FINAL VMP QUALIFYING RESULTS
Tony Schumacher set a single season record Saturday at Virginia Motorsports Park with his 12th No. 1 qualifying effort of the year. Eric Medlen and Jason Line also secured top qualifying spots in their categories at the $1.6 million Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals, the 21st of 23 races in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag RacingSeries.
Schumacher's
12 low qualifiers breaks the mark of 11 he set in 2005. His only
challenge for this weekend's top qualifying spot came from Rookie of
the Year candidate J.R. Todd, who powered his Skull Shine dragster a
4.528 at 318.39 mph during Saturday's first session. In the
end,Schumacher's Friday pass of 4.512 at 313.37 mph in his U.S. Army
dragster was enough for his 34th career No. 1 position.
SCHUMACHER, MEDLEN AND LINE EARN NO. 1 QUALIFYING POSITIONS AT TORCO RACING FUELS NATIONALS
Tony Schumacher set a single season record Saturday at Virginia
Motorsports Park with his 12th No. 1 qualifying effort of the year.
Eric Medlen and Jason Line also secured top qualifying spots in their
categories at the $1.6 million Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals, the
21st of 23 races in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag RacingSeries.
Schumacher's
12 low qualifiers breaks the mark of 11 he set in 2005. His only
challenge for this weekend's top qualifying spot came from Rookie of
the Year candidate J.R. Todd, who powered his Skull Shine dragster a
4.528 at 318.39 mph during Saturday's first session. In the
end,Schumacher's Friday pass of 4.512 at 313.37 mph in his U.S. Army
dragster was enough for his 34th career No. 1 position.
"I always
talk about how important these qualifying points are,"Schumacher said.
"Look at it this way; Brandon Bernstein has one more round win than me
this year but we're more than half a round ahead of him in the points
standings. That's solely from qualifying better than him all year. I'd say qualifying points are very important."
In an interesting twist to the Top Fuel championship battle,
Schumacher, Bernstein and points leader Doug Kalitta are all on the
same side of the 16-car ladder for Sunday's 11 a.m. eliminations.
"This race has become a do-or-die deal in my book," Schumacher said.
"It's time for one of us to step up and make a statement. We need to
winthis thing, period."
Medlen waited until the second-to-last pairing of qualifying to nudge
John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight off the Funny Car podium with a
track record time of 4.728 seconds at 311.49 mph in his Castrol Syntec
Ford Mustang. Hight fell to second in his Auto Club Mustang, while team
owner and current points leader Force quietly assumed the third
position with a 4.765 at 315.78 mph in his Castrol GTX Mustang.
"It's
cool to have our three Fords 1-2-3 on the ladder," Medlen said. "We
take a lot of pride in that because our job is to put Ford on top and
when you have all three cars up there like that I think it's pretty
phenomenal, especially in this day and age of drag racing."
Ron Capps, who entered the race one point behind Force in the
championship standings, is a distant 13th here with a best of 4.848 at
283.73 mph in his Brut Dodge Charger. He now trails Force by six
pointsin the series standings.
For the second race in a row, Line out-performed Summit Racing Pontiac
GTO teammate Greg Anderson and put himself in position to claim a Pro
Stock national record and 20 bonus points, which could represent a
40-point swing in the championship standings. At the last race, Line stole the record away from Anderson during eliminations. Here he did it
during the second day of qualifying, setting both ends of the national
record with a performance of 6.571 at 209.49 mph to lead the quickest
field ever.
"That record might not stay with me," Line said. "Greg could easily
take it away. I know that car can go quicker and faster than it did
today. It'll all depend on the conditions we see tomorrow. I know the
mindseton our team is to go as fast as we can every round. We don't
change that in eliminations."
First-round pairings for professional eliminations
Sunday for the Inaugural Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia
Motorprorts Park, the 21st of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which
ended Saturday.
Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.512 seconds, 313.37 mph vs. 16. David
Baca, 4.661, 305.70; 2. J.R. Todd, 4.528, 318.47 vs. 15. Bobby Lagana
Jr., 4.645, 305.01; 3. Rod Fuller, 4.543, 317.79 vs. 14. Doug Herbert,
4.642, 305.70; 4. Doug Kalitta, 4.549, 313.73 vs. 13. Hillary Will,
4.634, 307.72; 5. Brandon Bernstein, 4.552, 319.75 vs. 12. Morgan
Lucas, 4.601, 311.70; 6. Larry Dixon, 4.557, 318.77 vs. 11. Steve
Torrence, 4.593, 316.82; 7. Melanie Troxel, 4.567, 308.64 vs. 10. Troy
Buff, 4.586, 311.49; 8. Cory McClenathan, 4.569, 321.73 vs. 9. David
Grubnic, 4.581, 310.91.
Funny Car -- 1. Eric Medlen, Ford Mustang, 4.728, 311.49 vs. 16. Tim
Wilkerson, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.883, 303.30; 2. Robert Hight, Mustang,
4.751, 311.05 vs. 15. Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.882, 306.12; 3. John
Force, Mustang, 4.765, 315.78 vs. 14. Gary Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.852,
307.44; 4. Scott Kalitta, Toyota Solara, 4.770, 310.77 vs. 13. Ron
Capps, Dodge Charger, 4.848, 302.21; 5. Jim Head, Dodge Stratus, 4.784,
307.09 vs. 12. Gary Scelzi, Charger, 4.844, 302.08; 6. Tony Pedregon,
Monte Carlo, 4.788, 312.28 vs. 11. Mike Ashley, Charger, 4.838, 302.01;
7. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.788, 308.92 vs. 10. Cruz Pedregon,
Monte Carlo, 4.833, 307.16; 8. Del Worsham, Monte Carlo, 4.815, 309.42
vs. 9. Jack Beckman, Charger, 4.831, 304.87.
Pro Stock -- 1. Jason Line, Pontiac GTO, 6.571, 209.49 vs. 16. Erica
Enders, Dodge Stratus, 6.630, 208.20; 2. Greg Stanfield, GTO, 6.584,
209.17 vs. 15. Jim Yates, GTO, 6.625, 207.02; 3. Kenny Koretsky, Chevy
Cobalt, 6.594, 208.84 vs. 14. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.623, 208.01; 4.
Greg Anderson, GTO, 6.594, 208.94 vs. 13. V. Gaines, Stratus, 6.623,
207.98; 5. Richie Stevens, Stratus, 6.601, 207.88 vs. 12. Mike Edwards,
GTO, 6.615, 209.10; 6. Tommy Lee, Cobalt, 6.602, 208.17 vs. 11. Tom
Martino, GTO, 6.615, 208.71; 7. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 6.604, 208.49 vs.
10. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.614, 207.62; 8. Dave Connolly, Cobalt,
6.612, 208.91 vs. 9. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.613, 209.01.