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2013 NHRA: Gray Holds No 2 Qualifying Spot For Pitch Energy Funny Car While Brown Leads DSR's Top Fuel Dragsters With No 3 Rank
Johnny Gray got off to a good start Friday in the NHRA Gatornationals and hopes that it can propel him to winning one more race than he did a year ago at Gainesville, Fla., when he was runner-up for the event title in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
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Gray with crew chief Rob Wendland put their Pitch Energy Dodge Charger R/T in the provisional No. 2 qualifying spot with a best run of 4.071 seconds. The team also posted the top speed in Funny Car at 313.22 mph.
The veteran driver, who turns 60 on Wednesday, saved his best effort for the second qualifying session under clear, blue skies and temperatures in the mid-70s.
"That was a good run, and we're starting to feel more confident in a lot of ways," Wendland said. "We came here with a new front half (of the chassis), and to be able to make a run like that shows what a great (fabrication) shop we have at DSR. Thanks to Joe (Fitzpatrick), Tom (Patsis) and Daniel (Heman). This run is a credit to their hard work just as much as it is to ours."
In Top Fuel, Antron Brown and the Matco Tools team posted the third best time of the day with a run of 3.812 seconds at 321.88 mph for Don Schumacher Racing. DSR teammate Spencer Massey was quickest in the first session in the Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher dragster and is fourth best going into Saturday's last two qualifying sessions for Sunday's championship eliminations.
"The main thing is that we backed the car off so we could get down the racetrack," said Brown, the reigning Top Fuel world champion. "We didn't know what it was going to run. We just knew the first time we didn't get down the racetrack, so the first thing the boys wanted to do was to fix that.
"The car was trying to run way too hard, way too early," Brown said of the team's first attempt when it went it slowed to 121.72 mph and took 5.533 seconds to complete the pass. "The car was trying to run (3.77 seconds) on that first run, and it just wasn't out there.
"(Saturday), the track's only going to keep getting better and better even though it's going to be a little hotter."
Current Top Fuel points leader Tony Schumacher and DSR's U.S. Army team rank eighth with a time of 3.849 (321.65).
The two most consistent of four DSR Dodges were Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman, winners of the past two world championships.
The resurgent Magneti Marelli Mopar/Rocky Boots team recorded runs of 4.122 (302.55) and 4.144 (286.62). Hagan, who is qualified fourth, and crew chief Dickie Venables are coming off a runner-up finish three weeks ago near Phoenix.
Beckman is close behind at No. 8 in the Valvoline NextGen/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Dodge with a best time of 4.115 after a 4.122 in the first session.
Ron Capps and the NAPA Filters team, the current NHRA Funny Car points leader and winner of the last event, ranks fifth with a time of 4.115 (304.94).
The following are Friday's qualifying results and other notes:
TOP FUEL
Provisional No. 1 qualifier: Doug Kalitta (Kalitta Motorsports) 3.801 sec., 325.85 mph
Antron Brown, Matco Tools dragster
Provisional qualifying position: No. 3
FRIDAY
Session 1: 5.533 sec., 121.72 mph
Session 2: 3.812, 321.88
Spencer Massey, Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher Provisional qualifying position: No. 4 FRIDAY Session 1: 3.821 sec., 322.65 mph Session 2: 3.834, 322.73
Tony Schumacher, U.S. Army dragster
Provisional qualifying position: No. 8
FRIDAY
Session 1: 4.314 sec., 186.56 mph
Session 2: 3.849, 321.65
FUNNY CAR
Provisional No. 1 qualifier: Cruz Pedregon (Cruz Pedregon Racing) 4.047 sec., 296.05 mph
Johnny Gray, Pitch Energy Dodge Charger R/T
Provisional qualifying position: No. 2
FRIDAY
Session 1: 7.761 sec., 77.06 mph
Session 2: 4.071, 313.22
Matt Hagan, Magneti Marelli Mopar/Rocky Boots Dodge Charger R/T Provisional qualifying position: No. 4
FRIDAY
Session 1: 4.140 sec., 296.24 mph
Session 2: 4.114, 302.89
Ron Capps, NAPA Filters Dodge Charger R/T
Provisional qualifying position: No. 5
FRIDAY
Session 1: 4.589 sec., 176.01 mph
Session 2: 4.115, 304.94
Jack Beckman, Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors Dodge Charger R/T
Provisional qualifying position: No. 8
FRIDAY
Session 1: 4.122 sec., 302.55 mph
Session 2: 4.144, 286.62
GOING FOR 200
This weekend at the Gatornationals, Don Schumacher Racing can reach the milestone of getting its 200th NHRA national event title.
DSR drivers Ron Capps and Tony Schumacher won respective Top Fuel and Funny Car titles at the last race near Phoenix to push the total to 198.
Two of the seven DSR teams in the Gatornationals would need to repeat the double-up to reach 200. That isn't farfetched considering DSR has won at least two titles at the same event 35 times since the organization based near Indianapolis began fielding more than one team in 2001.
DSR also is the only organization in NHRA history to have won event titles in each of the series' four pro categories.
RING TIME FOR DSR CHAMPS
Team owner Don Schumacher will present NHRA world championship rings noon Saturday to members of Antron Brown's Matco Tools team and Jack Beckman's Valvoline MaxLife/MTS Mail for Wounded Warriors team.
The presentation will be held in the Valvoline/Matco hospital pavilion.
BUBBA burger® JOINS DSR
BUBBA burger® joins Don Schumacher Racing as a marketing partner this weekend at the Gatornationals.
Based in Jacksonville, Fla., the popular burger company is more than burgers. During the Gatornationals, DSR hospitality guests are being treated to BUBBA's Choice Beef Sirloin filets wrapped with Applewood bacon, Center Cut Pork Loin Chops wrapped with Applewood bacon and its newest product, BUBBA's Barbeque.
All will be exquisitely prepared by DSR chef Malcolm Clark.
BUBBA burger® has grown throughout the Southeast in both retail and foodservice channels since it the company and products were developed by Walter "Bubba" Eaves. Eaves Foods Inc. started by marketing its burger line in the early 1990s.
Bubba invented a unique production process that allows the BUBBA burger® to be cooked from a frozen state and still remain juicy and flavorful. He also decided that he would use only the highest quality meat in his burger. He refused to use any fillers or trimmings in his burger and, to ensure the highest possible quality, decided to use only whole muscle meat chucks in the BUBBA burger®. Since he was so proud of his creation he named his burger the BUBBA burger.
BUBBA burger® products are sold nationwide as well as worldwide through the U.S. Military Commissary system, and this month will enter Canadian markets.
The BUBBA burger® is the No. 1 Branded Frozen burger in the United States.
GATORNATIONALS NITRO SCHEDULE (All times EDT)
Saturday qualifying: 12:45 p.m., 3:30 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m., championship eliminations
NHRA ON ESPN2 (All times EDT)
Sunday: 1:30 a.m., 8 a.m. (re-air) qualifying; 7 p.m. eliminations
WEATHER.COM FOR GAINESVILLE
Saturday: High 78; 0 percent chance of rain
Sunday: High 80; 0 percent chance of rain
PaddockTalk Perspective
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