A Packed Weekend for PEAK

NHRA 

For the 264th time in his career, John Force made a final round appearance, finishing runner-up at the Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas. Robert Hight advanced to the Funny Car semifinals, coming up short to Force, while Brittany Force and Austin Prock had first round exits in Top Fuel. 

Eliminations started with some confusion on the starting line for John Force against Cruz Pedregon as both competitors would stage deep, then Pedregon would leave too early for a red-light disqualification, giving Force the automatic win. Against Ron Capps in the second round, Force would have to chase the reigning world champion down, managing to do so at the finish line to win by 0.0008-seconds. In the semifinals, Force would compete with teammate Robert Hight for the 63rd time in their careers. Force would shift the scale to 30-33 with a 4.000-second run to defeat Hight’s 4.052. 

The Funny Car final would be Force’s third this season and 14th at Heartland Motorsports Park as he was matched against longtime rival Bob Tasca III. Force would have the advantage on the starting line, but Tasca would have enough to get to the finish line first with a 3.999 to Force’s 4.131. 

Robert Hight opened race day with a victory over Jim Campbell, then defeated Alexis DeJoria in the second round.  As mentioned above, Hight would have a close race in the semifinals, but would come up short to boss John Force. 

Brittany Force’s defense of the event win came to an end in the first round after having to shut off early from a dropped cylinder, giving eventual race winner Antron Brown the win. It was the first time since this year’s Gatornationals that Force failed to make it out of the opening round of Top Fuel.

Top Fuel teammate Austin Prock’s weekend also ended in the opening round after an engine explosion and oil down gave Josh Hart the round win. 

Coming Up Next

The John Force Racing teams will head to Brainerd, Minnesota this weekend (August 19-21st) for the 15th of 22 events on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule.

MOTOR TREND’S ROADKILL NIGHTS

Roadkill Night’s centerpiece Dodge Influencer Grudge Match saw PEAK’s Alex Taylor defend her crown Saturday on Woodward Avenue. Eight of the leading automotive influencers had 30 days to build a car that included a spec Dodge Hemi engine and manual transmission to face off for the Grudge Match crown.

As eliminations wound down, Taylor squared off against influencer Westin Champlin of ‘Redneck Science’ fame in the final round. In a complete contrast of builds, Taylor’s 1955 Plymouth Savoy full on drag car build (which will be detailed on Hot Rod Garage in the coming weeks) competed against Champlin’s modern Dodge Challenger Hellcat with leather seats and AC.

In the end, Champlin left first, but Taylor got to the finish line over 2 car lengths ahead to repeat as the Grudge Match Champion.

Rumble in the Ozarks

This past weekend PEAK premiered the first Rumble in the Ozarks race! Emily Reeves, Alex Taylor, and Derek Bieri all went head-to-head in a race to be crowned the champion!

Head over to the PEAK YouTube Channel to see who came out on top!