Saturday's Southern Snapshots
Saturday, May 05, 2012
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As the Full Throttle teams once again unloaded their cars from their race shops on wheels, fans began streaming through the front gates at "Georgia's House of Speed," Atlanta Dragway, in anticipation of the dramatic final-two qualifying sessions of the 32nd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, the seventh stop on the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series calendar.
Unlike Friday's wet start, today has dawned sunny and clear. |
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The morning hours are devoted to the opening rounds of eliminations in the Lucas Oil classes, including Super Comp (above) and Top Sportsman (left).
The Full Throttle teams will take the track at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. to set the fields for Sunday's all-important final eliminations.
Among those not yet qualified are Houston winners Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel) and Mike Neff (Funny Car). |
One of the great things about coming to an NHRA event is the chance for fans to interact with the drivers and collect autographs and keepsake photos with drivers, like Hillary Will (above) and Matt Hagan (below). |
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[11:15 a.m.] The nitro teams are test firing their engines in preparation for today's first qualifying session, which begins at 11:30 a.m. Among them is the Optima Batteries team of Top Fuel racer David Grubnic. |
[11:45 a.m.] Although Eddie Krawiec didn't better his Friday run of 6.895 and Hector Arana Sr. remained atop the Pro Stock Motorcycle pack with a 6.894, Krawiec lowered the boom on the class with a devastating 6.928 in the heat and humidity that was a full four-hundredths quicker than the next-best pass of 6.969 by Arana. |
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[12:25 p.m.] Even the day's oppressive heat and humidity couldn't stop Jason Line from setting the new low e.t. for Pro Stock in the day's first qualifying session.
The defending event champ and former two-time event runner-up gave his and event sponsor Summit Racing Equipment a lot to cheer about with a 6.607, improving on his 6.612 Friday best.
Allen Johnson had the round's next-best time, 6.618, and remains No. 2 with his Friday 6.613. |
The Coca-Cola Company and Full Throttle Energy Drink made a $250,000 contribution to the United Service Organization (USO) as part of a partnership aimed at celebrating and honoring the efforts of our country’s military heroes. Pictured, from left, are NHRA President Tom Compton, Full Throttle's Ben Reiling, USO's Bette Rose, and U.S. Army Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher. |
[1 p.m.] Steve Torrence, the No. 2 qualifier in Top Fuel last weekend in Houston with his Richard Hogan-tuned Capco Contractors dragster, is No. 2 again so far this weekend with a 3.827, trailing only Tony Schumacher's track-record 3.815.
Torrence also had the second-best pass of the day's first qualifying session, a 3.884 that was bettered only by Brandon Bernstein's 3.851.
Torrence has already banked four qualifying bonus points this weekend, pulling him to within two points of fifth-place Shawn Langdon. |
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Houston winner Morgan Lucas entered the day not qualified in Top Fuel, but he remedied that quickly but not solidly with a 3.903 at just 280 mph that has him in the No. 13 spot with one run to go. |
[1:25 p.m.] Cruz Pedregon's special-edition SnaponFranchise.com Toyota tooled right down the track to an impressive 4.149 and just 298 mph early in the day's first Funny Car qualifying session. |
[1:40 p.m.] Cruz Pedregon's run held up as the best of the round until the final pair when Tim Wilkerson raced to a 4.148 at just 293 mph. Wilk is qualified No. 5 on his earlier 4.138. |
(Above) The Castrol GTX crew of Mike Neff is hard at work between rounds because the Houston winner sits just 15th in the Funny Car field. With 19 entries on hand, they'll be looking to improve their position in the final qualifying session. (Below) Sparks and heat between rounds in the nitro pits. |
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The pits at Atlanta Dragway are packed with race fans soaking in the great weather and even hotter racing. |
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From left, Rosalee and Terry Noble of the Drag Racing Association of Women were manning their popular booth on the midway, where they are accepting donations for DRAW's upcoming spring live auction, Saturday, June 2, at the Toyota NHRA SuperNationals in Englishtown.
More information about the auction can be found here. |
Top Dragster and Super Comp racer Laureen Freer, a former competitor in NHRA's Jr. Drag Racing League, has good company in her pits with her Georgia-appropriate bulldog Cooper.
Earlier in the day, Freer won her first-round match in Top Dragster. |
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[2:35 p.m.] Michael Ray (above) has his Riding For Kids Buell qualified a season-high No. 4 with a 6.981 best.
(Left) Twenty-year-old Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Joey Gladstone qualified for the field on his final pass; the Townsend, Del.-based newcomer guided Matt Smith's Awesome Engines Buell to a 7.153 to qualify No. 16. Gladstone also qualified earlier this season in Gainesville.
Hector Arana Sr., the low qualifier last weekend in Houston, finished atop the pack again based on his Friday 6.894 but laid down a stout 6.914 in the heat of the final qualifying session to show he's serious about race day, too.
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[2:50 p.m.] Five-time Atlanta winner Warren Johnson hung on to qualify at his hometown event, placing his Sugar Hill-based Pontiac GXP Pro Stocker 16th with a 6.710, putting him in the show for just the second time in six starts this year. |
[3:05 p.m.] Mike Edwards, who won this event back to back in Pro Stock in 2008 and 2009, had the third-best pass of the final qualifying session, a 6.645 that was within shouting distance of No. 1 qualifier Jason Line's 6.629. Line remained No. 1 based on his earlier 6.607; Edwards is qualified No. 5. |
[3:25 p.m.] Veteran Top Fuel racer Pat Dakin, who's been racing since the 1970s and was runner-up at this event in 1998, qualified his Commercial Metal Fabricators dragster for his second straight event. |
[3:50 p.m.] Spencer Massey, who won this race back to back in 2007 and 2008 in Top Alcohol Dragster and was runner-up in Top Fuel in 2009, has the three-event-winning Prestone dragster qualified No. 4 in Top Fuel. |
[4 p.m.] In a season full of surprise DNQs in Funny Car, this week it was Mike Neff's turn to miss the field; he fell short of the 4.32 bump spot. Neff, second in points, looked to be on a solid qualifying run on a final attempt that would have qualified him, then the engine backfired at the top end. It's Neff's first qualifying miss since the Dallas event in fall 2008, ending a streak of 56 straight events. Five of last year's top six finishers — Neff, Matt Hagan, Jack Beckman, Cruz Pedregon, and Ron Capps, and — have now failed to qualify at a race this season. |
[4:20 p.m.] Former Funny Car world champ Tony Pedregon qualified a season-best No. 6 after a 4.139 in his K-LOVE Impala. It's just the fourth top-half berth in the last two and a half seasons for the veteran racer. |
[4:30 p.m.] Robert Hight put down a trio of great passes in Funny Car qualifying — 4.14, 4.10, and 4.15 — to lead the field for the fourth time this year and the 43rd time in his career. |