A severe rain delay brought equal measures of positive and negative
outcomes for John Force Racing at the 11th annual TORCO Racing Fuels
Rt. 66 Nationals. As Top Fuel dragsters began the final round of
qualifying the track was deluged by rain storms and tornado warnings.
The storms threatened to washout the final session along with Old Spice
Ford Mustang Funny Car driver Mike Neff’s chances to qualifying. Neff
was sitting on the 17th quickest time on the property as the rain began
to fall.

Fortunately for Neff the weather relented and the NHRA Safety Safari
performed track prep magic and after an over two and a half hour delay
Top Fuel racing wrapped up and Neff was able to race into the field on
Sunday with a solid 4.815 second run. The relief was obvious for the
rookie driver and former crew chief at the end of the day.

Gary Scelzi, the only pro drag racer to score triumphs in both the Top
Fuel and Funny Car classes at Route 66 Raceway, will go head-to-head
with his former crew chief, Mike Neff, in the opening round.
 
“This is the first time that we’ve qualified in the top half of the
field all year long,” said Scelzi. “We wanted to see what this car had
and we finally did, but it put a cylinder out at 850 feet. So we still
don’t really know what the car is capable of, which is a little
disappointing. But we’re still pretty happy with what we got.”

Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Jerry Toliver
made his quickest run of the season to qualify No. 7 at the Route 66
NHRA Nationals. It marked the third time this season that Toliver has
qualified in the top half of the field (Pomona, Topeka and Chicago).
 
Toliver recorded an elapsed time of 4.783 seconds at 325.77 mph to grab
the No. 3 position following the second qualifying session. The
Rockstar Energy Drink driver also recorded times of 4.908/314.53 and a
tire-shaking 9.352/85.36 before rain halted the final qualifying
session. After a three-hour delay qualifying resumed and Toliver
returned for his final attempt, running a wheel-standing 6.492/136.41
to end up No. 7.
 
"We made a good solid pass on our first lap with a 4.90 and that set us
up to come back for the evening session and really get after it," said
Toliver. "Phil Shuler (crew chief) really dialed her in and we ran a
4.78 and that was an extremely good lap.
 

That ADRL Summer Drags at Knoll Gas Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich., were postponed Saturday evening shy of the second round of competition. The storm that hit the facility came just as track officials had completed a track drying process from a passing the show. Sources indicate this storm was of equal intensity as the one that halted IHRA competition there in 2003. The storm packed high winds and lightning.

There is no official word as of the posting (11:11 PM, EST) as to what the procedure will be to finish the event. 

Pro Mod racer Ray Commisso emerged uninjured from an accident during
the second Pro Extreme qualifying session at the ADRL Summer Drags at
Knoll Gas Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan.

Commisso shook the tires early in the run and the force of the shake
turned him towards the retaining wall. The car made a complete turn and
he backed into the wall. His car came to a stop at the quarter-mile
mark.

Racing in muggy hot conditions? No problem.

Got a 30-mile per hour wind blowing? No problem.

Warren Johnson has said time and time again that old age and treachery
will whip youth and enthusiasm any day. On Friday, WJ whipped the young
whippersnappers.

Johnson posted the quickest elapsed time and top speed in each of
Friday’s two qualifying sessions at the NHRA Torco Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, Ill., to claim the provisional No. 1
qualifying position. 

When you’re hot, you’re hot and in Friday night qualifying at the NHRA
Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill., Ashley Force was blazing. Force’s
4.759 second run at 329.10 mph established not only a personal best for
speed but her elapsed time was tops among the Funny Cars.

Force’s remarkable achievement has the Yorba Linda, Calif. racer poised
to grab another piece of history in her young career. No other female
has qualified No. 1 in a Funny Car field.

STANTON, HARPER, WILSON AND PROPHIT LEAD ADRL QUALIFYING

Keep up with this weekend's action. - SAME DAY COVERAGE

Bubba Stanton of Potts Camp, Mississippi ran a career-best 3.80-seconds
pass at 196.59 mph to earn the provisional  number-one qualifying
position in Pro Extreme June 6, at the 4th annual ADRL Pizza Hut Summer
Drags at Knoll Gas Motorsports Park at U.S. 131 in Martin, Michigan. 
Following Stanton on the list are Joshua Hernandez, Travis Swearingen,
Bil Clanton and Canadian Ray Commisso in his first ADRL appearance,
while defending series champion and current record holder Jason Scruggs
is sixth in the race debut of his new 2006 Dodge Stratus.

Stanton's class-leading, eighth-mile effort came after his team
executed an engine change in his '63 Corvette during a lengthy rain
delay that cut short Friday's scheduled test session. He is cautiously
optimistic the time will hold up through two more qualifying sessions
on Saturday before eliminations begin mid-afternoon.

ASHLEY FORCE, SCHUMACHER, WARREN JOHNSON AND CHRIS RIVAS TOP QUALIFIERS AFTER DAY ONE AT ROUTE 66

If
Ashley Force holds onto the top spot through Saturday qualifying, she
will become the first female Funny Car driver to qualify No. 1.

It
may seem that, after earning her first career win as a professional
driver more than a month ago, a No. 1 qualifier would be somewhat
anticlimactic for Ashley Force.

But when she drove her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a 4.759-second pass
at 329.10 mph during the second round of qualifying at the Torco Racing
Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals on Friday, those numbers stood for more.
They proved her young team, in only its second year together, is
becoming the kind of consistent and comfortable team that posts
competitive, winning numbers, like her career-best speed.

In the last pair of fuel coupes during Saturday evening's Funny Car
qualifying at the NHRA Torco Race Fuels Route 66 Nationals in Chicago,
Ashley Force and Mark Oswald had a shot at unseating Melanie Troxel but
it was Oswald who came closest with a 4.757 second run pushing Force
into the No. 3 slot with her 4.759 run from Friday night.

“The waiting was not good but thank goodness Mike Neff qualified during
that last round or I wish it would have rained. We lost the No. 1 spot
and we match up now with Robert (Hight) but that is just how it goes,”
said the first woman to win an NHRA Funny Car event. “Sunday is a whole
new day. We are just going to go out there and run the best we can. The
good thing is our car is running great in all the different conditions.”