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Record passes carry Anderson and Sampey to top Gatornationals spots
By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
Greg Anderson and Angelle Sampey used world-record passes to thrill the masses Saturday at the 38th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals. Three-time NHRA champion Anderson posted the first Pro Stock pass in excess of 210 mph when he blasted to 211.20 mph, while fellow three-time champ Sampey equaled the quickest Pro Stock Motorcycle pass of all time with her 6.911-second run.
The nitro-powered professionals couldn't master the track or the near-perfect atmospheric conditions as well as the Pro Stockers could. Larry Dixon claimed top honors in Top Fuel for the first time since the Seattle race in 2005, but he only needed a 4.510 to get it done. In Funny Car, Robert Hight earned the No. 1 spot for the second straight race with a double-track-record 4.686.
Larry Dixon
This was the first of Dixon's 27 low qualifying efforts that came with crew chief Donnie Bender making the calls. Sporting new sponsor SkyTel on his Don "the Snake" Prudhomme-owned dragster, Dixon used his final run of 4.510 at 330.07 mph to earn the bonus money.
"I'm absolutely thrilled for Donnie," Dixon said of his second-year tuner. "This is his first pole and he really earned it. The car is finally reacting to what he's doing. He did a great job. The SkyTel guys are here and they thought it was really cool. Now they probably think it's easy.
"The weather conditions are optimum. When you see a Pro Stock car going 211 mph that pretty much tells you that. But the track is so touchy we all had a hard time getting anything to stick. Look at Tim Richards, one of the best ever, and he doesn’t get in with a car that could have won the first two races. It's like having the most horsepower you can make with the least amount of grip. The Pro Stock guys don't make enough power to notice, but it was a real puzzle for all of us."
Friday leader "Hot Rod" Fuller, currently leading the championship points, dropped back to second place when he didn't improve on his 4.535 at 323.66 mph he posted Friday in his Valvoline/David Powers Homes dragster.
Four-time and reigning champ Tony Schumacher, the top qualifier at the first two races, is third here in his U.S. Army rail with a 4.541. Whit Bazemore is fourth with a 4.542 in the Matco Tools dragster.
Bud driver Brandon Bernstein failed to qualify for the Top Fuel field for the first time in his 80-race career.
Robert Hight
Hight's quick run in the Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang came late Saturday when the track's launch pad was mostly shaded. His 4.686 at 331.94 mph was the quickest and fastest Funny Car run in Gainesville Raceway history and sets up a first-round race against Del Worsham, who made the cut for the first time this year with a 4.842 in his CSK ride.
"We've won 4.60s at all three racetracks we've been to this year and that's exciting," Hight said. "I'm very fortunate to have such a fast racecar. It took Jimmy [Prock, crew chief] a few years to figure out Funny Cars but now he's one of the best. To see Austin Coil, the best crew chief ever, come over and ask his opinion on stuff is really cool to see.
"I think it's important that we found a way to get down the track three of four passes in qualifying. We learned this weekend that we can back down the tune-up if we need to and that's going to be important as the year goes along."
Former champ Gary Scelzi's '07 resurgence continues as he qualified his Oakley/Mopar Dodge Stratus R/T second with a 4.754 at 327.90 mph, also run in the last round. His teammate Ron capps followed in third with a 4.772 in the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger.
John Force ended up 10th with a 4.802 in the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, with daughter Ashley nailing down the 13th slot with a 4.822.
Kenny Bernstein rode new crew chief Jimmy Walsh's tune-up to the No. 15 position, marking the first time he's qualified his Monster Dodge.
Greg Anderson
Anderson thrilled the fans with his track record 6.566 at a national record top speed of 211.20 mph, but the driver of the Summit Racing Pontiac GTO wasn't exactly pleased with his own performance, which netted him his 53rd career low qualifying award.
"We're all running career-best numbers but I bet not very many of us would say we're making good runs," Anderson said. "The conditions got so good overnight it was like the horsepower fairy came by and sprinkled 50 extra horsepower on every engine. We've got no experience with that. No one does. It makes it very tough.
"I'm pleased with the DRCE3 motor. We knew after the first race that if we rubbed it the right way it would get better. But that doesn't prevent me from feeling like we have an awful lot of homework to do tonight. We won't win running like we ran today."
Anderson's teammate Jason Line, the defending champion of the POWERade series, waited until the last session to make the field with a fifth-best 6.597 at 211.03 mph. In between the two were Larry Morgan (6.566 at 210.31 mph), Mike Edwards (6.575 at 210.18 mph), and Warren Johnson (6.587 at 209.69 mph).
Two-time NHRA champ Jim Yates, defending race champion Tom Martino, Phoenix winner Kurt Johnson, and top-10 runner Richie Stevens all failed to qualify for the field.
Angelle Sampey
Both of Sampey's Saturday runs put 6.91s on the scoreboards. The first one -- a 6.919 -- gave her the national record. She then lowered the mark to a 6.911, which ties the quickest pass ever. The U.S. Army Suzuki rider has now earned 40 low qualifying awards.
"This is a beautiful way to start the season," Sampey said. "To be No. 1 in the quickest field ever with a potential national record already in the books and to have my teammate [Antron Brown] right behind me in third is awesome for us. There aren't as many Suzukis as there used to be but we're still here.
"I hope we get the record but we might need to go quicker to hold onto it. There are probably four of us that can run 6.8s tomorrow if the weather is like it was today so we'll see. The cool thing is these are our old bikes. We have new ones in the trailer but my crew chief wants us to test a little more before we bust them out. We have four bikes on this team that can run a national record.
"We have everything we need to be champions this year. We just need to hold it together for the entire season and stay away from those red-lights. I want to get back to that point where you feel like you can win every race and where your competitors feel like they can't beat you."
When spanned to final qualifier Karen Stoffer's 7.033 at 191.87 mph, Sampey's 6.911 tops the quickest field of Pro Stock Motorcycles ever assembled.
Craig Treble, Sampey's friendliest rival, is second on his unsponsored Suzuki with a career-best 6.930 at 192.85 mph. He's the quickest of five new riders in the six-second club.
Sampey's U.S. Army teammate, Antron Brown, is third with a 6.930 at 191.24 mph. Friday leader Chip Ellis has the quickest Buell with another 6.930 at 190.75 mph, which placed him fourth.
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