The road to a third consecutive NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
national event title has been a bumpy road for Funny Car points leader
Ron Capps, literally.

With chamber-of-commerce Spring-break weather at the ACDelco NHRA
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., drivers in the Get Screened America
Pro Mod Challenge presented by ProCare Rx mostly adapted to the
conditions and delivered thrilling performances, while others struggled
to keep their cars from riding the guard rails.
 
Qualifying was greatly abbreviated due to the extensive track cleanup
required after George Landis banged the wall in his '05 Stratus.
According to the local Florida racer, he blew a piston through his
engine and punctured the diaper, spreading oil and engine fluids down
the full length of the track. Landis was unharmed in the incident, but
his Stratus will need serious repair..

Larry Dixon earned his second consecutive pole position, taking the top stop in Top Fuel for the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals with a 3.886 second, 308.28 mile per hour run, a strong .076 seconds faster than Spencer Massey.
 
Dixon started the season in Pomona with a DNQ (Did Not Qualify) but has
ruled the qualifying roost since. It has been, according the humble
driver to be, “feast or famine.”
 
Unsure if his Friday time would hold up, Dixon revealed the team got
exactly what they wanted out of the race car in the final run.
 
“The car ran good, obviously the last two or three runs they've been
looking to try and run an 80 and it hadn't. I'm glad they found it. I
thought it was take an 80-something to stay on the pole and I'm just
glad it came from us.”

Larry
Dixon raced to his second consecutive No. 1 qualifying performance of
the season in Top Fuel Saturday at the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals.

Bob Tasca, Mike Edwards and Matt Smith also will lead their categories
into Sunday’s 11 a.m. eliminations at the third of 24 events in the
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. ESPN will provide three hours of
television coverage of the race starting at 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday.

Dixon covered the race distance in 3.886 seconds at 308.28 mph in his
Al-Anabi Racing dragster to earn the 33rd top qualifying effort of his
career and second at Gainesville Raceway. Dixon, also No. 1 at Phoenix
three weeks ago, will face Winternationals winner Doug Kalitta in the
opening round.

A limited number of $20 Race Fan Relief tickets are available for this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. A small portion of the $20 Race Fan Relief tickets remain for Friday and Sunday’s racing at Atlanta Dragway.

First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday at the
40th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, the
third of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs
listed below pairings.

George Landis, from Boynton Beach, Fla., was checked and
released by NHRA emergency services officials after his Judge Racing
Team Stratus went out of control, crossed the centerline and impacted
both guardwalls before coming to rest just past the finish line during
the final qualifying session of Pro Modified.

Roger Richards captured the photo sequence.

The same run last year would have ended in disappointment. .
 
This year, the run puts Bob Tasca III and his Motorcraft Mustang Funny
Car on the provisional pole at the NHRA Full Throttle AC Delco
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida.
 
Tasca turned in a solid 4.124, 296.76 in the first qualifying session
and then backed it up with a 4.189, 293.98 in the second session. While
the second run was smooth from start to finish, it was the first run,
despite issues which was fastest.
 
“The interesting thing on that (first) run, I never would have been
able to make that run last year from one standpoint, I wasn't straight
going into the first beam,” Tasca explained. “We've got a new guy
backing me up and I was crooked. Shame on me, I should have picked it
up earlier. I knew I wasn't in the right direction. I was pointing at
the walls.”
 

Even for a seasoned driver like Larry Dixon, the more runs a driver makes the more in tune the driver gets with his car.
 
Dixon, in his third race as driver of the newly formed Alan Johnson Al
Anabi team, already has a leg up on his second pole position. Clearly
two out of three isn’t bad for the 43-time winner.
 
Dixon ran a 3.902 elapsed time at 310.20 miles per hour to qualify No.
1 during the first day of the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals in
Gainesville, Fla.
 
“I am getting less coaching on the procedures of the car,” Dixon said. “I am in a routine now.”
 
One might find it hard to believe a driver of Dixon's caliber needs any
kind of coaching. He’s quick to point out there’s always something to
learn when you join a new team, as he did this season.

The opening day of the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presented
by ProCare Rx met expectations of excitement and thrilling racing,
ending with R2B2 Racing team owner Roger Burgess on the provisional pole.
 
Burgess' field-leading salvo in his '67 Camaro registered 5.993/243.55,
the quickest run of his career and the fastest thus far of the event.
Smiling from ear-to-ear, Burgess said, "that was a lot of fun."
 
"Al [Billes, Burgess' tuner] had the car 'hopped up' as he calls it,
and we were able to record our first five-second run with me as a
driver."
 
Just behind Burgess was Danny Rowe in his Sterling Bridge '67 Camaro.
Rowe said, "We had a tough time in the first round, but Jimmy Rector
[crew chief] made some adjustments on the car and we ran a six-flat. He
did everything he needed to do, settled the car down and it went right
down the track."