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KRAWIEC RUNS RAMPANT IN PARITY-FILLED WEEKEND

On a weekend where the motorcycle combination provided no apparent significant advantage, past NHRA Pro Stock champion Eddie Krawiec felt fortunate he had the winning bike.

A Suzuki established a new world record [6.855] and qualified No. 1.

Buells accounted for two of the first four spots in the qualified field.

In the end of the day, a Harley-Davidson rolled into the winner’s circle and the NHRA Gatornationals trophy provided a nice addition to Krawiec's trophy bearing mantle which already holds six Wallys.

LINE PUTS BEST FOOT FORWARD, LITERALLY

ps_finalPast NHRA Pro Stock champion Jason Line is all about putting his best foot forward. At the NHRA Gatornationals, his best foot proved to be the left one.

Line became the first Pro Stock driver in 2010 to stop the Mike Edwards steamroller. The KB Racing driver dumped the clutch .052 of a second quicker than Edwards on the starting line with the advantage accounting for a half-of-a-car length at the finish line.

“I guess right now the only way to beat Mike (Edwards) is with your left foot,” Line said. “We can't do it with the right, that's for sure. He's definitely faster than everybody. He's got us covered. Fortunately for us he gave us a little bit of room and we managed to get it done somehow.”

Line used a 6.580 elapsed time to fend off Edwards’ much quicker 6.556.

SCHUMACHER BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN FOES

tf_finalWhen you’re the all-time Top Fuel winner and a seven-time series champion, chances are you’re going to bring out the best in your competition. But, for Tony Schumacher, driver of the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, the level of the challenge might be close to bordering on unreasonable.

Schumacher scored his fourth career NHRA Gatornationals title by stopping teammate Antron Brown.

“I go out in the first event of the season – [lose in a] tie race [with Larry Dixon] – then we go into the second race and [Steve Torrence] runs his quickest ever,” Schumacher explained. “If you look back into the books our team is responsible for all of maybe the lesser budget teams running their best ET’s.

“[Today] Terry McMillen runs a 3.86 [in the second round]. We do not stage our car and think it is an easy run. These guys are good. When they come up and the car isn’t going down the track, they try things. They turn things here and there and it sticks when you have a great race track like this. Unfortunately you get some good side-by-sides.”

WILKERSON AND "OLD GIRL" REUNITE FOR VICTORY

nfc_finWilkerson reunited with his “old girl” and all is good in his world.

Wilkerson’s “old girl” is the Springfield, Ill.-based Funny car driver’s chassis that he ran in 2008, the same year he finished second in the championship standings on the strength of six wins in seven final rounds.

Wilkerson and his reliable chassis certainly had a certain kind of magic at the NHRA Gatornationals, the third race on the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle season. He stopped teammate Bob Tasca III in the final round with his second quickest run of the weekend, a 4.097 at 303.78 miles per hour.

He believes he and the broken-in race car had a measure of mojo throughout race day.

LANG WINS GATORS GSA NHRA PRO MOD EVENT

pm_winnerCanadian flags waved in the grandstands at historic Gainesville Raceway Sunday as Manitoba’s Kenny Lang made drag racing history as the first to win a Wally in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Series.

Lang became the first winner in NHRA’s newest national touring series as he drove his green 1953 Corvette to victory over Sweden’s Michael Gullqvist, who drove the ProCareRX 1968 Camaro owned by series supporter Roger Burgess.

“This is a great event and I am thrilled to win it,” said Lang who qualified sixth and defeated a tough group of drivers in earlier rounds including JEGS.com’s Troy Coughlin, In-N-Out Burger ’63 Corvette driver Melanie Troxel and Qatar’s Khalid Balooshi.

SCHUMACHER, WILKERSON, LINE AND KRAWIEC WIN NHRA GATORS

Tony Schumacher raced to his first victory of the season and in the process moved into the NHRA Full Throttle Series points lead Sunday at the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.

Tim Wilkerson, Jason Line and Eddie Krawiec also were winners in their respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

Schumacher earned his fourth Gatornationals win and 62nd of his career by powering his U.S. Army dragster to a performance of 3.797 seconds at 322.04 mph while teammate Antron Brown’s Matco Tools dragster lost traction in the runner-up effort.

The seven-time Top Fuel world champ beat Terry McMillen, Doug Foley and rival Larry Dixon to advance to the final round.

ROUND-BY-ROUND PRO RESULTS FROM GAINESVILLE

Final round-by-round results from the 41st annual NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, the third of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

POINT STANDINGS FOLLOWING GAINESVILLE

Point standings (top 10) for NHRA professional categories following the 41st annual NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, the third of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series -

FINAL ROUND PHOTOS FROM GAINESVILLE

Sunday's final results from the 41st annual NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. The race is the third of 23 in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series:

BUSCH GETS HIS FIRST SHOT AT SUPER GAS

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Kurt Busch made his first official run in NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competition on Sunday morning.

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