Larry Dixon in Top Fuel and Jeg Coughlin Jr. in Pro Stock scored very special wins at the 30th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, where they were joined in victory by Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle)
Coughlin's win was the 50th of his Pro Stock career, making him just the ninth driver to collect 50 Wallys in a Full Throttle class, and Dixon's 52nd victory tied him in class wins with the great Joe Amato. Although the incoming points leaders left with their leads intact – and, in Dixon's case, improved, plenty of shuffling occurred behind them. The winners and the non-winners won't have long to wait to prove themselves again as the tour heads next weekend to Topeka for the 22nd annual O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX at Heartland Park Topeka.
Larry Dixon
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Dixon scored Atlanta win No. 4 (he also triumphed in 1996, 2002, and 2003) on Brandon Bernstein's -.003 red-light in the Top Fuel final but looked good doing it with a solid 3.91 to complete a wire-to-wire win.
Dixon reached the final again here in effortless-looking style. Racing from the No. 1 spot, his Jason McCulloch-tuned Al-Anabi dragster advanced with respective runs of 3.87, 3.88, and 3.89 to beat Steve Torrence, T.J. Zizzo, and, in a huge match, Tony Schumacher. Dixon's victory against traction-plagued Schumacher evened their season score at 2-2 and avenged his loss to Schumacher two weeks ago in Madison. The final was the 96th of Dixon's career.
"He took a shot at the Tree and went .003 red, but if he goes .003 green, he has a chance to win the race," said Dixon, who is 4-0 in finals this year. "He has a good car, and if you get eight-hundredths on a guy, there's not eight-hundredths between our cars. We went up there with what we thought the track could take, and you have to hope it's enough, and today it was. The car was flawless; we had a really tight package. To have seven runs between an .86 and a .91, that's pretty stout, and then to have an .82 for the pole just adds to it.
"I feel the same way [about tying Amato] as I do against the other people I grew up looking up to: Unworthy. Those were the guys growing up, and to be able to reach a number that he got ... well, I'm a few championships behind him still. The guys I looked up to didn’t get 23 chances a year to win."
Bernstein's 2010 just keeps getting better. After beginning the year with four round-wins at the first five races and a crew-chief change in the midst, he went to the semifinals back to back in Houston and Madison and to his first final of the year (where he scored in 2007). Bernstein's Todd Smith-tuned Copart digger posted respective times of 3.92, 3.95, and 4.00 to trailer Terry McMillen, Pat Dakin, and No. 2 qualifier Doug Kalitta to reach the final, the 39th of his career, 34 of which have been in Top Fuel.
Robert Hight
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Hight, whose season got off to a rocky start with four round-wins at the first six events, earned his second straight Funny Car Wally by defeating teammate Ashley Force Hood in the final, 4.18 to 4.23, for the 16th win of his career. Force Hood moved to second in points and Hight to third, both trailing team patriarch John Force for a 1-2-3 lead for the team.
"No matter what, we couldn't lose; it was going to be a Force win," said Hight, "but to leave here 1-2-3 in points is pretty big right now, especially this early in the season. We were real happy with the way we finished last season and were looking forward to this year, but like last year, we struggled again. We didn’t get it turned around until Sunday morning in Madison when Jimmy Prock made a wholesale change to the car, and we haven't looked back since.
"This Ford Mustang has been unbelievable all weekend. Jimmy definitely has a handle on the car; to run .18, .18, .19, and .18 again -- that's unheard of in these fuel cars."
Hight, winner of the tour's most recent event two weeks ago in Madison, reached his 28th final with the Auto Club Mustang from the No. 2 spot with a series of 4-teen passes – a pair of 4.182s and, in the semifinals, a 4.197 to earn lane choice – en route to beating Melanie Troxel, Tim Wilkerson, and defending event champ Jack Beckman.
Force Hood, who scored her breakthrough Funny Car win here in 2008, was runner-up here last year, and won here in Top Alcohol Dragster in 2006, continued her love affair with Atlanta by reaching the final, the 15th of her young career. Force Hood's Castrol GTX Mustang, the low qualifier, received a free pass in round one when Jeff Diehl's mount was shut off on the line, but then beat a pair of Mustangs – her dad's Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford and technology teammate Bob Tasca III's Motorcraft Shelby – to reach the title round. Her victory against Tasca was on a holeshot, 4.241 to 4.232.
Jeg Coughlin Jr.
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Coughlin's milestone Pro Stock win came at the expense of a rising star trying for his first, Rickie Jones. Coughlin collected his 50th Pro Stock win and 64th Wally overall easily, 6.65 to 6.68, against Jones' Elite Motorsports Pontiac.
"Rickie used to come to the ropes when he was 11 or 12 years old and wanted to hit the practice Tree against me, and he's been telling me for years he's coming after us," said Coughlin. "It's neat to see him growing and getting to do what he loves to do, so congratulations to him. He had a great day.
"I was fortunate to eclipse the 50-win mark – including my Lucas Oil wins – a few years ago and thought I was done with 50 but was reminded here lately of the next plateau. To celebrate it here, in JEGS' 50th anniversary year, I'm very happy."
Coughlin, whose bid for No. 50 ended with a broken rocker arm two weeks ago in Madison, earned another shot at the class milestone with a flawless day behind the wheel of Victor Cagnazzi's JEGS Cobalt. Coughlin, the No. 4 qualifier, reached his 99th final, 81 of which have been in Pro Stock — by racing past Ronnie Humphrey, V. Gaines, and low qualifier Allen Johnson. Coughlin, who has won in Atlanta in Comp (1997) and Pro Stock (2000), defeated A.J.'s Mopar Avenger on a holeshot, 6.657 to an engine-wounding 6.555.
Jones, who will celebrate his 23 birthday Monday, nearly got a great early present and impressed everyone by reaching the final, just the second of his career; his first was in Las Vegas last fall. Jones earned his keep and then some, beating points leader Mike Edwards on a holeshot in round one, 6.69 to 6.64, after a .001 light, then defeating Greg Anderson on a 6.69 to 6.66 holeshot in round two. He received a virtual free pass to the final when Johnny Gray, enjoying the finest day of his season, was late off the line against him.
Andrew Hines
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The Pro Stock Motorcycle final paired two world champions and was a rematch of the final-round duel in Houston, which went to Hines. This one also went the way of the three-time champ when his 6.96 defeated Hector Arana, the reigning world champ, who could only muster a 7.04. The win is the 20th of Hines' career.
Hines, also the 2008 Atlanta winner, reached final round No. 33 aboard his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson with a trio of six-second passes, running 6.97 to beat Mike Berry, 6.99 to erase Craig Treble, and a holeshot-aided 6.994 to beat the 6.993 of David Hope's Mohegan Sun/Iron Man Buell in the semifinals.
“This is about as good as it gets,” said Hines. “It was a good, clean race in the final. I don’t know what was going on with my bike downtrack; I was having to hang off that thing like I never have in I don’t know how long. To come into this weekend with conditions we haven’t seen all year — humidity, heat, track conditions — and to perform the way we did with our Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod really puts a smile on my face. Matt and I and Ray and Scott stayed and tested after St. Louis on Monday, and we learned a lot of stuff in our clutch, our chassis setup, our fuel injection. We got everything figured out, and it came together here. My worst 60-foot was better than my best 60-foot all year, so it’s a testament to how hard this team has been working trying to figure it out. It makes the bike nice and consistent off the line, easy to ride, easy to have a good green light.
“I had to push it in the final. I knew Hector was strong. He had been running good all weekend, and he qualified No. 1, so I held onto the clutch lever with just the lightest amount of pressure that I could, and I was .006. That was a little closer than I wanted it, but I’ll take it. He’s a tough competitor. He’s the world champ from last year, and it doesn’t put a bigger smile on our face than to beat him and be able to come out here and do that.”
Arana, aboard his Lucas Oil Buell, had won just one round in his 15 previous outings in Atlanta but won three this weekend to reach the final , the 12th of his career and his third this year, beating Wesley Wells, Steve Johnson, and Matt Smith. His 7.04 semifinal win against Smith came courtesy of transmission troubles for Smith.
Sweden’s Michael Gullqvist made history by racing to the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series victory Sunday. He became the first European driver to win an NHRA event when he powered his ProCareRx ’68 Camaro to the win with a final-round run of 6.00, 244.03 to defeat the event’s top qualifier, Mike Janis, who posted a 6.08, 237.00 in his Eaton ’69 Firebird.
It was Gullqvist’s second final of the season; he was runner-up at the season-opening Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals in Florida.
"I'm at a loss for words," said Gullqvist, who was filling in for Raymond Commisso, whose father passed away earlier in the week. "This was my third final in a row dating back to the European FIA championship last fall. I lost that final because I made a mistake, and then I had another final here in Gainesville in March and lost that one as well with a red-light, so I was really anxious to get this win, especially under the circumstances of Raymond’s father passing away.”
Former world champ Vinny Barone reached the winner's circle in Comp by defeating Al Ackerman, and Slate Cummings, winner this year in Super Stock in Houston, broke out in the final to hand the win to Todd Ewing. Anthony Fetch, the Stock championship runner-up last season, reached the winner's circle in that class by topping Adam Davis, who broke out. Ray Miller collected Super Comp honors on Bubba Watts' final-round foul, and Jeffrey Barker claimed Top Sportsman gold against Gilmer Hinshaw.
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Friday: Dixon, Force Hood, Johnson, Smith lead opening day in Atlanta
Saturday: Friday leaders hold sway on hot Atlanta day