Sophomore Funny Car driver Spencer Hyde, the Canadian pilot of the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals this weekend at Bristol Dragway. Hyde qualified in the top quarter of the field at the No. 4 spot, and was one of the most consistent cars on the property over the course of the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel a lot better coming into this weekend than I felt the last two weekends, just right from the start of qualifying through race day,\u201d said Hyde, who was the 2025 NHRA Rookie of the Year. \u201cThe car went down five out of six runs we made, and the one that it didn\u2019t go down, it was really close to making it. It feels like we have our race car back, and I think we\u2019re in a good spot going into the next race.\u201d<\/p>\n
All the teams came into Thunder Valley blind, with no data for the new track surface. The first round of qualifying was not particularly good for anyone, but after that Hyde made one steady pass after the other. Hyde qualified in the No. 4 position based off his Q2 pass, a 4.030 second, 319.07 mph run.<\/p>\n
In the first round, Hyde was up against 2-time Funny Car World Champion Cruz Pedregon. The run ended up being a single for Hyde, when Pedregon\u2019s car malfunctioned and his team had to back it up from the starting line. Hyde then went on to make a 4.001 second, 316.52 mph pass, securing the round one win.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate for the fans that it couldn\u2019t have been a more competitive race in the first round, but a round win is a round win,\u201d said Hyde. \u201cThe data we got for that run was great, and it allowed us to feel pretty good going into the quarterfinals.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the first round may not have been competitive, the quarterfinals most certainly was. Hyde was able to duplicate his first-round elapsed time with a 4.001 second pass, and increased his speed to 323.50 mph. Unfortunately, it was not enough against reigning Funny Car World Champion Austin Prock, who made a 3.986 second, 323.50 mph run.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost a tough one there to Austin, but I\u2019d rather lose a good drag race like that then smoke the tires,\u201d said Hyde. \u201cI was a little tardy on the light, but they made a good run. Jim was going to try and go a 3.97 or 3.98, but he backed it down at the last minute, put the same tune up in as E1, it went right down the racetrack, but it just wasn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that Hyde and the Jim Head-tuned Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car have nailed consistency, they are turning their sights ahead to the Norwalk race in two weeks. This is one of the most important races on the schedule for both Hyde and Head for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cNorwalk is always a tricky racetrack, just because it\u2019s going to be hot, and that track gets tricky when it\u2019s hot out,\u201d said Hyde. \u201cBut I am happy with where we are heading into that. And then it\u2019s also both Jim and I\u2019s home race, so it\u2019s a big one for us. Lots of local fans for both Jim and myself coming up to that one. I\u2019m really looking forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Head Racing team will be busy on and off the track, hosting their loved ones and being recognized during the 75thanniversary of the NHRA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a bunch of people coming down, a bunch of my old crew guys from the Pro Mod days, and they\u2019re all bringing their motor homes and trailers and coming to hang out, so we\u2019ll have a hospitality setup in Norwalk,\u201d said Hyde. \u201cJim\u2019s also the local legend for that race for the NHRA\u2019s 75th anniversary. They\u2019re also using me as a Hometown Homie, since it\u2019s the closest we get to my hometown in Canada. It will be the perfect race to represent Hyde Construction, OUTLAW Light Beer and the Caine Group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car will be back in competition in two weeks at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals on June 25-28 at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. There will be two qualifying sessions on Friday, June 26 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, June 27. For tickets or more information on the NHRA Nationals visit\u00a0www.nhra.com.<\/p>\n
The post Spencer Hyde Makes Noise by Advancing to Quarterfinals of Thunder Valley Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sophomore Funny Car driver Spencer Hyde, the Canadian pilot of the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals this weekend at Bristol Dragway. Hyde qualified in the top quarter of the field at the No. 4 spot, and was one of the most consistent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}