NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

TOP FUEL     Q3

After a lengthy rain delay, the fans who braved the elements at South Georgia Motorsports Park were rewarded with an outstanding show as NHRA’s top pros delivered the goods. 

Will Smith kicked off the session in his Bluebird Turf dragster, and shook the tires early and shut off, failing to improve upon Friday’s best of 5.441-seconds.

Dan Mercier suffered a similar fate, shutting off early after encountering tire shake. In both cases, it’s likely that teams underestimated the grip level of the South Georgia Motorsports Park track surface.

The first “full pull” was impressive as Clay Millican made a big move with a 3.767 at a stout 338.00 mph. Shawn Reed also kept all eight lit to the finish line with a 3.783 run at 329.50 mph.

Maddi Gordon, already a fan favorite, undoubtedly earned a few more with the first 340-mph run of her career. Gordon drove the Carlyle Tools dragster to a 3.748, 340.04, both career bests.

Billy Torrence took over the pole, at least temporarily, with a 3.710 at 338.00 in the Capco Contractors dragster.

Doug Kalitta quickly displaced Torrence, and not by a small margin, with a 3.657 at 342.37 mph. 

After yesterday’s 345.00 mph blast, Shawn Langdon provided a proper back-up with a 344.91 run that was connected to a 3.683 elapsed time. In the other lane, Tony Stewart got off to a promising start, but shook the tires in his R+L Carriers entry.
 

FUNNY CAR Q3

The Funny Car class found the conditions at SGMP to be a bit more difficult as the first seven cars down the track failed to register a full throttle run including Austin Prock, Jordan Vandergriff, and Alexis DeJoria.

Gainesville winner Chad Green solved the puzzle with a 3.894 in his Bond Coat Mustang, to improve upon yesterday’s 3.894. Green scored three bonus points after  Jack Beckman, Matt Hagan, Ron Capps and low qualifier J.R. Todd also missed the set-up.
 

PRO STOCK Q3

Surprisingly, the Pro Stock cars also struggled to get a hold of the track in Q3 as there was a lot of tire shake and aborted runs. As Greg Anderson noted yesterday, there are 16 cars in the field so no one has to worry about sitting out final eliminations, meaning that they can go for the throat on every run.

Low qualifier Greg Anderson made one of the few full runs with a 6.560 that held up for low E.T. of the round, providing a solid baseline for Sunday’s final eliminations.

Dallas Glenn got his RAD Torque Systems Camaro to the finish line with a 6.569 while Matt Latino ran 6.604 and Cody Coughlin posted a 6.888. No one else made it to the finish line under power.
 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q3

There were several stand out runs in the final round of Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying including a 6.734, 202.88 mph blast by past U.S. Nationals winner John Hall, who moved up the qualifying ladder on his American Rebel Light Buell.

Matt and Angie Smith ran as a pair and put on a show with Matt’s 6.728 holding off a very competitive 6.778. Matt also drew a gasp from the crowd when he got close to the retaining wall near the finish line but got his Buell pointed in the right direction.

Clayton Howey set a career best with a 6.775 at over 200 while Chase Van Sant also ran 6.794 on his Trick Tools Suzuki.

Past world champ Geno Scali was also happy with his run, a 6.852 while Brayden Davis also found the 6.8s with a 6.860.

The final pair of the round provided the quickest pass of the round when Gaige Herrera ran 6.704 on the RevZilla Suzuki with teammate Richard Gadson close behind at 6.761.