NHRA NEWS: Story, agate from Friday Qualifying at the Sears
Craftsman NHRA Nationals
DIXON SPEEDS TO TOP PASS ON DAY 1 OF SEARS CRAFTSMAN NHRA NATIONALS
Tim Wilkerson, Kurt Johnson and Andrew Hines lead their categories
MADISON, Ill. - Surging Top Fuel driver Larry Dixon turned in a
4.614-second run at 321.88 mph for the best pass of the first day of
qualifying at the Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals Friday night at Gateway
Raceway.
The other top runs on Friday belonged to local favorite Tim Wilkerson of
Springfield, Ill. in Funny Car (4.863 seconds, 308.71 mph), Kurt Johnson
in Pro Stock (6.750, 204.14) and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle
(7.126, 187.29).
Dixon has never won here at the Sears Craftsman Nationals, the 12th of
23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Series.
Fresh off of his second win of the season last weekend at the K&N
Filters NHRA Supernationals, Dixon and crew chief Dick LaHaie form what
has traditionally been one of the most formidable hot-weather teams and
Friday was no exception.
Dixon has 37 career wins in his Miller Lite dragster, two shy of Kenny
Bernstein (39) for second place on the all-time wins list in Top Fuel,
and he is currently in third place in the POWERade Series Top Fuel
standings, 68 points behind Doug Kalitta and just six points behind Tony
Schumacher.
"We just wanted to get down the track with a good run and get solidly
qualified in the field," said Dixon, who's not too confident his run
will hold up Saturday. "I believe you will have to run in the high 50s
to be No. 1 at the end of qualifying, but I think tonight's run will be
good for a top 5 qualifying position."
Wilkerson, from nearby Springfield, Ill., is the hometown favorite in
his Levi, Ray and Shoup Chevy Monte Carlo.
"What a great place this would be to hold onto the No. 1 qualifying
position and get our first win," Wilkerson said.
Track temperatures were in the 130s during the day Friday, but as the
sun set cooler temperatures ensued and Wilkerson took advantage with the
top Funny Car run of the day, although he's not too confident it will
hold up.
"The track's pretty good," he said. "I think we'll see better times out
there (Saturday)."
Kurt Johnson, who earned his first No. 1 qualifying position of the
season the previous weekend at the K&N Filters NHRA Supernationals, had
just enough in his ACDelco Chevrolet Cobalt to edge out his father
Warren Johnson (6.758, 203.46) for the best run in Pro Stock Friday.
"We were very disappointed with what happened in Englishtown," Kurt
Johnson said. "We had a great car Friday and Saturday but when we got
out there Sunday it was like a totally different car. The tires were
spinning every round and another race slipped through our fingers. I
said, 'I'm tired of this, we're going testing,' so that's what we did."
"We hit the track in Atlanta Tuesday and it was 94 degrees outside and
130 on the track so we really came in here prepared. I didn't know how
it would react tonight when it cooled off a little bit but the car went
right down that left lane and put up the number," he said.
Hines' top run in his Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson came
on the final Pro Stock Motorcycle run of the day as the steamy
temperatures began to subside.
"(The conditions weren't) as bad as I thought, I ran basically the same
numbers (last week when it wasn't as hot) in Englishtown (N.J.), which
shows you how far off we were (in the tuneup)," Hines said. "It was hot
and greasy, we hit some big bumps and the bike came off the ground."
Hines also had the top qualifying run in the first round of qualifying,
but he had slipped to second when he lined up for his second run and
reclaimed the top spot after the first two rounds of qualifying.
"We knew we had a lot of room for improvement, luckily we had just
enough to take back the No. 1 spot," Hines said. "Luckily the V-rod went
right down the track, I didn't have to make a correction and that was
the difference between No. 1 and No. 2."
The final two rounds of qualifying will take place Saturday at 5 and 8
p.m.
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AGATE AGATE AGATE
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MADISON, Ill. -- Results Friday after qualifying for the Ninth annual
Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals at Gateway International Raceway, 12th 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, 4.614 seconds, 321.88 mph; 2. Scott
Kalitta, 4.616, 322.65; 3. Tony Schumacher, 4.626, 328.30; 4. Doug
Kalitta, 4.650, 322.50; 5. Rod Fuller, 4.659, 318.77; 6. Cory
McClenathan, 4.694, 322.73; 7. David Grubnic, 4.708, 300.93; 8. Morgan
Lucas, 4.739, 306.33; 9. T.J. Zizzo, 4.782, 265.85; 10. Bobby Lagana
Jr., 4.868, 300.33; 11. Mitch King, 4.874, 281.13; 12. Tim Gibson,
4.956, 228.85; 13. Don Reed, 5.283, 229.35; 14. Doug Herbert, 5.311,
236.71; 15. Scott Palmer, 5.433, 187.34; 16. John Smith, 5.670, 234.53.
Funny Car -- 1. Tim Wilkerson, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.863, 308.71;
2. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.887, 318.32; 3. Gary Scelzi, Dodge
Stratus, 4.890, 318.39; 4. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.897, 312.13; 5.
Ron Capps, Stratus, 4.902, 310.05; 6. Robert Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.903,
309.20; 7. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.908, 314.61; 8. Jeff Arend, Monte
Carlo, 4.912, 315.19; 9. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.912, 312.06; 10.
Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 4.919, 303.84; 11. Eric Medlen, Mustang,
4.970, 295.85; 12. Terry Haddock, Chevy Camaro, 5.001, 310.63; 13. John
Force, Mustang, 5.008, 301.54; 14. Tony Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 5.090,
264.18; 15. Bob Gilbertson, Monte Carlo, 5.101, 288.46; 16. Cruz
Pedregon, Monte Carlo, 5.107, 300.86.
Pro Stock -- 1. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.750, 204.14; 2.
Warren Johnson, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.758, 203.46; 3. Greg Anderson, Grand
Am, 6.762, 203.68; 4. Jason Line, Grand Am, 6.777, 202.85; 5. Richie
Stevens, Dodge Stratus, 6.781, 202.91; 6. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.787,
202.79; 7. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.793, 202.64; 8. Greg Stanfield, Chevy
Cavalier, 6.798, 202.79; 9. Rickie Smith, Cavalier, 6.798, 202.73; 10.
Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.809, 202.67; 11. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.810,
201.79; 12. Jim Yates, Grand Am, 6.815, 201.55; 13. Jeg Coughlin,
Stratus, 6.817, 202.58; 14. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.825, 202.33; 15. V.
Gaines, Stratus, 6.826, 202.79; 16. Bruce Allen, Grand Am, 6.833,
201.37.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.126,
187.29; 2. Antron Brown, Suzuki, 7.149, 189.26; 3. Ryan Schnitz, Buell,
7.152, 187.34; 4. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.158, 180.65; 5. Chris Rivas,
Buell, 7.178, 186.07; 6. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.183, 186.92; 7.
Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.197, 187.47; 8. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 7.219,
183.42; 9. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.241, 186.72; 10. Matt Smith, Suzuki,
7.248, 183.84; 11. Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.251, 185.08; 12.
Mike Berry, Suzuki, 7.252, 185.31; 13. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.276,
182.80; 14. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.293, 184.04; 15. Matt Guidera,
Buell, 7.314, 180.07; 16. David Feazell, Harley-Davidson, 7.333, 179.30.
