NHRA GATORNATIONALS - EVENT RESULTS

Sun, 2022-03-13 19:00
 

 

       

 

SUNDAY - HAGAN, TATUM, GLENN AND STOFFER PICK UP WINS AT NHRA GATORNATIONALS
 
Three-time Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan gave Tony Stewart Racing its first NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series victory, racing to his first win at the historic and 53rd annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway on Sunday.
 
Tripp Tatum (Top Fuel), Dallas Glenn (Pro Stock) and Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also picked up wins at the third of 22 races during the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.
 
In his second final this season, Hagan powered his 11,000-horsepower Dodge Power Brokers Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT to a run of 3.910-seconds at 330.96 mph to beat Blake Alexander in the final round. It gives Hagan his 40th career victory and just as importantly, his first-ever win at historic Gainesville Raceway. He reached the final round with wins against Dave Richards, Terry Haddock, and Chad Green. Hagan joined the first-year Tony Stewart Racing team in the off-season and posted a No. 1 qualifier and a runner-up for the team before the momentous win on Sunday in Gainesville.
 
“To get this first win at the Gatornationals and Tony Stewart’s first win in a drag car, it’s pretty awesome,” Hagan said. “He wants to be here, and it says a lot for our sport. It was a good weekend for Tony, a good weekend for NHRA and I’m just very blessed and humbled to be here. I want to make sure I’m showing up on the starting line and doing my part and I just know what this team is capable of. It’s a lot of tough competition, but as a driver that’s exciting.
 
“It just was a big weekend for me personally because I’ve been wanting to win this race and check it off on my career box, and I think this allows me to accomplish everything I’ve ever set out to do in NHRA.”
 
Added Stewart: “This is pretty badass, especially at the Gatornationals. We’ve got two awesome race teams that work their butts off. I’m really proud of all these guys.”
 
Making his first appearance of the 2022 season, Alexander advanced to his fifth career final round, knocking off J.R. Todd, Cruz Pedregon and Ron Capps.
 
A day after picking up his first career No. 1 qualifier, Tatum did one better, driving to his first career Top Fuel victory with a standout run of 3.700 at 330.31 in his 11,000-horsepower Tripp Tatum Racing dragster. Making just his 12th career start, Tatum delivered a truly magical weekend, beating Lex Joon, Billy Torrence, and points leader Mike Salinas to reach the final round, a day after qualifying No. 1 with a 3.674 at 331.53. He was just as good on Sunday during eliminations, streaking past Foley to earn an incredible victory.
 
“This is pretty neat,” Tatum said. “My dad was at the first Gatornationals and my first career race was at the Gatornationals. This is just surreal and it’s not even close to setting in. There’s a lot of excitement now and this was a gigantic step for this team. I never really thought about winning, it’s been overwhelming and that’s all because of the Capco family. For me, I’m a lucky guy to have this opportunity to do this with the way Top Fuel is and the competition level in this class, it’s pretty awesome.”
 
Foley advanced to his first career final round, as the veteran knocked off Spencer Massey, Clay Millican and Justin Ashley in what was his most successful day as a Top Fuel driver.
 
In Pro Stock, Glenn, the reigning NHRA Rookie of the Year, got the best of his KB Racing teammate in the final round, going 6.486 at 210.21 in his RAD Torque Systems Chevrolet Camaro to knock off Kyle Koretsky. It gives Glenn his fourth career victory and first this season, also giving KB Racing its first win of the year after Elite Motorsports dominated the first two races. Gainesville, though, belonged to KB Racing, as Glenn knocked off Troy Coughlin Jr., points leader Aaron Stanfield and Rodger Brogdon to reach the final round. There, he tracked down Koretsky to pick up another major victory in his young career.
 
“The track felt great all weekend and we felt pretty good going into raceday,” Glenn said. “The car made an absolutely beautiful run in the final. The new car is working fantastic and to knock off a win really early in the season really gets me excited for the rest of the year. You get a season under your belt and then it’s a different pressure, but we ran great on raceday, and it should be a really fun season if we can continue to run like this. But this category is so tough and it’s really awesome right now.”
 
Koretsky advanced to the final round for the sixth time in his career, picking up round wins against Fernando Cuadra, Camrie Caruso, and Mason McGaha. In the opening-round, four-time world champ Erica Enders made the quickest pass in Pro Stock history, going 6.450 at 213.57 in a losing effort.
 
Stoffer wrapped up one of the most impressive weekends in Pro Stock Motorcycle history, finishing her record-breaking weekend by going 6.700 at 200.77 on her Big St. Charles/Ray Skillman Suzuki to beat Angie Smith in the final round. It proved to be a thrilling way for the category to open its 2022 season and the weekend belonged to Stoffer, who claimed her 11th career victory. To reach the final round for the fourth straight race, dating back to last season, Stoffer made the two quickest runs in Pro Stock Motorcycle history, going 6.682 at 198.70 in the opening round to initially set the record before she topped it with an astounding 6.665 at 200.71 a round later. Stoffer added a 6.721 at 200.08 to reach the final round, with her finals performance giving Stoffer the third-quickest run in class history.
 
“I knew the conditions were fantastic and out of the box, the bike was on fire,” said Stoffer, who now has three Gatornationals wins. “Gainesville is like my second home. I’ve spent a lot of time here; I feel really comfortable racing here and I’ve done well. When you look at that whole package, it means a lot and it’s definitely a dream come true to win and set a record at one of my favorite tracks. I love it here and it’s really nice to know we were able to cement something and say we were the first bike in the 6.60s.”
 
Smith had a strong weekend as well, advancing to her third career final round thanks to round wins against Chris Bostick, Steve Johnson, and Joey Gladstone.
 
The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series returns to action April 1-3 with the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
 
SATURDAY - HIGHT, TATUM, STANFIELD AND M. SMITH NO. 1 QUALIFIERS, RESULTS FROM FIRST ROUND OF TOP FUEL ALL-STAR CALLOUT 
 

Robert’s Hight dominant start to the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season continued Saturday, as the Funny Car standout powered to the No. 1 spot at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals.
 
Tripp Tatum (Top Fuel), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also claimed No. 1 qualifiers as part of a record-breaking day at the third of 22 races during the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season.
 
The first round of the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout also took place on Saturday at Gainesville Raceway, with Steve Torrence, Brittany Force, Mike Salinas and Justin Ashley all earning victories. The final two rounds of the specialty event will be completed at the prestigious Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in September.
 
In the lone qualifying session of the weekend, Hight impressed once again with a run of  3.831-seconds at 333.41 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS, picking up his first No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 72nd in his career. After picking up wins at the first two races of the year, Hight will try to remain perfect on Sunday in Gainesville, opening the first round of eliminations against John Smith.
 
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be No. 1,” Hight said. “We just needed to make a good run, so we have a solid baseline for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we’ll have to pick it up a little bit but when we do that, it’s going to run even better. This thing is amazing - 14 out of 15 runs it’s gone in the 3.80s. Good job to the Auto Club team but really who deserves an ‘atta boy’ is NHRA. What they did after all the rain that has fallen on this thing after all these days and the rubber coming off, and to get the track where you could run a Funny Car 3.83 is pretty amazing.”
 
Tim Wilkerson took the second spot with a 3.891 at 328.22 and Cruz Pedregon is third after his run of 3.891 at 327.35.
 
In Top Fuel, Tatum earned his first career No. 1 qualifier in his 11,000-horsepower Tripp Tatum Racing dragster, making the quickest run in track history with a stellar run of 3.674 at 331.53. It was an incredible display for Tatum, who earned the No. 1 spot in just his 12th career start. He opens eliminations against Lex Joon with the opportunity to pick up his first victory after setting a track record at a historic facility.
 
“It definitely hasn’t set in yet,” Tatum said. “For me it’s just a whirlwind. Me and the guys were talking about slowing it down and just getting down the track with conditions being as they are and not really knowing the track. Safety Safari doing what they did is just amazing, and the racetrack ended up being far better than we thought it would be. In my mind, I thought we were just going to slide the car down there and try for an upper .70 and when I left the starting line I thought, ‘This thing’s kind of running good.’ It went down there pretty good.”
 
Force broke the track speed record during her first-round win in the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout, knocking off Antron Brown with a run of 3.684 at 337.75 to also qualify second. By making the quickest run in the opening round, Force will have her choice of opponent in the semifinals in the specialty race. Torrence, who was the top seed Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout, went 3.697 at 329.50 to knock off Leah Pruett. The run also gave him the third spot in qualifying. Justin Ashley’s 3.722 at 330.96 gave him the win over Doug Kalitta to round out the first-round winners.
 
In Pro Stock, Stanfield finished off the record-breaking day by making the quickest run in the history of electronic fuel injection in the class, going a remarkable 6.468 at 211.66 in his Janac Brothers Chevrolet Camaro, also setting the track record. It gave Stanfield, the points leader, his second career No. 1 qualifier and another standout run in a year that has already included a win and a pair of final rounds. He’ll open eliminations against Stefan Ernryd looking for a second straight victory.
 
“It was awesome,” said Stanfield. “I’m sure the crew chiefs were a little nervous up there. We had some really good weather conditions, and I had all the conference in the world in my team.” 
 
Pro Stock Motorcycle, which is making its 2022 season debut in Gainesville, could not complete qualifying due to weather on Saturday. Eliminations will be based on points from last season and Smith, who is the defending world champ and won in Gainesville in 2021, will start raceday from the No. 1 position.
 
Eliminations for the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals are scheduled for 11 a.m. ET on Sunday at Gainesville Raceway.
 
Sunday's first-round pairings for eliminations for the 53rd annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, the third of 22 events in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.
 
Top Fuel -- 1. Tripp Tatum, 3.674 seconds, 331.53 mph vs. 16. Lex Joon, 4.060, 295.66; 2. Brittany Force, 3.684, 337.75 vs. 15. Clay Millican, 4.056, 248.52; 3. Steve Torrence, 3.697, 329.50 vs. 14. Tony Schumacher, 3.983, 266.32; 4. Mike Salinas, 3.709, 332.10 vs. 13. Krista Baldwin, 3.865, 297.55; 5. Doug Kalitta, 3.718, 330.47 vs. 12. Alex Laughlin, 3.858, 319.98; 6. Justin Ashley, 3.722, 330.96 vs. 11. Josh Hart, 3.783, 306.88; 7. Spencer Massey, 3.735, 324.12 vs. 10. Doug Foley, 3.775, 313.44; 8. Austin Prock, 3.761, 326.71 vs. 9. Billy Torrence, 3.763, 328.78. 
 
Did Not Qualify: 17. Antron Brown, 5.056, 168.20; 18. Leah Pruett, 5.125, 227.34; 19. Ike Maier, 5.901, 202.67; 20. Arthur Allen, broke; 21. Shawn Langdon, broke. 
 
Funny Car -- 1. Robert Hight, Chevy Camaro, 3.831, 333.41 vs. 16. John Smith, Dodge Charger, 9.754, 102.99; 2. Tim Wilkerson, Ford Mustang, 3.891, 328.22 vs. 15. John Force, Camaro, 8.924, 75.58; 3. Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 3.891, 327.35 vs. 14. Jim Campbell, Charger, 8.903, 68.36; 4. Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.898, 320.13 vs. 13. Dave Richards, Mustang, 8.773, 85.61; 5. Alexis DeJoria, Toyota Supra, 3.907, 326.40 vs. 12. Terry Haddock, Mustang, 8.436, 87.67; 6. Blake Alexander, Mustang, 3.918, 319.98 vs. 11. J.R. Todd, Supra, 8.381, 86.92; 7. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.057, 249.63 vs. 10. Ron Capps, Charger, 7.487, 90.36; 8. Chad Green, Mustang, 4.075, 313.66 vs. 9. Paul Lee, Charger, 4.495, 200.44. 
 
Pro Stock -- 1. Aaron Stanfield, Chevy Camaro, 6.468, 211.66 vs. 16. Stefan Emryd, Dodge Dart, 6.989, 188.86; 2. Kyle Koretsky, Camaro, 6.482, 212.06 vs. 15. Fernando Cuadra, Ford Mustang, 6.577, 210.24; 3. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.510, 211.89 vs. 14. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.571, 209.92; 4. Rodger Brogdon, Camaro, 6.510, 210.31 vs. 13. Fernando Cuadra Jr., Mustang, 6.556, 210.11; 5. Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.511, 211.63 vs. 12. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.549, 210.44; 6. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.511, 211.10 vs. 11. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 6.534, 210.31; 7. Camrie Caruso, Camaro, 6.516, 210.70 vs. 10. Cristian Cuadra, Mustang, 6.528, 211.43; 8. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.524, 209.43 vs. 9. Troy Coughlin Jr., Camaro, 6.528, 211.93. 
 
Did Not Qualify: 17. Val Smeland, 7.241, 202.88; 18. Chris McGaha, 9.387, 130.56; 19. Alan Prusiensky, 9.532, 99.36; 20. Larry Morgan, 12.341, 116.11. 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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