Nitro Dogs Racing

Larry Dixon and Mike Edwards, low qualifiers three weeks ago in Phoenix, lead the Top Fuel and Pro Stock fields, respectively, halfway through qualifying at 40th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.Bob Tasca III has the fastest Funny Car so far while  Matt Smith is atop the Pro Stock Motorcycle field.

A very full Friday crowd packed the venerable facility for the event, the third of 24 events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series  schedule, basking under most sunny skies.

Larry Dixon

Dixon is halfway to his second straight No. 1 qualifying position after wheeling the Alan Johnson racing-Al-Anabi dragster to the top spot with his first-session 3.902 pass. Crew chief Johnson won the race last season while tuning for Tony Schumacher and beat Dixon in the semifinals of that race.
“I think from the first two events we went to, the air is quite a bit better here, but because of the track temperature, you have a lot less grip,” said Dixon. “I would assume that most of the teams that got down the track had to calm the car down to let it get down the track. It was real close to get that .90 on the board and at least get us qualified in the top 12. That’s always important. The next run we went up there and slowed down a little bit. I didn’t get a chance to talk to the guys to see why or what they were trying, but two runs down the track, that’s real good for us.”

“I wouldn’t think [the number will hold], I think cars should run better the more they get adapted. It seems like in years past here at Gainesville the first day is a little bit slower than the second day. I don’t know why, obviously the heat and we haven’t run here in a year, but the second day everything normally picks up and the team seems to adapt better to it and you have more shots to fire at it. I think you’ll see 80s tomorrow. I wouldn’t expect a .90 flat to hold up.”

Brandon Bernstein, who won this event in his rookie season in 2003 and was runner-up last year to Schumacher, jumped his Rob Flynn-tuned Budweiser dragster from the fourth spot to the No. 2 slot behind Schumacher. Veteran Cory McClenathan, who has never won the Gatornationals in his successful career, is third with the Fram dragster at 3.93.Class rookie Shawn Langdon sits fourth with the Lucas oil Slick Mist entry at 3.94, just ahead of Schumacher, who smoked the tires on his morning pass but improved to a .944 in the afternoon.

Points leader Antron Brown, winner of the Phoenix event, is the No. 6 qualifier, just ahead of rookie Spencer Massey and Joe Hartley. Urs Erbacher of Switzerland holds down the 12th spot with a 4,043 pass.

Among those drivers not in the field heading into Saturday’s final two qualifying sessions are former event winner Doug Kalitta and legendary Top Fuel racer Chris Karamesines, who is making his first NHRA start in two years.

Bob Tasca III

Tasca leads a trio of Mustangs corralled atop the Funny Car chart with an opening salvo of 4.124 from his Chris Cunningham-tuned Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford. If he holds on to the top spot, it will be the third-generation racer’s first professional No. 1 qualifying berth.

“The weather is going to be great all weekend,” said Tasca. “It really comes around with the cloud cover. It really doesn’t matter what the temperature is, track temperature is what’s critical. We’re hoping it’ll hold up but hey, we could improve. The good thing about running a 4.12 is you have the data and you can look at it. There were a lot of things in that run that we could have improved upon. It was a real safe 4.12. If the conditions come our way tomorrow, we’ll try to improve it.

At the end of the day, Chris and the guys give me a great hot rod and the driver is here to do his job. [We ran] 4.12 in that first session right out of the box and then we came back with a 4.18. We were trying something, and that’s a luxury you have when you’re at the top of the pack and you’re the No. 1 qualifier. It showed us some promising stuff, it didn’t improve the performance of the car but the track wasn’t as good as it was the morning session. If we have a chance to approve, it’ll probably be the earlier session tomorrow. I think that afternoon session will be too hot.”

Behind Tasca on the sheets are seven-time Gatornationals winner John Force and his Castrol Edge Mustang at 4.153 and Force’s teammate, Mike Neff , who continues to run strong even in the absence of sidelined crew chief John Medlen. Neff’s Drive One Mustang ran 4.154.

Points leader Ron Capps, undefeated through the first two events of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, jumped from the 15th spot to fourth with a strong 4.156 despite having his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge dart for the guardwall near the finish line. One of Capps’ Don Schumacher Racing teammates, Matt Hagan in the Shelor.com Dodge, is right behind him at 4.157 for the fifth spot. Behind them is yet another Mustang, the Castrol GTX machine of Ashley Force Hood sat 54.179. Del Worsham and Jeff Arend round out the top eight.

Mike Smith, in the Tire Kingdom Monte Carlo, holds down the final transfer spot to Saturday’s qualifying with a 12th-best 4.247. Among those who will need to battle their way into the field Saturday are former national event winners Robert Hight, Jack Beckman, Jerry Toliver, and Jim Head. Hight, second in points entering the event, has had a rough outing so far in the Automobile Club of Southern California Ford. He banged the blower on the launch of his first run and came to a halt 100 feet downtrack, then smoked the tires on his second pass. His 5.57 is just the 16th quickest of the 17 entries to make runs Friday.

Mike Edwards

Edwards, like Dixon the low qualifier at the schedule’s most recent event, the Lucas Oil Slick Most NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, continued his hot streak as he screamed to the top of the Pro Stock pack in the second qualifying session with a 6.585. He was joined in the 6.50s by Greg Anderson’s 6.595 as both blew past first-session leader Allen Johnson’s 6.600. Edwards, flying the colors of Applied Racing Technology at this event, had been the No. 2 qualifier after the day’s first session behind Johnson with a 6.622.

“I’m not really used to this to be honest with you,” said Edwards. “It’s very rewarding to have these kind of results after the effort our team put in last season and over the winter. I’m just really appreciative of everything. Kathy and Derek Steinbach from A.R.T. are here today and what a great way to show them off here in their homestate [of] Florida. They’ve been on our car for eight years, and I’m real tickled for them and to have them on board. We made up the whole car for them this weekend because we wanted to do something real special for all the dedication they’ve given us, and it turned out real nice for them.

“There will be some faster times tomorrow,” he added. “I don’t know if we can get any better than that tomorrow but we’re going to try. It depends on the weather but I think the first session tomorrow is going to be real good.”

Behind the two Pontiacs and Johnson’s Dodge are Anderson’s Summit Racing Pontiac teammate, Jason Line, at 6.620 and reigning series champ Jeg Coughlin’s Chevrolet at 6.623. Larry Morgan has the next fastest Dodge with a sixth-ranked 6,627 while the event sponsor’s flagship, Kurt Johnson’s Cobalt, and Greg Stanfield’s Attitude Apparel Pontiac round out the top half of the field. Steve Spiess holds the final provisional spot with a 12th quickest 6.659.

Improvements generally were slight if at all for the factory hot rods in the warmer afternoon session, with Justin Humphreys’ four-hundredths leap, from 6.70 to 6.64, being tops, though it wasn’t good enough to put him in the quick 12. He, along with nine-time Gatornationals winner Warren Johnson, V. Gaines, and Rickie Jones, will need to run quick Saturday to make the show. Twenty four Pro Stocker made qualifying attempts.

Matt Smith

Smith, in his debut with the Don Schumacher Racing stable, ran 6.945 in Friday’s first session aboard the NitroFish Suzuki after more than two years astride his own Buell entry and held on through the afternoon’s slower session for the provisional pole position with two sessions still to go.

“That’s a good start to the season and if we can continue like that tomorrow we’ll be good,” said Smith, who made just seven runs on the bike before the race during testing. “We left three- or four-hundredths on the table on that first run, so if the conditions are similar tomorrow morning, we could run a 6.90 or .91. This Nitro Fish Suzuki that Don Schumacher has put together is pretty awesome, so I have to thank everyone on the team for giving me a chance to do this.

“The Buell is like a tractor in that it vibrates and makes no rpm – we run like 9,000 rpm – while the Suzuki will turn 13,500 nice and smooth, so it’s totally different. The clutch is different, the throttle is different, so it’s a big adjustment.”

Smith was joined in the six-second zone four other riders, led by 2008 Norwalk winner Hector Arana, who clocked a 6.957 aboard the Lucas Oil Buell. 2007 event winner Karen Stoffer, sporting new yellow paint on her GEICO Suzuki, is third with a 6.963 and is followed on the sheets by Angie McBride, Smith’s fiancée, who rode his 2008 machine to a 6.963, and former Gatornationals champ Andrew Hines, who ran 6.991 on his Vance & Hines/Screamin’ Eagle Harley. All of the six-second passes were recorded in the first session.

As it was in Pro Stock, not many riders improved in the afternoon session, though Wesley Wells did open a few eyes by improving by nearly five-hundredths, from 7.082 to 7.034, which ranks his Suzuki ninth. Ahead of him and behind the six-second runners are Craig Treble’s Suzuki (7.007), defending series champ Eddie Krawiec’s Harley (7.007), and two-time Indy champ Steve Johnson’s WyoTech Suzuki (7.024). Although he’s not currently in the field, Ryan Schnitz also impressed with a 7.17 aboard the Team Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-14, a career-best time for the rare machine.

Among those not in the field heading into Sunday are defending event champ Matt Guidera and 2008 rookie of the year candidate Junior Pippin.