2011 NHRA GATORNATIONALS - EVENT RESULTS

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		EVENT NEWS EVENT NOTEBOOK PRO MOD NOTEBOOK POINTS AFTER EVENT ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS FINAL ROUND RESULTS			EVENT GALLERY

FINAL RESULTS - WORSHAM BECOMES 15TH DRIVER TO WIN RACES IN BOTH TOP FUEL AND FUNNY CAR
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Neff, Line and Krawiec also notch wins; Kurt Busch taken out in close race by Erica Enders in PS R1
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Del Worsham became the 15th driver in NHRA history to win races in Top Fuel and Funny Car when he defeated seven-time champion Tony Schumacher in the Top Fuel final round of the 42nd annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals Sunday at Gainesville Raceway.

The other winners at the second of 22 races in NHRA’s 60th anniversary season were Mike Neff (Funny Car), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Worsham was four-thousandths slower (.044 to .040) on the tree in his Al-Anabi dragster and eight-thousands quicker (3.858 to 3.866) on the track for a finish-line winning margin of an almost imperceptible .004. It was the first win in Top Fuel for Worsham after compiling 25 wins in a Funny Car career that dates to 1990.

“It feels great (to have won in both classes). I actually had a chance at the U.S. Nationals in 1993, could have won in Top Fuel, and I made a huge mistake, red light against Kenny Bernstein, and he went on to win. I felt bad about that and it’s kind of weighed on me for 20 years…” Worsham said half seriously.

“It is almost surreal, I’m driving (2010 Top Fuel champion and teammate) Larry (Dixon)’s car from last year, it won 12 races last year, now it’s won 13. It shouldn’t surprise anyone (that it’s back in the winner’s circle but) it surprises me,” he said.

Also on Sunday, 2004 NASCAR champion Kurt Busch made his first NHRA Full Throttle Series start in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock class and he acquitted himself well in his Shell Dodge Avenger, losing by less than a car length (.031 seconds) in the first round to seventh-year pro Erica Enders, the subject of the Disney original movie Right on Track.

“It was the best graph we’ve put together in all of our testing, in all of our rounds here in Gainesville – we hit all the shift marks,” said Busch, who was pleased overall with his performance. “We just came up short.”

Busch trailed at the start with a .049 reaction time to Enders’ .021 and that was essentially the difference in the race as his elapsed time of 6.541 seconds was all but a dead heat with Enders’ 6.538 in her ZaZa Energy Chevy Cobalt.

neff “What’s amazing is (the difference in the race is) just three-hundredths of a second; in this game of drag racing, that puts you back on the trailer,” said Busch, who will return to his full-time Sprint Cup duties next weekend in Bristol. “This is a tough sport, I have much more respect after showing up here in Gainesville and doing all of the test runs. I wish I had more time to do NHRA racing, this is a lot of fun.”

In Funny Car, Cruz Pedregon (7.819, 99.32) spun the tires on his Snap-on Tools Toyota at the hit of the throttle and was no match for Neff (4.092, 310.48), whose Castrol GTX Ford Mustang was the best performing car in the class all day.

“Just a great day for our whole team. We needed this to keep the Force string going, that’s four in a row for Team Force,” said Neff, who’s in John Force’s car that won the 2010 championship. “The hardest part is just trying not to mess it up as a driver.”

In Pro Stock, Line (6.554, 211.96) defeated Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson (6.545, 212.43) to win his second straight to open the 2011 season and second straight at Gainesville.

It was, almost, a perfect weekend: “We could have got the record,” Line said.

The national record, which Line missed the record by two-thousandths and Anderson missed it by a thousandth, went to Rodger Brogdon with a 6.495 from Friday qualifying.
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In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Karen Stoffer red-lighted to hand the event title to Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson rider Krawiec, who nonetheless ran a near-perfect 6.847 at 197.08. The win came on a blistering quick track on which Hector Arana set the national record for elapsed time (6.777) and Krawiec set the national record for speed (199.26).

“Gainesville, when you come here, you know you’re going to go fast,” said Krawiec, who won his second straight Gatornationals. “This track had some killer, some killer conditions, it was meant to go fast.”

The NHRA Full Throttle Series continues April 1-3, in Las Vegas with the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

FINAL QUALIFYING - 2004 NASCAR CHAMP KURT BUSCH QUALIFIES 12TH IN NHRA FULL THROTTLE SERIES DEBUT; WILL FACE ENDERS IN PS R1 SUNDAY
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Schumacher, Hagan, Brogdon and Arana are the No. 1s

After a shaky NHRA Full Throttle Series debut on Friday, 2004 NASCAR champion Kurt Busch qualified solidly into the 16-car Pro Stock field on Saturday with 6.532-second pass at 211.46 mph.
Busch ended the day qualified No. 12 and he will have as interesting a matchup as he could draw in Erica Enders, the 27-year old from Houston who was the subject of the Disney original movie, Right on Track.

“You have to have those tough days to go through to appreciate what a good day can be and today was that day,” said Busch, who drives the Shell Dodge Avenger. “We’re in the show, that was goal number one; goal number two is to get into race mode (Sunday) morning.”

Enders, driver of the ZaZa Energy Chevy Cobalt, added: “It doesn’t matter, Kurt Busch or George Bush, we’re going to do the same thing, put our helmet on the same way.”
The No. 1 qualifiers at the second of 22 races in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were unchanged from Friday’s provisionals: Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Matt Hagan (Funny Car), Rodger Brogdon (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Hagan, who will match up with Melanie Troxel in R1 as he seeks to make is fifth final round in the last six races, secured his second straight No. 1 at Gainesville Raceway with a track-record 4.030-second pass at 309.84 mph in his DieHard Dodge Charger.

“Florida’s been kind to us,” Hagan said. “It’s nice to come out here and reset our own track record.”
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In Top Fuel, seven-time champion Tony Schumacher earned the top spot with a 3.814-second pass at a track-record 325.45 mph in the U.S. Army dragster.

“We wanted to see if we could go faster and you know what, we couldn’t,” said Schumacher, who spun the wheels twice on Saturday.

The No. 1 was the 62nd overall for Schumacher, who has been to five final rounds at the Gatornationals with event titles in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

In Pro Stock, Brogdon earned the No. 1 with a 6.495-second pass at 213.47 mph in his Attitude Apparel Pontiac GXP. This was the first No. 1 qualifier in Brogdon’s career that spans 62 races.

“It is a little bit special, this is the first national event I ever went to when I started drag racing (Super Stock in 1994). There’s only one race bigger, Indy, so it feels good, it feels real good,” Brogdon said.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Arana remained No. 1 with the national-record time of 6.777 at 195.36 mph that he set on Friday aboard the Lucas Oil Buell.

“Qualifying No. 1 is great, it means you did the best, you were the best in qualifying, but when it comes to Sunday, that doesn’t mean anything … on raceday, of course, anything can happen,” said Arana, who will open with Joe DeSantis Sunday.

Also of note in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, the field will include three women and one of those three, Angie Smith, will square off against her husband, Matt.
The 42nd annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals begin Sunday at 11 a.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN2 beginning at 6 p.m. ET.

FINAL SESSION

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SATURDAY - SESSION THREE

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FRIDAY - HAGAN, SCHUMACHER, BROGDON AND ARANA SET PACE ON DAY 1 AT 42ND ANNUAL TIRE KINGDOM NHRA GATORNATIONALS

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Matt Hagan continued his torrid run dating back to the end of last year by earning the provisional No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car on the first day of qualifying at the 42nd annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals Friday.

The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the second of 22 races in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Rodger Brogdon (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Also Friday, 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch, making his NHRA Full Throttle Series debut in Pro Stock, experienced tire-shake on his first attempt and failed to stage in time in his second attempt. He’ll get two more shots to qualify Saturday.

“An interesting day to say the least,” Busch said. “A lot of rookie things that I’m ready to put behind me. We just didn’t do our job today.”

Hagan, who has been to the final round at four of the last five races including his runner-up at the 2011 season-opening Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals, secured the provisional No. 1 with a track-record 4.030-second pass at 309.84 mph in his DieHard Dodge Charger.

“I’m excited, coming off of a runner up (at Pomona) and coming here and being No. 1 … we’ve got a strong race car and a strong team and I’m really looking forward to having some fun out here,” Hagan said.

In Top Fuel, seven-time champion Tony Schumacher earned the provisional top spot with a 3.814-second pass at a track-record 325.45 mph in the U.S. Army dragster.
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“I thought we’d go quicker; I thought everyone would go quicker. If someone would have told me the No. 1 qualifier would run a 3.81 I would have been surprised,” Schumacher said. “We didn’t get down the track our first pass so we had to be cautious on that run. It was soft. It chattered (the tires) but made it down the track, and when we looked at the data on the computer, we could see there’s a lot left.”

It was an auspicious start for Schumacher, who has been to five final rounds at the Gatornationals with event titles in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

“I’ve always considered (the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals), quite possibly, the biggest (race of the year), it’s always been special to me,” Schumacher said.

In Pro Stock, Brogdon earned the provisional No. 1 with a 6.495-second pass at 213.47 mph in his Attitude Apparel Pontiac GXP. This would be the first No. 1 of Brogdon’s career that spans 62 races.

“There’s a lot of fast guys out there, we just happened to go a little bit faster than them,” Brogdon said.

Mike Edwards (213.47) and Greg Anderson (212.86) also ran 6.495s, but theirs were slightly slower and therefore behind Brogdon in the qualifying order. Also, Erica Enders recorded the fastest-ever Pro Stock run with a top speed of 213.57 in her ZaZa Energy Chevy Cobalt.
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In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Arana set the pace in his Lucas Oil Buell with a national-record time of 6.777 at 195.36 mph.

“Unbelievable, when they give me a 6.77, that’s great, it felt slow …” Arana said.

The run came not long after Arana watched his son, 21-year-old Hector Arana Jr., who is making his pro debut, kiss the wall near the top end.

“I don’t know if he’s letting the pressure get to him, but it sure is getting to me,” Arana said. “I’m pretty sure he does not want to hear what I have to say.”

Qualifying at the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals concludes with the third and fourth sessions on Saturday when the fields will be set for Sunday’s final eliminations.