Dixon, Force, Yates, and Hines Lead
Qualifying
Friday at Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals
By NHRA Communications
MOHNTON, Pa. - Larry Dixon moved into position to
claim his eighth No. 1 qualifying effort of the season by clocking the
quickest Top Fuel run Friday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Maple
Grove Raceway.
John Force, Jim Yates and Matt Hines also led their respective
categories following the first two qualifying sessions at the $1.9
million race, the 18th of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series.
Dixon drove his Miller Lite dragster to a category-leading run of 4.560
seconds at 320.28 mph to pace the Top Fuel category.
"The track wasn't a factor, it was as good as you could ask
for," said Dixon. "The setup was more of a factor tonight.
I contribute that run to our testing prior to Indy. We
tested during the day, but we stayed and tested at night and we learned
a lot from that."
Force, who has won three consecutive events, led the 16-car Funny Car
field when he raced his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang down the quarter-mile
in 4.833 at 298.80.
"It was really hauling," said Force, the NHRA's most prolific
winner with 104 career victories. "The conditions were good. The
track is good and the air is good. This is an important race and we love
racing on the East Coast, especially coming here after all the pressure
at Indy, even though we won, because it was a mental struggle. It's fun
out here running at night. Everybody is really jazzed up out here trying
to go fast and run some low numbers. The car might've run an 80-flat if
it would've gone on down the track. The car felt like it drove to the
inside and then I saw (Bruce) Sarver, so that must've been early in the
run. He came over at me and I drove her back."
Yates led the Pro Stock field as he drove his Split Fire/Peak Pontiac
Grand Am to a performance of 6.825 at 200.80. Yates, who is third
in the standings and trails series leader Jeg Coughlin by nine points,
says qualifying atop the Pro Stock field is important.
"The morning session will be pretty good, depending on what the
humidity does," said Yates. "Hopefully we can hold on to
the (No. 1 position). I think we had a little left in that run, but
we're excited. We're racing for that championship and jumping up
there and getting the top spot is a couple more points and right now
every point matters when you're only nine points behind the
leader."
Hines, who is going after his fourth No. 1 qualifying position of the
season, paced the Pro Stock Bike field when he rode his Eagle One Suzuki
to a 7.179, 182.33 pass.
"The humidity was definitely skyrocketing for the evening session
run," said Hines. "I couldn't believe that it went up about 15
to 20 percent in a half-hour. I felt like I had a pretty good run
going, maybe a 7.15. I was surprised that it was only a 7.21.
We lost a little bit of a tailwind from the first session and that
hurt us too. The air was dead still for the second run. We'll
take a 7.17."
Qualifying continues Saturday at 10:30 a.m. for Sunday's 11 a.m.
eliminations.
MOHNTON, Pa. - Friday's qualifying results for the 18th annual Lucas Oil
NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, 18th of 23 events in the $50
million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue
Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.
Top Fuel -- 1. Larry Dixon, 4.560 seconds, 320.28 mph; 2. Rhonda
Hartman-Smith, 4.578, 314.02; 3. Doug Kalitta, 4.594, 317.57; 4. Kenny
Bernstein, 4.616, 316.60; 5. Clay Millican, 4.628, 312.21; 6. Doug
Herbert, 4.634, 315.86; 7. Cory McClenathan, 4.636, 313.95; 8. Tony
Schumacher, 4.649, 312.28; 9. Bruce Litton, 4.663, 310.98; 10. Jim Head,
4.665, 307.37; 11. John Smith, 4.682, 311.20; 12. Darrell Russell,
4.796, 279.90; 13. Andrew Cowin, 4.815, 243.81; 14. Scott Weis, 4.858,
303.16; 15. Mike Smith, 4.892, 287.90; 16. Chris Karamesines, 8.142,
100.00.
Funny Car -- 1. John Force, Ford Mustang, 4.833, 316.30; 2. Whit
Bazemore, Pontiac Firebird, 4.843, 313.66; 3. Bruce Sarver, Toyota
Celica, 4.849, 312.42; 4. Johnny Gray, Firebird, 4.851, 315.56; 5. Tony
Pedregon, Mustang, 4.854, 313.29; 6. Scotty Cannon, Firebird, 4.859,
299.53; 7. Cruz Pedregon, Firebird, 4.877, 310.27; 8. Gary Densham,
Mustang, 4.880, 308.21; 9. Ron Capps, Chevy Camaro, 4.894, 299.86; 10.
Bob Gilbertson, Firebird, 4.898, 308.28; 11. Del Worsham, Firebird,
4.911, 312.64; 12. Dean Skuza, Dodge Stratus R/T, 4.947, 260.56; 13.
Tommy Johnson Jr., Camaro, 4.951, 298.07; 14. Dale Creasy Jr., Firebird,
4.975, 298.54; 15. Frank Pedregon, Firebird, 4.991, 299.06; 16. Vinny
Arcadi, Camaro, 5.293, 279.50.
Pro Stock -- 1. Jim Yates, Pontiac Grand Am, 6.825, 200.80; 2. Kurt
Johnson, Chevy Cavalier, 6.826, 201.85; 3. Mark Whisnant, Cavalier,
6.830, 201.49; 4. Jeg Coughlin, Cavalier, 6.835, 201.49; 5. Warren
Johnson, Grand Am, 6.838, 201.28; 6. Bruce Allen, Grand Am, 6.839,
201.10; 7. Larry Nance, Cavalier, 6.839, 200.98; 8. Ron Krisher,
Cavalier, 6.840, 201.91; 9. V. Gaines, Cavalier, 6.841, 201.22; 10. Troy
Coughlin, Cavalier, 6.843, 199.91; 11. Mike Edwards, Cavalier, 6.847,
201.31; 12. Robert Patrick, Ford Mustang, 6.849, 200.14; 13. Allen
Johnson, Dodge Neon R/T, 6.850, 201.34; 14. Mark Pawuk, Grand Am, 6.852,
201.01; 15. Greg Anderson, Cavalier, 6.854, 201.01; 16. Tom Martino,
Grand Am, 6.854, 200.26.
Pro Stock Bike -- 1. Matt Hines, Suzuki, 7.179, 186.33; 2. Angelle
Savoie, Suzuki, 7.220, 182.67; 3. Reggie Showers, Suzuki, 7.295, 185.26;
4. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.302, 181.37; 5. Andrew Hines, Suzuki, 7.303,
187.03; 6. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.306, 181.28; 7. Karen Stoffer,
Suzuki, 7.320, 181.23; 8. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.329, 184.22; 9. Antron
Brown, Suzuki, 7.331, 179.02; 10. Mike Berry, Suzuki, 7.336, 179.23; 11.
John Smith, Suzuki, 7.359, 182.48; 12. Keith Dennis, Suzuki, 7.362,
178.87; 13. Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.367, 176.77; 14. Geno Scali, Kawasaki,
7.372, 183.29; 15. Fred Camarena, Suzuki, 7.376, 180.07; 16. Thomas
Miceli, Suzuki, 7.381, 181.91.
NHRA Communications
