Field is set at Spring Nationals
Written by Sheila Scarborough · March 29, 2008
A hot, sunny Texas track made it tough on the 2008 O’Reilly Spring Nationals competitors, but thousands of fans were basking in the good weather at Nitro Alley.
In Top Fuel, Alan Bradshaw is putting together a great season with two low qualifier awards in a row. He followed up a Gainesville pole with Houston’s 4.526 at 323.50 mph.
The guy from Odessa, Texas will face the pride of Arlesheim, Switzerland, Urs Erbacher, in the first round.
“We’ve been making strides in getting our combination, particularly the fuel system, intact,” said Bradshaw. “We went into test mode today to see what the track will hold in the heat and found out that we need to back it down a little when there is no cloud cover. We see what the weather gives us tomorrow and go from there.
“I think Dexter [Tuttle, owner] has the Midas touch when he puts his teams together. We’re going to go out there tomorrow and try to recreate what happened when he won here last year [with JR Todd.]”
The number one guy right now in POWERade Funny Car points did not qualify (Robert Hight) and Cruz Pedregon is this year’s Spring Nationals pole winner with a 4.834 at 314.97 mph.
“I woke up this morning and said, ‘Let it get hot,’ ” said Pedregon. “The run we made this afternoon felt good, but even me and [crew chief] Rahn [Tobler] were surprised when we heard it was a 4.86. Three out of four runs we made were great, so we’ll enjoy what we’ve done this weekend and hope for a big payoff tomorrow.
“As positive as I was coming into this season, I wouldn’t have thought that we’d be in such a good position right now. It’s great to move into second in points. We have to race Gary Scelzi in the first tomorrow, and I think having such a tough opponent so early on will bring out the best in us.”
Kurt Johnson held onto the low qualifier position in Pro Stock with his Friday run of 6.638 at 208.42 mph; KJ has held the pole 28 times in his career, but the last time was the Memphis race in 2005 (which he won.)
He’ll match up with John Nobile for Round One eliminations and will hopefully get a bit of rest tonight, after staying up until 2 a.m helping his father Warren rebuild the WJ car that tagged the wall yesterday.
“The car is really sticking right now,” said Kurt. “We really wanted a hot race track to see how competent we would be on it. We tested and ran the first two races of the season on cold tracks, so we had to adjust after running on the first hot track of the season in Gainesville.
“I went to bed at 2:01 in the morning after helping Dad fix his car. Everything went well. The only bad part is that he qualified No. 9, so we will have to race each other in the second round if we both win in the first round tomorrow. Hey, you can replace cars and parts and motors, but you can’t replace people.”
Update on Pro Stocker Erica Enders, who lost sponsorship and had to pull out of competition last year - she’ll take over as Marketing VP for Master Formula Xtreme Polishes, Waxes, Cleaners, and Sealers, and with that company’s sponsorship she’ll be able to start racing in two weeks at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas.
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Matt Smith (last season’s Spring Nationals number one qualifier) is looking forward to his Sunday matchup with challenger Junior Pippin.
“We still spun the tire a little too much in the heat, but we know what to do tomorrow if it gets hot again,” said Smith. “We were focusing on getting [teammate] Angie [McBride]’s bike in the show today, because it looks bad when you get one bike in but the other one’s out.
“We definitely learned something racing in the heat today. Race day is a different day, and you need to take every advantage with you that you can.”
Fast Machines will be back tomorrow with eliminations news and track updates.
Random quote of the day — overheard in the press room when a vibrating cell phone went unnoticed, “I’m not only deaf; I can’t feel anything.”
Top Fuel final positions
1. Alan Bradshaw 4.526 (ET) 323.50 (mph)
2. Doug Herbert 4.547 318.02
3. Larry Dixon 4.549 314.46
4. Cory McClenathan 4.568 326.79
5. Doug Foley 4.582 303.09
6. David Grubnic 4.587 322.42
7. Brandon Bernstein 4.596 325.77
8. Hillary Will 4.599 316.45
9. Doug Kalitta 4.606 317.87
10. Tony Schumacher 4.619 313.22
11. Bruce Litton 4.620 324.28
12. Antron Brown 4.644 322.42
13. Rod Fuller 4.684 319.98
14. Morgan Lucas 4.691 320.51
15. Bob Vandergriff 4.697 308.71
16. Urs Erbacher 4.734 302.41
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Mitch King 4.795 304.60
18. Troy Buff 4.823 309.20
19. J.R. Todd 7.025 263.56
Funny car final positions
1. Cruz Pedregon 4.834 (ET) 314.97 (mph)
2. Tony Bartone 4.839 305.08
3. Mike Neff 4.875 316.23
4. Del Worsham 4.881 313.66
5. Ron Capps 4.886 310.05
6. Ashley Force 4.890 319.29
7. Gary Densham 4.904 312.42
8. Jack Beckman 4.906 314.31
9. John Force 4.913 312.71
10. Tommy Johnson Jr. 4.913 303.16
11. Bob Gilbertson 4.928 310.34
12. Tim Wilkerson 4.939 301.40
13. Jerry Toliver 4.961 314.09
14. Tony Pedregon 4.977 310.63
15. Bob Tasca III 4.986 307.93
16. Gary Scelzi 5.052 296.57
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Scott Kalitta 5.218 236.55
18. Bob Bode 5.291 239.70
19. Melanie Troxel 5.942 211.20
20. Robert Hight 6.273 200.44
21. Terry Haddock NT
Pro Stock final positions
1. Kurt Johnson 6.638 (ET) 208.42 (mph)
2. Allen Johnson 6.650 207.72
3. Ron Krisher 6.666 207.59
4. V. Gaines 6.667 206.80
5. Jason Line 6.668 207.98
6. Greg Anderson 6.671 207.56
7. Jeg Coughlin 6.673 207.37
8. Mike Edwards 6.676 206.54
9. Warren Johnson 6.679 208.42
10. Rickie Jones 6.680 206.39
11. Greg Stanfield 6.681 207.18
12. Jim Yates 6.684 206.32
13. Kenny Koretsky 6.689 206.26
14. Matt Hartford 6.693 206.67
15. Justin Humphreys 6.701 207.08
16. John Nobile 6.703 206.01
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Tom Hammonds 6.715 206.51
18. Johnny Gray 6.735 206.32
19. Max Naylor 6.735 203.40
20. Larry Morgan 6.741 206.04
21. Vinnie Deceglie 6.747 204.60
22. Bill Glidden 6.748 205.38
23. Shane Heckel 6.919 202.42
24. Vernon Swindoll NT
Pro Stock Motorcycle final positions
1. Matt Smith 6.929 (ET) 191.62 (mph)
2. Chip Ellis 6.970 190.57
3. Eddie Krawiec 6.971 191.16
4. Andrew Hines 6.972 191.13
5. Karen Stoffer 6.985 192.06
6. Matt Guidera 6.988 190.92
7. Hector Arana 7.003 190.06
8. Shawn Gann 7.024 191.57
9. Angelle Sampey 7.042 189.92
10. Chris Rivas 7.042 189.15
11. Craig Treble 7.073 192.06
12. Steve Johnson 7.124 188.89
13. Edward Murphy 7.128 187.23
14. Michael Phillips 7.150 188.86
15. Angie McBride 7.175 185.08
16. Junior Pippin 7.190 185.51
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Michael Ray 7.281 184.42
18. Redell Harris 7.410 180.04
19. Jim Randolph NT
20. Ryan Schnitz NT
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