SCHUMACHER, MEDLEN, ANDERSON AND HINES ARE QUALIFYING LEADERS
AT LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS
BRAINERD, Minn. - Two-time and defending POWERade World Champion Tony
Schumacher led all Top Fuel competitors Friday at the 24th annual Lucas
Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, where drivers set
all eight of the track's records.
Eric Medlen (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), and Andrew Hines
(Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were the provisional qualifying leaders of
their classes after two qualifying rounds at the $1.6 million event, the
16th of 23 races on the $50 million NHRA POWERade drag racing series'
schedule. Professional qualifying continues Saturday.
Schumacher powered his U.S. Army dragster down the
quarter-mile track in 4.508 seconds, a track record for elapsed time, at
327.27 mph.
"That was fun," Schumacher said. "Alan (Johnson, crew chief)
told me to hold on and I did. God forbid we have some fun doing our
jobs, but I certainly did just now. That was great. The points race is
so tight and every run is important. It's big for us to gain even one
point in the standings."
Medlen piloted his Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang to a track record elapsed
time of 4.766 seconds at 324.59 mph.
"We're entirely happy with a 4.76," Medlen said. "Will it
hold? I don't know. (John) Force, Robert (Hight) and some of the others
might go quicker if it's cool tomorrow. But if they go quicker, so can
we. It's so good to have my hot rod back."
Greg Anderson set both ends of the track record with a 6.715
second run at 205.72 mph behind the wheel of his Summit Racing Equipment
Pontiac GTO. Anderson credits his performance to the data his crew
collected while testing at their local track under similar weather
conditions.
"We're actually very, very pleased," Anderson said. "We've
been working on the car awfully hard the last week. We were out three or
four more days testing with it. We thought we had this (car) working
really, really well when we were running it at our local Mooresville
(N.C.) track. You just never know when you come to another track if you
can duplicate that set-up, if you can make it adapt at another track,
but so far it's right on the money.
"Obviously our testing has paid off. The car is happy right now, it
likes this track, it is very close to the track we testing on and the
guys have done a great job finding what this car wants. We're pretty
excited."
Hines rode his Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to a track record-setting
pass of 7.024 seconds at 191.92 mph to lead the motorcycle field. Hines
broke an almost year-long losing streak with a win in Sonoma, Calif.,
just two weeks ago. Hines also gained boosts from air temperatures
perfect for drag racing - and a little push, too.
"A good tailwind and cool air can make up for the barometer we're
missing from Sonoma," Hines said. "We're trying very hard to defend our
championship and one of the key things we wanted to do was get our two
bikes up at the front of the class. We were able to do that today."
******* AGATE *******
BRAINERD, Minn. -- Results Friday after qualifying for the 24th annual
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, 16th of 23
events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying
will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.
Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.508 seconds, 327.27 mph; 2. Cory
McClenathan, 4.536, 324.20; 3. Scott Kalitta, 4.554, 329.58; 4. David
Grubnic, 4.564, 321.88; 5. Doug Kalitta, 4.565, 326.40; 6. Brandon
Bernstein, 4.593, 326.79; 7. Doug Herbert, 4.615, 317.27; 8. Larry
Dixon, 4.624, 320.66; 9. Melanie Troxel, 4.626, 295.34; 10. Scott Weis,
4.702, 310.98; 11. Morgan Lucas, 4.740, 305.29; 12. Mitch King, 4.981,
243.33; 13. Joe Hartley, 5.573, 174.55; 14. John Smith, 5.911, 172.43;
15. Tim Gibson, 6.262, 131.72; 16. Jack Beckman, 6.315, 135.16.
Funny Car -- 1. Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang, 4.766, 324.59; 2. Tony
Pedregon, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.791, 323.74; 3. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte
Carlo, 4.802, 324.59; 4. Ron Capps, Dodge Stratus, 4.811, 317.19; 5.
Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.813, 323.81; 6. Cruz Pedregon, Monte Carlo,
4.824, 322.19; 7. Tim Wilkerson, Monte Carlo, 4.830, 324.20; 8. John
Force, Mustang, 4.845, 317.34; 9. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.855,
316.82; 10. Tony Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.878, 313.73; 11. Del Worsham,
Monte Carlo, 4.884, 314.46; 12. Whit Bazemore, Stratus, 4.887, 312.35;
13. Phil Burkart, Toyota Celica, 4.905, 309.13; 14. Bob Bode, Pontiac
Firebird, 4.973, 288.46; 15. John Lawson, Chevy Camaro, 5.092, 292.46;
16. Gary Scelzi, Stratus, 5.758, 170.51.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GTO, 6.715, 205.72; 2. Jeg
Coughlin, Dodge Stratus, 6.739, 204.82; 3. Richie Stevens, Stratus,
6.749, 204.39; 4. Rickie Smith, Chevy Cavalier, 6.750, 204.26; 5. Kenny
Koretsky, Stratus, 6.751, 204.29; 6. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.757,
204.23; 7.
Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.761, 204.60; 8. Warren Johnson, GTO, 6.762,
204.85; 9. Ron Krisher, Cavalier, 6.762, 204.66; 10. Kurt Johnson, Chevy
Cobalt, 6.763, 204.23; 11. Jim Yates, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.763, 203.98;
12. Jason Line, Grand Am, 6.772, 204.20; 13. Dave Howard, Cobalt, 6.779,
203.89; 14. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.783, 204.57; 15. Dave Connolly,
Cobalt, 6.784, 204.11; 16. Erica Enders, Cobalt, 6.786, 203.86.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.024, 191.92;
2. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson, 7.034, 192.96; 3. Chip Ellis, Buell,
7.090, 192.55; 4. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.117, 188.04; 5. Angelle
Sampey, Suzuki, 7.146, 187.11; 6. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 7.151, 192.08; 7.
Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.161, 184.77; 8. Matt Smith, Suzuki, 7.166, 187.99;
9. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.176, 186.74; 10. Chris Rivas, Buell, 7.178,
182.90; 11. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.220, 188.36; 12.
David Feazell, Harley-Davidson, 7.241, 183.42; 13. Antron Brown, Suzuki,
7.248, 184.25; 14. Hector Arana, Suzuki, 7.255, 188.28; 15. Michael
Phillips, Suzuki, 7.270, 189.26; 16. Mike Berry, Suzuki, 7.275, 184.50.
