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NHRA: Force, Dunn, Johnson, Seeling, Osborne Winners at Mac Tools GatorNationals

22 March 1999

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- John Force capped a record-breaking weekend at the 30th annual Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway by scoring his 72nd career NHRA Funny Car victory.

Force, from Yorba Linda, Calif., set national records for elapsed time and speed (4.799 seconds at 324.05 mph) before defeating upstart Cory Lee in Sunday's final round. The victory, worth $75,000, was Force's second straight of the season. Mike Dunn, Warren Johnson, Angelle Seeling and Mark Osborne were also winners in their respective pro categories at the $2.1 million race, the third of 22 events in the $40 million NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series.

Force drove his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a final round 4.819 at 311.92 to defeat Lee, who lost traction in his Dodge Avenger and ran 8.613 at 101.88 in his first career final round.

Dunn, from Wrightsville, Pa., earned $50,000 for his second Top Fuel victory of the season and in the process denied Winston No Bull Challenge candidate Doug Herbert a $100,000 bonus.

Dunn ran 4.550 at 319.98 in his Team Mopar dragster, just inching past Herbert's dragster at the finish in the quickest side-by-side Top Fuel race in NHRA history. Herbert, who was selected through a random pre-race drawing as the candidate for the $100,000 Winston No Bull Challenge bonus for Top Fuel, was a tick slower at 4.563 at 318.62.

Johnson, from Buford, Ga., defeated son Kurt for family bragging rights in the Pro Stock final.

The elder Johnson ran 6.971 at 199.37 in a Pontiac Firebird, while Kurt's Chevrolet Camaro slowed to a 7.250 at 167.07. During the second round of eliminations Johnson set both ends of the national Pro Stock record, running 6.866 at 201.37.

Seeling, from New Orleans, opened the Pro Stock Motorcycle season with a victory and a national elapsed time record (7.212 seconds), defeating John Smith in the final. Seeling ran 7.224 at 185.79 on a Suzuki, outrunning Smith, who set a national speed record (192.22 mph) during the weekend, but came up short in the final with a 7.269 at 189.18.

Former Pro Stock racer Osborne, from Abingdon, Va., claimed his first career Pro Stock Truck victory, defeating Team Mopar's Todd Patterson. Osborne, who lowered the national elapsed time mark for pickups to 7.529 seconds, ran 7.535 at 177.60 in a Chevrolet S-10, defeating Patterson's slower Dodge Dakota, which ran 7.594 at 175.50.

The four-day estimated attendance was 132,500, an event record.

The next NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series event is the 11th annual O'Reilly Nationals presented by Pennzoil, April 8-11 at Houston Raceway Park.