NHRA NEWS: Final Qualifying from O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX

 

KALITTA CLAIMS NO. 1 QUALIFYING POSITION AT O'REILLY NHRA SUMMER
NATIONALS PRESENTED BY CASTROL GTX

Rookie Hight leads in Funny Car and reigning motorsports driver of the
year Anderson leads way in Pro Stock

 

TOPEKA, Kan. - Doug Kalitta's 4.505-second run from Friday held up
Saturday and he will enter Sunday's final eliminations of the 17th
annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX as the
No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel for the fourth time this season and 27th
time in his career.

 

Kalitta, the current Top Fuel points leader, has three wins this year
and 22 for his career, but none previously in his Mac Tools dragster at
Heartland Park Topeka.

 

"We had such a nice solid run Friday that we were able to try different
things for our race-day setup today," Kalitta said. "It's one of the big
advantages of qualifying well early on. I'm excited about tomorrow.
There doesn't seem to be one lane that's better than the other so it
should be a great race."

 

Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also were the
other top qualifiers in their respective categories at the $1.9 million
race, the ninth of 23 events on the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag
Racing Series.

 

Kalitta will enter Sunday's final eliminations with a 43-point lead
(684-641) in the NHRA POWERade Top Fuel point standings over defending
series champion Tony Schumacher .

 

"It's critical for us to go rounds and stay ahead of [Tony] Schumacher,"
Kalitta said. "We're pretty tight in the points with him and we
definitely want to go at least as many rounds as he does. You try not to
concentrate on the points too much but they're always right there.
Everyone knows what's at stake."

 

The rookie Hight's Auto Club Ford Mustang was the quickest car
throughout Funny Car qualifying and his second pass on Friday, at 4.729
seconds, was a track record that earned him his third No. 1 qualifying
position in nine career starts.

 

It was just a year ago at Heartland Park Topeka that Hight earned his
Funny Car license following his now-teammate Eric Medlen's first career
final round appearance.

 

"I remember being here one year ago and doing my licensing runs," Hight
said. "(Team owner) John (Force) told me then that I wasn't guaranteed a
job but that he wanted me to go ahead and get my license in case
something came up. Now here I am one year later as the No. 1 qualifier
in one of the fastest Funny Cars in the world."

 e 

Reigning motorsports Driver of the Year Greg Anderson earned the No. 1
qualifying position in Pro Stock with a track record 6.716-second pass
at 204.57 mph in the first of his final two qualifying runs Saturday. It
is Anderson's second No. 1 qualifying position this season in his Summit
Racing Pontiac and the 35th of his career.

 

Anderson, who was winless in 2005 until back-to-back wins the past two
weeks (Atlanta and Columbus, Ohio), has won here in Topeka in both 2003
and 2004 and he appears poised to make it three in a row in both
respects.

 

"We didn't forget how to race," Anderson said of his slow start to the
season. "We didn't get stupid overnight or stop making horsepower. We
just had some little tuning things that got us in those first few races
and some other cars got off to great starts. We panicked a little bit
and got defensive, which isn't our style. We finally went back to racing
the way we like to race and the results have been great."

 

Final eliminations in all four classes are scheduled to begin Sunday at
11 a.m.

 

 
TOPEKA, Kan. -- First-round pairings for professional eliminations
Sunday for the 17th annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by
Castrol GTX at Heartland Park Topeka, the ninth of 23 events in the $50
million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in
qualifying, which ended Saturday.

 

TOP FUEL  -- 1. Doug Kalitta, 4.505 seconds, 329.26 mph vs. 16. Scott
Palmer, 4.865, 257.33; 2. Morgan Lucas, 4.520, 324.90 vs. 15. Mitch
King, 4.840, 299.20; 3. Larry Dixon, 4.523, 331.61 vs. 14. David Baca,
4.816, 303.98; 4. Tony Schumacher, 4.527, 319.67 vs. 13. Scott Weis,
4.671, 319.37; 5. David Grubnic, 4.549, 324.75 vs. 12. John Smith,
4.656, 307.72; 6. Scott Kalitta, 4.561, 327.90 vs. 11. Cory McClenathan,
4.626, 322.42; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 4.570, 326.08 vs. 10. T.J. Zizzo,
4.622, 318.02; 8. Rod Fuller, 4.602, 319.14 vs. 9. Doug Herbert, 4.622,
322.04. 

 

FUNNY CAR -- 1. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.729, 324.75 vs. 16. Bob
Gilbertson, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.983, 305.63; 2. Eric Medlen, Mustang,
4.772, 324.59 vs. 15. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.981, 307.79; 3. Tim
Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.783, 324.59 vs. 14. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo,
4.949, 289.38; 4. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.796, 323.58 vs. 13.
Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 4.938, 296.63; 5. Gary Scelzi, Dodge
Stratus, 4.800, 323.66 vs. 12. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.897, 320.20;
6. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.806, 317.19 vs. 11. Ron Capps, Stratus,
4.878, 314.75; 7. John Force, Mustang, 4.821, 322.11 vs. 10. Jeff Arend,
Monte Carlo, 4.876, 309.70; 8. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.847, 318.69
vs. 9. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.858, 323.35. 

 

PRO STOCK -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.716, 204.82 vs. 16.
Jeg Coughlin, Dodge Stratus, 6.785, 203.46; 2. Dave Connolly, Chevy
Cobalt, 6.735, 204.85 vs. 15. Kenny Koretsky, Stratus, 6.785, 203.34; 3.
Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.740, 205.10 vs. 14. Richie Stevens, Stratus,
6.785, 203.71; 4. Jason Line, Grand Am, 6.743, 203.52 vs. 13. Rickie
Smith, Chevy Cavalier, 6.784, 203.37; 5. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.748,
204.32 vs. 12. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.779, 204.05; 6. Jim Yates, Grand
Am, 6.753, 203.00 vs. 11. Greg Stanfield, Cavalier, 6.765, 204.08; 7.
Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.754, 204.57 vs. 10. Warren Johnson, Grand Am,
6.764, 204.39; 8. Mike Edwards, Grand Am, 6.757, 203.92 vs. 9. Allen
Johnson, Stratus, 6.757, 202.61.