Hart Pockets $80,000 In Pep Boys All-Star Callout
Pep Boy’s Top Fuel All Star Callout winner Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel Team at Gainesville Raceway. (Photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida-based top fuel driver Josh Hart rode his R+L Carriers dragster to the Pep Boys All Star Callout win and an $80,000 payday at Gainesville Raceway Saturday.
It was Hart’s first appearance in a Big Money Specialty Race and the 2021 Gatornationals winner bested Austin Prock, Brittany Force and Mike Salinas en route to victory at the start of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.
“This is a really, really great achievement for our team, we prepared like no other for December, January and February,” said Hart in the Norm Froscher media library. “It’s great to go straight in and win a special race right off the trailer. This crew from R+L Carriers should be on the pitch talking about this win. I’m just the jockey who gets to step on the gas. All credit goes to the team. This is obviously awesome off the charts. But you can’t take something like that for granted because it can just go away. Enjoy the moment.”
The two-time Top Fuel national event winner added: “All I’m saying is nice guys don’t finish last. When you’re going up against Prock, you have to be deadly on the tree, and I was a bit out of my game that first round. It was my first competition pass with this R+L Carriers Top Fuel Dragster. I was a little nervous about the staging. (Crew Chief) Ron Douglas and the team saved me from that.
“In the second round against Force, when she called me out, I think everyone was expecting it. This becomes a situation where they will be killed with kindness. I left her with a 40 light. With Salinas you know he did some crazy numbers in testing and you always have that in the back of your mind but I’m just glad that stuck with him. Ron and his team get the credit again.”
With Gatornationals coming up tomorrow, Hart, the No. 7 qualifier, meets eight-time Top Fuel Champion Tony Schumacher in the first round. The third-year pro has a 1-1 record against the five-time Gatornationals Top Fuel winner. Last year, during the NHRA countdown, Hart passed Schumacher on the first round at the Carolina Nationals in Charlotte, NC.
Heading to race day, Hart doesn’t feel any extra pressure to win his second Gatornationals.
“No pressure, but I’m 100 percent more relaxed because once you have the confidence and you’ve run your sled down the track a few times, you’re like, ‘I got that,'” Hart said. “It’s when things go sideways and crazy and you pedal and then start to push yourself. So the guys on my team are great. Like I said, they were the ones who were supposed to be sitting here, not me.”
Pep Boy’s Top Fuel All Star Callout Results
First round
Josh Hart (.084) 3.765, 331.77mph def. Austin Prock (.063) 4.564, 164.89mph
Brittany Force (.049) 3.744, 335.48mph def. Clay Millican (.067) 5.247, 128.69mph
Mike Salinas (.074) 3.751, 333.41mph def. Justin Ashley (.033) 3.870, 299.06mph
Doug Kalitta (.073) 3.753, 330.88mph def. Steve Torrence (.099) 3.774, 331.28 mph
semifinals
Mike Salinas (.068) 3.763, 330.63mph def. Doug Kalitta (0.072) 7.924, 101.35mph
Josh Hart (.041) 3.757, 330.88mph def. Brittany Force (.075) 8.884, 74.07 mph
final
Josh Hart (.052) 3.748, 331.53mph def. Mike Salinas (0.077) 10.235, 74.57mph