NHRA Summit Nationals: Elyria's Dave Connolly still driven to win a championship ... as a driver

NORWALK — Elyria native Dave Connolly has done a little bit of everything in the drag racing industry, and that is just in the last four weeks. A former full-time Pro Stock racer with 26 event wins to his credit, Connolly has found success as a multitime NHRA Pro Stock World Championship crew chief. However, after six years out of the car, he returned to the driver's seat for the KB Titan team as a fill-in when Eric Latino was unavailable because of knee surgery. Standing in "I only got to race the one race," Connolly said prior to the start of qualifying at the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk. "It's always fun. Don't get me wrong, I love crew-chiefing, but there's no other feeling than letting the clutch out and pulling them gears. "I ran once for Greg Anderson last year, and then, once again this year, and I always say, 'Anytime they leave the keys in the car, I'll be more than happy to jump in there and take it for a spin.'" During his first run in qualifying at the NHRA New England Nationals in Epping, New Hampshire, at the end of May, Connolly made the quartermile pass in 6.576 seconds at 209.01 miles per hour, which was the sixth-best time of the round. After running 10th in the second round of qualifying, Connolly had back-to-back seventh-place showings in the third and fourth passes down the track. Out of the seventh spot in the ladder, Connolly beat Greg Stanfield in the first round of eliminations with a low elapsed time of 6.493 seconds at 210.60 miles per hour. Connolly was eliminated in the second round by KB Titan teammate Greg Anderson. "We had a good run," Connolly said. "We probably should have beaten Greg there and had a little malfunction with the air bottle, but that's how it goes. I raced my whole career against KB, and then, now the last couple of times driving, I've actually gotten to race with the same equipment and good quality cars. Never say never. I don't know what the future holds or if I'll get another opportunity this year or not, but I'm always up for the challenge." For now, that brief return to the car was just that, as Connolly is back as crew chief for the KB Titan team, which has a busy weekend ahead of itself in Norwalk. The KB Titan team brought five cars for the Pro Stock division, run by Anderson, Dallas Glenn, Eric Latino, Cody Coughlin and Cory Reed. Currently, Anderson and Glenn are one and two in the Pro Stock standings, while Reed (fourth), Latino (fifth) and Coughlin (10th) also find themselves in the top 10. "It probably just comes from age or being around it for a long time, but at the end of the day, you've got to flip that mindset," Connolly said of bouncing between driving and being a crew chief. "Even at Epping, I'm sitting there moving weight on Dallas's car and doing this, doing that when we're in the staging lanes. "Whenever I get the car, put the helmet on and as soon as you hit the ignition switch, all that goes away, and the only thing you're thinking about is the job at hand. I don't mind jumping back and forth. It's not really an issue. It's just a mental state of mind that you have to get yourself to. And after doing it for 27 years, I guess I can do that." Big differences As both a driver and crew chief, Connolly has competed at the highest levels of NHRA for most of his drag racing career, and while he finds positives and negatives to both, there are some stark differences between being behind the wheel and being the one responsible for tuning a car for a clean pass down the track. "Mentally, it's way more exhausting than driving the car," Connolly said. "You've only got to concentrate for a few minutes when you're driving the car. For myself, driving definitely comes a lot more natural than crew chief. It's very stressful, a lot of mental stress, and it's tough. There's always changing factors throughout the day that you kind of have to learn to adapt to." Connolly admits that part of the reason why race days are more stressful for him as a crew chief is because even after victory, he is looking for ways to get the cars to run better. Connolly says he is "way too meticulous" to just be happy to see a win light come up after the passes down the track. "All racers have had some ugly wins, and yeah, it's nice to get that, but when there's mistakes made or there's places to improve, it still weighs on you as a crew chief," Connolly said. "We try to make nice, clean runs, and from the word go through qualifying, Sundays are where races are won. If we can race smart, race aggressive, and just put up a good number every time down the track and don't miss, that's what I consider a successful weekend. "It's a tough game. You've got to make the best run that you can possibly make on the racetrack, and sometimes, you go over the edge, sometimes, you're too conservative. It's just trying to find that happy medium and post up a better number than the other guy in the other lane." Looking ahead While being a crew chief will continue to be in Connolly's immediate future, he is leaving the door open to a full-time return to Pro Stock driver. Should such an opportunity be presented to Connolly, he will fully embrace it, as that chance would allow him to challenge for something he has not yet done in his career. Previously, Connolly has been the crew chief for Jason Line (2016), Tanner Gray (2018), and Anderson (2021, 2024) during their championship seasons. "I enjoyed going in there and filling in for Eric, but I would love to have the opportunity to race for a championship," Connolly said. "That's one thing that I never accomplished inside the car and holding the steering wheel as a driver." Up in smoke (and flames) Tony Stewart's nickname is Smoke, and he lived up to it a way no driver ever wants. On his first qualifying pass down the track in his Top Fuel dragster, Stewart had a lead at the 60-foot mark, but before the 660-foot line, he lost far more than a cylinder. Stewart's engine exploded into a fireball, and his car rolled to a stop. After several seconds, he was able to open the hatch on his Top Fuel car and get out under his own power. The NHRA's Top Fuel points leader, Stewart was able to have his engine replaced in just two hours to go through the second round of qualifying. However, after moving into second place at the time with a 3.755-second elapsed time, Stewart had another blowout and fire in the second round. "I might have to babysit everybody's kids and mow everybody's lawns after this," Stewart said in his on-track interview. "We've got to figure this out because this (stuff) is getting expensive." Homegrown racers Scott Wasko (Columbia Station), Keith Castle (Columbia Station) and Jerry Albert (Avon) competed in the Top Sportsman Division, and all three qualified in the top half of the 25-team field. Thanks to a 213.37 miles-per-hour pass, Wasko had the third-best elapsed time (6.536 seconds) in the first round of qualifying. Albert (6.692 seconds at 206.64 miles per hour) was in eighth after the first round. After not running in the first round, Castle had the ninth-best time in the field in the second (6.609 seconds at 209.36 miles per hour). Wasko (fourth), Castle (ninth) and Albert (11th) will compete in Top Sportsman Eliminations, which will have two sessions, one this morning and the other in the evening. Showdown success Raymond Nash of Hinckley had a successful start down the track in Friday's qualifying for the Factory Stock Showdown Division. In the first round, Nash ran a 7.919-second pass at 173.99 miles per hour, which was good enough for fourth place after the all cars went through the field. Nash stood in fifth place in the 19-car field after teams went through their second rounds of qualifying. Factory Stock Showdown participants have one session of qualifying on Saturday morning before two rounds of eliminations in the afternoon and evening. Strong showing Findlay native Marc Ingwersen was seventh after the first round of qualifying in the Pro Stock Motorcycle Division. Ingwersen ran the quarter-mile in 6.964 seconds at 191.84 miles per hour, which was six miles per hour off the pace set by John Hall, the top rider in the first round. Ingwersen stood eighth after the second round. Fine-tuning Matt Smith made enough of an adjustment to his motorcycle in between the first and second rounds of Friday's qualifying that it proved to be worth nearly two extra miles per hour. That slight adjustment helped him leapfrog John Hall for the top spot heading into Saturday's qualifying. Smith ran his second pass in 6.824 seconds at 200.68 miles per hour. He was the only rider of the day to eclipse the 200-mile-per-hour plateau. "I just leaned it out a little bit," Smith said of the change between qualifying sessions. "We had one hole that was a little fat, so I just took 2 percent of fuel out of one hole, and it woke it up a little bit. We knew that we were going to be a little fat the first run, but I like to be on the rich side of the tune-up for the first run. "I like to read the plugs, I like to see where the timing's at, and the second run, I can tweak on that and try to make my stuff better. That's what we did." Enders eclipsed When six-time Pro Stock World Champion Erica Enders made her second qualifying run of the day, she went to the No. 1 spot with a 6.630-second run. However, that stay atop the ladder didn't last long. Six drivers had better elapsed times than Enders, who fell to seventh after the first day of qualifying. KB Titan teammates Greg Anderson and Dallas Glenn went one-two in qualifying. "We finished out obviously strong last year with Dallas and I coming down to the last race," Anderson said. "We were making a little progress. We were basically able to get all of our engines up to where everybody's capable of going just as fast. I'm very proud of that." Tasty challenge Along with the qualifying sessions in several categories, the NHRA's best drivers in Top Fuel and Funny Car, as well as riders in Pro Stock Motorcycle, will take part in the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday. The matchups are set for all three categories, as Justin Ashley and Doug Kalitta face each other with the winner set to battle either Shawn Langdon or Stewart in the finals. Stewart has a 51-point advantage over Langdon in the Top Fuel season standings, while Ashley and Kalitta are third and fourth, respectively. In the Funny Car division, Austin Prock and J.R. Todd will compete for the opportunity to face either Jack Beckman or Daniel Wilkerson. Prock leads Beckman by 60 points in the Funny Car standings, while Todd (sixth) and Wilkerson (seventh) also find themselves in the top 10. It could be a family affair in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final if Matt and Angie Smith can get through first-round matchups. Matt Smith faces Gaige Herrera, while Angie Smith takes on Richard Gadson. Herrera entered the weekend with a 100-point lead over Matt Smith in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings. Callout clash What started with a heated exchange in Bristol will continue Saturday in the GETTRX Pro Stock NHRA All-Star Callout. Anderson of KB Titan will face Enders of Elite Motorsports in the first round, and Glenn will go against another Elite driver, Troy Coughlin Jr. Matt Hartford and Eric Latino will compete in a matchup of KB Titan teammates, while Aaron Stanfield and Jeg Coughlin Jr. will face off in a battle of Elite Motorsports cars. Contact Matt Florjancic at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.