Saturday's Phoenix Photos
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Sunny, clear skies and the chance to again experience nitro drew another large crowd to Firebird Int’l Raceway, and the fans were not disappointed. The final qualifying day featured record performances, dramatic final runs by high-profile teams, and a lot of movement that set up some intriguing first-round matches. |
After having his three-year-old Pro Stock track record of 6.598 broken Friday, Mike Edwards came back to recapture the track factory hot rod standard with a 6.536 that also earned him the No. 1 spot for this weekend’s qualifying. This is the fourth consecutive Phoenix event at which Edwards has earned the pole position. |
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| After turning a subpar 6.58 in Saturday’s morning session when his Summit Racing GXP veered out of the groove, Greg Anderson (above left) came back in the afternoon to record a weekend best of 6.556, the third-quickest of the round and enough to move him up to the No. 5 position in Pro Stock. Vincent Nobile (above right) made a huge improvement from his Saturday best of 6.570 with a 6.549 that put the Mountain View Tire Dodge Avenger in the No. 4 position in the Pro Stock order. Nobile will face Shane Gray in the first round of Sunday’s eliminations. |
Like teammate Greg Anderson, Jason Line ran a tire-shaking-plagued 6.58 in today’s first session but picked up the pace in the final qualifying round with a 6.539 to finish second behind Mike Edwards in the Pro Stock lineup. |
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| (Above left) Morgan Lucas recovered from his tire-smoking 4.793 in Friday’s first session to record bracket-car-like consistent times of 3.813, 3.816, and 3.814 and end up in the top half of the field (No. 8) for Top Fuel qualifying. (Above right) Not only did Shawn Langdon’s 3.754 from Friday evening hold for the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel, but Langdon also recorded the quickest time during Saturday’s two sessions with a 3.789. |
Doug Kalitta made just one full pass during the weekend, a 3.804 on Friday evening, but it was good enough to place him in the No. 7 spot in the Top Fuel order. |
Top Fuel rookie Khalid alBalooshi produced a career-best time of 3.823 in Saturday morning’s qualifying round to secure the No. 9 position. He backed up that effort with a solid 3.839 in Saturday’s final session. |
The most anticipated match of Sunday's opening round in any category will be the battle of the Forces, No. 5 qualifier John and daughter/No. 12 qualifier Courtney. The pair got a little practice at running side by side when they lined up together on both of today’s Funny Car qualifying runs. |
Reigning Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan had the best car Saturday, wheeling his Aaron’s Dodge to back-to-back runs of 4.11. His 4.114 was the best of the first session, and he improved to a 4.110 in the final session to move up to the No. 4 starting spot. |
Cruz Pedregon, who failed to qualify in Pomona, was on the brink of not being part of Sunday’s field again after a pair of tire-smoking runs Friday, but his team rebounded in today’s first session, posting a 4.129 that not only got him in the show, but also ranked second of that session. Pedregon again had troubles on his final attempt. |
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With the number of strong cars in Funny Car this season, there will be some shocking DNQs throughout the year, and that was the case in Phoenix, where both Tim Wilkerson (above) and rookie Alexis DeJoria were unable to break into the 16-car field. (Left) After a tire-hazing attempt in the third session, Mike Neff closed Funny Car qualifying with a strong 4.096. The run was the best of the final qualifying session and earned the driver/crew chief the No. 2 starting spot. |
The Nostalgia Funny Cars again entertained fans between Pro qualifying sessions today; among those making runs was 2011 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series champion Jason Rupert in his Mert Littlefield tribute car. |
Gary Stoffer, whose “regular job” at the drag races is crew chief for wife Karen and her GEICO Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle, was among the participants at the NHRA Arizona Nationals, driving his ’68 Pontiac in Super Street. Stoffer advanced to round two before losing a close one to Kevin Briles. |