Chomping into Gainesville at Gatornationals
Written by Sheila Scarborough · March 17, 2007
Dixon, Hight, Anderson and Sampey take poles at the Gators.
After driving past the University of Florida “Beef Research Unit” on pretty County Road 225, the faithful arrived in droves to the raceway in Gainesville, Florida for the traditional kickoff of the East Coast drag racing season. Fans were not disappointed as two national records were set during qualifying at the 38th ACDelco Gatornationals.
NHRA.com Saturday recap.
The nitro pros weren’t blowing away records like the Pro Stockers, but there were still some interesting stories from the track, including DNQs from Brandon Bernstein in Top Fuel. It was his first DNQ in eighty races and the third-longest Top Fuel qualifying streak.
This was Larry Dixon’s first time as low qualifier with tuner Donnie Bender, and his first event with new sponsor SkyTel on the Snake Racing dragster. A 4.510 at 330.07 mph did the job.
“I’m absolutely thrilled for Donnie,” Dixon said. “This is his first pole and he really earned it. The car is finally reacting to what he’s doing. He did a great job. The SkyTel guys are here and they thought it was really cool. Now they probably think it’s easy.
“The weather conditions are optimum. When you see a Pro Stock car [Greg Anderson] going 211 mph that pretty much tells you that. But the track is so touchy we all had a hard time getting anything to stick. Look at [Brandon Bernstein crew chief] Tim Richards, one of the best ever, and he doesn’t get in with a car that could have won the first two races. It’s like having the most horsepower you can make with the least amount of grip. The Pro Stock guys don’t make enough power to notice, but it was a real puzzle for all of us.”
Current Top Fuel points leader “Hot” Rod Fuller qualified second, as the drama continues in his quest for a long-term primary sponsor (although Valvoline did agree to extend his sponsorship through the Gatornationals.)
The other behind-the-scenes story ties together the dragster and Funny Car worlds; Rookie of the Year J.R. Todd lost his tuner, Jimmy Walsh, to 63 year-old Kenny Bernstein’s Monster Energy Dodge Funny Car. Funny Car owner/driver Jim Head plus Johnny West will be helping out Todd’s team while they work to find a crew chief.
Funny Car driver Robert Hight’s 4.686 at 331.94 mph continues his blistering race pace so far this season, and was also the quickest and fastest Funny Car run ever at Gainesville Raceway.
“We’ve won 4.60s at all three racetracks we’ve been to this year and that’s exciting,” Hight said. “I’m very fortunate to have such a fast racecar. It took Jimmy [Prock, crew chief] a few years to figure out Funny Cars but now he’s one of the best. To see [John Force tuner] Austin Coil, the best crew chief ever, come over and ask his opinion on stuff is really cool to see.
“I think it’s important that we found a way to get down the track three of four passes in qualifying. We learned this weekend that we can back down the tune-up if we need to and that’s going to be important as the year goes along.”
Gary Scelzi qualified second, even after a DNS (Did Not Start.)
“This race track has been pretty much a disaster all weekend,” said Scelzi, who has never won a national event at Gainesville Raceway while earning his four world championships. “You don’t know what you’re going to get. Then we lost a really important run earlier today. The quick pin that pulls the throttle stop off broke inside and we couldn’t get it out. That’s the first time in five years that we’ve ever been shut off on the starting line.
“That was a really important run, so when we went back out there to stage, the numbers started popping up on the board (by the other competitors) and right before we ran Mike [Neff, crew chief] leaned in there and said, ‘Hey, we’re going for it, we have to.’ So, it was giddy-up go, let’s get it. And that was one of the most exciting runs. No shake, no quiver, no nothing. It just ran so smooth.”
Both John and Ashley Force got into the show with minimal fanfare. Kenny Bernstein qualified for the first time this season, at the track where he had the first 300 mph run fifteen years ago in his Bud King dragster. He’ll face Scelzi first round on Sunday.
Surprisingly, hot-running new father “Fast Jack” Beckman DNQ’d, as did Mike Ashley and Scott Kalitta.
Pro Stock’s Greg Anderson continued the winning ways of the Summitt “wrecking crew” with his track record 6.566 at a national record top speed of 211.20 mph.
“We’re all running career-best numbers but I bet not very many of us would say we’re making good runs,” Anderson said. “The conditions got so good overnight it was like the horsepower fairy came by and sprinkled 50 extra horsepower on every engine. We’ve got no experience with that. No one does. It makes it very tough.
“I’m pleased with the DRCE3 motor. We knew after the first race that if we rubbed it the right way it would get better. But that doesn’t prevent me from feeling like we have an awful lot of homework to do tonight. We won’t win running like we ran today.”
His teammate Jason Line had a nail-biter, finally qualifying in the last session. Former NBA star and Florida native Tom Hammonds made the show in his debut race, and Erica Enders continued her strong performance so far this season. Defending Gatornationals Pro Stock champion Tom Martino didn’t make it in, nor did the race sponsor ACDelco car driven by Phoenix champ Kurt Johnson.
Angelle Sampey raked in her 40th low qualifier award while competing in the fastest-ever Pro Stock Motorcycle field, and tied the quickest PSM run in history with a 6.911 at 191.65 mph.
“This is a beautiful way to start the season,” Sampey said. “To be No. 1 in the quickest field ever with a potential national record already in the books and to have my teammate [Antron Brown] right behind me in third is awesome for us. There aren’t as many Suzukis as there used to be but we’re still here.
“I hope we get the record but we might need to go quicker to hold onto it. There are probably four of us that can run 6.8s tomorrow if the weather is like it was today so we’ll see. The cool thing is these are our old bikes. We have new ones in the trailer but my crew chief wants us to test a little more before we bust them out. We have four bikes on this team that can run a national record.
“We have everything we need to be champions this year. We just need to hold it together for the entire season and stay away from those red-lights. I want to get back to that point where you feel like you can win every race and where your competitors feel like they can’t beat you.”
Drag racing fans just have to hang on this time of year and work in those ESPN2 shows around the March Madness games, right?
Top Fuel Final Qualifying Positions
1. Larry Dixon 4.510 (ET) 330.07 (mph)
2. Rod Fuller 4.535 323.66
3. Tony Schumacher 4.541 331.53
4. Whit Bazemore 4.542 326.24
5. Doug Herbert 4.579 316.75
6. Cory McClenathan 4.585 330.07
7. David Grubnic 4.596 330.88
8. Morgan Lucas 4.602 327.90
9. Bruce Litton 4.625 320.81
10. Bob Vandergriff 4.629 321.96
11. Doug Kalitta 4.630 327.03
12. Hillary Will 4.634 326.40
13. Michael Gunderson 4.635 326.16
14. Melanie Troxel 4.638 288.95
15. J.R. Todd 4.642 304.32
16. Doug Foley 4.645 297.75
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Brandon Bernstein 4.682 316.75
18. Chris Karamesines 4.930 273.27
19. Clay Millican 5.782 177.35
Funny Car Final Qualifying Positions
1. Robert Hight 4.686@ (ET) 331.94& (mph)
2. Gary Scelzi 4.754 327.90
3. Ron Capps 4.772 323.66
4. Jeff Arend 4.774 326.87
5. Phil Burkart 4.786 326.24
6. Tony Pedregon 4.786 323.35
7. Eric Medlen 4.788 324.20
8. Cruz Pedregon 4.792 295.21
9. Jim Head 4.798 322.04
10. John Force 4.802 316.97
11. Tommy Johnson Jr. 4.815 321.73
12. Bob Gilbertson 4.819 318.69
13. Ashley Force 4.822 307.09
14. Tony Bartone 4.831 315.05
15. Kenny Bernstein 4.840 314.39
16. Del Worsham 4.842 306.40
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Mike Ashley 4.850 311.20
18. Tim Wilkerson 4.867 316.30
19. Scott Kalitta 4.875 287.17
20. Gary Densham 4.887 318.69
21. Jack Beckman 4.962 316.08
22. John Lawson 9.226 94.47
23. Dale Creasy Jr. 9.967 87.34
@ = Track ET Record
Pro Stock Final Qualifying Positions
1. Greg Anderson 6.566@ (ET) 211.20^ (mph)
2. Larry Morgan 6.566 210.31
3. Mike Edwards 6.575 210.18
4. Warren Johnson 6.587 209.69
5. Jason Line 6.597 211.03
6. Max Naylor 6.599 209.72
7. Dave Connolly 6.600 209.72
8. Jeg Coughlin 6.601 209.43
9. Allen Johnson 6.602 208.42
10. Roger Brogdon 6.605 209.43
11. V. Gaines 6.607 209.39
12. Erica Enders 6.610 209.62
13. Matt Scranton 6.622 208.81
14. Greg Stanfield 6.628 208.78
15. Tom Hammonds 6.631 209.17
16. Justin Humphreys 6.634 208.71
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Jim Yates 6.653 208.52
18. Dwayne Rice 6.657 209.17
19. Kurt Johnson 6.660 209.10
20. Bob Benza 6.665 208.10
21. Tom Martino 6.666 209.23
22. Kenny Koretsky 6.668 207.43
23. Richie Stevens 6.681 207.02
24. Ron Krisher 6.717 204.98
25. Tony Rizzo 6.727 205.72
26. Michael Malmgren 6.748 204.76
27. Jimmy Alund 6.749 204.57
@ = Track ET Record
^ = National Speed Record
Pro Stock Motorcycle Final Qualifying Positions
1. Angelle Sampey 6.911$ (ET) 191.65 (mph)
2. Craig Treble 6.930 193.99
3. Antron Brown 6.930 191.59
4. Chip Ellis 6.930 192.36
5. Chris Rivas 6.947 191.84
6. Matt Smith 6.947 192.22
7. Ed Krawiec 6.948 191.32
8. Andrew Hines 6.955 193.10
9. Shawn Gann 6.962 193.27
10. Paul Gast 6.972 191.13
11. Geno Scali 6.990 193.40
12. Peggy Llewellyn 7.001 189.12
13. Steve Johnson 7.002 193.24
14. Tom Bradford 7.028 191.32
15. Matt Guidera 7.029 189.02
16. Karen Stoffer 7.033 191.87
——— Not Qualified ———
17. GT Tonglet 7.048 188.46
18. Hector Arana 7.051 187.94
19. Michael Phillips 7.059 192.47
20. James Randolph 7.097 188.73
21. Mike Berry 7.100 189.10
22. Scott Lewis 7.105 189.58
23. Marco Andreano 7.106 187.78
24. Mac McAdams 7.166 185.21
25. Joe DeSantis 7.176 188.94
26. Wes Wells 7.215 189.92
27. Dean Frantz 7.227 185.13
28. Darin McCurdy 7.241 186.00
29. Redell Harris 7.289 183.49
$ = National ET Record
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If I dont get espn2 how do I watch the dragrace on my computer>>>??it would really help me/sincerally gabnhra@hotmail.com
Hi Gary, Unfortunately there’s no way to watch the action on the NHRA Web site, other than to refresh the Results page for a race as it’s going on and read the “play-by-play” from the NHRA track recorder.
We wanted to extend our support to Mac McAdams for his first debut on ESPN2. What an impression finish. Ten years in the making with lots of hard work and dedication. Way to go Bro! We love you!