Chad Green of Midland, Tex., drove his nitro-burning CGM Bond-Coat Ford Mustang Funny Car to the quarterfinals Sunday at the famed NHRA Winternationals drag races at the In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip in a rain-delayed event.
After two sun-drenched days of qualifying at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds racing plant, Green, who qualified sixth, and the 16-driver Funny Car field had to play a waiting game with a series of rainstorms pelting the facility throughout Sunday morning and afternoon. After the NHRA Safety Safari dried the racing surface, eliminations got a late start with Green advancing out of the first round.
Green recorded a 3.963-second pass at 326.87 miles per hour over veteran Paul Lee, who smoked his rear tires in his 12,000-horsepower machine.
In the quarterfinals, Green’s mount clocked a 3.970, but lost to John Force Racing’s Jordan Vandergriff, who recorded a 3.914 to advance to the semifinals. Despite the loss, Green remains in the Top 4 in the current NHRA Mission Funny Car point standings as the national drag racing tour heads to Charlotte for the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals on April 24-26 at the zMax Dragway.
“Our car ran well in qualifying and the rain on Sunday kept everyone guessing on the track conditions,” said Green, a former winner at the In-N-Out Dragstrip in 2023 when he captured the NHRA World Finals. “We had an issue with the blower (supercharger) and we didn’t run the times that we should have in eliminations. We also had an oil leak against Vandergriff which also hurt. But we know what happened in both situations and we’ll be ready for the Charlotte race in two weeks.”
Green’s CGM teammate, veteran Blake Alexander, had similar supercharger issues with his Pronto Auto Services Dodge Hellcat in the opening round of eliminations when he raced against the No. 1 qualifier, J.R. Todd. Alexander had a good reaction time off the starting line but his 4.049-second run wasn’t enough to Todd’s 3.889 pass.
The CGM team will return to NHRA competition on April 24-26 with the exciting Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte as Green and his son, Hunter, will drive the squad’s two nitro machines. Nitro qualifying will begin on Friday, April 24, at 5 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. EDT, with Saturday’s action scheduled for at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. EDT. Final eliminations begin at 12 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 26. The Fox telecast will be aired at 7 p.m. EDT/4 p.m. PDT on Fox Sports 1.
