Saturday's Houston Happenings
Saturday, April 28, 2012
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Welcome to day two of the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries. Royal Purple Raceway has welcomed a pit area packed with eager Texas race fans, who are taking advantage of warm weather to soak up one-on-one time with NHRA's Pro drivers.
Sportsman qualifying and eliminations opened the day and will lead up to the final two Full Throttle qualifying sessions, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. to set the fields for Sunday's final eliminations. |
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(Above) The new Aaron's display in Nitro Alley attracted a large crowd this morning eager to meet the Aaron's Lucky Dog and collect free T-shirts and hats and to get more information about the nation’s leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances, and accessories.
(Left) Local Pro Stock hero Erica Enders signed autographs for her fans, who are hoping she'll score a historic victory in her hometown as the first woman to win in the factory hot rod class. |
Star Racing owners George and Jackie Bryce welcomed their Hungary-based Sovereign Racing partner Jeno Rujp, right, to Houston. The Bryces helped Rujp's team win the 2011 UEM European Drag Racing Pro Stock Motorcycle championship, and he brought the trophy. John Hall and Scotty Pollacheck are riding for the team this weekend. Both riders are currently qualified in the Pro Stock Motorcycle field. |
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[11:50 a.m.] Hector Arana Sr. (above) raced his Lucas Oil Buell to the top of the qualifying charts in Pro Stock Motorcycle's third qualifying session, running a 6.852 to take the No. 1 spot from the Harley team, which struggled in the session and did not have a top-three time.
Arana's run puts him within a few thousandths of a second of the track record, which LE Tonglet set last year at 6.849.
Scotty Pollacheck (right) rode his Sovereign/Star Racing Buell to the No. 2 spot with a 6.871. Hector Arana Jr. had the third-best run, a 6.884, which qualified him fourth behind incoming qualifying leader Eddie Krawiec, who ran just 6.888 in the session. |
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[12:15 p.m.] Jason Line had the best pass of the third Pro Stock session, a 6.554, but couldn't surpass incoming leader Allen Johnson's 6.546 or his own 6.550, both recorded Friday. Johnson's 6.563 was the second-quickest pass of the round, and Greg Anderson's 6.575 -- one of three recorded in the session -- was third-quickest, based on speed, 211.00, compared to 210.77 for Vincent Nobile and 210.64 for Erica Enders. |
[12:45 p.m.] Antron Brown entered the third Top Fuel session on the outside looking in, but a strong 3.845 has all but assured that the Matco Tools driver will qualify for his 75th straight race.
Brown's run was best of the round and placed him sixth. Morgan Lucas (3.772) still leads the field.
Brown, who won his first Top Fuel national event title at this event in 2008, has the third-longest qualifying streak among active Top Fuel drivers, behind teammate Tony Schumacher (205) and Brandon Bernstein (110).
In addition to winning the Top Fuel title here in 2008, he was runner-up in 2010 in Top Fuel and in 2004 on a Pro Stock Motorcycle. He qualified No. 1 with his dragster in 2009 and on the motorcycle in 2001. |
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[1:20 p.m.] Jack Beckman entered Saturday not qualified. He squeaked in on the bump spot with a 5.07, then was bumped again from the show, putting in jeopardy his streak of 87 straight successful qualifying outings, which is tops among all active Funny Car drivers. He has good company: Mike Neff, who has qualified at 55 straight, also is not yet qualified with just one session remaining. |
[1:35 p.m.] Robert Hight and the AAA of Texas Mustang had the best pass of the third Funny Car qualifying session, a 4.140 that ranks him sixth in the field. Cruz Pedregon remains atop the pack with his Friday 4.103. Bonus points also went to Ron Capps (4.166) and Alexis DeJoria (4.183) for the round's next-best times. |
As always, there are plenty of free samples of Full Throttle for thirsty race fans. |
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With a quick turnaround between qualifying sessions, work was frantic in the Funny Car pits.
Bob Bode (above) thrashed on the engine of his Stupid Fast Apparel entry, and crew chief Lee Beard and driver Cruz Pedregon (right) warmed up their field-leading Snap-on Toyota. |
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[2:50 p.m.] Jerry Savoie and crew chief Mark Peiser eked their White Alligator Racing Buell into the Pro Stock Motorcycle field with a 7.018, good for the No. 14 spot; they'll face world champ Eddie Krawiec in round one. |
[3 p.m.] Steve Kent, who calls nearby Lottie, La., home, improved to a 6.59 in his Charter Pontiac to solidify his position in the Pro Stock field. Shane Gray (below) bumped into the show with a 6.62 that ended up as No. 16. Allen Johnson remained atop the field, and Jason Line (who ran his third straight 6.55) is second. |
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[3:30 p.m.] After watching Bruce Litton run in his lane just before him and bump him from the Top Fuel field with a 4.009, TJ Zizzo fired right back into the field with a 3.990 to bump out Litton. Zizzo ended up No. 15. |
[4 p.m.] After having their Friday night 3.778 disqualified for a technical infraction, Tony Schumacher and the U.S. Army Top Fuel team bounced back with runs of 3.860 and 3.850, the latter of which was the best pass of the final qualifying session.
Schumacher will be looking to score his 600th round-win in the opening round Sunday. Only four other drivers in NHRA history – John Force, Kenny Bernstein, Larry Dixon, and Warren Johnson – have hit that mark; "the Sarge" will have to get by Doug Kalitta to do it. |
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At risk of not qualifying and losing his No. 2 points ranking, Mike Neff tuned and drove his Castrol GTX Mustang to a clutch 4.166 on his final attempt to race from the No. 19 spot solidly into the Funny Car field. |
[4:50 p.m.] (Above) Jeff Arend had an excellent two days of qualifying in the DHL Toyota Funny Car with passes of 4.138, 4.187, 4.203, and 4.223 that put him in the No. 4 spot. For the first time this season, high-profile rookies Alexis DeJoria (below left) and Courtney Force (below right) will square off, in Sunday's opening round. |
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