NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

For the last 36 years, Atlanta Dragway has hosted an NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series national event, but it isn’t an exaggeration to suggest that the 2016 edition of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals was the best. How else could one describe an event that featured the closest Top Fuel finish in the history of the sport, a host of three-second Funny Car runs, and the continued domination of the KB Racing Pro Stock team, just to mention a few?

 

Doug Kalitta won his second straight Top Fuel race, and Matt Hagan scored a much-needed Funny Car victory. Summit Racing teammates Jason Line and Greg Anderson raced in the Pro Stock final for the fourth time this season, with Line getting a holeshot-aided victory, his fourth win of the year. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Eddie Krawiec won his second event of the season and the 33rd of his career. 

 

Kalitta raced teammate J.R. Todd in the final round, and their side-by-side battle won’t soon be forgotten. Kalitta won on a holeshot, 3.801 to 3.780, but the real story was the margin of victory at the finish line, which was an immeasurable .0000-second, making it the closest Top Fuel race in history.

 

Prior to this year, Atlanta Dragway had never had a three-second Funny Car run, but that didn’t last long. Courtney Force was the first to break the barrier, and by the end of the event, the track record had been lowered to 3.906 seconds by winner Hagan. In the opening round of eliminations, all eight winners ran in the threes. 

 

Seven races into the season, and there is already talk of KB Pro Stock teammates Line and Anderson running the table. After their most recent final, which went to Line on a 6.611 to 6.593 holeshot, the scorecard reads four wins for Line and three for Anderson. Line has raced in all 27 rounds of competition this season with a remarkable 24-3 record. 

 

Coming off a win in Gainesville and a runner-up finish at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, Krawiec bagged win No. 33 when he stopped Jerry Savoie’s Suzuki in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final. Krawiec admittedly struggled in qualifying but steadily improved on race day to a 6.824 in the final that covered Savoie’s 6.851. 

 

There was plenty of action elsewhere in Atlanta, including the J&A Service Pro Mod class, where Rickie Smith returned from a final-round crash in Houston two weeks ago to win with his repaired IDG Camaro. Smith, who also won the season opener in Gainesville, took out Kevin Fiscus in the final round. In qualifying, Steven Whiteley and Shane Molinari were involved in a two-car accident that put both of them out of competition for the weekend. Neither driver was seriously injured. 

 

In the Lucas Oil Sportsman classes, Dan Fletcher claimed win No. 97, which ties him with six-time Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson for third on NHRA’s all-time wins list. Surprisingly, Fletcher entered his Super Stock Camaro in the Super Street class and won in his debut. Fletcher has now won NHRA national event titles in six classes: Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street. Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. also enjoyed a great weekend with a win in Super Stock and a runner-up finish to Wes Neely in Stock eliminator. Other champions crowned were part-time Top Fuel racer Billy Torrence (Super Comp), Ray Miller III (Super Gas), Richard Prince (Top Dragster), and Robert Irby (Top Sportsman).