Larry Dixon, Ashley Ford Hood, Allen Johnson, and Matt Smith are the low qualifiers after the opening day of qualifying at the 30th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.
It was typical Hot-lanta May day at "Georgia's House of Speed" with air temperatures in the mid-80s, track temps of around 120 degrees, and high humidity doing their combined best to stifle performance at this, the eighth event of the 23-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule. The hot weather began to give way late in the day as cloud cover moved in, making the evening's qualifying session key to a good spot on the qualifying sheets heading into Saturday's final two qualifying sessions that will set the fields for Sunday's final eliminations.
Larry Dixon
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Dixon had the quickest car in the first session but his Al-anabi digger had been booted down to No. 2 by Doug Kalitta, who kicked off the session with a stout 3.849 to take over the No. 1 spot. But Dixon's Al-Anabi machine fried right back to the top spot with a 4.822. Dixon, the No. 1 qualifier in Houston where he also won his third Wally of the season, has 41 previous No. 1 spots.
"We'll see if it sticks, but great job by Alan [Johnson] and Jason [McCulloch] and everyone on the Al-Anabi crew," said Dixon. "Our first run today, when we went 3.86 and everyone else was just trying to get into the threes kind of took me back a little bit. That run obviously will keep us in the show so we'll go out tomorrow and see what the conditions will hold and see if anyone else can pick up, and if we can.
"Alan and Jason both have been doing this a long time and it seems like they look at the conditions and challenge themselves to see how good they can run for those conditions. With the way the car has run in Vegas, where it was warm, and St. Louis, where it was warm, I'm as happy as a guy can be about [our hot-weather] tune-up because even as hot as it is now, this is going to seem like Club Med. We're not really even into summer yet, but they seem like they have a handle on it for now."
The Kalitta Air machine ended up second, matching the season-high he set earlier this year in Phoenix. Cory McClenathan, the No. 2 qualifier after the first session, ended up third with a 3.924 after failing to get down the track in the evening session. Antron Brown sits in the No. 4 spot with a 3.940.
Morgan Lucas, who won his first Top Fuel Wally at this race last year, is the No. 5 qualifier at 3.960, just ahead of local favorite Bob Vandergriff Jr. (3.961), veteran Pat Dakin (4.008), and Bobby Lagana Jr. (4.011)
Brandon Bernstein and the Copart car own the 12th and final e.t. that will transfer into Saturday's shootout. Bernstein clocked a 4.32 to grab the spot.
Ashley Force Hood
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On the heels of three straight No. 2 qualifying berths, Force Hood, whose opening pass of 4.71 was good only for the No. 11 spot, zoomed to a 4.10 in her Castrol GTX Mustang to grab the No. 1 position, putting her halfway to what would be her 10th career pole.
"My car went right down there so I was sure we'd get bumped down a couple of spots by the cars behind us," said Force Hood. "We're happy we were able to utilize this night session and obviously tomorrow's runs will be important to us for race day. We still have two runs tomorrow but they'll be earlier in the day so it will be pretty challenging for anyone else to run that quick.
"This year hasn’t gone the way we'd dreamed it would, but the car has been running good, which is the frustrating part. Our car likes to go A to B and my crew chiefs know how to balance for cool or hot weather conditions. A big part of what we do is figuring out the hot and humid tracks, which is important now that we're getting into summer. We're just going to keep doing what we're doing."
Force's teammate, world champ Robert Hight, led after the first session but got pushed back one spot despite an improved 4.124 from his Auto Club Ford. Hot on the heels of the leading Team Force cars are Ron Capps with a 4.147 and Del Worsham with a 4.158.
Bob Tasca III sits fifth with the Motorcraft Shelby with a 4.167 while Jack Beckman, who didn't get an opening pass after suffering a broken throttle linkage after his burnout, rebounded with a 4.168 in the second session for the No. 6 position. Tm Wilkerson (4.210) and Bob Bode (4.217) round out the top eight.
Jim Head has the No. 12 spot with a 4.290. With 17 cars on the grounds, there will be a fight for the 16 open berths in the field.
Allen Johnson
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Johnson, whose Mopar Avenger has qualified no lower than sixth this season, is on track to net him his first No. 1 spot of the season and what would be the eighth of his career after making the best run of both of the day's qualifying sessions. After an opening lap of 6.674, Johnson improved solidly in the final pair of the second session to retain his No. 1 spot with a 6.634.
"The track had cooled off quite a bit for that run so we had to get after it a little bit," said Johnson. "We were a little greedy on our first run, but we were .972 down low [60-foot time] on that run, which was No. 1 for the round, which is the first time we've done that since the new rear-weight rule, so I think we've finally figured it out.
"We were confident we could go 6.64, and we needed to be perfect to get around Mike [Edwards] and we were. We tested here last month and Dad's found some power lately. We've caught Mike, now we just need to get our car running down low as good as he does. Performance-wise we're right with him or just ahead of him, and if I can do my job and we can make the right decisions on the track, we'll be something to reckon with."
Mike Edwards, low qualifier at six of the season's first seven events, seemed well on his way to making it seven out of eight after charting a 6.641 in the second session, a huge improvement over his engine-wounding 7.09 opening lap that had his Interstate/Penhall/K&N Pontiac ranked just 19th, but was trumped by Johnson's final blast. Johnny Gray, whose teams made 25 test runs between its two cars following the Madison event, showed that homework was well worthwhile by running 6.652 for the No. 3 spot. Jeg Coughlin Jr., who like Edwards had engine woes on his opening lap, improved markedly over that opening pass with a 6.659 that moved the JEGS Cobalt up to No. 4.
Ron Krisher and Greg Stanfield are fifth and sixth with 6.659s that matched Coughlin's e.t., but their slower speeds, 207.08 for Krisher and 206.73 for Stanfield to Coughlin's 207.88, cost them higher positions. Greg Anderson is seventh with a 6.667 and Kurt Johnson No. 8 with a 6.669.
Jason Line, whose career-long, 150-race streak of successful qualifying outings ended in Madison, currently is not in this field either, ranked No. 17 with a 6.718 best. Rickie Jones and the Elite Motorsports GXP sits in the all-important 12th spot with a 6.686.
Matt Smith
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Smith, who was the low qualifier earlier this year en route to winning the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, holds the No. 1 spot here halfway through qualifying with his Al-Anabi Buell after clocking a solid 6.940 on his evening pass to steal the No. 1 spot from world champ Hector Arana. Smith has 17 previous career pole positions.
"We found some horsepower last weekend and the first pass we missed the clutch really bad; it just ran through the clutch so we knew the power was there," said Smith. "We put a lot of clutch into it for the second run and it stuck. The tune-up wasn't perfect by any means; I think we can run .91 or .92 tomorrow.
"When I let the clutch out I knew it was a good run, and by the time I hit 3rd gear I knew it was good enough to be No. 1. It picked the front tire up in fourth gear, which these Buells don't usually do, so I was excited. It's going to be good tomorrow."
Arana's Lucas Oil Buell had led after one session with a 6.947 and improved to a 6.941, but still relinquished the No. 1 spot to Smith. David Hope, aboard the Mohegan Sun/Iron Man 2 entry, is third with a 6.955 and former world champ Eddie Krawiec, who won his first career Wally at this race last year, is fourth with a 6.976 aboard the Screamin' Eagle/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.
Michael Phillips is fifth with the Racers Edge Suzuki at 6.987 and top speed for the class at 193.82. Behind him rounding out the top eight are Andrew Hines (6.994), LE Tonglet (7.008), and Shawn Gann (7.009).
Craig Treble, who was 12th after the first session, remained in the final transfer spot with 7.10 despite not being able to make a run aboard his Valvoline Motorcycle Oils Suzuki in the second session.
Mike Janis raced to the qualifying lead Friday in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. Janis powered his Eaton ’69 Firebird to a leading performance of 5.919 seconds at 243.55 mph to pace the 16-car field.
Scott Ray was second in his Ohio Crankshaft ’53 Corvette with a 5.969 at 238.38; Jay Payne was third with a 5.972 at 243.37 in his FireIce 2010 Ford Mustang; and Rick Stivers was fourth with a 5.976 at 240.98 in his Trane 2006 Dodge Stratus.
Houston winner Danny Rowe was fifth with a 5.980 at 244.78 in his Sterling Bridge ’68 Camaro, St. Louis winner Von Smith was sixth with a 5.996 at 242.54 in his Barwa/Al Anabi Racing ’68 Camaro and Gainesville winner Kenny Lang was 11th overall, posting a 6.048 at 238.98 in his ’53 Corvette.