The NHRA added New England Dragway to their schedule in 2013 and the event did not disappoint. The inaugural race was held June 21-23 in Epping, New Hampshire, and the fans packed the track for the NHRA’s Mello Yello drag racing series.
In Top Fuel Dragster, Spencer Massey also pulled off his second win of the season over Shawn Langdon who went up in smoke in the finals. Massey clicked off a soft 4.105 at 271.57 mph. The win for Massey kept him at a solid third position on the point ladder, but Langdon was able to step into the lead spot over Tony Schumacher with his runner-up finish. Doug Kalitta qualified number one with a 3.814 but lost to Massey on Sunday.
Allen Johnson, the defending Pro Stock champ, qualified number two (Jeg Coughlin had the number one spot) and went on to beat John Gaydosh Jr., Tom Martino and Mike Edwards on a holeshot to get to the finals to square off with Shane Gray. At the light, AJ got a jump on Gray (.025 to .058)and that was all he needed to get to the stripe first as his slower 6.642 to Gray’s 6.633. The win lifted Johnson in the points two the number two spot over Coughlin with Edwards in the top seat.
Pro Stock Motorcycle was also run at the inaugural race and the final round had two racers vying for their first career NHRA wins. John Hall lined up against rookie Adam Arana who ended up red-lighting and handing the Wally to Hall. The win moved Hall into second place in the points standings behind Hector Arana Jr.
The New England event was the second race of a four week – four race stretch with the first race held in Englishtown, New Jersey, and Joliet, Illinois coming up and Norwalk, Ohio wrapping up the quad of races over the 4th of July.