Top Fuel driver Antron Brown and Pro Stock driver Erica Enders started the 2015 coronation of champions at the Toyota NHRA Nationals, both claiming their second NHRA world titles on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Top Fuel saw Doug Kalitta take his third win of the season after his crew chief, Jim Oberhofer, switched cars on Friday night to put them on the path to victory. Kalitta began his race day defeating Steve Torrence in the first round, Richie Crampton in the quarterfinals, and repelled champ, Antron Brown, in the semi-finals by .0005 of a second.
As the finals approached, Larry Dixon smoke the tires and almost immediately propelled Kalitta down the track. Even though Kalitta's car started dropping cylinders and blowing the injector sideways, he reached the line first over Dixon for the win.
Antron Brown took his second Top Fuel Mello Yello championship and was humbled by closing it out in Las Vegas with one race to go.
In the Funny Car class, all eyes were on title contendors, Del Worsham and Jack Beckman. However, it would be Robert Hight that stole some of their thunder, winning the Funny Car portion of the Toyota Nationals.
Hight sped through eliminations, beating drivers Gary Densham, Del Worsham, and Ron Capps before meeting Tommy Johnson, Jr. in the finals. This earned Hight his second win of the season.
Erica Enders proved herself for the second consecutive year, taking the championship title in the Pro Stock class. Enders became the 33rd driver in NHRA history to win mulitple championships, and only the ninth to do so in the Pro Stock class.
"We came into the weekend and everyone was talking about the championship - what we have to do, crunching points and all that. My crew chiefs and I decided we weren't going to talk about that and just take things one round at a time," Enders said. "Our goal was to make it to 22 [wins in a row]. It's an incredible thing to accomplish. The streak we have here is incredible. I'm excited to be part of such a great group like Elite Motorsports."
Pro Stock Motorcycles saw Andrew Hines earn his fourth victory of the season and third in the Countdown, powering past Jerry Savoie in the final round with major title implications. This win increased Hines' series lead to 46 over Savoie, and the champion will be decided at the Auto Club NHRA Finals in two weeks.
See the full NHRA Point Standings here.