NHRA SUPERNATIONALS - SAME DAY COVERAGE
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SUNDAY FINAL - SCHUMACHER GETS FIRST WIN IN ENGLISHTOWN; WILKERSON, ANDERSON, ELLIS ALSO WIN AT RACEWAY PARK
The event was overshadowed by the loss of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta, who died from multiple injuries suffered after his car went out of control in the fourth round of qualifying Saturday.
Tim Wilkerson, Greg Anderson, and Chip Ellis also won in their respective categories in the 11th of 24 events on the POWERade Series schedule.
Schumacher drove his U.S. Army dragster to a 4.589-second run at 325.06 to defeat runner-up Brandon Bernstein by half a car length to pick up his 46th win and pull within six of Joe Amato (52) for most Top Fuel wins all-time.
“With the passing of Scott Kalitta yesterday, today’s race was extremely tough to get through from an emotional standpoint. But we managed to take care of business like Scott would have wanted us to,” said Schumacher, who won from the No. 9 qualifying position.
In Funny Car, Wilkerson drove his Levi Ray & Shoup Chevy Impala SS to a 4.877 at 319.29 to defeat Rookie of the Year favorite Mike Neff, who was seeking his first career win in his third career final round. “You come to the race track and you think there is always a chance of something happening,” said Wilkerson. “Knowing Scott the way I knew Scott I think that he would’ve wanted us to come and race because he was just that kind of guy. With that in mind, we all came to the racetrack with the intention of winning.”
Greg Anderson drove his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP to his third win of the season, posting a time of 7.520 at 200.23, which proved strong enough to get past runner-up Dave Connolly. It is Anderson’s 54th career win, fourth in Englishtown and second consecutive at Raceway Park.
“It was a tough deal to come out and race today, without a doubt,” said Anderson. “I don’t really know how you really do it, how you really concentrate and we probably didn’t very well, to be honest with you. You think about (Scott) all the time and you think, ‘I know I’m going to wake up from this dream in a while.’”
“To be perfectly honest it was awesome,” said Ellis, referring to his win against his former team and crew chief. “I know what George Smith (Chris Rivas’ crew chief) is capable of doing. I rode his bike all last year and he’s a great tuner and Chris is doing a great job riding for him. But, on the other hand, I think I’m with the best tuner, and the man I’m talking about is Steve Tartaglia.”
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Sunday's final results from the 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. The race is the 11th of 24 in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series:
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SATURDAY QUALIFYING - Friday's qualifying leaders retained their respective top spots after a tragedy-filled Saturday in which Funny Car racer Scott Kalitta lost his life.
Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Jim Head (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Chris Rivas (Pro Stock Motorcycle) enter final eliminations as the No. 1 seeds.
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FRIDAY QUALIFYING - HEAD TAKES PROVISIONAL TOP SPOT IN FUNNY CAR; DIXON, ANDERSON, RIVAS ALSO PROVISIONAL NO. 1 QUALIFIERS IN ENGLISHTOWN
After nearly 15 years since his last No. 1 qualifier, Funny Car driver Jim Head raced to the provisional top spot Friday at the place he last collected his No. 1 qualifier, the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals.
Larry Dixon, Greg Anderson and Chris Rivas were also No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the 11th of 24 events on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Head drove his Head Racing Toyota Solara to a 4.803-second pass at 320.51 mph to become the provisional top qualifier. It would be Head’s second career No. 1 qualifier, with his first coming in 1993 in Englishtown in the Top Fuel category.
“The conditions of the track were really good,” said Head. “I thought the guys running after us would’ve had a lower number though. Fifteen to twenty minutes at that time of night is a really big thing.”
Current Funny Car points leader Tim Wilkerson sits 10th after two rounds of qualifying, while defending event winner Tommy Johnson Jr. did not record a successful qualifying run on Friday and will get two more chances to get in the field of 16 on Saturday.
New Jersey native Antron Brown took the provisional top spot in Top Fuel, driving his Matco Tools dragster to a 4.502 at 326.24. It’s would be Brown’s second No. 1 qualifier of the season, and third at Englishtown, with his previous two at the track coming in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
“This track is the hometrack for me, I only lived 25 minutes away,” said Brown, who grew up in Chesterfield, N.J. “It was about 22 years ago at this racetrack at the Summernationals, we were watching all these guys like Snake, Kenny Bernstein, Don Garlits, all those guys, and I always had that dream that I wanted to do that one day, but you never put it in perspective because you never think you’ll actually be there.”
Defending world champion Tony Schumacher sits in the ninth spot while Larry Dixon did not record a successful qualifying run on Friday and will get two more chances to get in the field of 16 on Saturday.
Defending event winner in Pro Stock, Greg Anderson, drove his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP to the provisional top spot with a 6.599 run at 209.23. It would be his second of the season, 64th of his career, fourth at Raceway Park and second consecutive in at the track.
“These Pro Stock cars are so close right now,” said Anderson. “It’s just who makes the right call at the right time and this was obviously the right time. You’ve got to make the most of it when the times are right and tonight the times were right.”
Current points leader Kurt Johnson just missed the top spot of the day, coming in second, while defending world champion Jeg Coughlin sits in the 12th spot.
Following up his win in Chicago just one event previous, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Chris Rivas rode his G-Squared/S&S Buell to a 6.932 at 191.21 and the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot. It would be Rivas’ second consecutive career and season No. 1 qualifier.
“After the Chicago race I told the guys, ‘you’re going back to the shop, but don’t touch the bike. Leave everything alone and we can use all the same parts, it’s all still good,’” said Rivas. “I told them as long as they leave everything alone we can keep doing the same thing.”
Current points leader Andrew Hines sits fourth while defending event winner Craig Treble is 12th.
Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at noon and 2:30 p.m. Sunday’s eliminations begin at 11 a.m.
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Results Friday after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, 11th of 24 events in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.
Top Fuel -- 1. Antron Brown, 4.502 seconds, 326.24 mph; 2. Brandon Bernstein, 4.525, 323.27; 3. Doug Foley, 4.532, 327.43; 4. David Grubnic, 4.539, 318.84; 5. Cory McClenathan, 4.542, 325.92; 6. Rod Fuller, 4.551, 328.46; 7. Bob Vandergriff, 4.565, 315.19; 8. Steve Torrence, 4.579, 315.42; 9. Tony Schumacher, 4.582, 320.36; 10. Hillary Will, 4.584, 323.12; 11. Morgan Lucas, 4.601, 320.74; 12. Doug Kalitta, 4.609, 319.14. Not Qualified: 13. J.R. Todd, 4.678, 301.33; 14. Larry Dixon, 5.000, 215.62; 15. Doug Herbert, 5.242, 255.97.
Funny Car -- 1. Jim Head, Toyota Solara, 4.803, 320.51; 2. Ashley Force, Ford Mustang, 4.803, 314.75; 3. John Force, Mustang, 4.810, 321.12; 4. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.810, 303.71; 5. Del Worsham, Chevy Impala, 4.831, 314.53; 6. Melanie Troxel, Dodge Charger, 4.835, 321.50; 7. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.856, 317.34; 8. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.856, 316.38; 9. Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.870, 306.12; 10. Tim Wilkerson, Impala, 4.873, 317.27; 11. Jerry Toliver, Charger, 4.876, 318.02; 12. Gary Scelzi, Charger, 4.883, 315.64. Not Qualified: 13. Jack Beckman, 4.890, 317.12; 14. Tommy Johnson Jr., 4.891, 295.21; 15. Mike Ashley, 5.007, 298.54; 16. Scott Kalitta, 5.009, 247.52; 17. Gary Densham, 5.051, 280.25; 18. Cruz Pedregon, 5.182, 224.88; 19. Tony Pedregon, 5.850, 201.13; 20. Tony Bartone, 7.035, 124.58.
Pro Stock -- 1. Greg Anderson, Pontiac GXP, 6.599, 209.23; 2. Kurt Johnson, Chevy Cobalt, 6.600, 209.36; 3. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.605, 209.52; 4. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.607, 208.23; 5. Allen Johnson, Dodge Stratus, 6.618, 208.65; 6. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.627, 208.36; 7. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.627, 208.26; 8. Justin Humphreys, Stratus, 6.627, 207.88; 9. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.628, 207.85; 10. Jim Yates, GXP, 6.628, 207.40; 11. Mike Edwards, GXP, 6.634, 208.01; 12. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt, 6.637, 207.82. Not Qualified: 13. Johnny Gray, 6.644, 207.94; 14. V. Gaines, 6.650, 206.67; 15. Jason Line, 6.652, 208.39; 16. Dave Northrop, 6.657, 207.15; 17. Vinnie Deceglie, 6.663, 207.15; 18. John Nobile, 6.664, 207.08; 19. Max Naylor, 6.676, 207.34; 20. Jim Cunningham, 6.790, 201.97; 21. Val Smeland, 6.864, 199.32; 22. Lee Zane, 6.989, 196.27.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Chris Rivas, Buell, 6.932, 191.21; 2. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.952, 191.38; 3. Chip Ellis, Suzuki, 6.967, 190.46; 4. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.990, 189.07; 5. Matt Guidera, Buell, 6.997, 190.78; 6. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.997, 190.81; 7. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.002, 192.36; 8. Hector Arana, Buell, 7.005, 191.16; 9. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.019, 189.10; 10. Angelle Sampey, Buell, 7.030, 188.04; 11. Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.058, 190.32; 12. Craig Treble, Suzuki, 7.107, 190.24. Not Qualified: 13. Junior Pippin, 7.109, 187.18; 14. Joe DeSantis, 7.127, 187.13; 15. Mike Berry, 7.132, 186.56; 16. Wes Wells, 7.178, 188.31; 17. Ryan Schnitz, 7.457, 177.56.
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