Mike Edwards still finds success a foreign experience.
 
For the second event in a row, the ART-sponsored driver heads into the
final day of qualifying at the NHRA Gatornationals as the Pro Stock provisional low qualifier.
 
Edwards turned in a 6.582 elapsed time at 209.10 miles per hour to lead
Greg Anderson by over .01 of a second. It's a feat he would have
dismissed a year ago as fantasy talk.
 
He’s learning that 2009 is quickly becoming the season where fantasy crosses paths with reality.
 
“I’m not real used to this to be honest,” Edwards admitted. “This is
very nice and rewarding at the same time when you put this much effort
in and get these kinds of results. This is rewarding. I am appreciative
of everything and want to give God the glory for our accomplishment.”

Some riders are natural performers.
 
Former NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Matt Smith needed only a few
laps on Don Schumacher Racing’s Suzuki to re-acclimate himself with the
style of bike he drove when he first learned how to race.
 
Nine runs, seven in testing, and he is the provisional low qualifier at
the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals. This event in Gainesville, Fla., is
traditionally the season-opener for the 17-race Pro Stock Motorcycles.
 
On the first run in qualifying for the new season he went immediately
to the top. The second backed up his claim for the provisional pole
effort.
 
“I had to change my riding style,” Smith admitted. “I haven’t rode the
Buell any this season. I’m trying to stay away from it and focus in on
the Suzuki.”
 
The separation isn’t absolute considering Smith’s fiancée Angie McBride
rides his former Buell and will have Nitro Fish backing for at least
four events in the early part of 2009. He also builds the engines for
her.

Larry
Dixon led the Top Fuel pack on Friday at the ACDelco NHRA
Gatornationals by racing to the qualifying lead for the second
consecutive race.

Dixon, who had a rough start to the season after failing to qualify at
the season-opener in Pomona, qualified with the quickest run on Friday,
a performance of 3.902 seconds at 310.20 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing
dragster.

Bob Tasca, Mike Edwards and Matt Smith also were qualifying leaders in
their respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing
Series Event. Qualifying continues Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
for Sunday’s 11 a.m. eliminations.

A prime example of what could go wrong and what did go wrong on Friday the 13th at the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Veteran Super Stock racer Larry Griffith took delivery of the second Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar® on March 9 from Dennis Guest,
dealer principal of the South Oak Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Matteson, Ill.
Griffith’s original award-winning 1968 Dodge Dart package car restored
by Joe Hilger, former Chrysler Vice President of Global Service, was
also on display at the delivery. In addition, this event marked the
ramp up to full production for the Challenger Drag Pak for Chrysler LLC.

Turbo Pro Mod racer Mike Moran recorded the first known doorslammer five-second run yesterday at a test session in Valdosta, Ga.

Moran's Monte Carlo stopped the timers at 5.97-seconds at 250 miles per hour.

With cold and rainy weather in the forecast for this weekend’s IHRA
Raiders Pro-Am event in Farmington, the three-day points meet has been
rescheduled one week later on the weekend of March 20-22.

Supercharged racer David Allen was the quickest of the sportsman
qualifiers on Thursday during the NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals at
Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla.

Allen, competing in the
BB/AM division, thundered the quarter-mile to a 6.857 elapsed time,
-.653 under the index, to beat out Glen Treadwell's D/Econo Dragster.
Treadwell was -.616 with an 8.014. There are 33 entries in competition
this weekend with two more sessions left.

Kenny Lang, the reigning IHRA Pro Mod Champion, has made a jump 'to the
other side' and will try his hand in NHRA competition this weekend as
the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge presents its first race at
the ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. Lang will be
sponsored in his efforts by Roger Burgess and ProCare Rx.
 
"Roger and I started talking last weekend in Baton Rouge at the IHRA
event, and if it wasn't for him we wouldn't be here. I hope we can work
something out for the long-term, because I'd definitely love to run
NHRA the whole season," Lang said.
 
Lang and Burgess have more than a love of NHRA drag racing in common:
the two are powered and tuned by the Canadian powerhouse Al Billes.
Lang said that Billes was his biggest asset in winning the championship
last season and had hoped he would be able to race more NHRA events
this year with Billes’ help. Off-season changes, however, seemed to
make that unlikely.