NHRA NEWS: Provisional Qualifying Results from CARQUEST Auto
Parts Nationals
REIGNING DRIVER OF THE YEAR ANDERSON SETS BOTH ENDS OF PACIFIC RACEWAYS
TRACK RECORD
Dixon, Medlen also overnight qualifying leaders at 18th annual CARQUEST
Auto Parts Nationals
KENT, Wash. - Two-time defending POWERade Series Pro Stock world
wchampion Greg Anderson set both ends of the Pacific Raceways track
record in early during the first day of qualifying for the 18th annual
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals Friday.
Anderson's Summit Racing Pontiac GTO was the quickest car following the
first day of qualifying, crossing the finish line in a track record time
of 6.672 seconds at a track record speed of 206.70 mph to earn the
provisional No. 1 qualifying position. The final two rounds of
qualifying at the $1.4 million race, the 14th of 23 events in the $50
million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, will be held Saturday.
Track records fell in both of the other professional categories with
Larry Dixon and Eric Medlen earning the provisional No. 1 qualifying
positions in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively.
Rain early in the day pushed the schedule back into the evening which
led to nearly perfect weather conditions as the air temperature cooled
under partly cloudy skies.
"Conditions were optimum and we were absolutely licking our chops to get
on the track," said Anderson, who has won two races in a row here at
Pacific Raceways. "When you know you've got a chance to run 6.60s at
205, 206 mph, it's very exciting. If not for the humidity, we would have
run world record numbers. That was a great run but by no means was it a
perfect run. There's more in there."
Anderson, who lost the points lead a week ago in Denver to Warren
Johnson after a second-round loss to Dave Connolly, is looking like a
heavy favorite to leapfrog Johnson once again.
"The guys did a great job of hitting the bullseye with this tune-up,"
said Anderson, who currently trails Johnson by 31 points. "It was a
total guess to find the right set-up for this car. Last week (in Denver)
we were at 10,000 feet of corrected altitude. This week we're at 1,000
feet. You couldn't get a bigger swing from one race track to another.
What a job by my guys. They're the best."
In Top Fuel, Dixon turned in a 4.541-second pass in his Miller Lite
dragster in the night session at a track-record speed of 326.40 mph.
"We didn't get down the track in the first round so we really calmed it
down to make sure we made (a full run)," Dixon said. "It hooked up and
ran nice."
His run came as dusk fell on Pacific Raceways and just before an
unexpected oil down caused NHRA officials to end the session with three
dragsters left in the staging lanes because of curfew limitations. Cory
McClenathan, Morgan Lucas and Jack Beckman were not able to get in their
second runs, with Tony Schumacher and his teammate Melnie Troxel pulling
out prior to NHRA officials ceasing the action.
In Funny Car, Medlen's night-session pass of 4.735 in his Castrol Syntec
Ford Mustang was the quickest ever at Pacific Raceways, although his
speed of 323.12 mph wasn't the fastest of the session. That belonged to
Gary Scelzi, who reached a track record speed of 325.85 mph in his
Mopar/Oakley Dodge Stratus R/T to position himself right behind Medlen
after the first two rounds of qualifying.
Medlen's teammate Robert Hight - who is the first rookie in 16 years to
lead the POWERade Funny Car point standings -- had the quickest run in
his Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang in the afternoon
session and appeared poised to earn potentially his sixth No. 1
qualifying position of the year before Medlen's run.
"I think the guys snuck Robert [Hight's] car out of his trailer and
stuck it in mine," said Medlen, who's currently eighth in the POWERade
point standings. "It's no secret that we've been struggling this year.
We had a couple of little wrecks, some fires, things just haven't gone
our way at all. Last year's combo was very user-friendly, but once we
got to 4.72 that was it. With everyone else running 4.60s, we had to
make a change. It's taken time to catch up."
Like nearly every other racer at the track on a day when track records
were no match for the cars and the conditions, Medlen was anxious to get
out there when he saw the forecast.
"We were having breakfast this morning and the guy there said, 'I hope
you guys are ready for the heat. It's supposed to be 75 today.' We all
looked at each other, smiled, and said, 'Yeah, we can handle 75
degrees.' I'll tell you, the way the NHRA prepares these tracks we can
run record numbers wherever we go if the conditions are right. They were
right today and should be all weekend."
Results Friday after qualifying for the 18th annual
CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Pacific Raceways, 14th of 23
events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying
will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.
Top Fuel -- 1. Larry Dixon, 4.541 seconds, 326.40 mph; 2. David
Baca, 4.549, 322.34; 3. Tony Schumacher, 4.551, 326.16; 4. Doug Kalitta,
4.552, 322.34; 5. Scott Kalitta, 4.556, 316.15; 6. David Grubnic, 4.566,
326.08; 7. Morgan Lucas, 4.621, 314.68; 8. Jack Beckman, 4.643, 320.97;
9.
Doug Herbert, 4.649, 312.50; 10. Cory McClenathan, 4.656, 321.19; 11.
Melanie Troxel, 4.662, 307.44; 12. Brandon Bernstein, 4.732, 315.71; 13.
Scott Weis, 4.766, 296.05; 14. Mitch King, 4.926, 275.00; 15. John
Smith, 5.112, 203.43; 16. Bobby Lagana Jr., 10.664, 87.97.
Funny Car -- 1. Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang, 4.735, 323.12; 2.
Gary Scelzi, Dodge Stratus, 4.776, 325.85; 3. Robert Hight, Mustang,
4.776, 322.65; 4. Tommy Johnson Jr., Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.777, 324.05;
5. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.782, 324.83; 6. John Force, Mustang,
4.793, 306.74; 7. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.806, 318.62; 8. Phil
Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.812, 319.75; 9. Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.823,
313.22; 10. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.841, 320.51; 11. Cruz
Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 4.858, 314.17; 12. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo,
4.876, 310.91; 13. Frank Pedregon, Stratus, 4.889, 308.21; 14. Whit
Bazemore, Stratus, 4.999, 312.57; 15. Terry Haddock, Pontiac Firebird,
5.050, 307.79; 16. Bob Gilbertson, Monte Carlo, 5.095, 230.96.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.672, 206.70; 2.
Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.688, 206.42; 3. Richie Stevens, Dodge
Stratus, 6.691, 205.82; 4. Warren Johnson, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.695,
206.07; 5. Greg Stanfield, Chevy Cavalier, 6.705, 205.79; 6. Jason Line,
Grand Am, 6.705, 204.98; 7. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.707, 205.13; 8. Larry
Morgan, Stratus, 6.709, 206.10; 9. Jeg Coughlin, Stratus, 6.723, 204.79;
10. Mike Thomas, Stratus, 6.732, 205.38; 11. Allen Johnson, Stratus,
6.745, 204.88; 12. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.750, 204.73; 13. Ben Watson,
Cavalier, 6.766, 202.94; 14. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.769, 205.01; 15.
Bob Panella, Cobalt, 6.787, 203.58; 16. Jim Yates, Grand Am, 6.792,
203.37.
