Pro Stockers Get in Line
Written by Sheila Scarborough · July 15, 2006
Kalitta, Densham, Line and Ellis take Mile-High low qualifier poles.
Jason Line continues to fulfill the promise of his previous selection as a Rookie of the Year as he gets a drag racing trifecta; climbing up to the Pro Stock POWERade points lead, setting a track record and taking the pole position as low qualifier in his class during the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver, Colorado.
Defying the midday heat, Goodyear-blistering track and the altitude, Line’s 7.062 ET and 195.65 mph speed was a record-breaker, and was also enough to bump his teammate Greg Anderson from the top spot in points.
“This is the first time in my career that I’ve been in the points lead so it’s pretty cool, even if it only lasts for one night,” Line said. “We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow. It’s still a lot of fun for both of us.
“That was the best run of the year, at least for us. I knew it was good and when I got around the corner Dave Connolly was shaking his head at me and he held up the No. 1. I thought he meant low for the session but when I heard I was No. 1 qualifier I was stunned. That was phenomenal.”
NHRA.com Saturday night recap.
Speaking of points leads, it’s getting pretty dicey for leader Melanie Troxel in Top Fuel. Doug Kalitta’s pole-winning run of 4.631 at 319.60 mph put him only 18 points behind Troxel, so one big round could bump him to the top spot.
“The track’s pretty tricky so it could go either way tomorrow,” Kalitta said. “It’s definitely easier being the driver than the tuner at this event, I can tell you that. The first round will be tough. I hope like heck we have the tune-up. We shook the tires one run and spun them the other today. We still got a 4.91 but this new car isn’t totally set up the way we like it yet.
“The guys are up for the championship run. We think we can get it done. We’re within a round of the lead now and [crew chief Rahn] Tobler’s won championships before so he knows how to get it done. It should be fun.”
In Funny Car, Gary Densham held onto his low-qualifier spot (earning a much-needed Skoal $4,000 bonus) from yesterday, despite having to sit out the last qualifying session for purely budgetary reasons. As a leanly-funded independent team owner, he could not afford any mechanical problems or oildowns when he already held a great qualifying position.
“The reason we skipped that last session was purely economics,” said Densham. “We can only allot so many parts to each event and you’re really hard on your stuff here so it wasn’t worth the risk of hurting something or oiling the track down. I wanted to run and when I saw [Gary] Scelzi post that 4.89 I figured we were done, especially with Jimmy Prock back there, but we held on and I couldn’t be happier.”
Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Chip Ellis kept driving his times down from Friday to Saturday’s qualifying rounds, posting 7.383 — 7.348 — 7.332. He feels pretty positive about his machine.
“This Drag Specialties Buell has been running really, really well,” Ellis said. “If we can go into tomorrow and just duplicate what we did today and yesterday, I like our chances. I don’t want to toot my own horn but I’m driving good also. This motorcycle is just perfect for me and it’s so easy to ride. I don’t know what it is, but I like it.
“We had a real nice tailwind develop right before that last session and that helped a lot. We’ve been adding fuel every round and it likes it. Things are going really good for us right now.”
Tune in tomorrow for “the rest of the story” from Denver.
Top Fuel Ladder
Funny Car Ladder
Pro Stock Ladder
Pro Stock Motorcycle Ladder
Top Fuel Qualifying Order after Round Four
1. Doug Kalitta 4.631 (ET) 319.60 (mph)
2. J.R. Todd 4.638 316.45
3. Brandon Bernstein 4.640 324.28
4. Tony Schumacher 4.642 321.96
5. David Grubnic 4.643 327.82
6. Larry Dixon 4.654 314.90
7. Hillary Will 4.662 318.69
8. Rod Fuller 4.673 316.60
9. David Baca 4.703 308.71
10. Bob Vandergriff 4.704 311.41
11. Doug Herbert 4.739 305.29
12. Melanie Troxel 4.785 312.42
13. Morgan Lucas 4.854 288.15
14. Mike Strasburg 4.902 254.38
15. Cory McClenathan 5.140 302.28
16. Scott Palmer 5.563 176.47
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Rob Passey 9.935 78.34
Funny Car Qualifying Order after Round Four
1. Gary Densham 4.893 (ET) 292.20 (mph)
2. Gary Scelzi 4.896 310.20
3. Tommy Johnson Jr. 4.907 307.37
4. Robert Hight 4.916 311.41
5. Ron Capps 4.941 307.37
6. Phil Burkart 4.952 313.37
7. Whit Bazemore 4.952 311.70
8. Tony Pedregon 4.956 309.91
9. Del Worsham 4.983 317.64
10. John Force 4.984 314.31
11. Eric Medlen 5.019 309.42
12. Bob Gilbertson 5.107 298.14
13. Tony Bartone 5.118 293.15
14. Mike Ashley 5.138 299.80
15. Scott Kalitta 5.172 274.50
16. Cruz Pedregon 5.177 286.32
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Tim Wilkerson 5.440 210.54
18. Terry Haddock 8.103 110.92
Pro Stock Qualifying Order after Round Four
1. Jason Line 7.062@ (ET) 195.65& (mph)
2. Allen Johnson 7.064 194.60
3. Dave Connolly 7.079 194.88
4. Ron Krisher 7.082 194.13
5. Greg Anderson 7.094 195.14
6. Kurt Johnson 7.098 194.77
7. Larry Morgan 7.100 194.49
8. Mike Edwards 7.104 194.30
9. Richie Stevens 7.105 193.74
10. Jim Yates 7.108 193.63
11. V. Gaines 7.113 194.21
12. Tom Lee 7.116 194.60
13. Erica Enders 7.127 193.05
14. Max Naylor 7.140 193.82
15. Greg Stanfield 7.143 193.77
16. Mike Thomas 7.147 192.85
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Gene Wilson 7.153 192.80
18. Shaun Carlson 7.155 192.88
19. Ben Watson 7.166 192.49
20. Warren Johnson 7.174 193.82
21. Tony Rizzo 7.202 191.32
@ = Track ET Record
Pro Stock Motorcycle Order after Round Four.
1. Chip Ellis 7.332@ (ET) 180.26 (mph)
2. Tom Bradford 7.399 180.55
3. Angelle Sampey 7.427 179.14
4. Matt Smith 7.429 177.53
5. Ryan Schnitz 7.435 179.80
6. Antron Brown 7.436 180.60
7. Shawn Gann 7.448 180.26
8. Karen Stoffer 7.449 180.69
9. Andrew Hines 7.450 180.21
10. Matt Guidera 7.467 178.85
11. Craig Treble 7.472 179.61
12. GT Tonglet 7.474 179.64
13. Geno Scali 7.500 178.28
14. Marco Andreano 7.507 177.46
15. Michael Phillips 7.507 177.65
16. Steve Johnson 7.521 178.47
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Chris Rivas 7.521 177.84
18. Mike Berry 7.537 176.88
19. Buddy Robinson 7.588 175.43
20. Blaine Hale 7.704 174.37
21. Scott Lewis DQ
@ = Track ET Record
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Great article, Sheila!
You’re going to make a drag-racing fan out of me yet!!!
:)
Thanks very much! The attraction for me is the people and families on the teams and in the pits, and I’m hoping that the Force reality show gives people a sense of that (without too many shots of Ashley Force zipping into a firesuit.) :)
Sheila