Overcast skies and cool weather contributed to several track records in Top Fuel and resetting of the elapse time record twice in Funny Car during weekend competition in Washington State. Unfortunately, the weather also brought an early end to the racing, as rain stopped the action at the end of the semifinal rounds.
Prior to the rain delay, Antron Brown and his Matco Tools Top Fuel  dragster got by T.J. Zizzo and his Rustoleum dragster in the opening round of elimination, Clay Millican and his Part-4-Us/Great Clips dragster in round two, and Morgan Lucas and his Protect the Harvest.com dragster in the semifinal round. On the other side of the elimination ladder, Steve Torrence and his Capco Team dragster marched past Scott Palmer, Richie Crampton and his Lucas Oil dragster and Sonoma winner, J.R. Todd on the way to a final round match up against Brown.
In Funny Car, Del Worsham and Ron Capps, the number one and two qualifiers, both marched their way into a final round match up for the event title. Capps, in his Napa Tools Dodge Charger, was runner-up to John Force at the Toyota/Sonoma NHRA Nationals one week earlier. Del Worsham set a new elapse time record of 3.832 seconds at 330.88 mph. Eliminations had plenty of drama, as Courtney Force lost control of her Traxxas Chevy Camaro and crashed hard into the wall, as she neared the finish line. During her first round match up against Jeff Diehl, her car lost traction. As she tried to recover the car took a hard left, contacting the wall with enough force to actually move the K-wall several feet. She exited the race car on her own, but was transported to a local hospital, when she complained of pain and stiffness in her legs and shoulders. After being examined, she was found to have no broken bones and released. She should be able to return to driving duties by the next event in two weeks (Lucas Oil Nationals in Minnesota).
In Pro Stock, it was Vincent Nobile and Aaron Strong that will meet in the final round for the event title. Nobile won his last race in 2014, while Strong has yet to claim his first national event win. Nobile opened with a first round bye, as there were only 15 qualified cars entered in Pro Stock. He then marched past Shane Gray and Jason Line to set up the final round matchup against Strong.
Strong motored his way past Greg Anderson, Jeg Coughlin and Bo Butner to reach the championship round.
After several hours of waiting for the rain to stop long enough to dry the track and allow for safe racing, the NHRA had to stop the event. Top Fuel and Funny Car final rounds will be run out in Brainerd, Minnesota during qualifying for that event. Pro Stock will be decided at the Chevrolet Performance NHRA US Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana.
