CHANDLER, Ariz. (March 23, 2025) – With a quarterfinal finish Justin Ashley and the SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel dragster team led the three-car nitro SCAG Racing team at this weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park. His Funny Car teammates, Daniel Wilkerson in the SCAG Power Equipment Ford Mustang, and Dave Richards in the BlueBird Turf / Versatran machine each had first round exits.
In the first round, Ashley, the No. 6 qualifier, handled his SCAG Toyota dragster to a 3.805-second pass at 327.19 mph to take down Top Fuel sophomore Ida Zetterström and her 3.818 at 324.51 pass. The win matched Ashley up with defending event winner Shawn Langdon in the quarterfinals. Ashley’s SCAG Toyota dragster would run into tire smoke at mid-track for a 4.124 pass at 246.08 mph falling short to Langdon’s 3.841 at 311.49.
“It was nice to pick up our first-round win of the year today. Seeing that win light on Sundays always brings a big smile to all of our faces. Of course, we would’ve loved to go further, but it’s a long year and we will have learned a lot from the race and tomorrow’s test session,” said Ashley who is one win light away from 150 career round wins. “I am super proud of our team and grateful for the opportunity to represent SCAG Power Equipment and all of our great partners.”
Seated in the No. 8 qualifying spot, Wilkerson started race day with a first-round matchup against J.R. Todd. Wilkerson had a rare drive misstep on the starting line going -.231 seconds red, handing Todd the round win. Todd would run into trouble and shut off mid-track crossing the finish line in 7.556 seconds at only 87.55 mph.
“Very disappointed in myself. My team deserves better, SCAG deserves better, our dealers we have every weekend deserve better,” Wilkerson said. “I’ll be over it after we hit the gas Friday at the Winternationals. But this one hurts because the guys gave me a badass car.”
Battling some early season issues, Richards and the BlueBird Turf / Versatran team qualified No. 14 out of 20 for a first-round race against Jack Beckman. Richards BlueBird machine at trouble at the hit, rattling and coasting to the finish line in 7.303 seconds at 94.31 mph while Beckman had a clean 3.910 at 327.66.
“This BlueBird team is working hard, we’re still working through some gremlins but we will absolutely get this hot rod running like I know we can,” Richards said. “We’re all looking towards the future. We are taking advantage of the opportunity to test tomorrow to get ready for Pomona in just a few days.”
SCAG Racing will take on race three of 20 on the Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series tour next weekend, March 28-30, with the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Southern California.
