Commisso secures Ohio Crankshaft money; Point leader Baker DNQs

ATLANTA (April 26) -- Ray Commisso is the Ohio Crankshaft No. 1 qualifier for the first time in more than a year as qualifying for the JEGS ProMod Challenge concluded Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Dragway.

Currently ranked third in the JEGS championship standings, 93 points behind Joe Baker, Commisso suddenly has a golden opportunity to gain a bunch of ground back on the No. 1 ranking as Baker failed to qualify for the event after winning the first two races of the year.

"We're definitely looking to earn as many points as we can," said Commisso, driver of the ProCare Rx Camaro. "The standings are about to bunch up considerably with Joe out of the line-up so it's going to get very interesting.

"I think we have a car that's capable of winning. It's only got three runs on it since Vanishing Point Race Cars rebuilt the center section of the chassis so we're still working out the bugs a little bit but any time you enter a drag race with Al Billes tuning your car you have a great chance to win."

Commisso's elapsed time of record was the 5.957 at 244.87 mph he posted in Friday's first qualifying session. He'll open against Rick Stivers, who set a very quick bump spot of 6.099 at 233.36 mph in his '67 Tindle Enterprises Shelby GT.

Returning to his '41 Willys after one race behind the wheel of Roger Burgess' hot rod, Baker's best run was a 6.165 at 234.94 mph. With an 80-point advantage over Tony Pontieri, who qualified 12th with a 6.066, Baker could still leave town with the points lead but it's dwindling fast.

Eliminations begin at 4:30 p.m. EDT