2010 NHRA SOUTHERN NATIONALS - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK -
HISTORY ON DIXON'S SIDE IN COMMERCE - The history of drag racing is not a lost point on Larry Dixon.
On Sunday in Commerce, Ga. the second-generation Top Fuel driver won national event No. 52 placing him in a tie with Joe Amato on the list of all-time Top Fuel winners.
“I feel unworthy,” said Dixon, an admitted fan of drag racing history. “I feel the same way as the guys I looked up to when I wasn’t racing … Garlits, Shirley and Joe Amato … those were the guys. Growing up and reaching a number that he did … I looked up to Joe Amato when I got started.”
Awards such as the one he attained on Sunday are always met on a humble basis for the storied Top Fuel driver for one reason. His accolades are being earned in a drastically different era.
“I will always be humble in these instances because those guys I looked up to didn’t race the way we do,” Dixon explained. “They didn’t race a 23-race series. You have more of an opportunity to run the numbers up if you have the opportunity. They didn’t. You look back and Don Prudhomme won all the races in 1965 – that was two. We get 23 shots at it, you’re going to get the numbers.”
Dixon raced just as strong during the 2010 NHRA Southern Nationals as the legends did back in the day.
“The car seemed flawless all weekend,” said Dixon. “It ran a really tight package except the one run on Friday night run when you could really pour it on.”
Dixon wasn’t speaking just to hear himself talk either.
Throwing out the Friday evening run, Dixon had seven runs between a 3.86 to a 3.91 in the heat of the day.
Dixon met up with a resurgent Brandon Bernstein in the final round and the other second-generation driver pulled out all the ingredients in the final round looking for an upset.
Don’t think for a moment a resurgent Bernstein wasn’t trying to spoil Dixon’s flawless weekend. He was -.003 red in the final.
“If he would have gone on the green side of the reaction, he could have gotten me,” Dixon admitted. “He had .08 on us and we went up there with all we thought the track would take.”
Heading into the final round, Dixon looked unbeatable on paper. Just as drag races aren’t conducted on paper Dixon learned long ago there are no unbeatable racers.
“I never feel unbeatable,” Dixon admitted. “Dick LaHaie browbeat it into me if a guy can roll up and stage his car under power that you only have a fifty percent chance of winning. Period. No better. No worse. You are up there for only three seconds. Last race we had a hiccup in the semis and were sent packing.”
Dixon has four victories this season and the victory extends his lead over Cory McClenathan to 112 points.
COUGHLIN GETS HIS 50TH PRO STOCK WIN - One race after missing out on his 50th Pro Stock win, Jeg Coughlin Jr. sealed the deal on a hot 
and humid Sunday in Commerce, Georgia.
Coughlin grabbed the elusive victory after beating an upset-minded Rickie Jones in the final round of the NHRA Southern Nationals.
“I was fortunate years ago to eclipse 50 wins with my Lucas Oil events, but I just can’t seem to get away from the number 50,” joked Coughlin, whose family’s mail order parts business is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. “Winning fifty times in Pro Stock was my next plateau. I am very blessed to do what I do.”
Against Warren Johnson in the final round of the NHRA Midwest Nationals two weekends ago, breakage prevented Coughlin from achieving another rare milestone. He could have been the second driver in NHRA drag racing history to win both a pro and sportsman division during the same event.
Sunday’s victory takes away some of the sting with the shortcoming.
“It helps,” Coughlin said. “St. Louis was working its way into becoming a special event. I had won in my brother John’s Top Dragster which is no easy feat. I had only driven the car last year in testing. I enjoy bracket racing. If I had my choice, then I won with the right car.”
There have been times in 2010 when Coughlin’s Pro Stock has seemed like anything but the right car for him. Just finding a car capable of repeating has been a challenge as daunting as the competition presents.
“We’ve had a car which resembled a soldier, it went left, went right and then went left. I would tell it to go left and it would go right. There were times when I had my hands full with it. In the meantime, we’ve been able to reel off round wins. I really think my dad, Roy Simmons and Victor Cagnazzi have come up with a good combination now. The car went as straight as it ever has for the last three years.”
With one problem at least resolved for the weekend, Coughlin faced another challenge in Jones, a driver who was determined to use his quick starting line reactions to knock off the hitters of the class. When you’re on the verge of 50 national event wins in Pro Stock, you are also a hitter.
“I felt like I was driving my heart out with .030s and .040s and headed into the final I felt like I needed to do something,” Coughlin said. “I was up on the wheel going into that final. I just wanted to make a solid run and be .030 or .040. I didn’t want to take ourselves out of it.”
Coughlin admitted a measure of nervousness after the final round burnout. This is the point when he realized a problem with his engine in St. Louis. There was no indication of a problem this time.
“I was backing up and hoping nothing was going to go wrong,” admitted Coughlin. “In this sport we are measured by thousandths of a second or nickel parts.”
TWO WINS SHOWS 2009 CHAMPIONSHIP WAS NO FLUKE - In the past six years, Robert Hight has been in the finals four times in the 
Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. He won in 2007 and on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon in the Peach State, Hight beat out sister-in-law Ashley Force Hood for his second win at the Commerce, GA facility and his second consecutive win of the season.
Hight won his first race of the season two weeks ago in St. Louis.
“This Ford Mustang has been unbelievable this weekend. We only missed this racetrack one run and it was on a killer run that run,” said Hight. “To run 18, 18, 19 and 18 again is unheard of in these fuel cars.”
Hight clearly was consistent all day long and it was that consistency which led to the win. Hight posted the fastest time through every round of eliminations and was quickest at the tree when in meant the most in the semifinal and final rounds.
Asked earlier this year about his goals for 2010, Robert Hight never hesitated saying he wanted to win the Funny Car championship again, just not in the same style of the 2009 season title.
Last year Hight entered the Countdown to 1 in the final transfer spot under suspect circumstances. This year, Hight is third in the point standings behind teammates John Force and Ashley Force Hood.
He is five points behind second place Force Hood, on the strength of consecutive wins in St. Louis and Atlanta Dragway. He says winning at St. Louis and now again in Atlanta shows his team is ready to defend their title.
“St. Louis Sunday morning,” says Hight is where his season turned this year. “We qualified in the bottom half of the field there. Jimmy (Prock) made some changes to the engine. When you're fighting a gremlin you forget about all the other things; you just have to work on the engine. We had been burning pistons up, so he made wholesale change Sunday morning and we haven't looked back since.”
Hight remembers struggling last year, so when his team was presented with their championship rings this weekend he told them “Guys, let's go out here and act like were champs. We earned it last year.”
Hight admits to having concerns early in the year but with two Wallys in the past two races he knows his title last year was no fluke and that his Auto Club Ford Mustang is for real.
TESTING TURNS TO VICTORY - In the four previous Pro Stock Motorcycle events in 2009, the Screaming Eagle Vance and Hines team scored 
two wins – split between Andrew Hines and Eddie Krawiec.
Hines made it three out of five with a close win in the 30th annual Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA, over defending class champion and current point leader, Hector Arana. Hines cut a near perfect light, .006, to lead from start to finish.
“That's about as good as it gets,” said Hines after the win. “It was a good clean race in the final. To come into this weekend with conditions we haven't seen all year – humidity, heat, track conditions – and to perform the way we did really puts a smile on my face.”
Hines attributed the consistency of his bike to testing the day after the event in St. Louis.
“We learned a lot of stuff on our clutch, our chassis setup and our fuel injection. We got everything figured out and it all came together here. My worst 60' (time this weekend) was better than my best 60' all year. It's a testament to how hard this team has worked to figure it out. It makes the bike nice and consistent off the line.
“I had to push it there in the final because I knew Hector was strong. I held onto the clutch lever with the slightest amount of pressure I could.
“It doesn't put a bigger smile on my face than to beat him.”
The win was the 20th of Hines’ Pro Stock Motorcycle career.
Force had the sign turned into a decal at Autumn’s request and it adorns his race car behind the side window.
“Autumn asked me to put the sign in my yard in Yorba Linda and of course I said I would do that for her. I’ll do anything for my granddaughter. Then she got kind of sad when she realized I am hardly ever there and she asked me if I could put it on my race car since that is really where I live. That kid is so smart. I just had to do it. Ashley helped get the decal made and we put it on my Mustang right before it left our Brownsburg shop,” said Force.
Autumn's sign sits in a very expensive spot on the car. In previous years the spot was occupied by Sanyo, which when bought out by Panasonic, dropped their sponsorship of the car. While it is not know what the value of the location on the car is, as it varies from team to team, a similar location on a NASCAR stock car is worth between $750,000 to $1.25 million.
REMEMBERING THE OLD ATLANTA -
Thirty years ago Atlanta Dragway was a different facility than the one which has played host to the
The facility, built in 1975 under the guidance of Georgia-based farmer Gene Bennett in the woods of Commerce, Ga., was what some of today icons in drag racing history believed was a track on the cutting edge for the era.
Kenny Bernstein, now one of the more heralded team owners on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and a past multi-time world champion scored one of his first career national events at the famed facility during the 1979 IHRA Dixie Nationals.
“The first time I ever came here I felt the place was a diamond in the rough,” said Bernstein, who added four NHRA victories to his 1979 win. “The track was actually nice for what it was. I always remembered that we did really well here.”
There were two factors in every trip to Atlanta Dragway under a common name – atmosphere. The atmosphere in the spring event was always hot and humid, and the other “atmosphere” was a southern version of their IHRA partner tracks in Bristol [TN] and Rockingham [NC] where the fans could be a little on the rambunctious side.
Well there were those who point out the little side of rambunctious didn’t even come close to describing the clientele.
“It was wild,” said Kurt Johnson, who was a teenager when he accompanied his father to Atlanta for the first time in 1979. “They sold the beer in gallon jugs. It was a totally different situation than we were accustomed to in Minnesota.
“It was definitely interesting, I took a few notes and went back to school and told everyone about it.”
The spirits flowed freely in those early days and maybe the race promoters helped along the situation. Since no bottles were allowed into the gates,
those attending the races were encouraged to trade out their glass bottles for convenient gallon jugs.
This only encouraged the mayhem at times.
Bob Frey had a birds-eye view to the extracurricular action from his vantage point in the tower. He announced the first IHRA national event in 1976 and up until the track switched sanctions in 1980.
However, if the parking lot action became a little too threatening, there were those racers who would sometimes come to the aid of the race fans. One of those who didn’t run from a good fight was Roy Hill, Pro Stock runner-up to Warren Johnson in the final IHRA Commerce event.
“If you didn’t bring a gun with you, you needed to come see me,” said Hill, laughing with the comment. “There were times it could get really rowdy. There were a few people who would come out of the hills to this race.”
For Bennett, the founder of the facility, just making the facility match his vision was a challenge over the first few years.
“It was one of those things where in theory, it looked like it was going to be good,” explained Frey. “When it came to the actual operation there were so many things that just weren’t right.”
Taking inventory of the early miscues, the most apparent was the location of the grandstands which made the Atlanta Dragway experience an up close and personal affair. This was an issue which wouldn’t be resolved until later in the 1980s.
“The fans could actually sit on the wall and dangle their legs over the side,” Frey recalled. “I’m sure it really wasn’t a good thing when cars could run by and you could pat them on the roof as they passed.”
Outside of the obvious safety issues, what else was so bad about the fans being so close to the track? At Rockingham and Bristol, sometimes inebriated fans would want to be even closer to the action.
Roy Johnson, now an engine builder for his son Pro Stock racer Allen Johnson, raced the old configuration at Atlanta Dragway as a Super Stock racer.
“You were just always on the lookout for one of them falling over on the track,” said Johnson, cracking a smile. “I can remember racing Rockingham when a race official stopped me right after my burnout because someone had climbed the fence and fell onto the track. I came up to the starting line in Atlanta from time to time wondering when I was going to get the signal to shut off.”
Bennett put up fencing to head off the problem but there was an issue with the plan.
“The gauge of the fence was so thick then you couldn’t even see the cars,” said Frey, shaking his head at the misfortune. “So they had to take that down. I felt so badly for the guy because Gene and his wife were such good people. It’s one of those things where until you actually get it and put together, you would never know.”
Warren Johnson, who first raced the facility in 1979 and eventually moved to the area making the track his home facility, understood Bennett’s intentions and applauded him.
“He had to basically carve the thing out of the woods,” said Warren Johnson. “And he did a remarkable job. As the sport of drag racing grew he tried to make the improvements.”
Atlanta Dragway hosted its final IHRA event in 1979 and following a reported disagreement between its ownership and then IHRA President Larry Carrier, didn’t hold a national event in 1980 before making the conversion to NHRA in 1981.
Frey believes the track’s original owner was a man who deserved better than fate afforded him.
“He was just so determined to build a beautiful drag strip,” said Frey. “By the standards of the 1970s, it was really a nice facility.”
It was just different, that’s all.
DSR1 CHASSIS TO THE PASTURE - The first Funny Car chassis to be built in-house at Don Schumacher is about to be retired.
Jack Beckman revealed Sunday morning the DSR-1 Funny Car chassis has one more race, Topeka, before being replaced by DSR-4.
“This chassis has been front halved twice,” said Beckman adding, “its just time for a new chassis.”
The new chassis will have several improvements built in, including some meant to further reduce and/or relocate weight. Beckman says from a driver standpoint it's difficult to tell one chassis from another unless there is a major change in the steering or relocation of a significant amount of tubing.
Friday night on a cooler track.Tasca backed up his words with a 4.151 second, 299.73 mph pass during the first of two rounds of qualifying Saturday morning.
“When you have a race car that's predictable and you can make an adjustment and you know what it's going to do you can be a pretty dangerous team for a long time,” said Tasca following the run.
“I've thrown so much at my guys, making the switch over to this new Ford Boss platform, that it's taken them a little bit of time get to what I call, 'inside the box'.
“There is a box you have to get inside with these race cars. You can adjust and you can turn, if you're outside the box, you're really lost to a certain extent. We've never been lost but we've never been inside the box like we are right now.
“Marc (Denner) and Chris (Cunningham) seem to have a real good handle on this race car right now.”
Tasca could see the signs of improvement in Vegas. The team tested on the Monday after the event. Since then, there has been steady improvement, including a semifinal finish in St. Louis. Through the first three rounds of qualifying in the Southern Nationals Tasca's run consistently improved as conditions worsened.
“Hey, I'll make a prediction. If anyone can put together four of those runs (Sunday) together, you'll be real happy at the end of the day.”
Tasca credits the improved performance to two factors, better parts and the hard work of his crew.
“I give all the credit to my guys,” said Tasca immediately. “As a driver, clearly I am more confident and comfortable behind the wheel of one of these things, but it's 98 percent race car. And, I will say this switchover to the Ford parts from John Force Manufacturing are the best parts we have ever seen. The parts are absolutely best in class.
“At the end of the day, you still have to put them together and make them run. So, all that credit goes to Marc and Chris. As a team owner I need to give them the resources to do the job. If I give them junk parts I can't expect much from them.”
The line between the best of the best and junk is quite thin according to Tasca.
“It is so small, that the average you can't even see it. You say to yourself when a degree of timing, when the crew chiefs are talking about a half a degree of timing, when they talk about putting six in the tire versus six point one in the tire, when they struggle over one nut which is three grams you say to yourself, 'does it know the difference'.
“When you're trying to find hundredths of a second it knows the difference. It's been a learning curve but we seem to get a real good handle on it.”
And, when you get a good handle on it, you make predictions which more often than not come true.
TASCA TOSSED ON HOLE SHOT - A sweet ride ended at the tree for Motorcraft/Quick Lane driver Bob Tasca III.
In the first round, Tasca defeated Jeff Arend with a 4.189 second run at 299.40 miles per hour compared to Arend’s 4.874 second run at 177.91 miles per hour – the second fastest ET of the round. Tasca would have lane choice over quarterfinal opponent Tony Pedregon.
During the second round pairing, Pedregon was first off the line, but Tasca’s BOSS 500 powered Shelby Mustang took over the lead by the timing tree and never looked back. Tasca defeated Pedregon with his 4.194 second pass at 296.31 miles per hour compared to Pedregon’s 4.411 second pass at 251.11 miles per hour. Tasca posted the second quickest ET of the quarterfinal round.
It would be Ford against Ford in the semifinal round with Tasca meeting former Atlanta Dragway winner Ashley Force Hood.
Tasca had lane choice over Force Hood, selecting the left lane, which was the same lane where he earned his first two round wins of the day. Tasca raced his Mustang to the finish line in 4.232 seconds at 295.01 miles per hour. Force Hood was first off the line and defeated Tasca on a hole shot, reaching the finish line in 4.241 seconds at 294.05 miles per hour. Her margin of victory was 0.088 seconds, approximately four feet.
“It was a great weekend for our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Shelby Mustang team,” said Tasca. “You never like to lose on a hole shot, but we’ll learn from it and move on to the next race. Our Mustang went down the race track six out of seven times and when you have a race car that is as consistent as that, you’re going to win rounds and races.”
SORRY GUYS, BUT I HAVE A JOB TO DO - No. 6 qualifier Jack Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger Funny Car, advanced to his second semifinal round of the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series today at the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway by beating not one, but two of his teammates.
First, he defeated his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan in the opening round, with a 4.219-second pass at 299.46 mph to Hagan's 5.082/144.30. He stepped it up to dismiss his other DSR teammate Ron Capps in the quarterfinal with a 4.202/298.67 in an oddball starting-light scenario, then met his demise against eventual event winner Robert Hight in the semifinal stanza.
Both were close in reaction times, but Hight had the edge, which he kept to the finish, defeating Beckman with a 4.197/297.55 to Beckman's losing 4.249/294.95.
“This is the second race in a row where we ran well and Hight's car ran better," said Beckman, who was runner-up to Hight at the last event in St. Louis. "And the way that we will overcome that is by continuing to run well. We're not going to try to take home-run swings when we're not comfortable with it.
"A couple of races ago we made some big changes in the tune-up and we're still picking away at that, and we're still trying to be smart about our decisions. It is far better to get slightly outrun than to go out there and smoke the tires trying to get too aggressive, because, even if we get outrun, we learn something from the run. If you smoke the tires you have no idea how much to back it down for the next track and the next race.
"At least now (crew chief) Rahn Tobler and the rest of the Valvoline/MTS team feel like we're talking to the car and it's responding the right way to us.
"We've got one more race on this chassis in Topeka. This was the very first in-house DSR chassis built, and it's been really good to us. We'd love to retire it a winner, and we're going to replace it with a virtually identical car in Chicago.
"The last two races we've had a semifinal and a final round and there's no reason to think we can't go close the deal in Topeka."
As for the .199 reaction time against Capps in the second round, "Both Ron and I got caught by a long tree," he said. "Neither of us is going to make excuses for it. NHRA extended the random delay-to-tree activation a couple of years ago and, for whatever reason, we both caught ourselves easing off the brake and starting to go down on the throttle. And, like Ron said, he red-lit and the tree just saved him. I stopped the car when the tree came on and it made me late.
"I'm over it; I was over it the very next round. The lesson there is you react. It's not called a thinking time, it's called a reaction time. And the crew won that round for me. I hope in Topeka I can pay them back four times."
SOMEBODY HAS TO WIN - No. 4 qualifier Cory McClenathan advanced to the second round of Top Fuel eliminations at the 30th annual NHRA Southern Nationals before bowing out to his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Tony Schumacher in the quarterfinal. He remains second in the point standings.
Driving the FRAM Top Fuel Dragster, McClenathan defeated Shawn Langdon in the opening round with a 3.897-second elapsed time at 312.93 mph to Langdon's 4.003/308.71. "Cory Mac" also aced Langdon at the starting lights, famous for his stellar reaction times against both McClenathan and his fellow competitors. McClenathan beat him out of the gate with a .065 light to Langdon's .069 (.000 is perfect).
The three-time Atlanta champion, with lane choice in the quarterfinal over Schumacher, then struck the tires in that round shortly after hitting the throttle. Schumacher also lost traction, but recovered first to take the victory with a 4.258/209.79 to McClenathan's 9.068/72.47.
"To have it just not even go anywhere, was disappointing," said McClenathan. "I don't know if Todd and Phil (crew chiefs Okuhara and Shuler) found it yet, but something was wrong somewhere. So, we're going to have to do our homework. I know the FRAM guys will find it, they're that good, and we'll go to Topeka next weekend.
"The good thing is our teammate went on, the bad thing is we lost another early round (lost first round in St. Louis two weeks ago). We have to quit losing these early rounds. That hurts us points-wise.
"We rebounded for this event and qualified well and the FRAM car has been going down the track, but something bit us and it's probably a little part somewhere along the way. We'll find it."
LEADING AT THE LINE IS WHAT COUNTS - Greg Stanfield did everything he could to hold off Johnny Gray Sunday in the second round of the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. He left the line first and stayed in front for about 1317 feet.
But Gray reached the finish line an agonizing eight-thousandths of a second ahead of Stanfield and the Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Pro Stock Pontiac GXP. Stanfield’s reaction time was .023 to Gray’s .037, but Gray’s numbers were 6.672 seconds at 206.70 mph to a 6.694 at 205.82.
“We gave that one away,” said a disappointed crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia. “Greg did his job and we didn’t do our job with the car enough to win the round. The track here traditionally changes after the first round, but it was better than we expected. We had a good race car all weekend and we had an opportunity to make some moves in points.”
Stanfield was nearly perfect -- .001-second – leaving the line against Jason Line in the opening round and he cruised to the win in 6.679 seconds, 206.23 mph to 6.722, 204.79.
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK
PATIENCE WORKS WELL FOR ARANA - Hector Arana in the last couple of seasons has learned patience can be a virtue. Never was this lesson
put to the test more than during the final Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying session at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.Arana watched two riders ahead of him ride their way to the No. 1 qualifying position. If Arana would have had his druthers, he’s have been alongside of them.
Instead Arana uneasily straddled his bike waiting for his moment to hopefully improve on his 6.941, a run which had missed Friday’s top spot by a mere .001 of a second.
“I watched Andrew [Hines] run the 6.931 … and all I could say was, ‘wow,” Arana admitted, of a run not representative of a track measuring over 110 degrees at the time of the final session.
Then he watched the next run.
“Then when [David] Hope ran the 6.92 … I said, ‘uh oh,” he continued.
Even if Arana had wanted to throw more tune-up into his bike during the monumental qualifying round, his options were limited.
“We are very limited as to what we can do,” Arana confirmed. “Some bikes have a dial on the dash where we can adjust the rpm if the track will take it. That’s all you can do. The rest is already done.”
In addition to exhibiting his patience, Arana showcased another gift he’s learned along the way to success – confidence.
Arana waited his turn and when it arrived, he delivered with a 6.913 elapsed time at 193.96 miles per hour.
“I knew if I could get off of the starting line that I could make a good run,” Arana proclaimed. “The bike went into second gear and it was still carrying the front wheel. I knew I was on a good run.”
Arana’s pole position marks his third of the season and twelfth of his career.
JOHNSON BATTLES EDWARDS IN THE HEAT - The final run of Saturday Pro Stock qualifying at the NHRA Southern Nationals concluded with
the two best cars on the property of Atlanta Dragway battling for the top spot.Allen Johnson admittedly lost the battle with Mike Edwards but won the war when his previous 6.634 second pass held through a session the least conducive to yielded big numbers for Pro Stockers.
The loss didn’t really seem like a loss for Johnson, who proclaimed on Friday evening his team had caught and passed the defending series champion. He was looking ahead to Sunday’s final eliminations for a clue as to what a 120 degree track could handle.
“We sort of tested in that final session and we wanted to see what the track would take,” Johnson said. “We definitely learned not to go there.”
While Johnson believes his team has bridged a great deal of the performance gap which has separated Edwards from the competition, he’s not anywhere close to insinuating Edwards is close to being done with his run on the class.
In fact, Johnson believes there’s a strong likelihood they’ll line up again before the weekend is done.
“A 6.62 … we are right there with him, he’s still bad to the bone,” said Johnson. “We have to do our job and be perfect just like he is. He hadn’t been perfect all weekend, and we had but weren’t on that last run. It just shows you how close this class is and what kind of runs we need to make to go to No. 1. If I can do my job tomorrow and he can do his; it’s going to come down to us tomorrow. Then it will be a matter who can get their foot off of the pedal first.”
NO SURPRISES - When you've been around as long as Larry Dixon, 16 years as a professional driver, there are very few surprises left to discover.
Qualifying first at Atlanta Dragway for the 30th annual Southern Nationals was to his surprise the first time he has started from the pole on a track where he has scored three wins.
Dixon's Friday night run of 3.882 seconds, 316.08 mph was never challenge as the Saturday Georgia sun brought track temps over the 120 degree mark. The only big movers in Top Fuel were Tony Shumacher, 3.927 seconds at 310.41 mph and Brandon Bernstein, 3.913 second at 312.21 mph. Bernstein's run came in the Saturday morning session while Schumacher made his best run in the fourth and final session.
Dixon knew it would take a miracle to knock him off the top spot. So he wasn't surprised to stay in the top qualifying spot.
“Not really,” said Dixon when asked if holding onto the top spot was a surprise, “just because track conditions were so hot today. It was just a hot track. With our car we made it down the track both sessions.”
If getting down the track was the goal for the team on this day, Dixon just did his job while Alan Johnson and Jason did theirs.
“That's a good question but you are probably asking the wrong guy,” admitted Dixon. “Their looking at the conditions and assessing how quickly they can run under those conditions. You go out there you gauge how the rubber is, how hot the track is, and try to make the run you wanted to make and then learn from it.
“Like that last session, it looked like it got the tire loose a little bit, put a hole out and knocked the (blower) belt off. It slowed up a little bit but it was still obviously a great run.”
The key was at which point the tire spun, the single cylinder took a hike and the blower belt went looking for calmer conditions.
“It did it right before the finish line,” revealed Dixon. “It was still enough to be low of the round, so it was good.”
WORKING HER ANGLE - A hot north Georgia sun worked to Ashley Force Hood's advantage on Saturday as she easily held onto the top qualifying
spot in the Funny Car class in the 30th annual Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga. “This is definitely a track where we've had great success,” said Force Hood when asked about her performance at the track in here Castrol GTX Ford Mustang. “We'll see what tomorrow brings. It should be interesting.”
Her performance is almost a puzzle, despite her winning her first career Funny Car race under the Georgia sun. No matter what the conditions, a silver lining is never far away.
“It's a tricky track,” admitted Force Hood. “My tuners, Ron (Douglas) and Guido (Antonelli), seem to have it figured out. We do well when we come here. Even when we struggle, at times, we still manage to do well.
“Hopefully, we can continue that this weekend. Even though we are number one our other runs, not making it down, I don't know how much they were testing.”
One thing is certain, Force Hood will not change here routine much because of the hot temperatures.
“You're more aware of where the sun as far as your visor and helmet. I still get in at the same time. I still like to have that same routine.”
Away from the track, Force Hood changes nothing.
“Heck no, I have the air conditioning going,” she said. “It depends on what you believe works for you. That is why you always see my dad in his firesuit. For him, that works. Me, I get through the run and I want to get my gear off and feel normal.”
ROY HILL GOES TO NO. 1 AGAIN - Roy Hill did it again.
For the second outing in a row, Hill drove his way to a No. 1 qualifying effort in Super Stock eliminator.
The former mountain motor Pro Stock icon turned drag racing school instructor has found a new lease on his racing life with a SS/BA Cobra Jet Mustang owned by NASCAR team owner James Fitch.
Hill ran -1.001 under his index with an 8.999 elapsed time during Friday’s opening session. The run stood up through the three qualifying session.
“Wow, that’s all I can say,” said Hill. “I’m having as much fun now as I used to then.”
Hill's fun ended as he lost in the second round to Byron Latino.
THREE GENERATIONS -
The youngest of the trio, Morgan Harris, has been attending the Southern Nationals since she was six months old, with her mother and grandmother. A chance meeting at a local school between Tony Schumacher and the three ladies led to a personal invitation from Schumacher to be his guests at this year's event. Schumacher was appearing at the school as part of the advance activities leading up to the Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.
Grandmother, daughter and granddaughter arrived at the track on Friday; however, Schumacher was nowhere to be found. Seems that Schumacher, via a text message explained to the women he was using some downtime to do a little shopping … at the local Bass Pro Shops.
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -
DIXON JUMPS OUT EARLY IN COMMERCE - Larry Dixon stands on the cusp of his 42nd career pole and yet the two-time champion feels as if 
he’s still got a lot to learn.
Dixon drove to a 3.822 elapsed time at 316.08 miles per hour to land in the No. 1 spot during the first day qualifying for the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.
Just making two runs to the finish line, nevermind the fact they were blazing quick, was enough of an accomplishment for Dixon, now in his sophomore season as driver of the Al-Anabi Racing Top Fuel dragster.
“For me it’s nice to make full runs because I’m still learning,” said Dixon. “I’m still trying to fit in because the car is different than what I’ve driven in the last 15 years. The more full pulls you get in – in different conditions – I’m still learning. After every run, I go back and critique myself in the video. I just want to be as good of a driver as I can be for them.”
Dixon definitely had a real hot rod blazing through the humid conditions of Dixie.
“When everyone was trying to break into the threes, it went out there and ran a 3.86,” explained Dixon. “I was taken aback. That’s probably the run we were going to run in the semis last race. We’re qualified and that’s where I am at right now. We made a good run.”
Just before Dixon’s final pass of the day, a pair of Top Fuel cars oiled the track creating a lengthy delay. With each minute, the conditions became more favorable for Dixon and his aggressive tuners Alan Johnson and Jason McCulloch.
“I assume it helped a little bit. The more the sun is off of the track as hot and humid as it had been today, helped to tighten the track. It didn’t hurt. It makes it tough on the teams because you get out of your window of adjustment. Even on that run, it quivered the tire a little bit. I was able to drive through it.”
Friday evening Dixon was as confident as a driver could be about his team. The team’s warm-weather tune-up is falling into place.
“I feel as good as a guy can get,” he explained. “We ran well in Las Vegas, then went into St. Louis it was warm and the conditions started to cool down. It’s hot right now, but later in the season, it’s going to make this seem like Club Med. We aren’t even in summer yet. It’s going to only get warmer.”
FORCE HOOD SURPRISES HERSELF WITH NO. 1 - Pleasant surprises are always welcomed, at least in Ashley Force Hood’s world they are. 
The second generation Funny Car-driving Hood surpassed the competition during Friday qualifying at the NHRA Southern Nationals to claim the provisional No. 1 qualifying position, placing nearly .02 between her and No. 2 qualifier Robert Hight.
If her run holds, it will be her first of the season and tenth of her career.
“I thought for sure someone would beat me out of that spot,” admitted Force Hood. “We were happy to make the most of the night session but tomorrow’s runs are going to be important because they are the same as race day conditions. You get to run at the back of the pack and that provides that little advantage. I think the weather conditions for tomorrow will make it challenging.”
This season has been drastically different than last year’s where she was a threat to win any race she entered. Force Hood’s first career victory came at Commerce a year ago.
“It’s been running pretty good this year for as few runs as we have made this season,” she said. “The last few races, our car has been running good and we haven’t stumbled. People have just been outrunning us. You want to push it, but not too much. The tuners are good at making those decisions and mine are good at walking that fine line. My car likes to go A to B, and with these cars, you can’t ask for much more than that. We’re going to do our best, and hopefully our turnaround will begin this weekend.”
Last season she understands her team probably snuck up on the competition. Now she’s more dependent on crafty tuners Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglass to overcome the team’s lack of surprise element.
“Last year we had such a great season that many probably didn’t expect us to be the Force team doing the best,” Force Hood said. “You give credit to my tuners and they are each really talented. They just work really well together. It’s special to find two tuners who can work together like that.”
It’s even more special when they lead you to a surprise No. 1, even if it is provisionally.
FAMILIARITY BODES WELL FOR PRO STOCK AJ - Practice makes perfect and for Allen Johnson, a test session prior to the NHRA Southern 
Nationals at Atlanta Dragway made all the difference in a provisional No 1 spot and being just another driver chasing the domineering Mike Edwards.
Well, there is an issue of gained horsepower which could likely serve as a contributing factor in the success.
“Dad’s found some horsepower,” admitted Johnson. “I said it last time in Houston; we’ve caught Mike [Edwards] in terms of power,” Johnson explained. “We just have to get the car running as good down low as his has been. We did it that run and it showed. I think we are with him or just ahead of him. If I can do my job and we make the right decisions on the track, we’ll be something to be reckoned with.”
If Johnson’s 6.634 holds Friday’s No. 1 could turn into his first of 2010 and the eighth of his career.
“I just had to get after it a little more,” said Johnson of his second qualifying attempt. “I was a little bit greedy on the first run. The last run, we went .972 low. That was the first time we’ve been the quickest down low since they made the changes to the rear of the car with the rear weight rule.”
Johnson’s reference was to a rule change enacted last March mandating all Pro Stock cars must weigh 1090 pounds at the rear wheel. He was one of the critics of the NHRA’s decision aimed at providing more stability to the Pro Stockers in the last 350 feet of the race track.
To combat what he deemed as a setback, Johnson tested extensively, with one of those practice sessions earlier in the season at the site of this weekend’s national event.
“We were one of three cars who tested here earlier in the season,” said Johnson. “That helped a little.”
The testing provided a measure of confidence for Johnson who faced a monumental challenge overtaking Mike Edwards, the leader of the session when Johnson rolled to the starting line. Not to mention he was seeking the overthrow on a 110-degree track.
“We were confident we could run a 6.64 but to get around him we knew we had to be perfect. And, we were.”
SMITH TINKERS WAY TO TOP OF BIKES - If at first you don’t succeed, and drive through the clutch, do a little tinkering and you’ll be the 
number one qualifier.
This is the lesson Matt Smith learned during the first day of qualifying at the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.
Following a lackluster opening run, the past Pro Stock Motorcyle champion turned a few knobs, made a couple of adjustments and during the second session rode like a banshee to the top spot with a 6.940 second pass. As quick as Smith was in the heat of the day, defending series champion Hector Arana was just as fast falling .001 short off the top spot.
“The first pass we missed the clutch really bad,” Smith said. “We found a little bit of horsepower last weekend. When we came here it just ran through the clutch. Then we felt maybe we did have plenty of power.”
Smith understands the feeling of power because he experienced plenty of it on the No. 1 run.
“When I dumped the clutch and later in the run when I put it in third gear, and it picked the wheel back up and did it again in fourth. The Buell’s don’t usually do that. It was running so well that it actually ran out of gear down there. It hit the high-side limiter before the lights.”
“It’s gonna be good tomorrow.”
Those changes we mentioned earlier in our article are not only applicable for the Atlanta race, but for others.
“We made some changes and only did it on one thing because we didn’t know if it was going to pay off,” Smith revealed. “It paid off. Now we have to go home and do it to everything.”
The competition had better heed Smith’s warning as he believes the bike has just scratched the surface of its potential for the weekend.
“The tune-up wasn’t perfect, but it went out there and stuck,” Smith said. “I think we can run a 6.91 or 6.92 tomorrow.”
His teammate and wife, Angie Smith, was in the opposite lane when he laid down the quick run and if not for a broken coil wire, he believes she would have been right there with him. As tempting as it would be to bring her bike closer to his in the qualifying list, he’s not looking back and going for the jugular on Saturday.
“We’re going to try and pick our bike up and go out there and try to get about .02 or .03 over everybody. If we can do that I’d be tickled. But, I’d settle just to stay No. 1.”
No. 1 with an advantage, he reiterates.
COUGHLIN-BROGDON PART WAYS IN THE PITS - After nearly a year of parking side-by-side on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series
Scott Woodruff, spokesperson for Team Jegs, said the parting was a way of focusing better on their racing operation.
“We just decided to park elsewhere to help us focus on our program,” Woodruff explained, adding the decision was inevitably made by engine builder Victor Cagnazzi. “We obviously lost that race (in St. Louis) because of distractions and not breakage. This is our way to resolve that.”
“The smaller your area is, the easier it is to control,” Woodruff added.
Cagnazzi, who supplies the engines for both teams, declined to comment on the situation.
Brogdon, who crashed his car in the first round of the last event, offered his comment on the split.
“The way we race is supposedly a distraction to their team,” Brogdon said. “I guess we have too much fun and I guess they wanted to blame what happened last week to them on us. I’d just as soon park by myself anyway.”
HINES PREPARING FOR BIG DATE IN JULY - Andrew Hines is excited about riding his Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle class. He’s also excited about attempting a Pro Stock car license on May 24, on his 27th birthday.
As great as those opportunities are, they pale in comparison to what he’s got on the horizon in July.
July 27th is the due date for his and wife Tanya’s second child already determined to be a boy.
“We haven’t picked out a name but we have a few in mind,” Hines said. “It’s one of those deals when once we see him, we’ll figure out what the best name is.”
This will be the second child born into the team’s pit area since teammate Eddie Krawiec and wife Annemarie celebrated the birth of a baby girl Miss Kayden Marie.
Already the Pro Stock Bike pits are buzzing with rumors of an “arranged” marriage.
“They will be about three months apart in age and there are some out there already teasing us that they are going to get married,” said Hines with a smile. “If that happens, Eddie is saying I have to pay for half of the wedding, but I believe the custom is for the bride’s family to pay. You never know, we live a couple of doors down from one another.”
Hines, knee-deep in the demands of the Pro Stock Bike world, has been putting in some late nights thrashing. However, his midnight oil has been spent on converting their three bedroom home in Brownsburg to four. While most of the construction has been handled by his wife’s co-workers, Hines has been hard at work ensuring the room is just the right colors.
He’s handling the paint detail and doing it right and with his perfectionist nature kicked in high gear. Their unnamed son will inherit a room boldly emblazoned with University of Florida livery.
With Hines as an honorary Gator and Mom an alumni, his path is determined.
What is not yet determined is when the new son will arrive. As it stands, the due date is scheduled to hit right in the middle of the western swing where the bikes have two stops.
“We have already booked some redeye flights and looking into the possibility of having her induced on the day after Sonoma,” Hines said. “I’ll get back at 5:20 in the morning and will likely drive straight to the hospital. Hopefully the baby will be out by Thursday night and be able to go racing in Denver.”
But, if the schedule is altered?
“If I have to miss some qualifiers, I will do that,” he said.
LUCAS OIL TO SPONSOR ANOTHER ARANA IN PSM - Not long after winning the 2009 Pro Stock Motorcycle title, Hector Arana II, got a call from Forrest Lucas telling him the two needed to talk. Arana was sweating bullets. Could it be his dream was coming apart? Would he suddenly find himself unable to defend his championship?
Arana had nothing to sweat about. Instead, Lucas talked about Hector's son, Hector III and his dreams of racing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks. Forrest didn't want to commit to sponsoring the young man without his father's approval.
“If all goes as planned, I will be here for 2010, the last four events – Dallas, Reading, Vegas and Pomona,” confirmed Hector Arana, III. “I can do four events (this year) without messing up my rookie status. Next year, I can go the full year racing for Rookie of the Year racing alongside my dad.”
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK -
KRYPTONITE - Together they account for 92 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing series event wins. Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher and Ron Capps are usually a sure
This is the case except for one place, Atlanta Dragway, the site of this weekend’s NHRA Summit Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.
Schumacher has reached the finals twice (2000, 2008) while Capps has been there three times (1995, 2000 and 2001).
While the stats favor both drivers with Schumacher as winningest active Top Fuel driver and Capps as the third, who would’ve ever thought they couldn’t even sneak into a winner’s circle in Commerce, at least once on a fluke victory.
“You would think after totaling 63 career wins, there’s no track out there I still have to conquer,” Schumacher admitted. “We’ve come close in Atlanta, but just haven’t been able to close the deal for some reason.”
Capps has gone almost a decade without coming close to experiencing race day success with a final round.
"We've had good success there in the past,” said Capps. “We've gone rounds and run well, but never closed the deal. It's one of the few tracks I haven't won at in my career. But, I think if we dwell too much on that, it's going to be more of a hindrance than a help right now.”
One reason Capps believes his funk at Atlanta Dragway is living on borrowed time is longtime crew chief Ed “Ace” McCulloch. McCulloch is a three-time NHRA Southern Nationals champion while driving a nitro Funny Car for since retired team owner Larry Minor.
"This race in Commerce is very important on the circuit, and it has become even more so in the last few years, because our sponsor NAPA AUTO PARTS is based out of Atlanta, just south of the Atlanta Dragway,” said Capps. "You ask any of the drivers and they will tell you that one of the most important places they want to win at is where their sponsor's headquarters are located. You definitely want to show off to the bosses. We have some corporate people coming out this weekend who haven't been to a drag race yet, and it's going to be exciting for us to showcase our sport to some of these executives at NAPA AUTO PARTS.
"And nothing would be better than on Monday morning, before getting on the airplane, to be able to go to the headquarters and hand the trophy over to them.”
A victory this weekend would go a long way for Capps, who is winless this year.
SAME BUT DIFFERENT STATUS - Morgan Lucas enters this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals bearing the same but different status as he did last year. The Geico-sponsored driver is 
bwinless once again, but there’s a big difference.
Last year Lucas was “O-for-his Top Fuel career. This time he’s just winless for the season. For the first time in his career, Lucas can officially be referred to as the defending event champion.
"It's exciting," said Lucas, who scored his first of three career wins last season at this race. "You can say that you're not thinking about it, but you're thinking about it. Anybody who says they don't think about stuff like that is just lying.”
Lucas had reason to believe the NHRA Southern Nationals was a win waiting to happen. He was the No. 1 qualifier in 2005 and has always experienced moderate success in eliminations. Last year, he dipped into the luck bank a bit to score a wild, tire-smoking duel under the lights over Spencer Massey following a rain delay.
“Going to a track where you have had success puts you in the mindset where all you think about is racing and winning," added Lucas.
Lucas is hoping for another victory and this one is more decisive. A series of performance gains has him feeling good about his chances.
"We've found some really cool stuff at the shop and we've been creeping up on something lately," Lucas said. "It makes me that much more optimistic about going to the event. We made some big changes in the bell housing and that right there was the biggest difference in my opinion. The window for tuning these cars gets small sometimes and consistency is always the most important thing. Last few races we've been making ET gains and trying to have good runs. Right now the car is talking to us and we're trying to listen to it."
SUZUKI'S ARE COMING - Craig Treble is no Paul Revere, but he’s ready to shout another warning at the top of his lungs.
Treble wants the field to know the Suzukis are coming.
"Our qualifying in St. Louis kind of showed what we've got," said Treble, who lacks a win at Atlanta Dragway among his 14 career victories. "The unfortunate part is that we blew our good motor up. And we kind of chased our tails after that. The performance is there.”
Treble went to the top of the Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying list provisionally two weeks ago at the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.
"Steve (Tartaglia, crew chief) has a good handle on this Valvoline Motorcycle Oils Suzuki right now. It's teething pains for these new bigger motors (100cc's larger than in 2009). We're finding the weak links in them and one of them resulted in a really strange blowup.
"It was fast in St. Louis. We were low by a bunch on Friday, and on Saturday she came apart and we got behind the 8-ball after that.”
Treble, who rides for Don Schumacher Racing this season, ranks sixth in the point standings. While St. Louis’ qualifying might have served as both a feather and a shortcoming, he’s focused on the challenge at hand.
"That was then, this is now,” said Treble. “Steve's been working at a feverish pace at the Don Schumacher Racing shop and getting motors ready to go, so we should have some good, fresh and fast stuff for Atlanta."
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