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SUNDAY QUALIFYING – SESSION FOUR PROFESSIONAL
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SATURDAY PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING FINAL – DIXON, HAGAN, COUGHLIN AND HINES LEAD QUALIFYING SATURDAY AT MAC TOOLS U.S. NATIONALS
Larry Dixon raced to the qualifying lead Saturday at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil, capping a record-setting day of performances at the world’s most prestigious drag race.
Matt Hagan, Jeg Coughlin and Andrew Hines also were qualifying leaders in their categories at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, the first of six championship playoff races.
Dixon, winner of nine races and the top seed in Top Fuel entering the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, covered historic O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis with a track record run of 3.776 seconds at 324.36 mph in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster.
“It’s like Houston air got imported into Indianapolis,” said Dixon. “The weather is great, and I’m glad the car stuck. It hooked up and wasn’t moving left or right. I could see the .77 on the board, and I thought, ‘Wow. That’s nice.’ I love having two night sessions, especially since we missed it last night. Running in these conditions again was like getting a ‘get out of jail free’ card. We needed that run to get out of the middle of the field. That was a clutch run by Alan [Johnson, team manager], Jason [McCulloch, crew chief], and the team.”
Don Schumacher Racing drivers held down the second and third spots as Cory McClenathan posted a 4.784 at 323.66 in his FRAM dragster and eight-time Mac Tools U.S. Nationals winner Tony Schumacher ran 4.790 at 324.83 in his U.S. Army dragster.
Hagan powered his DieHard Dodge Charger to the top of the Funny Car order with a track record time of 4.039 at 277.89. Ron Capps moved to second in the lineup with a 4.049 at 309.77 in his NAPA Charger and Robert Hight dropped to third overall with his performance of 4.055 at 310.98 in his Auto Club Ford Mustang.
“Wow, what a run,” Hagan said. “You know, [crew chief] Tommy DeLago, he really knows how to tune these race cars up. He said, ‘If it makes it past 60 foot, it’s going to haul the mail.’ It really left hard. I got somewhat of a vibration in there. I was like, ‘Man, it’s really running,’ because it blurred my vision a little bit. I could see the groove pretty good, but it got out there and it felt like it was getting a little bit towards the wall to me, and I would just as soon click it off a little early. To look at the numbers and what Tommy DeLago thinks, he thinks it may have been on a 4-flat lap.”
Three-time Mac Tools U.S. Nationals winner Coughlin moved to the front of the Pro Stock field with a track record time of 6.580 at 209.39 in his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt. Defending world champ and playoff top seed Mike Edwards was second with a 6.585 at 209.26 in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP, while Ron Krisher was third in his Valvoline Chevy Cobalt with a 6.586 at 209.56.
“The fight for the No. 1 spot is always a challenge, especially here at the U.S. Nationals,” Coughlin said. “It feels fantastic to bring it back to the JEGS pit, even if it’s just for one night. Tomorrow’s going to be another battle because the conditions are supposed to be similar to what we saw today. Pro Stock cars love it when it’s cool and dry like this.”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Hines set a national record with a 6.815 second time at a track record speed of 195.17 mph on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson. Hines teammate Eddie Krawiec held down the second spot on his V-Rod with a 6.867 at 194.94 while defending world champ and event winner Hector Arana was third in his Lucas Oil Buell with a 6.900 at 192.66.
“That 20 points [for the record] is huge when you only have a 30-point lead to start the Countdown,” said Hines, who enters the playoffs as the top seed in the two-wheel category. “On the 6.81, I didn’t know what to expect. I saw Eddie run 6.86 and my bike had same tune-up, so I thought it would be good. We ran 4.34 at the eighth-mile and we’ve never seen that before. The air got dry and bikes like that. This afternoon, it had more moisture and we slowed down. I have a motorcycle that is capable of going rounds on Monday. I haven’t had one this good in a long time. I’ve also been good on the lights; I’m happy with the way I’m riding. This is my best chance to bring home an Indy Wally.”
Qualifying continues Sunday with sessions at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Monday’s eliminations start at 11 a.m.
SATURDAY PRO MOD QUALIFYING FINAL – JANIS LEADS GET SCREENED AMERICA PRO MOD SERIES QUALIFYING SATURDAY AT MAC TOOLS U.S. NATIONALS
Mike Janis raced to the qualifying lead Saturday in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil, the world’s most prestigious drag race.
Janis powered his late model Ford Mustang to a leading time of 5.887 seconds at 244.16 mph to lead the 16-car order.
Indiana native Brad Personett was second in his turbocharged ’68 Camaro with a 5.896 at a track record speed of 254.14.
Yesterday’s qualifying leader, Roger Burgess, failed to improve during Saturday’s two sessions and sits third overall with his 5.926 at 246.89 in his ProCare Rx ’68 Camaro.
Team JEGS Troy Coughlin (5.928, 238.51) and Danny Rowe (5.930, 247.16) rounded out the top five qualifiers. One qualifying session remains for Sunday at 2 p.m. before the first round of eliminations starts at 5 p.m.
SATURDAY QUALIYFING – SATURDAY PRO QUALIFYING – SESSION 3
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SATURDAY PRO QUALIFYING – SESSION 2
SATURDAY SPORTSMAM QUALIFYING
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FRIDAY PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING FINAL – McCLENATHAN, HIGHT, EDWARDS AND HINES RACED TO QUALIFYING LEAD AT MAC TOOLS U.S. NATIONALS
Cory McClenathan raced to the qualifying lead in Top Fuel Friday with a record-setting run at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.
Robert Hight, Mike Edwards and Andrew Hines also were qualifying leaders in their categories at the world’s most prestigious drag race. Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 3 and 6 p.m. for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event, the first of six rounds of NHRA’s championship playoffs.
McClenathan, a two-time Indy winner and second place driver in the Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship playoffs, powered his FRAM dragster to a leading performance of 3.789 seconds at 319.98 mph. McClenahan’s elapsed time is an O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis track record.
Last week the championship-hungry McClenathan also had the quickest dragster during two days of testing for this event.
“The track was better tonight than it was in testing, but we just wanted to go out there and repeat what we had done, and we did it,” McClenathan said. “(Crew chiefs) Todd (Okuhara) and Phil (Shuler) are just doing such a great job and are so in tune with each other on what they’re going to do in different conditions. This is probably my best chance to win the championship since 1997, and it’s interesting that some of the same people are still around me, like Mike Green, and Lee Beard. I don’t want to say it’s going to happen, but it will be a lot of fun if it does. We’ll rock the house down, I guarantee you.”
Two-time Indy winner Hight set a Funny Car track record for time with his leading run of 4.055 at 310.98 in his Auto Club Ford Mustang. Hight’s team owner, four-time U.S. Nationals winner John Force, was second in his Castrol GTX High-Mileage Mustang with a 4.058 at a track record speed of 312.86.
“It’s exciting to come in here with a new paint job that celebrates my 2009 championship and take it to the top, but what’s really exciting for me is that all three of the John Force cars are 1-2-3 within thousandths,” said Hight, the defending world champion who comes into the event in second place in the playoffs. 
“More than anything, that’s the way to start the Countdown out,” he continued. “This is a new season for us. From this point forward, we have to forget everything that happened before. It doesn’t matter how many wins we had at Force Racing. From here forward, we have to be perfect and do our job because there’s too many good cars out here that are chasing us.”
Defending world champ Edwards, who won this race in 1998 and is the top seed for the playoffs in the 200 mph category, paced the Pro Stock field with a 6.596 at 208.46 in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries Pontiac GXP.
“It was a really good way to start the weekend,” Edwards said. “We thought we could run a 6.60, but we ran a little bit better than we thought we could. The guys on my team obviously did a great job. With the conditions forecast for the weekend, we may improve on that. We’ll see what happens. The [qualifying bonus] points are very important to me. All those points really add up. At this race, with five qualifying sessions, that’s almost a full round’s worth of points.”
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, playoff top seed Andrew Hines was quickest with a 6.974 at 185.69 on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.
“I dreamed of coming to this race as a little kid and to be here riding a Harley-Davidson at this race is just fun,” Hines said. “I’ve never had as good a motorcycle as I have right now and I’m probably the best racer I’ve ever been in my career. My lights are consistent – and not red, which is a big deal – and it’s all about being comfortable. This team is back where it used to be.”
The three-time world champion hopes this is the start he needs to finally add a Mac Tools U.S. Nationals victory to his resume.
FRIDAY PRO MOD QUALIFYING FINAL – BURGESS LEADS NHRA GET SCREENED AMERICA PRO MOD QUALIFYING AT MAC TOOLS U.S. NATIONALS
Roger Burgess raced to the qualifying lead in the Get Screened America Pro Mod portion of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals Friday at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
Burgess powered his ProCare Rx ’68 Camaro to the front of the 16-car field with a performance of 5.926 seconds at 244.74 mph.
Burgess won the Pro Mod race here one year ago, when it was an exhibition event. Now he’s hoping to defend his victory since the category has become an official NHRA touring series.
“Last year was a nice win for us but it didn’t result in a Wally, so we’re hoping to get one of those this time,” Burgess said. “Al (Billes, crew chief) got the tune-up right and we pretty much went straight down the track. We may have left a little in there so that gives us something to shoot for the rest of the weekend. We want to shoot for consistency and I think the weather tomorrow should give everyone a chance to improve. If conditions get better, we’ll all get quicker.”
Troy Coughlin was second in his Team JEGS ’68 Camaro with a 5.928 at 238.51 and veteran driver Rickie Smith was third overall in his ’68 Camaro with a 5.958 at 237.75. Series points leader Von Smith, who has earned three victories this season in his Barwa ’68 Camaro was fourth with a 5.975 at 241.80.
Get Screened America Pro Mod Series qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 2:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m.
FRIDAY PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING RD 1. –
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THURSDAY SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING –
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WEDNESDAY SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING –
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