NHRA SOUTHERN NATIONALS - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK -
GOD BLESS THE WEATHER – It was a beautiful Sunday morning at Atlanta Dragway for the 27th running of the NHRA Southern Nationals. Daybreak saw cloudless skies and cool temperatures as the fans streamed into the race track early, eager for a great day of racing. The weather forecast called for temperatures in the low 80-degree range and no rain. It has been the best weather during a racing weekend at Atlanta Dragway in a long time.
By the time the second round rolled around the cloudless sky and bright sunshine started to affect the racing performance. Elapsed times fell off and tire smoke started to play a factor by the middle of the afternoon. All the sun on the track made for a wide open affair in the later rounds of the race.
TOP FUEL
THIS BUD IS FOR BRANDON
– Brandon Bernstein advanced to his second consecutive final round and third of
the season. Bernstein's return to dominance is no surprise to the 34-year-old
Texan. "We've got a really good race car right now. It's just Tim and Kim
(Richards) and all the guys on this Budweiser/Lucas Oil team. We made a big
change there to try and get it to calm down because it hazed the tires earlier.
And it worked; it went right down there really nice. Hopefully we can do that
in the final."
Bernstein went on to earn his first career win in Atlanta and his second in a row. It was his third final round of the season. Bernstein also took over the Top Fuel points lead with the victory. It was Bernstein's 14th win in 19 career final rounds.
"That final round record is an amazing stat," said Bernstein. "All I can say is that when Tim Richards gets to the final he just knows what the track can take at that point and what we can do in that round. I always know that when we get to the final we always have a shot at winning.
"This win was definitely a little easier emotionally," said Bernstein, "It's going to take time to heal everything but it's never going to go away because every time I was in a final Eric (Medlen) was always standing there, win or lose. It's going to be a memory forever as long as I'm in the finals in racing. But it was a little easier on me emotionally, for sure."
RATHER BE LUCKY THAN GOOD – Doug Herbert advanced to his first final round in two years with a little luck and some good performance. "I'd rather be lucky than good," said Herbert, after Hillary Will red lighted against him in the second round. Herbert ran a 4.720 at 310.20 mph in the semis against Bob Vandergriff to advance to his first final round since Dallas in 2005. Herbert entered eliminations with his best qualifying effort of the season, grabbing the No. 2 spot with a 4.509 at 321.04 mph. Herbert now has a 8-22 career won/loss record in final rounds.
A TRIBUTE TO DAD – Top Fuel racer Brady Kalivoda is sporting
one of the coolest helmets we've seen in a long time. The paint scheme, which
was designed by Mike at Razors Image out of Chicago, is a combination of old school and
new school helmets.
"My dad, Dick Kalivoda, used to race back in the 1960s before I was born," said Kalivoda. "He raced a lot of classes up to and including Top Fuel. He's most well known for driving 'The Joker' Top Fueler in the late 60s. Even though he quit driving before I was born he has a trophy room with all the old helmets and breather masks and things. I used to go around wearing his helmet. I actually have photos of myself running around the house wearing the thing. That's when men were men, wearing open face helmets and breather masks. So I called my dad and said 'I need you to send me your helmet.' And he's really protective of that,
"I mean that's it there's only one of them, that's it. He wanted to know what I was going to do with it and I reassured him to trust me, it will be okay. I sent it to Razor and what he did was he replicated my dad's helmet with the blue and white and the gold leaf. You can see the fat rubber grommet with the open face and the mask. He also had his name on the front as most of the drivers did back then. The concept was kind of a new school paint job like you see these days with metallic flames and all kinds of craziness, kind of ripping away to expose the old school underneath. When we got it back and my dad got his helmet safely in hand and he saw this lid for the first time he did approve. He's my biggest fan so this is really a tribute to him. I think he feels good about it and I do too. Without him I wouldn't be here."
Kalivoda, who is making his 17th consecutive start, faced Clay Millican in round one of eliminations. Ironically, Kalivoda was a former member of Clay Millican's crew before embarking on his own Top Fuel driving career.
RACING FRIENDS – Knoll Gas Top Fuel driver Clay Millican
squared off against his former crewmember Brady Kalivoda in round one of
eliminations and the Tennessee
native couldn't have been happier for him.
"I think it's cool," said the always upbeat Millican, "Brady worked on our car for a couple of years and he was looking for a ride and now that he's found it we get to race each other. That was always his goal and I think it's great." Millican is still looking for his first NHRA victory after earning a record 50 Top Fuel wins running in the IHRA. He's been to three final rounds in NHRA competition, including one in Atlanta in 2004. Millican ended up losing to Kalivoda in round one.
GOING FOR A THREE-PEAT – Mac Tools Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta will be looking to take the Top Fuel title in Atlanta for the third consecutive year. The 42-year-old Michigan resident will have a tough road to the winner's circle. He qualified in the 16th position for just the third time in his career and faced No. 1 qualifier Rod Fuller in round one. Kalitta took a little of the sting out of not qualifying two weeks ago in Las Vegas by defeating Fuller with a 4.606 at 317.19 mph. But he lost in the second round when he suffered a red light start against Brandon Bernstein.
SARGE SENT HOME OVERNIGHT BY UPS – Tony Schumacher was sent
home early in round one by Bob Vandergriff in the UPS dragster. It was the
second straight race that Schumacher has lost in round one and the fourth time
in six races this season. He also lost in the first round three times in the
first six races in 2006. The 'Sarge' did take the victory last month at the
Gatornationals and will leave the Atlanta
race no lower than fifth in the Countdown to the Championship. Vandergriff, who
is coming off a runner-up finish in Las
Vegas two weeks ago, was obviously pleased with the
victory.
"That was a big win," said Vandergriff, who calls Georgia home. "The crowd this weekend is the biggest I've ever seen here. It's been great. A lot of people have come by and wished me luck. Things seem to be finally turning around for the UPS team and I couldn't be happier." Vandergriff went on to defeat Brady Kalivoda in the second round.
SOMETHING FOUL – There hasn't been a red light start in Top Fuel all season, until Atlanta. Melanie Troxel had a chance to move around Tony Schumacher into fourth place in the Countdown to the Championship with a strong showing in Atlanta but the driver of the Vietnam Veterans/POW-MIA dragster suffered a foul start with a red light in round one. Doug Foley took the victory, only his second round win in NHRA competition, ironically both against Troxel.
In the next round Hillary Will left the red bulb glowing in her wake, ruining her chance of sending Doug Herbert to the sidelines. Herbert advanced with a sub-par run of 7.955, losing lane choice to Bob Vandergriff in the semifinals.
To make things worse, Will's teammate, Doug Kalitta, also red lighted in the second round against Brandon Bernstein.
WINNING (AND LOSING) POINTS – Brady Kalivoda and Cory
McClenathan both took spectacular first round victories but they came at a
cost. Kalivoda's motor erupted into a fireball just before the finish line for the
second time this weekend costing him 15 points in oildown penalties. Cory Mac
also suffered an engine fire well into the shutdown area which cost him 10
valuable POWERade points despite the holeshot victory. (ESPN2/Motel6)
HOW LOW CAN THEY GO – Five of the eight first round winners in Top Fuel came from the bottom side of the ladder and three of them, Hillary Will, Doug Foley, and Bob Vandergriff have never won an NHRA national event.
UNCHARTED TERRITORY – Doug Foley doubled his NHRA win total in Atlanta after defeating a red lighting Melanie Troxel and a tire smoking Cory McClenathan to advance to the semifinals. Foley and fellow semifinalist Bob Vandergriff have never won an NHRA event going into Atlanta.
"This is just great," said Foley. "We've worked hard for four years now trying to slowly cultivate this team. Having Doug Kuch back has really been great. Evan Knoll's been sponsoring this car for three years now and to give us this opportunity to show that we're capable of running on this side is just great."
FUNNY CAR
THIRD TIME THE CHARM – Robert Hight advanced to his fourth
final round in five starts this season on Sunday in Atlanta. Hight defeated Tony Bartone, Del
Worsham and Ron Capps to reach his 13th career final round in just 51 races.
Hight was runner up in Atlanta
last year and he'd love to seal the deal today with a victory over Mike Ashley.
"I tell you what," said Hight, "we messed up on three qualifying
runs out there with issues with vibration. But we got it back together today
thanks to the Safety Solutions people and it's nice to go down the track with
perfect vision."
Hight has been in the final round in Atlanta all three years that he's competed in Funny Car and he finally won when he defeated Mike Ashley with a 4.882 at 314.61 mph. Hight moved into second in the POWERade point's standings with the victory.
"Since the beginning of the year we've had a great race car," said Hight. "We've been to five races and went to four finals and won the last two. We decided after we won in Vegas that we weren't going to test unless it was hot on Monday. We already know how to run when it's cool and the car's fast. We want to go out and make runs on a hot race track. Summer's coming and we want to be ready for the heat. Jimmy Prock is able to make little adjustments to the racecar and it responds. With a fuel car that's hard to do. There's a lot of inconsistency in these cars. To make a little adjustment to the car and see it respond is really impressive to me as a driver.
"I was really looking forward to racing Ashley (Force) in the final, that would have been huge," Hight said. "That would have been so cool to race her in her first final. I have a had time racing my teammates in the final. To make it pay off my third time in the final makes me very pleased. Today was a good day."
ASHLEY'S RETURN – Mike Ashley drove to his second career
final round appearance after defeating Ashley Force in the semifinals. Ashley
recorded a 4.913 at 320.51 mph to make it into the money round, where he'll
race Robert Hight, the same driver he faced in his first career final in Dallas last season.
"I think we've got just as good a car," said Ashley. "We've got
an excellent program right now. This Torco Race Fuels team has been working
hard. Steve Boggs, Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald, and everybody have been working
together. To have the support of Evan Knoll and Torco Race Fuels, I've got the
fastest race car out here right now. I think we can give Hight a run for his
money. Force has an awesome team but I think we're starting to come into our
own."
FAMILY FEUD– A lot of people are looking forward to the first ever meeting between a father and daughter in Funny Car competition, but not many people realize the first parent versus child match up actually occurred in the late 1980s when 'Big Jim' Dunn raced against his son Mike. They raced each other before Connie Kalitta raced his son Scott or Warren Johnson raced against his son Kurt. Either way, today's Force family match up will be a historic racing event.
FORCE STILL WINLESS – No one could have imagined that 14-time Funny Car champion John Force would go winless in the first six races of the season, but thanks to his daughter Ashley he'll leave Atlanta still without a round win this season.
"I saw the sign that said Buster Couch (long time NHRA starter) and I remember him always telling me 'get those kids off the starting line,'" said an emotional Force. "I've been waiting for this day my whole life."
KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS - It's a good thing Ashley wasn't racing back in the days of her elder's championship runs, she might have been his kryptonite.
FROM THE TOP – In a completely opposite trend compared to Top Fuel, seven of the eight cars from the top of the Funny Car ladder won in the first round of eliminations.
ASHLEY VERSUS ASHLEY – Ashley Force advanced to her first semifinal appearance in her rookie season in Funny Car. Her opponent in the semis would be Mike Ashley, the driver of the fastest Funny Car in the world. "I have a great team and we have a really great car today," said Force after defeating Tony Pedregon in the second round.
"I'm excited to race Mike Ashley and I know my dad is really excited. That's the first time getting past the second round for my team and if I can just get through the day without messing up I think we'll have a pretty good outcome here in Atlanta."
PRO STOCK
ANDERSON TOO STRONG – The last thing fellow Pro Stock
competitors want to see is Greg Anderson continue to win races. But the North
Carolina-based racer advanced to his fourth final of the year despite a tardy
reaction time in the semis. Anderson cut a .103 reaction time against Kurt
Johnson but drove around him at the top end to take the victory and earn lane
choice in the final round with a 6.678 at 207.30 mph. Anderson went on to
defeat Kurt's father Warren Johnson in the final round for his fourth victory
and a huge points lead in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship.
Anderson is now just two wins shy of tying Don 'The Snake' Prudhomme for 6th on the all-time NHRA POWERade win list.
"I'm not going to lie, there's certainly a little extra drive there when I race Kurt or Warren," said Anderson, "there's a little extra incentive without a doubt. We've got a lot of history together both with Kurt and with Warren. Your darn right it means something down deep when you beat those guys. They've beat me enough over the years. We've won a lot of races together too. It's almost the way you hope it comes down. Yet you almost dread it because you know it's going to be tough."
WE HAVE THE CAR – Warren Johnson gave his usual honest answer after defeating a red lighting Allen Johnson in round one. "We may have the car - we just need a driver to win the race," said Johnson.
ENDERS UPENDS LINE – Erica Enders brought the Atlanta crowd to their
feet with a holeshot victory over defending Pro Stock champion Jason Line in
round one. Enders 6.684 defeated Line's 6.662 after she left the starting line
first with a .046 to .071 reaction time. It's the second time Enders has
defeated Line this season, including a victory at the down in Florida at the Gatornationals, where Line
red lighted against her in the first round.
"Wow, I was really excited," said Enders after the run. "My guys have worked so hard to get us here and to have a good run like that and get us lane choice for the second round is great. Just to get past Jason in itself is a feat, so I'm just really excited for our guys, they deserve it." Enders lost in the second round to Kurt Johnson on a holeshot.
STEVENS STARTING TO ROLL – After a disappointing DNQ in Gainesville, Richie Stevens earned a pair of quarterfinal finishes going into Atlanta. The driver of the Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus advance to the semifinals on Sunday. After defeating Jim Yates in round one Stevens beat Jeg Coughlin on a holeshot (6.70 to a 6.68) with a .011 reaction time. "It's always tough against Jeggy," said Stevens. "We were teammates a couple of years ago and he's always hard to beat. You've got to be on your game to defeat him. Luckily we got the win and we're going to the semis, our first of the year, and I'm happy for Mopar and Valspar." Stevens lost to Hall of Fame inductee Warren Johnson in the semifinals.
FAMILY AFFAIR – Both Warren and Kurt Johnson advanced to the semifinals. Kurt Johnson said his car was a hideous pig and Warren said his car was just okay. "We sound like we're a bunch of farmers," said Warren, "which isn't a bad thing, I enjoy farmers."
BIG MOVE – Warren Johnson moved from tenth to fifth in the POWERade points chase with his final round appearance in Atlanta. 'The Professor' is now a legitimate contender to make the elite eight in the Countdown to the Championship. Johnson was racing in his 150th career final round, of which he has won a record 96 Pro Stock races. He is second only to John Force on the all-time career win list.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
WOMEN CONTINUE TO DOMINATE – It's been all girls all the
time in Pro Stock Motorcycle this season. A woman has won all three races and
Karen Stoffer has won two of them and leads the points despite a first round
loss in Houston.
EVEN A CAVEMAN COULD RIDE IT – Karen Stoffer advanced to her second final round of the year with a stellar semifinal race against Gino Scali. Stoffer ran a 7.060 at 188.67 mph giving her lane choice in the semifinals and creating the chance of a woman winning the first three races of the season.
"All I know is we got the Geico Suzuki into the final round," said Stoffer. All the props go to Gary (Stoffer) he's been trying to keep me green and that's what we've been struggling with and obviously he's found a good tune up for today. We're being consistent and that's what's important."
Stoffer won the race in the final round when Matt Smith broke on the starting line, handing the win to her. She ran a 7.063 at 188.65 in the final round for her second win of the season. Stoffer leads the POWERade point's standings after three races.
"It's pretty cool," said Stoffer, "I certainly didn't expect to be in this position so early in the season. The way the point structure is you have to come out of the gate hard and I'm really proud of the Geico Motorcycle team, the did an awesome job.
"My game plan today was to focus on keeping it green. I wasn't too impressed with my lights, they were still kind of slow, but keeping it green, that's what we did and what we wanted to do. It ended up working out for us."
WAKE UP MATT! – Matt Smith defeated Chris Rivas in round one
of Pro Stock Motorcycle but it certainly wasn't due to his reaction time. Smith
was extremely tardy on the tree with a .161 reaction time that usually spells
doom in Pro Stock Bike, but his 7.001 was more than enough to defeat Rivas
7.159. The run was good enough for low elapsed time of the round and Smith
didn't seem concerned with his light.
"We just wanted to get a green light," said Smith. "These lights are so hard for the bikes. You can red light every time. We just want to turn it green and let the bike do the rest." Smith eventually advanced to his second final round of the season but lost to Karen Stoffer. It was Smith's sixth career final round appearance. It was a rematch of the season-opening Pro Stock Bike final in Gainesville.
FUEL INJECTION – Geno Scali's Performance Machine Pro Stock Motorcycle is running a new fuel injection system and it seems to be paying off. Scali advanced to the semifinals after defeating Craig Treble and Tom Bradford en route to his first semifinal appearance in just his second start of the season.
THE RED ARMY – It was a tough day for the U.S. Army Pro
Stock Motorcycle team. POWERade points leader Angelle Sampey lost via a red
light start in the first round against Tom Bradford and teammate Antron Brown
suffered a foul start racing Matt Smith in the quarterfinals.
ELLIS 'THE GAMBLER' – Chip Ellis recorded low elapsed time of the second round when he defeated Peggy Llewellyn with a 7.057 at 187.71 mph. That set up a semifinal match up with former teammate Matt Smith. "I'm just out here hanging out and hoping to have a little fun," said Ellis. "Thanks to Drag Specialties and G2 Motorsports, this S&S powered Buell is running really great today. We're just going to try and go one more round and see what we can do. Matt's got a fast motorcycle and this Drag Specialties bike is fast too and we'll be alright. When we were teammates our normal side bet for us poor guys was a dollar. So if he'll accept my bet I'll run him for a dollar."
IDENTICAL RUNS – The semifinal race between Matt Smith and Chip Ellis was decided right on the starting line. Both bikes ran identical elapsed times of 7.079, but Smith took the victory with a better reaction time to advance to the final round. Smith's light was a .025 to a .069 from Ellis.
PLAY IT AGAIN SAM – All three winner's in the pro categories in Las Vegas won again in Atlanta, a very rare occurrence in NHRA Drag Racing.
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Cory McClenathan pops the blower as he turns off the track in the first round. (ESPN2/Motel6 Vision)
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK
MORE GREAT WEATHER – This year's Southern Nationals has been
blessed with the best weather experienced at the event in many years. After
some light rain Thursday, the skies have been clear and blue with mild
70-degree temperatures, perfect conditions for both the racers and the fans.
Clouds finally rolled in during the end of Saturday's first qualifying session,
which was a blessing for those not qualified going into the final round.
CHASING THE CHASE – With the top eight drivers in the NHRA POWERade points chase qualifying for the Countdown to the Championship after the first 17 of 23 races, each event this season is critical. Going into Saturday's final pair of qualifying sessions three drivers currently in the elite eight are not qualified, Cruz Pedregon in Funny Car, Dave Connolly in Pro Stock and Tom Bradford in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Only Pedregon was not in the show going into the final qualifying round and he failed to make the show on his last run. Pedregon will still have 11 races to make up for lost ground in Atlanta.
FALLING OUT – The first racer in the elite eight for the Countdown to the Championship to fail to make the show in AtlantaHouston two races ago, also missed the cut in Funny Car. was Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Eddie Krawiec. The rookie racer failed to make the show in just his third start. Cruz Pedregon, who went to the final round in
SIMPSON AND SAFETY – Allen Bridges of Simpson Race Products noted a noticeable increase in safety concerns this season, even before the Eric Medlen tragedy in March.
"Since the beginning of last year the head and neck restraint device has been the biggest thing going on out here. It seems like more people are looking into that," said Bridges. "NHRA has mandated it for any driver going over 200-mph and next year their going to drop the speed down to 150-mph and below to finally get everybody in one. The selling of the HANS device has definitely increased this year. It's something racers need to look at anyway, so it’s a good thing that needs to be brought to everyone's attention.
"We've also gone to a new seven point belt which is mandated. It's a different way of putting them in the car, there bolted in so they're self aligning now. There going to be mandated for Top Fuel and fuel Funny Car and they all have to be in place by the race in Bristol. Right now we're just running wide open trying to get belts to everybody so they can get it done in time. It's made a noticeable difference. They drivers can tell that their tighter in the car than they ever were before. We're also testing all the helmets and padding trying to gather new data. We won't make any exact calls or changes until we've gathered all that data."
TOP FUEL
FULLER FILLS TOP SPOT – 'Hot Rod' Fuller qualified in the
No. 1 spot for the first time this season and the third time in his career with
a 4.506 at 326.71 mph.
"Crew chief Rob Flynn is awesome," said Fuller. "For us not to have a sponsor and come out here and do what we've done is amazing. We've qualified No. 1 and qualified in the top five all year and we're number one in the points. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Fuller will have a tough draw in round one on Sunday when he goes up against Doug Kalitta.
"This is exciting for our whole team. It's time to break a little jinx we have being the No. 1 qualifier. We've done it three times now. The first time we smoked the tires [lost traction] right at the hit [of the throttle]. The second time an oil line came off on the burnout and we didn't even make a pass. So hopefully the third time will be the charm for us. I feel like I've aged this year. We're under a tremendous amount of pressure to perform because we don't have a major sponsor and I don't know if people understand what it's like to race without really knowing what the future holds. All we can do is try our best to get attention for our team and the longer we stay No. 1 in the points the more media we'll get, so our mission has become very clear."
GOOD LUCK SYMBOL - Denny Fenstemaker served in the United
States Air Force as a munitions expert during the Vietnam War. He passed on a
tip to Vietnam Veterans/POW-MIA dragster driver Melanie Troxel during her
annual gathering of the veterans session today.
"Wear this on your boot," Fenstemaker said to Troxel as he handed her a safety pin from a bomb fuse. "You can use this as a good luck charm and something to keep you safe during your runs down the track."
Fenstemaker and his unit members wore the pins attached to the laces in their boots. Everyone in the group made it safely through their tours of duty.
"I hope it helps her to win a championship," Fenstemaker said.
KUCH COMFORTABLE – Veteran Top Fuel tuner Doug Kuch is enjoying his returning role as the crew chief on Doug Foley's Mach Accelerator-sponsored dragster. Kuch worked briefly last season with Doug Herbert after Foley was sidelined with injuries from an accident at an IHRA event. Kuch rejoined Foley for the 2007 season, and he couldn't be happier.
"These guys welcomed me back with open arms," said Kuch prior to qualifying. "I really appreciate the opportunity to come back. The crew does a great job and they work very hard for me, hopefully their glad to see me back."
Foley's funding is aimed at chasing an IHRA championship but the team plans to run 10 NHRA national events, including all the Torco events and the last two races in Las Vegas and Pomona.
"We're running well on the IHRA tour," added Kuch, "our goal is to win the championship and maybe get over here full time on the NHRA next year."
BRADY BLAZING IN 'HOTLANTA' – Life is good these days for
Top Fuel driver Brady Kalivoda. The Phoenix, Arizona resident entered the Southern Nationals fresh off
running his career-best elapsed time in Las
Vegas with a stunning 4.490 at 329.42 mph to qualify
second. Kalivoda continued his strong qualifying trend in his Pearl River
Resort/Silverstar Hotel & Casino/Golden Moon Hotel and Casino sponsored
dragster at Atlanta Dragway. He opened the weekend with a strong 4.564 to grab
the No. 2 spot in the first session. Then he improved to a 4.519 during the
Friday night session, despite a huge engine explosion just before the finish
line. He finished the first day of qualifying in the No. 3 position.
"The 4.51 had early numbers that showed it would have been better than the 4.49 in Vegas, but the fuse was just a little short," said Kalivoda. "As happy as we are with the 4.51 it should have been in the 4.40's, but for a small team like this, what hurt us was not missing qualifying No. 1 but the engine explosion. We've got good parts we just don't have a lot of them. So as exciting as that run was it hurt us a little bit."
Kalivoda said the team will sit out at least one session today. "I've never been fortunate enough to be in this position before so I'm thrilled," Kalivoda said. "I'm standing on the loud pedal the same darn way I always have but you can see what happens when you've got good people and good parts around you."
Mississippi residents Kim and Renee' Coghlan are the team owners on Kalivoda's dragster and their race shop is in Tennessee. "We've been working on this deal for close to eight months," explained Kalivoda.
"We thought we had a big deal to run the entire season
but it didn't quite pan out. It's tough to put these deals together so when
that didn't work out we started concentrating on 2008. In the meantime we
decided to put some stuff together to at least go racing here and there. What
you're seeing this weekend is a result of that. It seems like it came together
in the 11th hour just before Vegas, but we've been working on this for
awhile."
Kalivoda is hoping to run at least a half dozen NHRA races or more depending on how well they perform.
"We enjoy coming out here and mixing it up with the full time guys, I'm having the time of my life."
SUPERSTITIOUS, WHO'S SUPERSTITIOUS? – Doug Kalitta' seven year qualifying streak (164 races) ending in Las Vegas two weeks ago while he was running a special Chip Foose paint scheme on his Mac Tools dragster. But instead of going back to his regular bright red paint scheme, he stayed with the Foose design in Atlanta. Kalitta made the show in the No. 16 qualifying spot to start a new streak. So much for racers being superstitious.
MILLICAN DOES THE BUMP – Clay Millican used the final qualifying session to put the Knoll Gas Motorsports dragster into the 16-car field. The Tennessee native was not in the show when he pulled to the starting line for his last attempt. But crew chief Mike Kloeber gave Millican the muscle to qualify for Sunday's eliminations despite losing a blower belt near the end of the run.
"Not only did this Evan Knoll car go to the other end of the race track, it qualified thank goodness, but boy it was exciting," exclaimed Millican. "That was like bracket racing. I was coming up on the finish line and I don't know if the parachutes didn't open or the driver didn't pull the chutes or what happened. Thank goodness for carbon fiber brakes cause I was bouncing and screaming and yelling at the same time. Going 'yeah I qualified, hey I'm fixing to go in the sand trap, yeah I qualified, I'm going to hit the sand trap', but anyway I made the corner thank goodness."
Millican, a former Top Fuel runner-up in Atlanta, ended up in the No. 14 spot. It's the third time he's qualified this season.
Announcer Bob Frey added, "And Evan Knoll was at home saying, 'yeah, he qualified - now pull the chute."
FUNNY CAR
ASHLEY GOES BACK TO BACK – New Yorker Mike Ashley qualified
in the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive race with a 4.704 elapsed time.
Ashley also set top speed in qualifying with a new track record of 331.04 mph,
which was also faster than any Top Fuel car during qualifying. He is currently
7th in the elite eight in the Countdown to the Championship. Ashley will face
Tim Wilkerson in round one on Sunday.
"There's no substitute for experience, and I've got two crew chiefs who really compliment each other well in Brian Corradi and Mark Oswald. Plus, Mark actually tests our car for me and I don't think anyone else has a crew chief that also tests the car. Sometimes the computer doesn't tell you exactly what you feel in the driver's seat but Mark can overcome that problem because he's living it. What an advantage for us. We've been testing and testing and testing and we're not going to stop. When [sponsor] Evan Knoll and I talked about this team in the beginning we both agreed that we needed the budget to test a lot and he's backed up his word and allowed us to test every chance we get. It's an invaluable asset."
MORE COCKPIT CHANGES - Every team is approaching the cockpit
safety issues differently and Jeff Arend helped explain what the Checkers Schuck's
Kragen Funny Car team has done.
"To start off with, the Worsham's had about the biggest cage out here," explained the driver of the blue CSK Funny Car. "It also has a lot of that Butler padding in it, which is good. The biggest upgrade we did was with the seatbelt. We have a seven point seatbelt in it now. And we've kind of revised where we mount everything, so it seems to be working really well. The very first time we ran it a couple of races ago we had a little issue with it and then we had Trevor from Safety Solutions come over and told us where to mount the seven point stuff a little bit better, so we did and its perfect now. You actually feel really snug in the car. If there's anything that’s going to come from the Medlen tragedy is these cars are going to get safer and safer for everybody and thank God John Force and John Medlen are behind this whole deal trying to fix it up."
CRUZ CURSED – Funny Car driver Cruz Pedregon went into the
last qualifying session not in the show. He was the only Funny Car driver in
the Countdown to the Championship not in the field going into the final round
of qualifying. His fell short of the bump spot. Fortunately, Pedregon's brother
Tony made the field despite losing a new Chevy Impala body on his first run and
suffering an engine explosion on the next run on Friday.
TESTING, TESTING – Mike Ashley's Torco Race Fuels/Lucas Oil Funny Car is the faster flopper in the world. What makes it so amazing is the fact that he never tests in the car.
"We have two other cars that we use to test new stuff with," said Ashley. "Our current car is running so well that we don't want to do anything to mess it up and disturb the sweet spot we're running in. We try any new ideas on the test vehicles and then eventually apply it to our regular race car."
FORCE VS FORCE – It only took six races for the most anticipated match-up of the year to take place in Funny Car. Ashley Force will race her father John in round one of eliminations on Sunday. Ashley out-qualified her dad with a 4.746 at 316.60 mph to take the 5th spot. John, coming off of his first DNQ since 1987, qualified 12th with a 4.785 at 311.99 mph. Ashley will have lane choice over her father.
PRO STOCK
ANDERSON
ON TOP AGAIN – Greg Anderson
qualified his Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac GTO No. 1 for the 54th time in
his career and the third time this season with a track record of 6.627 at
208.71 mph. Anderson has won twice this year from the top
spot but he may have to race his teammate and defending NHRA champion, Jason
Line if they both reach the semifinals.
"We're definitely proud of the job crew chief Rob Downing and all the guys have done," said Anderson. "All of my guys from my engine shop in Charlotte, North Carolina are down here this weekend and I'm so proud of them and they ought to be proud watching our two cars out here. It's just tremendous what kind of power we've got under the hoods of these cars and those guys are responsible for it. I can't thank them enough. We've made really good runs every time down the track and that's the first time I've been able to say that all year. I guess we started with a tune-up that's pretty close to what the track wanted. I've got a lot of history at this track and I certainly feel like I've paid my dues here with all the testing we've done over the years, both with Warren and Kurt [Johnson, his former employers] and with our KB Racing team.
"I feel like I know this place better than most. We
feel good. I think we’ve made the four most consistent qualifying runs that
we’ve made at any race so far this season. That’s more our normal M.O. We’re
back to consistency, which I think is very important. At the first five races
this year we struggled in qualifying. It seems like we’ve figured it out. I
think we have a strong one-two punch and that’s great. We’re looking for
another strong effort in front of our sponsors and our hometown. We’re having a
ball and a lot of fun and hopefully we can have a big day tomorrow.”
Line qualified in the No. 4 spot with a solid 6.655 at 207.91 mph, and also had the quickest run of the final session with a 6.659.
MAKES SENSE TO US – Bob Frey announced to the Atlanta crowd on how Warren Johnson earned the nickname 'The Professor'. "'Grumpy' was already taken by Bill Jenkins," said Frey.
CONNOLLY SLAMS ONE – Dave Connolly entered Saturday's qualifying not in the 16-car field but that changed quickly. Connolly, who came into the race third in the Countdown to the Championship, laid down a 6.655 at 206.61 mph to qualify the Torco Race Fuels/Slammers Cobalt solidly in the No. 5 position. "We came out this morning and laid down a pretty good lap," said Connolly. "I have a lot of confidence in this whole team. I knew the guys could pull one through so I think we're good to go."
MORGAN MUSES – Larry Morgan is always funny and his top end interviews can rival even John Force for hilarious moments. Atlanta was no different for the Ohio-based racer. "We made a pretty good run that time," said Morgan after his making his quickest run of the weekend with a 6.678.
"I guess you can't fix stupid," Morgan said. "I think we're a little bit heavy, we put new clutch discs in and we weren't really counting on this run being a good one. But we did well and we're pretty happy. Getting that Lucas Oil car out here is all that matters."
KORETSKY'S BURNOUT CONTEST – Kenny Koretsky's Indicom Electric Company/Nitro Fish Chevy Cobalt ran next to his friend Larry Morgan during the third qualifying session. The pair unknowingly held their own personal burnout contest prior to their run.
"It's always fun to run Larry," said Koretsky. "We were trying to see who can do the longest burnout, and I think I won and I beat him to the finish line too."
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
SAMPEY HAS HER SAY – Angelle Sampey became the third rider
to break into the six-second zone right after Chip Ellis with a track record
6.976 at 191.59 mph. What was the difference? Sampey's run was good enough to
grab the No. 1 qualifying spot. "My Army Suzuki went straight off the line
and as soon as it did that I knew it was a good run. Thanks to my crew chief
Steve Tartaglia and Paul Gast we were able to get this bike to go
straight." Sampey held on to grab her second pole of the season and 41st
of her career. Her qualifying streak now stands at 153, the longest in drag
racing. "It's always great to qualify number one," said Sampey after
her final run. "That was our first goal of the weekend, I just wish Antron
(Brown) could be right next to me. It really doesn't matter on raceday it's a
whole different story. I'll try to keep my head on straight. I have the team to
do it and we have the Suzuki's to do it. We have everything we need we just
need to do a good job racing and hopefully we'll bring home the win
tomorrow."
ELLIS GETS SIX – Chip Ellis became the second rider to break into the six second zone in Pro Stock Motorcycle at Atlanta Dragway. What made his 6.983-second run even more impressive was that he did it during the middle of the day. "Thanks to my crew," said an excited Ellis after the run. "We've been working really hard this morning. We got here and decided to change engines and thank you Jesus, it paid off. Thank you to the guys in the truck, we're going to go get them."
TENSION TIME - Three Pro Stock Motorcycle riders currently in the elite eight in the Countdown to the Championship were close to not making the field for Sunday going into the final round of qualifying. Eddie Krawiec was on the outside looking in 17th, while Tom Bradford was on the bubble in 16th and Chris Rivas was 15th. Krawiec, riding a 2007 V-Rod Screamin' Eagle/Vance and Hines Harley Davidson, ran a 7.121 but failed to make the show in just his third NHRA start. "Qualifying streaks come to an end and unfortunately mine ended at two," said Krawiec with a smile. "The bike runs great, I'm a new guy and it's a little bit of a learning curve."
Bradford failed to improve on his last run and remained on the bump spot for the 16-bike field. Rivas also failed to improve and stayed in 15th.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK
WHAT RAIN? - The scattered showers that were predicted for
the Atlanta Dragway area never materialized on Friday. Beautiful blue skies, a
few clouds and comfortable 70-degree temperatures made for a great day at the
races for everyone.
RIGHT LANE BLUES - The right lane proved to be tough to handle during the opening round of professional qualifying. A large number of vehicles running in the right lane pulled toward the guardwall off the starting line and were forced to abort their runs.
TOP FUEL
FULLER FIRST – Rod Fuller grab the provisional No. 1
qualifying position on Friday with a 4.506 at 326.71 mph during the second
qualifying session. "This is a 4.40 race car," said Fuller, "but
you can't go up there tuned for a 4.46 and make it down the track. We did what
we had to do and a 4.50 is nothing to complain about. Last week I was at a
division race in Vegas tuning a Super Comp car, so its cool to drive a Top Fuel
car today."
JON STEWART JOINS EVAN KNOLL - Evan Knoll has hired clutch specialist John Stewart to serve multiple teams for his Knoll Gas Racing empire. Stewart's primary focus will be with Mike Kloeber and the Clay Millican-driven entry, and he is also expected to help Top Fuel racer Scotty Cannon.
"I have a lot of respect for the guy,'" said Knoll, the owner of Torco Race Fuels. "I certainly see the level of talent he brings to the table. John is yet another key addition to the network we are building under the Knoll Gas Motorsports umbrella. He's going to be a great addition to the program."
Millican was pleased with the addition.
"John is going to be here along with all of the Knoll Gas/Torco Race teams, kind of checking in on everybody and I think it's awesome. The more eyes, the more brain power, just makes it better."
RATT RUMOR - The rumor that the 1980's rock band 'Ratt' will be coming on board as an associate sponsor on Clay Millican's Knoll Gas dragster was neither confirmed nor denied by Millican, a former Top Fuel finalist at Atlanta.
"I keep hearing that," was all the smiling Tennessee native would say about the subject.
SNAP-ON STRUGGLES - By his own admission, 2007 has been a disastrous year for Snap-on Tools driver Doug Herbert. After three DNQ's and two first round losses, Herbert's chances for making the Chase to the Championship look bleak. That trend continued in Atlanta, where Herbert oiled the track on his first qualifying run, a solid 4.593 at 303.78 mph. Afterwards, Herbert said, "Not too bad, we're happy with that but I'm not very happy with putting a little oil on the track. Our performance the last couple of races has definitely not been what we want but we've got to make the show on Sunday, that's what's important." Herbert may have cured a lot of his recent troubles on his second qualifying run Friday when he recorded his best run of the season, a 4.502 at 321.04 mph to grab the No. 2 spot.
FUNNY CAR
HAULIN' ASHLEY - Mike Ashley, who qualified No. 1 for the
first time at the most recent NHRA event in Las Vegas, made an impressive run
during Friday's night session. Ashley crushed the previous Atlanta Dragway
Funny Car track record (329.83-mph) with a speed of 331.04 mph at 4.704 seconds
in his Torco Race Fuels/Lucas Oil Dodge Charger to thunder into the No. 1
qualifying position.
Ashley made the fastest Funny Car run in NHRA history two weeks ago with a 334.32 mph run at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. However, he was unable to back it up within one percent at the same event to establish a national record.
"When you make No.1 qualifier once, it shows you have potential. When you do it
twice in a row, it means you've found consistency," Ashley said.
"I have
to tip my hat to Brian Corradi and the whole crew - these guys work tirelessly.
After Vegas, the guys stayed over on Monday and tested to try to figure out what
happened on race day. Then, they packed everything up and headed to Indy where
they spent another whole day the following Monday working on different setups,
trying to simulate race-day conditions," he said.
"We've found a few
things with the clutch that have really worked out well, and now we're just
focusing on staying consistently fast. It's really the only way to compete with
the other teams out there, and we have found a great combination.
"Now
we just have to take it through race day," Ashley said.
COCKPIT CH-CH-CH-CHANGES - Lucas Oil Funny Car driver Tony
Bartone is one of many drivers who is making changes inside his driver
compartment following Eric Medlen's incident last month.
"We've beefed up the head support padding with the Butler System," said Bartone, "and we're working on a new style of Crow Enterprises seat belts to try and give the driver some more stability in the seat. We're also in the process of adding the shield to the rear of the roll cage to protect the driver's head. The changes have not impaired me or made me uncomfortable in any manner, shape or form."
Bartone had a tire shred in the lights at the most recent event in Las Vegas but emerged unscathed.
"As bad as it was vibrating I was lucky," said Bartone. "We run a Plueger chassis which I guess is less flexible than some of the other chassis, so I wasn't beat up in the car as bad as I could have been. When the tire let go my right arm took a beating from the roll cage. Other than that I was okay."
Bartone is currently 14th in the field.
PEDREGON'S BODY ISSUES - Tony Pedregon's No. 3 qualifying
effort of 4.876 at 298.21 mph had a dramatic ending. Pedregon experienced a
wild ride at the top end which virtually made his new Q Power-sponsored Chevy
Impala body unusable.
"It was our first run with the new Impala body," said Pedregon, who is currently third in the POWERade point chase. "Visually I was very comfortable and it went straight as an arrow. The problem occurred with the mounting of the body. We didn't really have the conditions to test it anywhere. We had planned on running it a couple of races ago but just didn't have the right circumstances. So we felt that we would be able to put it on here and it wouldn't be a big issue. But what happened was the body collapsed in the front end," explained Pedregon.
"Apparently there probably weren't supports where they needed to be. Of course, that set off a chain reaction. When it collapsed the front, it must have broke that section right in front of the injector, shoving that and hanging the throttle open. It was a very good run but when I went to shut it off it wasn't shutting off and that was probably the scariest part of the run; being off the throttle and looking for the chutes and running at the 1500-foot mark under full power.
"Fortunately one parachute came out, but what really shut the car off was it went lean because it ran out of fuel and it popped the blower. That did a little more damage but most of it was done because the body collapsed. It may be salvageable, but at this point we'll have to go back to our Monte Carlo body, which we've won races with and set the national record. Its just collateral damage, we're going to have to look at what caused the problem and fix that and address it with our new bodies that we'll get a few months from now."
On his second run Friday night Pedregon experienced more trouble when his car suffered parts failure and erupted into flames past the finish line.
"We just had a little parts failure but it still ran good," said Pedregon after the second run. "We've hurt a lot of parts and not ran good so I've got to look at the bright side of things. We've got a lot of depth and a good crew and we can get it fixed. We're going to put on a good show for these people." Pedregon finished the day qualified in the No. 4 spot.
CAPPS ON CAPPS - Brut Revolution Funny Car driver Ron Capps
enjoyed a somewhat nerve racking time last weekend. Capps' younger brother,
Jon, qualified No. 1 and reached the final round at the IHRA event in North
Carolina in just his third race in a fuel Funny Car. His older brother was on pins
and needles all weekend as he kept track of his brother on the Internet and by
cell phone.
"I was a nervous wreck at home," said Capps, "my mom and dad were visiting and we were surfing all the drag racing websites trying to get as many quick updates as we could. I was waiting for his phone call but I had people text messaging me from the track. I tried to stay back and not be a distraction. I was going to go to his first race in San Antonio and I said 'you know I need to stay back and let him do his deal.' I've had to stay home and it's not been fun. I really look forward to going to another race. He's qualified No. 1 and been to a final. So now I can go hang out and be Jon's brother."
NOT THE HELMET AGAIN - Ron Capps continues to have problems with his helmet. After having a problem in Houston, Capps had helmet issues again during his second qualifying run on Friday night. "There's so much clutch dust in these cars," said Capps, "it just coated my eyes. I was almost to the finish line and all of a sudden I felt kind of a low pressure in my helmet. I think the tube in the back might have come off. It just filled up the helmet with clutch dust, so I was breathing it in and it all got in my eyes. The cool part is we have some of the best guys down here at the top end. The doctor jumped right in and washed it all out of my eyes. Thank God they're down here; we've got the best in the business. I'm fine, I'll go back and put some more stuff in my eyes. The doctor pulled a ton of clutch material out of my eyes and hopefully it didn't scratch them too bad."
WORKING HIS WAY BACK - Losing his qualifying streak hasn't quieted John Force one iota. He inched his way into the field on Friday evening with a flame-throwing 4.785 elapsed time.
"It's just like the old days when I was match racing down here with Raymond Beadle and Kenny Bernstein," said Force. "I sucked back then. I just worked my way back to sucking again."
Force is currently 12th.
PRO STOCK
ANDERSON GRABS TOP SPOT - Defending POWERade Pro Stock
champion Greg Anderson reset both ends of the track record with a No. 1
qualifying pass of 6.627 at 208 mph during Friday's evening session. "We
can work with that," said Anderson nonchalantly over the PA system after
the run. His Summit racing Equipment teammate, Jason Line, qualified in the No.
4 position with a 6.655 at 207.91 mph.
WINDHAM WOUND UP - Pro Stock competitor Bill Windham made a highlight reel run during qualifying in Las Vegas, putting his Chevy Cobalt up on two wheels after getting out of the groove and nearly crashing his car. But after a great save in Vegas, he's back in Atlanta ready to go again with a lot more confidence. "I'm excited to be here," said Windham, "I've never been to the Atlanta track before. The first time going down a new track in Pro Stock car, I'm pretty pumped up. The episode we had at Vegas was a learning experience for me. We tested a lot in St. Louis the past week. I probably made 16 to 17 runs and I'm getting real comfortable in the car. It's been a week to reflect on what's taken place so far. We're going to go out here and work on some fundamentals this weekend and we feel pretty good about our chances." Windham, who receives major sponsored from National Tire and Battery and associate sponsorship from CSK Wholesale Proshops, Monroe Shocks and American Racing, is working on several additional associate sponsors right now. "We'll have an announcement in about two weeks," said Windham.
CAPTAIN CHAOS TWICE AS NICE - Pro Stock racer Kenny Koretsky
is enjoying the two-car team concept that he is running this season. "Up
until this point we've been teaching and training Bill (Windham) to drive the
new race car," explained Koretsky. "Once he gets more testing under
his belt and runs in the car it's going to make us better as a team. Maybe we
can learn from his information and I can learn from him. Right now our driving
styles are a little different. Bill's a good guy, he's great with the sponsors
and he's going to do well. We're excited. We've got great sponsorship here with
Big O Tire, Chevrolet and Motel 6. Bill is going to be a great asset to the
sport." Koretsky's long time crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia Jr., will oversee
both Pro Stock cars with help from Tommy Lane, who used to work with Dave
Howard and was Koretsky's crew chief at the end of last season. Koretsky
qualified his Indicom Electric/Nitro Fish Cobalt 6th with a solid 6.666 at
206.48 mph. Windham is not in the 16-car field, qualified 26th with an off-pace
6.860 at 196.85 mph.
FASTER FISH - Kenny Koretsky also mentioned news about Nitro Fish running in Top Fuel. "When we did the deal with Evan Knoll," said Koretsky, "one of the most important things was to keep the whole (Clay Millican) team intact and keep Nitro Fish involved because Evan really likes the Nitro Fish brand." After selling his Top Fuel team Koretsky's still involved with their development. "Torco Race Fuels is on both of our Pro Stock cars and Evan's a big supporter of ours. His clothing brand, Skull Gear, and Nitro Fish are kind of like the same atmosphere and it's worked out real well. Nitro Fish has been on Clay Millican's car all year but now it's going to be featured on the spill plate. We want to really push it and start selling the brand."
PRO STOCK BIKE
STEVE JOHNSON'S PREPETUAL MOTION - Snap-on Pro Stock
Motorcycle rider Steve Johnson has been going non-stop for three weeks since
his last NHRA race in Houston. "We went to a number of schools in Oklahoma
City," said the energetic Johnson, "talking with students about
racing and how it ties in with education and chasing a career, including going
to a tech school like Wyotech. We also went to a Skills USA competition in
Birmingham, Alabama, where we actually kicked off the awards ceremony in front
of 2500 students and their parents. Then we went to Talladega to the
Motorsports Hall of Fame dinner last night and watch Warren Johnson get
introducted. I was able to share a table with 3-time GP world champion
motorcycle racer Wayne Rainey and his family and that was a real honor for me.
Wayne is a quadriplegic from a motorcycle racing accident and he's a huge
inspiration. It was a big deal for me. This morning we're going to the YES
program again. Everyday we're breathing, living and loving life."
We have not had a lot of success at Atlanta," continued Johnson. "We've tested in the last three weeks. When I was in Oklahoma for two days and I flew to Valdosta, Georgia, and we tested. Now I'm ready to see what (crew chief) Mark Peiser has in store for us. We've changed a lot of things on the motorcycle so we're going to see what this Snap-on Suzuki can do this weekend." Johnson ran a best of 7.105 at 187.63 to end the day in the No, 10 position.
GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS - With three females currently in the
POWERade Top 10 in Pro Stock Motorcycle, Peggy Llewellyn is thrilled to be one
of the ladies leading the charge. "It's exciting for me and for the
fans," said a smiling Llewellyn. "It helps the sport expand and
hopefully will get more girls who want to compete in motorcycle. It's not just
only men, women can compete and do well too." Llewellyn has been working
hard on herself since Houston. "Train, train, train, with my sports
trainer," said Llewellyn recalling her three week lay off. "I've
really noticed a difference as far as riding the motorcycle and focusing, it
has helped me tremendously. I've also spent time watching my videos and doing a
lot of mental runs." Llewellyn qualified in the No. 3 spot on Friday with
a stout 7.055 at 186.67 mph.
MATT SMITH MOONWALKER - Matt Smith is currently third in the POWERade points standings after two races and the King, North Carolina, resident couldn't be happier. "We're on the moon." said Smith. "We're very, very happy. This thing is all about going rounds and being in the position after Indianapolis to be in the Countdown to the Championship. That's the reality. That takes a plan and we have the team to implement the plan."
Smith reset the Atlanta Dragway Pro Stock Motorcycle track record during the first qualifying session with a 7.017 at 187.00 mph. That was pretty fast," said Smith. "I just want to thank Evan Knoll, Torco, Red Line Oil and Mac Tools for their support." Smith returned to make the first six-second Pro Stock Motorcycle run in Atlanta Dragway history, running a 6.988 elapsed time to end the first day of qualifying in the No. 1 position.
CHIP ELLIS ALWAYS READY TO RIDE - Chip Ellis may not be in
the POWERade Top 10 right now, but you couldn't tell by talking him prior to
competition at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. "We've
been working hard at the shop trying to get our Drag
Specialties/S&S-powered Buell back on track," said Ellis confidently. With
three weeks since his last race Ellis has stayed busy. "I've been working
to get myself back on track, riding dirt bikes and hanging out with the family.
We've done a lot of testing down at South Georgia Motorsports Park. I've
probably made 35 runs since Houston. I just like riding a bike whether it's
testing or here at a national event. I've had my fair share of riding while
we've been off, so 
it's been fine for me. Mainly we've been working on reaction
times and trying to get myself more consistent and it's been paying off. I'm
really looking forward to this weekend, we have a fast bike and we know it's
capable of winning."
This is a home race for us," said Ellis. "All our friends are here, we're from nearby Americus, Georgia. We can still go out here and have some fun and see what this Drag Specialties/S&S powered Buell can do today." Ellis ended the first day of qualifying in the No. 6 position with a best of 7.080 at 187.16 mph.
HANGING WITH ANGELLE - Angelle Sampey's 7.063 during the second qualifying session may have looked good on paper, but Angelle was far from happy with the run. "When I took off and left the starting line the bike went crooked again and I had to hang off of it the whole way down the track," said Sampey. "That is not fun. It's not fun going from zero to 100-mph in 1.8-seconds hanging off the side of the motorcycle. Maybe we can get this Army Suzuki to go straight and I think we can have a much better time that that." Sampey is currently qualified in the No. 4 spot.
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK
LIQUID SUNSHINE - No matter what time of year they hold the Southern Nationals, it seems like it always rains at some point during the weekend. At this weekend's 27th annual running of the event it rained Thursday morning, cutting into Sportsman qualifying. The light rain was just enough to keep the cars off the track and frustrate the Safety Safari. Racing finally resumed just past noon. The forecast for the rest of the weekend calls for drier weather with temperatures in the 80-degree range.
TOP FUEL
RALLY TIME - After uncharacteristically struggling for the first five races in 2007, six-time IHRA Top Fuel champion Clay Millican realizes it's time for his Knoll-Gas Motorsports/Torco Racing Fuels Top Fuel Dragster to start winning rounds. "It's been very aggravating," said Millican, who has two DNQ's and only one round win so far this season. "Our traditional way has always been to go up and down racetracks. We've always been consistent. Certainly none of us expected to have this kind of start. We had a good test session at Las Vegas (April 16) and Mike (Kloeber) thinks we might have found something in the clutch area. All we need to do is go out and step on the gas and see if it works. Evan Knoll wants us to keep testing, so we'll keep running the car until we figure out how to turn on a win light."
REDEMPTION - Doug Kalitta will be looking to rebound in Atlanta from his DNQ at the last race in Las Vegas, his first since Phoenix in 2000. "I'm not worried about our Mac Tools team," said the 42-year-old former open-wheel standout. "We have some great folks and some great leadership, so I'm sure we'll be okay. We've had quite our fair share of turmoil this year so far, so hopefully now the luck will be swinging back in our favor.” Former Mac Tools crew chief, Rahn Tobler, left the Kalitta team prior to the Las Vegas event and joined the Morgan Lucas Top Fuel team.
JUST ONE - Tony Schumacher has had an illustrious career in Top Fuel with 36 national event victories in the class. But Atlanta Dragway is one of just five tracks where 'The Sarge' has yet to visit the winner's circle. "I can't explain it," said the Chicago native. "As it's often said, though, there's a first time for everything. We managed to win in St. Louis last season for the first time, so maybe it will be our year in Atlanta this time."
FUNNY CAR
IMMOVABLE FORCE - John Force Racing is ready to get back to business after an emotional month dealing with the death of teammate Eric Medlen. "Now that we've had a few weeks," Ashley Force said during an April 10 teleconference. "We're getting through it. You kind of have to look forward to your next step. Me personally, I did a lot of thinking and thought 'do I love racing enough to get back in the car?' Dad was good, he let me go off on my own - I came back and said 'I still do love racing. I want to get back in the car. I want to do it."
John Force said, "I need to get back to the racetrack. I need to get out there with these people and do what I do. That's the only way I'm going to get well."
NEW IMPALA - Racebricks/Torco Racing Fuels Funny Car driver Gary Densham will debut a new body on his car in Atlanta. Densham's ride will sport a brand new Chevy Impala body at the Southern Nationals. "General Motors spent a lot of money in both time and wind tunnel testing on the new Impala," said Densham. "This is one sleek machine that will put us right up there with everyone else. We've had the body for a while but we wanted to be sure we had the performance numbers down the track first before we put it on the chassis."
PRO STOCK
THREE-PEAT - Red-hot Pro Stock driver Jeg Coughlin enters the Southern Nationals looking for his third consecutive No. 1 qualifying effort. Coughlin qualified No. 1 at the last two races in Houston and Las Vegas and has 10 career pole positions in 195 starts. It's the second time he has been No. 1 (Dallas and Pomona in 2000) at back-to-back races. Atlanta is special for Jeg. He won his first national event here in Competition Eliminator in 1997, the same year he set an NHRA record by winning a national event in four different categories: Comp Eliminator, Pro Stock, super Stock and Super Gas, a record that still stands today. Jeg also won Atlanta in Pro Stock in 2000. He is currently fourth in the 2007 Pro Stock point standings.
HE'S IN THE ALL - Prior to competing at this weekend's NHRA Southern Nationals, Warren Johnson will receive a huge honor. The six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion will be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talledega, Alabama, prior to the race on Wednesday. "I am proud to be a part of this year's class," said Johnson. "Considering the caliber of people being inducted along side of me, as well as those admitted before me, this is certainly an honor, and one I would not miss."
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
FASTER, FASTER - After an exceptional testing session at Darlington Raceway, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Matt Smith is ready to race. In the three weeks since his last race Smith has stayed busy. "We have tested a lot of things during the last several weeks," said Smith. "We tested at Darlington last week and had an incredible 1.056 60-foot time and ran a 6.95 elapsed time. I was blown away. The track was the roughest I've ever raced on, so these numbers were astounding. However, we changed a few more things and the Buell went out and clocked a 1.039 60-foot time. I was speechless. I can't wait to get to Atlanta and run."
FAHGETTABOUTIT - Popular Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Karen Stoffer is likely eager to return to the quarter-mile in Atlanta. After winning the Pro Bike season-opener in Gainesville, Stoffer unexpectedly fouled away her chances for a back-to-back victory at the next race in Houston. "It was a tough race for us," said Stoffer, who is currently second in the point standings. "I've been working really hard to make sure it doesn't happen again and the team has been working very hard on the motorcycle. We can't wait to get back to the track and get another shot."
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
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| THURSDAY, April 26, 2007 | |
| Spectator Gates Open | 8:00 AM |
| Registration and Tech Inspection continues (all categories) | 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM |
| Sportsman Qualifying | 9:00 AM |
| Dart Dash Qualifying | 2 & 4:30 PM |
| Comp Eliminator Qualifying Session | 4:00 PM |
| Secure Track | 6:00 PM |
| FRIDAY, April 27, 2007 | |
| Spectator Gates Open | 7:30 AM |
| Final Registration and Tech Inspection (Pro's, TAD/TAFC & Comp only) |
8:30 AM - 12:00 PM |
| Sportsman Qualifying/Eliminations | 9:00 AM |
| Dart Dash Qualifying | 11:30 AM |
| Comp Eliminator Qualifying Session | 12:00 PM |
| Top Alcohol Qualifying Session (Funny Car/Dragster) | 2:00 PM |
| Comp Eliminator Qualifying Session | 2:45 PM |
| Pro Mod Qualifying Session | 3:15 PM |
| Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle/PS Car) | 3:30 PM |
| Nitro Qualifying Session (Funny Car/Top Fuel Dragster) | 4:30 PM |
| Top Alcohol Qualifying Session (Funny Car/Dragster) | 5:30 PM |
| Pro Mod Qualifying Session | 6:15 PM |
| Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle/PS Car) | 6:30 PM |
| Nitro Qualifying Session (Funny Car/Top Fuel Dragster) | 7:30 PM |
| Secure Track | 9:00 PM |
| SATURDAY, April 28, 2007 | |
| Spectator Gates Open | 7:30 AM |
| Sportsman Eliminations | 8:00 AM |
| Dart Dash Eliminations | 10:00 AM |
| Comp Eliminator Qualifying Session | 10:30 AM |
| Pro Mod Qualifying Session | 11:15 AM |
| Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle/PS Car) | 11:30 AM |
| Nitro Qualifying Session (Top Fuel Dragster/Funny Car) | 12:30 PM |
| Top Alcohol Qualifying Session (Funny Car/Dragster) | 1:30 PM |
| Pro Mod - Round 1 | 2:15 PM |
| Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle/PS Car) | 2:30 PM |
| Nitro Qualifying Session (Top Fuel Dragster/Funny Car) | 3:30 PM |
| Top Alcohol (Funny Car/Dragster) Round 1 | 4:30 PM |
| Secure Track | 7:00 PM |
| SUNDAY, April 29, 2007 | |
| Spectator Gates Open | 7:30 AM |
| Sportsman Eliminations (including Dart Dash) | 9:00 AM |
| Pre-Race Ceremonies | 10:00 AM |
| Final Eliminations | 11:00 AM |
| Secure Event | 4:30 PM |
