Here's a link to the online article with more information:
MSN
 
I glanced at NHRA,s website and nothing regarding that crash.
genuflect.jpg
that James heals up well.
 
Unconventional said:
Me too :D John Force was just dumass ready mix truck driver in the inland empire back then :lol:
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OCIR was the BEST back then. With the push-start fire-up road in front of the pit-side grandstands. All that separated the fans from the fire-up road was a short chainlink fence. You were likely to get a face full of nitro if a fuel engine fired right where you were standing at the fence.
 
ocdart said:
OCIR was the BEST back then. With the push-start fire-up road in front of the pit-side grandstands. All that separated the fans from the fire-up road was a short chainlink fence. You were likely to get a face full of nitro if a fuel engine fired right where you were standing at the fence.
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:rofl: That you say that. Gordie Bonin got me in the face as we were walking through the pits.
 
Here's your 'Tuesday before the race' notice for the fourth event of the 2026 NHRA season, the 16th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 23-26, at zMax Dragway in Concord, NC.
Please post your picks before Pro Stock qualifying starts so you will be eligible for all event bonus points. The first of the scheduled four rounds of Pro qualifying is scheduled to start at 4:15pm EDT (1:15pm PDT) on Friday.
There will not be any short fields because nhra.com currently shows the following entries:
19 Top Fuel
17 Funny Car
21 Pro Stock
16 Pro Stock Motorcycle

Check to make sure your driver picks are racing since there are first-time 2026 entries in all four Professional classes.

We will also see if the new NHRA Pro Stock engine-parity rules (Post #111) make a difference since Brandon Miller and Alan Prusiensky will both be running Mopar power.

The weather forecast should make for an interesting weekend for the crew chiefs because of the changing weather conditions from qualifying to race day:
* Friday forecast is for mostly sunny and 84F when Pro qualifying starts at 4:15pm local time, and about 80F when Q2 starts at 7:00pm local time.
* Saturday shows more sun and about 80F for the start of Q3 at 12:30pm local time, but about 70% cloud cover for the start of Q4 at 3:00pm local time. The current forecast also shows a 65% chance of rain starting at 6:00pm on Saturday and continuing through the night ending about 6:00am Sunday.
* Sunday forecast shows mostly cloudy and 57F for the start of Sunday eliminations with temps climbing to a high of 64F in late afternoon

The current television schedule for the Four-Wide Nationals...
* Qualifying Show 1: 7:00-8:30pm EDT (4:00-5:30pm PDT), Friday, April 24 on FS1
* Qualifying Show 2: Noon-1:00pm EDT (9:00-10:00am PDT), Sunday, April 26 on FS1
* Final eliminations: 7:00-10:00pm EDT (4:00-7:00pm PDT), Sunday, April 26 on FS1

All television coverage will also re-air at later times. Check www.nhra.com.

The Mission 2Fast2Tasty matchups as part of Saturday qualifying are going to be interesting because there is new blood competing for a bonus purse and bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs:
* Top Fuel will have Winternationals winner Tony Stewart and his final round opponent Justin Ashley against Kalitta Motorsports teammates Doug Kalitta and Shawn Langdon
* Funny Car will feature Winternationals winner Matt Hagan against J.R. Todd, and Ron Capps against Funny Car rookie driver Jordan Vandergriff
* Pro Stock has Winternationals winner Greg Anderson up against Greg Stanfield, and Dallas Glenn will run against part-time driver Dave Connolly
* Pro Stock Motorcycle will be part of the Mission 2Fast2Tasty for the first time in 2026 with Gatornationals winner Richard Gadson against Clayton Howey, and Steve Johnson will run John Hall

Don't miss out!
 
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ocdart said:
The weather forecast should make for an interesting weekend for the crew chiefs because of the changing weather conditions from qualifying to race day:
* Friday forecast is for mostly sunny and 84F when Pro qualifying starts at 4:15pm local time, and about 80F when Q2 starts at 7:00pm local time.
* Saturday shows more sun and about 80F for the start of Q3 at 12:30pm local time, but about 70% cloud cover for the start of Q4 at 3:00pm local time. The current forecast also shows a 65% chance of rain starting at 6:00pm on Saturday and continuing through the night ending about 6:00am Sunday.
* Sunday forecast shows mostly cloudy and 57F for the start of Sunday eliminations with temps climbing to a high of 64F in late afternoon
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Pomona Repeat! :lol:
 
Picks for the 4-Wides foolishness...
TF - Doug Kalitta
FC - Ron Capps
PS - Dallas Glenn
PSM - Matt Smith
 

I just read that the town council of Hudson, CO, has unanimously approved the annexation and zoning for a new Bandimere Speedway on 1,100 acres about 35 miles northeast of Denver. The property is near I-76 and State Route 52.

bandimere speedway new location - Bing

Let's just hope it's only for two lanes. No additional four-lane tracks!
 
ocdart said:
I just read that the town council of Hudson, CO, has unanimously approved the annexation and zoning for a new Bandimere Speedway on 1,100 acres about 35 miles northeast of Denver. The property is near I-76 and State Route 52.

bandimere speedway new location - Bing

Let's just hope it's only for two lanes. No additional four-lane tracks!
Click to expand...

I agree and from what I understand from local racers there that I know it will be a traditional 2 lane track . Of course nothing is set in stone .
 
2026 16th annual Four-Wide Nationals qualifying leaders:

Q1
Weather: 82F, 25% relative humidity, barometer 29.80", adjusted altitude 2,646', track temp. n/a
TF: Shawn Langdon, 3.760 @ 336.15
FC: Chad Green, 3.941; J.R. Todd @ 326.71
PS: Greg Anderson, 6.549 @ 211.46
PSM: Ryan Oehler, 6.752; Angie Smith and John Hall @ 201.46

Q2
Weather: n/a
TF: Shawn Langdon, 3.674 @ 339.19
FC: Ron Capps, 3.883; J.R. Todd @ 336.40
PS: Greg Anderson, 6.498 @ 211.46
PSM: Matt Smith, 6.739 @ 203.09

Q3
Weather: n/a
TF: Shawn Langdon, 3.674 @ 339.19
FC: Ron Capps, 3.883; J.R. Todd @ 336.40
PS: Greg Anderson, 6.498 @ 211.46
PSM: Matt Smith, 6.739 @ 203.09

Q4
Weather: n/a
TF: Shawn Langdon, 3.674 @ 339.19
FC: Ron Capps, 3.883; J.R. Todd @ 336.40
PS: Greg Anderson, 6.498 @ 211.46
PSM: Matt Smith, 6.739 @ 203.09
 
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Congratulations to both 'Pecos Bill' (FBBO) and 'ocdart' (FABO) for sharing the NHRA "Pick 'Em" game Top Qualifier title for the fourth event of the 2026 season, the 16th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, NC, with outstanding scores of 30.5 qualifying bonus points each. They had the same points but did it different ways: 'Pecos Bill' picked the #1 qualifiers in both Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, the #2 qualifier in Top Fuel and the #3 qualifier in Funny Car; 'ocdart' picked the #1 qualifiers in both Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle, the #2 qualifier in Pro Stock and the #3 qualifier in Top Fuel.
'stroked340' (FABO) was right behind with 29.0 bonus points.

More great picks!

We have 16 players again this week and 15 different driver combos made up of:
* 6 different Top Fuel drivers with two Round 1 Quads having multiple driver picks. Quad 2 has three driver picks: #4 qualifier Josh Hart (4 picks), #12 qualifier Tony Stewart (3 picks) and #13 qualifier Tony Schumacher (1 pick). Quad 3 has two driver picks: #2 qualifier Leah Pruett (2 picks) and #15 qualifier Justin Ashley (3 picks). Because of the four-wide racing format, only one of the six picked drivers is guaranteed to move on to the semi-final round of eliminations; or up to five of the picked drivers could move on with only one of the six eliminated in the opening round of eliminations for sure.
* 5 different Funny Car drivers with two Round 1 Quads having multiple driver picks. Quad 1 includes both #1 qualifier Ron Capps (2 picks) and #8 qualifier Chad Green (1 pick). Both drivers, only one, or neither may advance to the semi-final round of eliminations. Quad 4 has both #3 qualifier Matt Hagan (9 picks) and #6 qualifier Jack Beckman (3 picks). Again, both drivers, only one, or neither may advance.
* 4 different Pro Stock drivers with only one Round 1 Quad having multiple driver picks. Quad 3 includes both #2 qualifier Dallas Glenn (6 picks) and #10 qualifier Erica Enders (3 picks). Both drivers, only one, or neither may advance.
* 4 different Pro Stock motorcycle drivers with one pick in each of the Round 1 Quads. It is possible for anywhere between all four advancing to the semi-finals or none of them advancing.

Good luck all!
We will be back to the drag racing standard of head-to-head racing on only two lanes for the rest of the 2026 NHRA season after this event.
 
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Congratulations to 'stroked340' (FABO) for winning the fourth "Top Picker Eliminator" title of the 2026 NHRA season with a very nice total of 140.0 points for the 16th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. This is his second win in a row! He picked both the Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle winners and both his Funny Car and Pro Stock picks made it the final round of eliminations. He was also helped with ET bonus in Pro Stock and Speed bonus points in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock.
'ocdart' (FABO) had the next score with 115.5 points.
The top FBBO score was 'alsant' with 111.0 points.
Way to go!

Here's where the bonus points were earned if you picked the right drivers:

Top Fuel
E.T. - Shawn Langdon, 3.673 during Round 1 (E1) of eliminations
Speed - Doug Kalitta, 342.98 while winning E3

Funny Car
E.T. - Ron Capps, 3.865 during E1
Speed - J.R. Todd, 336.40 during both qualifying and while winning E2

Pro Stock
E.T. - Greg Anderson, 6.498 during qualifying
Speed - Greg Anderson, 211.23 during qualifying

Pro Stock Motorcycle
E.T. - Matt Smith, 6.739 during qualifying
Speed - Matt Smith, 203.09 during qualifying

Here are the game point standings after the 4th event of the 2026 season:
410.0 - stroked340 (FABO) +5 in the game standings
388.0 - cuda20 (FABO) +1
386.5 - ocdart (FABO) +2
385.5 - Back in Time (FABO) -3
377.0 - GTXDAN (FBBO) -1
374.0 - 62Dodge_ (FBBO) -4
337.5 - memike (FBO) no change
336.5 - TT5.9mag (FABO) no change
331.0 - johnnycuda (FABO) no change
311.5 - Outlawd (FBBO) no change
308.0 - MeMikieJr (FABO) +1
296.0 - Budnicks (FBBO) +1
289.5 - alsant (FBBO) +1
287.5 - Yunick13 (FABO) -3
215.5 - Pecos Bill (FBBO) +1
214.5 - 64BEL (FBBO) -1

You have time to take a breath but no time to rest because the next race, the 5th event of the 2026 NHRA season, is the NHRA Southern Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, GA, scheduled for May 1-3.
nhra.com currently does not list the class entry numbers.

As always, please check to verify your picks are participating before posting your picks.
GOOD LUCK!
 
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