You have got to be kidding me right? As someone who has been around drag racing for over 20 years, I would have never thought that I would say Topeka is the fast track in the country. Well that is exactly what happened yesterday during qualifying for the NHRA Kansas Nationals. 

Yesterday NHRA fans were treated to absolutely jaw dropping performances and personal career bests. Coming into the weekend the record for ET in Funny Car was held by "Fast" Jack Beckman when he ran a 3.879 at the Gator Nationals earlier this season. Well to say that ET record fell yesterday would be an understatement. We saw five separate cars run under the current national record. 

What about speed though? Everyone loves speed don't we? Well there was certainly plenty of speed as well. Matt Hagan dropped the hammer on the drag racing world when he stopped the clocks at 335.57 mph. For those wondering the previous 1000' record was 331.45. Eight Funny Cars ran faster than 328 mph yesterday as well. Just to put it into perspective, you had to have run a 3.907 to even get into the top half of the Funny Car field yesterday. That in itself is absolutely amazing. 

Through the performance wasn't limited to just the Funny Car class. There were some great numbers in Top Fuel as well. Drivers like Terry McMillen, Brian Stewart, and Scott Palmer all had career bests. As a matter of fact the Top Fuel ET record was broken as well when Brittney Force in the Monster Energy Drink rail flew down the track to a 3.67 at 325 mph. 

It is wonderful to see such great performances out of the top two classes, and of all places Topeka Kansas. It should be very interesting to see what the rest of the weekend brings leading into eliminations and including eliminations. But for now, Topeka really is the Palace of Speed.