Doug Kalitta 3.825-second pass at 317.05 mph
- Friday, February 19, 2010, 21:29
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KALITTA CONTINUES EARLY-SEASON RESURGENCE
Hagan, Edwards also set the pace in their respective categories
Doug Kalitta continued his early-season resurgence with a 3.825-second pass at 317.05 mph to earn the provisional No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel at the 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals Friday.
The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the second of 23 races in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were Matt Hagan (Funny Car) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock).
Kalitta, who has five career top-3 finishes but hasn’t finished higher than eighth place in the last three seasons, opened the 2010 season last weekend with a runner-up finish to Larry Dixon at the Kragen O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline. If he maintains the top qualifying position tomorrow in his Technicoat dragster, it would be the 29th of his career, but just his first since Pomona 2 2006.
“I wasn’t sure you still did (brought the No. 1 qualifier to the media center), it’s been so long,” Kalitta said, adding: “We were real hopeful that we would get a good run … conditions were good. I was real glad it held up.”
In Funny Car, Hagan set the pace with his 4.068-second pass at 311.34 mph in his DieHard Dodge Charger R/T. It would be the third career No. 1 for Hagan, who was one of the top contenders for the 2009 Auto Club Road to the Future Award.
“I think it’s definitely safe to say that we have pretty fast race car after being No. 1 in both sessions,” Hagan said. “To have DieHard on the car makes it even sweeter. To go out there and be able to run for that company like that and get them the pole is huge.”
In Pro Stock, defending Full Throttle Series champion Edwards earned the provisional No. 1 with a 6.609-second pass at 209.46 mph in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP. This would be Edwards’ second straight No. 1 to start the 2010 season and his 11th straight dating back to 2009 when he finished with nine straight No. 1s.
“Eleven in a row would be pretty awesome,” said Edwards. “Those are Greg Anderson stats right there. It’s so hard to do that considering that we race in all kinds of conditions from 4,000 feet to sea level. Hat’s off to my team.”
Qualifying at the NHRA Arizona Nationals concludes with the third and fourth sessions on Saturday when the fields will be set for Sunday’s final eliminations.
CHANDLER, Ariz. — Results Friday after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, second of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday’s final eliminations.
Top Fuel — 1. Doug Kalitta, 3.825 seconds, 317.05 mph; 2. Tony Schumacher, 3.827, 316.60; 3. Larry Dixon, 3.837, 317.57; 4. Cory McClenathan, 3.841, 310.63; 5. Shawn Langdon, 3.870, 315.12; 6. Steve Torrence, 3.871, 306.81; 7. Antron Brown, 3.884, 309.91; 8. Brandon Bernstein, 3.904, 312.57; 9. Mike Strasburg, 3.975, 301.60; 10. Morgan Lucas, 3.984, 274.66; 11. Terry McMillen, 4.076, 226.77; 12. Chris Karamesines, 4.098, 261.12. Not Qualified: 13. Steven Chrisman, 4.107, 285.23; 14. David Grubnic, 4.309, 215.20; 15. Troy Buff, 7.435, 104.07.
Funny Car — 1. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 4.068, 311.34; 2. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.074, 304.67; 3. Ashley Force Hood, Mustang, 4.119, 298.40; 4. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.120, 305.22; 5. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.139, 302.62; 6. Jeff Arend, Toyota Solara, 4.150, 303.37; 7. Del Worsham, Solara, 4.153, 284.75; 8. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.160, 301.20; 9. Gary Densham, Chevy Impala, 4.178, 290.69; 10. Melanie Troxel, Charger, 4.187, 285.77; 11. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.200, 298.67; 12. Tony Pedregon, Impala, 4.211, 303.23. Not Qualified: 13. Cruz Pedregon, 4.271, 286.44; 14. Jeff Diehl, 4.313, 276.52; 15. Jack Beckman, 4.747, 284.51; 16. Jim Head, 6.815, 94.13; 17. Paul Lee, 12.199, 31.51.
Pro Stock — 1. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 6.609, 209.46; 2. Ron Krisher, Chevy Cobalt, 6.627, 208.07; 3. Allen Johnson, Dodge Avenger, 6.635, 208.88; 4. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 6.641, 208.94; 5. Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.652, 208.07; 6. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.660, 208.17; 7. Rickie Jones, GXP, 6.660, 206.57; 8. Larry Morgan, Ford Mustang, 6.663, 207.53; 9. Bob Yonke, GXP, 6.666, 207.88; 10. Vinnie Deceglie, Avenger, 6.666, 207.21; 11. Ronnie Humphrey, GXP, 6.667, 208.20; 12. Jason Line, GXP, 6.670, 208.14. Not Qualified: 13. V. Gaines, 6.670, 206.39; 14. Rodger Brogdon, 6.671, 207.75; 15. Kurt Johnson, 6.680, 207.85; 16. Shane Gray, 6.681, 207.11; 17. Justin Humphreys, 6.684, 206.99; 18. Johnny Gray, 6.701, 206.29; 19. Steve Spiess, 6.704, 206.16; 20. Danny Gruninger, 6.744, 205.69; 21. John Nobile, 6.764, 191.10; 22. Warren Johnson, 7.432, 156.64; 23. Gordie Rivera, broke.
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FORCE, SCHUMACHER AND EDWARDS ARE NO. 1 QUALIFIERS AT NHRA ARIZONA NATIONALS
CHANDLER, Ariz. – John Force continued to show that he’s back to his old form Saturday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals as the 14-time NHRA Funny Car world champion raced to his first No. 1 qualifying position in more than two years.
Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) also earned No. 1 positions in their respective categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event. Due to rainy weather conditions throughout the day, NHRA officials were forced to cancel one of the two scheduled qualifying sessions.
The 60-year-old Force sped to a 4.063-second run at 308.78 mph in his Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang to claim his 132nd No. 1 of his career, seventh at Firebird International Raceway and his first since Sept. 2006. He will meet arch-rival Cruz Pedregon, a two-time series champ, in the opening round of Sunday’s 11 a.m. (MT) eliminations.
“It feels great considering the last few years have been kind of tough,” Force said. “We shook up our teams a little bit with [crew chiefs] Mike Neff, Austin [Coil], and Bernie [Fedderly], and I’ve got the new Eric Medlen chassis built by Ford Motor Co. and John Medlen and the Boss 500. I’ve finally got an all-Ford car and I’m still getting her down the lane, so I’m pretty excited.”
Force was a little surprised that he was able to move past Matt Hagan’s leading effort from Friday. Hagan’s 4.068 at a track record speed of 311.34 in his DieHard Dodge Charger held on to the second spot in the 16-car starting order.
“Conditions weren’t what they were [for Friday’s second session],” Force said. “I knew it’d run an 0, but I didn’t think it’d run an .06. I saw Neff turning on some screws when he went over the car after I backed up from the burnout. He took a long time and I said, ‘Don’t run me out of gas.’ I don’t know what he did – they never tell me – but I have a lot confidence.”
Schumacher powered his U.S. Army dragster to a 3.818 at 317.05 to earn the 59th No. 1 effort of his career and fourth at this event. He grabbed the top spot away from Friday leader Doug Kalitta, whose performance of 3.825 at 317.05 in his Technicoat dragster was good enough for second.
Schumacher said crew chief Mike Green set his car up for a conservative run given the conditions and the opportunity for only one qualifying pass for the day. In hindsight, he said they both wished they would have turned up the wick just a bit.
“Man, we’re the No. 1 qualifier, but it was so off,” said seven-time world champ Schumacher, who will meet four-time FIA European Top Fuel champ Andy Carter in the first round. “We missed it by a mile – everybody did. The track is better than we’ve been giving it credit for. The .81 was still a pretty darn good run for how soft it was. That was one of those runs where we should’ve gone for a 3.75.”
In Pro Stock, defending world champ Edwards took his second-straight No. 1 of the season and 11th in a row dating back to the final nine races of last season. He earned the 24th No. 1 of his career and the third at FIR with his Friday performance of 6.609 at 209.46 in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP. He will face veteran Warren Johnson in the first round.
* * *
CHANDLER, Ariz. — Sunday’s first-round pairings for professional eliminations at the 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, the second of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.
Top Fuel — 1. Tony Schumacher, 3.818 seconds, 317.05 mph vs. 16. Andy Carter, 8.687, 72.00; 2. Doug Kalitta, 3.825, 317.05 vs. 15. Chris Karamesines, 4.098, 261.12; 3. Larry Dixon, 3.837, 317.57 vs. 14. Steven Chrisman, 4.048, 287.29; 4. Antron Brown, 3.838, 315.34 vs. 13. Troy Buff, 3.987, 282.60; 5. Cory McClenathan, 3.841, 310.63 vs. 12. Mike Strasburg, 3.975, 301.60; 6. Shawn Langdon, 3.857, 315.12 vs. 11. Morgan Lucas, 3.935, 297.55; 7. Brandon Bernstein, 3.863, 312.57 vs. 10. David Grubnic, 3.933, 309.63; 8. Steve Torrence, 3.871, 308.92 vs. 9. Terry McMillen, 3.896, 303.43.
Funny Car — 1. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.063, 308.78 vs. 16. Cruz Pedregon, Toyota Solara, 4.364, 286.44; 2. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 4.068, 311.34 vs. 15. Paul Lee, Chevy Impala SS, 4.238, 298.34; 3. Del Worsham, Solara, 4.084, 305.56 vs. 14. Tony Pedregon, Impala, 4.211, 303.23; 4. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.094, 302.96 vs. 13. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.200, 298.67; 5. Ashley Force Hood, Mustang, 4.119, 298.40 vs. 12. Melanie Troxel, Charger, 4.187, 285.77; 6. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.120, 305.22 vs. 11. Gary Densham, Impala, 4.178, 290.69; 7. Jack Beckman, Charger, 4.133, 307.30 vs. 10. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.160, 301.20; 8. Jim Head, Solara, 4.145, 302.89 vs. 9. Jeff Arend, Solara, 4.150, 303.37. Did Not Qualify: 17. Jeff Diehl, 7.930, 276.52; 18. Terry Haddock, broke.
Pro Stock — 1. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 6.609, 209.46 vs. 16. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.668, 206.76; 2. Ron Krisher, Chevy Cobalt, 6.627, 208.07 vs. 15. Shane Gray, GXP, 6.668, 207.11; 3. Rodger Brogdon, GXP, 6.632, 208.04 vs. 14. Vinnie Deceglie, Dodge Avenger, 6.666, 207.21; 4. Allen Johnson, Avenger, 6.635, 208.88 vs. 13. Larry Morgan, Ford Mustang, 6.663, 207.53; 5. Jason Line, GXP, 6.638, 209.20 vs. 12. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.662, 207.85; 6. Bob Yonke, GXP, 6.639, 208.20 vs. 11. Rickie Jones, GXP, 6.660, 206.57; 7. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 6.641, 208.94 vs. 10. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.660, 208.17; 8. Ronnie Humphrey, GXP, 6.647, 208.20 vs. 9. Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.652, 208.39. Did Not Qualify: 17. Danny Gruninger, 6.683, 205.69; 18. Johnny Gray, 6.684, 206.29; 19. Steve Spiess, 6.703, 206.16; 20. V. Gaines, 12.492, 206.39; 21. Justin Humphreys, 14.960, 206.99; 22. John Nobile, broke; 23. Gordie Rivera, broke.
CHANDLER, Ariz. — A woman who was struck by a tire earlier today at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Firebird International Raceway was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital this evening. The tire became detached from Antron Brown’s dragster following an incident during the first round of eliminations. Brown was not injured.
NHRA is investigating the incident. The entire NHRA community is deeply saddened by today’s incident and sends its thoughts and prayers to the woman’s family and friends.