Saturday's Scenes From Seattle
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Sportsman racers filled the staging lanes early in the day when they began eliminations at the 25th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries. |
Three-time Top Alcohol Dragster national event winner Shawn Cowie, right, who was critically injured when an out-of-control vehicle struck his motorcycle in Nashville, Tenn., on April 9, 2011, spent time with Brian Hough’s Top Alcohol Funny Car team while he continues to recover with an upcoming knee surgery scheduled. He and wife Taylor married on June 30. |
Annie Whiteley became the second woman to qualify No. 1 in the Top Alcohol Funny Car category (Bunny Burkett qualified No. 1 when she won the Reading event 26 years ago in a field that contained Frank Manzo, Bob Newberry, Vern Moats, and Pat Austin). Whiteley led all three qualifying sessions with a pair of 5.52s on Friday and a 5.60 this morning. |
Shawn Langdon made the quickest pass of the first Top Fuel session on Saturday at 3.84 seconds. Al-Anabi Racing teammate Khalid alBalooshi followed closely with a 3.85. |
Tony Pedregon rebounded from what’s been a rough Western Swing. The driver of the K-LOVE Toyota Camry Funny Car jumped to the middle of the field with a 4.18, the third-quickest pass of the early Saturday session. |
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Big O Tires/SpeeDee driver Johnny Gray made the best run of the day with a 4.14 in the third Funny Car session. The Sonoma winner is looking to win two consecutive races for the first time in his career. |
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(Above) By qualifying seventh this weekend with a best of 6.599, V. Gaines, who was as far back as 18th in Atlanta, moved into a three-way tie with Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Ronnie Humphrey for ninth place in the Pro Stock standings.
(Left) The steadily improving Warren Johnson qualified in the top half of the field for the second Pro Stock race in a row; he matched Gaines’ time of 6.599 and ended up in the No. 8 position by virtue of a slightly slower speed.
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Even though the heat kept Greg Anderson (pictured) and his teammate, Jason Line, from moving up in the Pro Stock qualifying order, Anderson had the second-quickest run of the third session with a 6.58, and Line was second quickest in the fourth round with a 6.603. |
We’ll have to wait until Sunday’s eliminations to see if Allen Johnson sweeps the Western Swing in Pro Stock, but the Dodge Hemi campaigner has already made drag racing history when he became the first driver to post the quickest time in all 12 qualifying sessions of the fabled three-race series since the bonus qualifying points system was implemented in the latter half of the 2009 season. |
Steve Chrisman bounced back from his Sonoma DNQ to put his Nitro Fish Top Fuel dragster in the No. 14 position with a 4.17. He will race Steve Torrence in the opening round. |
Doug Kalitta once again had one of the most consistent car during Top Fuel qualifying. The Technicoat driver made four runs between 3.85 and 3.90 and will pick his lane over Brandon Bernstein from the No. 7 spot. |
Antron Brown was on pace to make the best run of the event on Friday in Top Fuel before dropping a cylinder at 3.1 seconds on his 3.84. The No. 5-qualified Matco Tools driver showed his stuff in the final session with a 3.85 that easily paced the field during the warmest point of the event. |
Jeff “the Surfer” Diehl hung on to the No. 16 spot in the Funny Car field. In his top-end interview, an emotional Diehl said, “People don’t even understand. We can’t afford to eat at McDonald’s if we don’t qualify. This is like a win for us until we can get to the level of the guys who win races.” |
Tim Wilkerson was the only driver to bump into the top half of the field in Funny Car with an impressive run during the final qualifying session. The defending event champ drove the Diversified Yacht Services Ford Mustang to a 4.17, which trailed only Cruz Pedregon’s 4.15 during that round. |