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Gainesville Gatornationals Produce A Few Surprises!
Mike Edwards
Credit: PaddockTalk/Anne Proffit
By Anne Proffit
It’s been a windy, mostly sunny and cool day at the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Florida. These conditions produced a few surprises and some rather squirrely runs down the dragstrip. We saw one Pro Stock Motorcycle blown across the track and there were quite a few lane changers in the two qualifying sessions.
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The final group to qualify today was Funny Car, and it was up to the Family Force to keep themselves atop the board after dominating on Friday and Saturday morning. Shortly before the first session, Don Schumacher Racing announced that John Medlen was joining the team to co-tune with Tommy DeLago for Matt Hagan. Effective immediately.
Was it karma, then, that Matt Hagan leapt from fourth to first this afternoon with his late-afternoon 4.060/313.58 pass? Medlen just joined the team today after wearing his old uniform yesterday. This team’s been good from the start of the year – there’s no anomaly here.
Robert Hight was the Funny Car bridesmaid, with Ron Capps, Tony Pedregon, Ashley Force Hood, John Force and Bob Tasca III taking the top seeds. Jeff Arend, Tim Wilkerson (running his 2010 combo for the first time), Jack Beckman, Bob Bode, Melanie Troxel, Cruz Pedregon, Del Worsham (on a last gasp), Jim Head and John Smith are the bottom half, leaving Jeff Diehl and Paul Lee on the trailer.
“This is a huge race for us,” said Hagan, who has some history in Pro Mod at this racetrack. “It’s great to snag that No. 1 (his third just starting his second year) at the Gatornationals. It’s just a great racetrack out there. I knew Tommy was going for it. We were already qualified. When the clutch went one to one and it set me back in the seat, I said, ‘It’s going to run pretty good.’”
Following his difficult Phoenix weekend that ended with a fiery crash, Antron Brown needed to rebound well – and he did in besting 7-time champion Tony Schumacher for first place in the Top Fuel category. In the final passes down the 1000-foot drag strip, Brown beat Schumacher’s time by .002 seconds when he posted the final pass at 3.803 to The Sarge’s 3.805. Now that’s drama!
Larry Dixon is third, followed by Shawn Langdon, Cory McClenathan, David Grubnic, Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence on the top half of the draw. With 16 cars materializing, the bottom half has Morgan Lucas Doug Foley, Brandon Bernstein, Bobby Lagana, Chris Karamesines (did not run on Friday), Pat Dakin, Terry McMillen and Todd Paton (who also didn’t run Friday afternoon).
Brown earned his 22nd career No. 1 and first of the year. “The track came around after the rain and I’ve been very impressed with how good it was. It held up perfectly with the sun out,” he said. “Hats off to the team after the transition to Don Schumacher Racing and the accident in Phoenix. This is definitely a blessing. Today was adjustment day and it was good to get from A to B and see what the car was going to do. It was so good to see the confidence in the guys’ eyes. There was no second guessing.”
With the addition of Pro Stock’s race rounds from Phoenix being counted in, that made for three sessions for the door-slammer group. In the final round of Phoenix, held all the way cross-country, Mike Edwards defeated rookie Bob Yonke (his first final round) with a pass of 6.552/211.16 over Yonke’s fine 6.604/209.36. Yonke made it this far with hole shots but couldn’t leave as quickly as the 2009 champion.
As expected, “Marauder” Edwards earned the No. 1 – again – at 6.537/211.53 and earned a two-fer today. Ron Krisher is second, Jeg Coughlin third, Allen Johnson fourth, Rodger Brogdon took fifth, Greg Anderson secured a new top speed track record (211.86) in earning sixth, teammate Jason Line is seventh and Vinnie Deceglie holds eighth place.
The other side of the ladder finds Ronnie Humphrey, Greg Stanfield, Steve Spiess, V Gaines, Shane Gray, Yonke, Johnny Gray and Rickie Jones making the field. Eight drivers failed to make the cut and will have to be satisfied with having spent a few days in Florida.
“A win’s a win. I am real thankful,” said the soft spoken Edwards. “We’ve come here to Gainesville and ran good. We had some changes to the rules and my guys made the changes and we’ve done well. I am real proud of them,” he said, never admitting to his own capabilities as a driver and engine builder.
Karen Stoffer had a grand run aboard her Suzuki in the early session and followed that up with a stellar pass down the quarter-mile for a track record 6.855 seconds – second quickest in class history – at 194.77 mph. Eddie Krawiec earned second at 6.868/195.51 on his V-Rod, itself a track speed record. David Hope copped third, followed by 2009 champion Hector Arana, Andrew Hines, Craig Treble, Steve Johnson and Junior Pippin completing the top half of the draw.
Shawn Gann, Matt Smith, Michael Phillips, Jim Underdahl, LE Tonglet, Mike Berry, Angie Smith and Redell Harris comprise positions 9-16 in the field, while there were seven riders heading home and waiting for Charlotte in two weeks.
After earning his second career No. 1, Stoffer was quite excited as she “stayed tight to avoid the wind. I knew we had a fast bike; I just had to do my job These were beautiful conditions today,” Stoffer said. “I think there is more than an 85 out there, especially with the tail wind, cloud cover and great track preparation.”
Well, we finally got two races in the books with the Pro Stock Phoenix road trip complete and there’s another day of racing to be done. We are expecting similar weather for Sunday’s race day. The 41st Gatornationals will be on and they will be good!
(c)2010 Anne Proffit
Karen Stoffer
Credit: PaddockTalk/Anne Proffit
PaddockTalk Perspective
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