Larry Dixon, Mike Neff, Greg Anderson, and Andrew Hines finished qualifying atop their fields Saturday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk. The event is the 12th of the 24-race 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and marks the midpoint of the season schedule.
Anderson, disappointed by being denied in the final round of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, at least had the satisfaction of putting his Summit Pontiac atop the Pro Stock pack at his sponsor's event at the racetrack that bears their name and to have teammate Jason Line third. Hines, too, had to be proud as he and teammate Eddie Krawiec also finished the day Nos. 1 and 3.
Larry Dixon
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Dixon and crew chief Jason McCulloch remained atop the Top Fuel field with a steady dominance that included the only three-second pass on a hot and tricky track. Although their 3.979 in the first session was almost a tenth shy of their Friday-leading 3.882 with the Al-Anabi machine, they were the class of the field.
“It’s nice, obviously,” said Dixon. “It gives you lane choice and you get to draw what pair, so that really helps. Like I talked about yesterday, it’s just watching the track temperature and trying to adjust for it and trying to make the best run you can under whatever track conditions are given us.
“That last session there, it was warming up. This is probably what you’ll see in the final round tomorrow. We didn’t get down the track that last run, but we have that information to go off of. So we’ll try to make those adjustments if we’re in that position tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully they’ll be the right ones. It was about six or seven degrees hotter than it was the first session, and then you’re adjusting parts at the same time, and it didn’t hold. So we got that information and we’ll adjust for it.”
Mid-track tire smoke hampered the fuel dragsters throughout the day, and Friday's field was largely unchanged through Saturday's two sessions. Chicago winner Spencer Massey, in Don Prudhomme's U.S. Smokeless dragster, remained second behind his Snake Racing predecessor with his Friday 3.908. Behind him are rookie Shawn Langdon (3.927), Rod Fuller (3.929), points leader Antron Brown (3.993), and last year's runner-up, Brandon Bernstein (3.939).
Of note was world champ Tony Schumacher, who qualified just 10th, his first bottom-half assignment of the season and his first since last September in Charlotte, where he was ranked ninth. Schumacher won this race two years ago.
Steve Chrisman qualified his Chrisman Driveline dragster on the bump with a 4.163 and will face Dixon in the first round. Scott Palmer and Luigi Novelli were the non-qualifiers.
Mike Neff
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Saturday's hot conditions didn't help the temperamental Funny Cars negotiate the track, and there were few changes over Friday's final field. Neff's 4.190 held throughout the day as the 4.25 registered by his John Medlen-tuned Drive One Mustang in the first session was the best run for the class all day. This is Neff's first No. 1 spot of the season and the second of his career.
"We were still able to learn something today and got a lot of information that will help us out tomorrow," said Neff, whose No. 1 spot capped a steady progression from No. 4 qualifier in Topeka to No. 3 in Chicago to No. 2 at the last event in Englishtown. "We didn't make it down the track on our last pass; we needed to learn our boundaries and where we can't go tomorrow. We feel good so far.
"This is exactly what we need to be doing at this time of year in the position we are in the points [11th]. The car has been running good the last four races and improving every weekend, which is a tribute to John Medlen and the team, and now it's up to me to do a good job of driving and go some rounds."
Neff and teammate Robert Hight, both outside the top 10, are having a get-well weekend as they're 1-2 after Hight's Auto Club Ford held onto the second spot with a 4.214. Tony Pedregon, winner of the season's last two events and the defending event champ here, has qualified his Nitro Fish Chevy third with a 4.217. Ron Capps rounds out the top four with his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge with a 4.236. Three more Fords round out the top half of the field with Ashley force Hood (fifth), John Force (seventh), and Bob Tasca III (eighth) being joined by Jack Beckman's Valvoline Engine Guarantee Charger, which is qualified sixth.
Tim Wilkerson, who entered this event as the points leader last year and qualified third, ended up on the 16-car bump after mustering just a 4.48 best. He'll face Neff in round one
Greg Anderson
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Anderson, the defending event Pro Stock champ, moved past Friday low qualifier Allen Johnson with an outstanding 6.644 recorded in the first round of the K&N Horsepower Challenge to grab the No. 1 spot, his third of the season with the Summit Racing Pontiac.
"We feel that the recent changes we’ve made to the car, a lot of which resulted from our testing in similar conditions in Martin, Mich., earlier this week, helped us straighten things out," said Anderson. "I can’t wait to get back into the car tomorrow and do a better job than we did today.
"There really isn’t much difference between the lanes, but the right lane is just a little bit slippier. With these cars launching at such a high rpm, the traction in just the first couple of feet is very critical. Once we get past that point, we usually don’t have any problems. The repaved back-half of the track was very good for the Pro Stock cars all weekend."
Johnson's Dodge fired back in the final session with a 6.648 that was a thousandth quicker than his Friday pass, but still left him No. 2. Anderson's teammate, Line, remained third in the final session with a 6.652 that he also recorded in the first round of the Challenge. Mike Edwards' A.R.T./Young Life Pontiac sits fourth with a 6.655 that had him qualified second Friday. Points leader Jeg Coughlin, winner of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, is qualified fifth with a 6.670.
Class rookie Ryan Ondrejko qualified for his second event in Jim Yates' Wiley X Pontiac, bumping his way into the field on his final attempt with a 6.719 that anchored the field. He'll draw Anderson in round one; in his Chicago debut, he qualified 14th and fell to Coughlin in round one.
Andrew Hines
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Hines, the 2007 winner here, and Screamin' Eagle Harley teammate Krawiec showed that they've been working hard since NHRA instituted a 20-pound weight increase to their bikes three races ago by qualifying Nos. 1 and 3 in the field. Until late in the final qualifying session there hadn't been a six-second pass, but Krawiec went 6.97 and Hines a dazzling track-record 6.944. Hines' run broke the 6.965 record set by Matt Smith in 2007 and earned the Harley rider his fourth No. 1 position of the season.
“It feels good having the No. 1 qualifier under my belt,” said Hines. “The Screamin’ Eagle bike hasn’t been up to par the last few races; the 20 pounds really hurt us and threw us for a curve. Now we’re starting to get a handle on it and the tune-up is coming around with it. Matt’s [Hines, crew chief] got a handle on the 60 foot now; we were having trouble getting off the starting line the first three qualifiers and finally that last qualifier Matt hit it right on the head. We had our best 60 foot by a hundredth and a half, that’s where we got all our e.t.
“It felt good. I saw Eddie go 6.97 right in front of me and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I don’t think I’m gonna touch that.’ He went perfectly straight down the track, and when I let the clutch go, I went a little left and had to do a little bit of riding it, but it was revving up down there. I came around the corner and Eddie told me ‘four,’ and I thought he meant [7.04] and I thought, ‘Oh, he got me.’ But it turns out it was [6 .94]. Right now we’re back on pace to where we should be. Hector’s right up there with us, and he’s showing everybody how fast they should be going. And we’re leading the pack. It’s working in our favor right now.”
Defending event champ Hector Arana, who ended a career-long drought here last year, broke up the Harley monopoly with a 6.96 aboard his Lucas Oil Buell. Arana's 192.63-mph speed also is a track record, betting Craig Treble's 2007 mark of 192.60. Matt Guidera, Friday's leader, was not able to improve on his 7.001 best aboard the Mohegan Sun Buell and ended up fourth. Former world champ and 2007 event runner-up Smith is ranked fifth with his Nitro Fish Buell, half a tenth back after a 7.058 best.
Mike Berry's Buell held down the bump with a 7.154, so he'll draw Hines in Sunday's opening round.
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Friday: Dixon, Neff, A. Johnson, Guidera first-day leaders at Norwalk event