EVENT RESULTS EVENT NOTEBOOK ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS			FRIDAY GALLERY SATURDAY GALLERY SUNDAY GALLERY

SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - RAIN IS THE ONLY WINNER ON SUNDAY AS RACE CANCELLED

STAGING LANE LOVE -- With his wife, Lois Ann, unable to attend the ADRL Georgia Drags this year, John Montecalvo received a little good-luck love from Donna Jo Baker in the staging lanes at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Montecalvo, from Center Moriches, NY, went on to qualify his '08 Cobalt seventh in the Extreme Pro Stock field with a 4.113 pass at 177.39 mph and was scheduled to race Cale Aronson in the opening round of eliminations.

CLOSE CALL -- It certainly looked like Dean Goforth was going to hit the wall during his burnout for the second round of Extreme Pro Stock qualifying Apr. 13, at South Georgia Motorsports Park. But the senior half of the father-and-son Goforth Racing team pulled off a great save to avoid even scratching his 2010 Pontiac GXP. Goforth went on to make the pass and posted up a 4.206 at 172.81 that became his run of record for 15h place on the qualifying list.

FLAME ON -- Without so much as a test pass in the Bankston Boyz' Reher-Morrison powered '69 Camaro before arriving at SGMP, Tim Savell was in tough to get qualified in the Pro Nitrous field and struggled to find traction through two rounds of qualifying. He finally found the handle in round three, however, going 3.931 at 191.32 to place seventh and bump fan favorite and Georgia native Mike Hill from the race-day program.



RACER EXTENDS GESTURE OF THANKS - Early in April, Extreme Pro Stock competitor Brian Gahm was sitting back at his office in Lucasville, OH, talking with his father and brother about the ADRL and what it meant to Gahm's racing program. It didn't take long, he said, to decide he wanted to do something that expressed his thoughts about what he now considers the home of mountain-motor Pro Stock racing.

"We got a few decals made just as a thank you to KH (Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani) and to the ADRL for what they've done for us. Basically, that's all it is, just our way of saying thanks," the past two-time IHRA Pro Stock champion said. "We put the ADRL decal and KH on the car because they promoted this ADRL deal and gave us Pro Stockers a good place to race when we basically didn't have anywhere else to go and I don't forget that. I just want to support what we have here, that's all."

When ADRL President Kenny Nowling saw the large "ADRL: The Place to Race" decal on the hood of Gahm's 2013 Mustang, he immediately contacted Sheikh Khalid to share the message.

"Fortunately, Kenny liked it when we got here and KH liked it, so I called my brother and had him make another 12 or 15 sets of stickers and he overnighted them down to us here and now several other cars (Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous and Extreme Pro Stock) have them on them, too," Gahm explained.

"There's a lot that goes into this, into putting on races like this, it's a big business and I'm just glad I get to participate in the ADRL," he added. "We spend a lot of money on this. I just bought a new car last year, and where else can we go and be on the race tracks that we have today? I mean, the Traction Twins, they do an awesome job whether it's hot out or cold or what have you." 

Gahm also confirmed he's committed to running the complete eight-event schedule with the ADRL right now, not only because he supports the series but its schedule meshes best with his own.

"I have a hard time getting away from our business just to do eight races," Gahm said. "This is all funded out of my own pocket and it's just hard for me to be away so much.

"There's no conflict here; I'm just supporting who supported us and that's the way I look at it. No disrespect to any other organization, but I've decided that I can only afford to do eight races this year--and if I get real busy, who knows, maybe I won't even be able to do some of these. But right now I plan to do the entire ADRL series."

50:50 DRAW -- With fiancée Jennifer Stegall (left, glasses) by his side, Dan Parker (center), the 2005 ADRL Pro Nitrous world champion who lost his sight from a racing accident last spring, was at the Georgia Drags VII, where he described plans to become the first blind person to compete in the Bonneville Salt Flats time trials. Upon hearing Parker's intentions, ADRL officials hastily organized a 50:50 raffle among racers and spectators with half the amount collected going directly to Parker's fund for his Bonneville adventure. Approximately $1,100 was collected and when a lucky fan stepped forward with the winning numbers he immediately donated the entire amount back to Parker's cause.

BURNOUT KING -- Once considered the burnout master of the ADRL for his long smoke shows, past Extreme 10.5 racer Michael Neal has been missing from the ADRL scene for more than a year. He was back at the Hardee's Georgia Drags VII, however, with a brand-new, screw-blown '67 Mustang in the Pro Extreme class, where he qualified 14th with a 3.851 at 196.27-mph pass.

SEEING DOUBLE -- After settling the Pro Nitrous final last month at Rockingham Dragway between themselves, where Steve Jackson (near lane) defeated Al-Anabi teammate Mike Castellana, they were paired together for second-round qualifying at the ADRL Georgia Drags. By the end of the day Jackson placed first and Castellana was eighth in the eight-car field, guaranteeing just one more meeting in round one of eliminations. The event was rained out, however, on race day.

RACE DAY DAWNS -- Just minutes before 7 a.m., South Georgia Motorsports Park was bathed in soft daybreak light Apr. 14, as competitors began awakening for elimination rounds of the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII. Later [below] the rains begain to fall.

OH, SISTER -- Making her ADRL debut in the Top Dragster class at South Georgia Motorsports Park was Shanna Snyder, sister of reigning Pro Extreme World Champion Mick Snyder. A past winner of the NHRA Super Comp Shootout at Indianapolis in 2011, the 33-year old is an NHRA Division 3 regular this year and is using the ADRL event as a tune-up for next week's NHRA national event at zMax Dragway in Charlotte.

She qualified 10th for the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII, while her younger brother by 18 months placed fifth in the Pro Extreme field. "I raced him a few times when we were kids in the Jr. Dragsters," she said. "I usually won."
SOUVENIR SELLERS -- Manning the ADRL souvenir trailer for the Hardee's Georgia Drags VII were Sami Gant and Steve Libby, who said fan interest in their 2013 offerings was high and sales remained strong all day at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

LAUNCH TIME -- Driver and car builder Joey Martin struggled through two rounds of qualifying trying to get his '55 Chevy "Lowmad" to hook up on the all-concrete eighth mile at South Georgia Motorsports Park, leaving him mired in last place of 18 Pro Extreme entries for the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII. Martin, who won the 2013 ADRL season opener last month at Rockingham, NC, stepped forward in the third and final qualifying session, though, running 3.698 seconds at 202.64 mph to slot into the 10th position for eliminations. Driving a Martin-built '63 Corvette, Brandon Snider (far lane) went 3.673 at 208.39 in the second round to secure an 8th-place start.

RACY REMINDER - With the crowd still buzzing after Al-Anabi's Alex Hossler ran 3.58 seconds at 211 mph to back up his earlier effort of 3.567 at 212.29 mph and officially reset both ends of the ADRL Pro Extreme records, two-time former class champion Jason Scruggs stepped up to remind everyone he's still a heavyweight contender in the world's quickest and fastest doorslammer arena.

Just three pairs after Hossler's heroics in the third and final round of qualifying for the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Scruggs brought his ScruggsFarm.com '63 Corvette to the line and unleashed career-best 3.573-seconds pass at a stunning 213.54 mph. With a 3.62 at 211.76 already in the bank at SGMP, Scruggs also stole the official speed mark away from Hossler.

"We've been in the .50s before, but it was always .59s and we hadn't even been there in awhile," the Saltillo, MS-based driver said afterwards. "And the speed, we finally got our speed up a little bit so we're not having to make perfect runs early now."

Still, Scruggs admitted the record setter surprised even him a little.

"I make a lot of my own tuning calls, so I knew the car was hopped up pretty good. When it got going without rattling the tires I thought it might be pretty good, but you never know how good it'll be. I mean, I've had runs that felt good, but they turn out to be just another .61 or something," he said.

"So I knew it was on a good pass, but I figured it would be another high .50s, so a .57 at 213 did surprise me a bit. But when you tune your own car I think it gets in your head that you're supposed to run better, so it's kind of hard to say."

The second-place start pairs Scruggs with 15th-place man Danny Lowry and his twin-turboed 2009 Mustang for the opening round of eliminations.

"I think we're in good shape, but we didn't do that (3.57) with the sun out, so we'll have to wait and see depending on how hot it gets, but at least we know it's in there," Scruggs said. "We're happy, though."  

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - OF RECORD RUNS,  CONTINUED DOMINANCE AND AN ISLAND PARTY

RECORD DAY FOR HOSSLER  - Al-Anabi Racing's Alex Hossler made a record-setting 3.567-seconds pass at 212.29 mph in his Frank Manzo-tuned '69 Camaro to lead the opening round of Pro Extreme (PX) qualifying at the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

Needing to run 3.602 or better in qualifying or eliminations to back up the elapsed time within the required one percent to make it an official record, Hossler sealed the deal in his third and final qualifying pass with a 3.586 at 211.06 that actually gave him both ends of the official PX records--briefly.

Just three pairs later, former two-time PX champion Jason Scruggs laid down a 3.573 pass at a whopping 213.54 mph that was backed up by a previous 211.76-mph effort to steal away the official speed record. The previous records were 3.581 and 212.19 mph, both set by Frankie Taylor in September 2011 and last October, respectively.

"Well, I'm glad to have the record, glad to be number one, but now I need some points. We need to go some rounds tomorrow," Hossler said, referring back to the ADRL season opener a month ago at Rockingham, NC, where he qualified second, but lost in the opening round of eliminations.

"We kind of regrouped and we've got some different stuff on the car here and it seems to be responding pretty well," he added. "We've gone down the track every pass this weekend except for one and that's counting testing and qualifying, so we have a lot more confidence now than when we left Rockingham, that's for sure."

The incremental times on Hossler's record run were .904 to the 60-foot marker and 2.401 to half-track at 330 feet.

"It left good, but there's a bump in the left lane and every time I've made a hit in that lane the car moves pretty hard on it--it's probably only a foot or two, but it feels like 15 or 20--so it wasn't smooth. The car was right on the edge if you look at the (computer) graph, I mean it barely made it," Hossler recalled. "So we tried something a little different for the second round that obviously didn't work because it smoked the tires like a fuel car and then kind of went in between the two for that last pass and it worked out okay and ran the .58, which was very smooth."

Following Hossler and Scruggs on the qualifying order were Frankie Taylor, Tommy D'Aprile and defending class champion Mick Snyder. Gene Hector of Big Spring, TX, rounded out the 16-car field with a 4.104 at 191.40 after struggling all day with his screw-blown, SBC-powered '63 Corvette.

"He (Hector) ran a 3.64 yesterday (in testing), so that was pretty impressive," Hossler said of his first-round opponent. "He's proven he can run with the Hemis, so there's no one you can take lightly, not even with a small block. That's how wicked it is out here."

JACKSON CONTINUES PN DOMINANCE  - Martinez, GA's Steve Jackson opened his day with a 3.866 at 195.11 in his '68 Camaro, then improved to 3.851 at 195.56 mph before wrapping up with a 3.841 at 196.39 mph that left him atop the Pro Nitrous qualifying list for the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII.

"Not a bad day at all; we've got a good, consistent hot rod, it ran a hundredth better with each run," Jackson said. "Like I told my guys, a consistent horse wins the race, so we're gonna' bank on that and see if we can squeeze on it a bit more."

Jackson called his final qualifying pass "smooth as silk," a credit to tuner Billy Stocklin. "It was almost a little boring, it was so straight. As soon as it left I knew we should've stood on it more, but we wanted to make sure it went down; we needed the data because we figured it was about the time the final would be run tomorrow.

"Each run we make throughout the weekend in testing or qualifying we try to simulate the data we'd see in a real-time elimination round," Jackson explained. "So I think it's left us pretty well poised to do well. We're going to start squeezing this thing; the Honey Badger, she's ready to hunt!"

A month earlier in his ADRL debut at Rockingham Dragway a similar scenario played out, where Jackson qualified number one and went on to win the event, beating Al-Anabi teammate and former class champion Mike Castellana in the final round. His first round opponent at South Georgia Motorsports Park? Castellana, who ran a best of 3.938 seconds at 190.65 to place eighth of 11 PN entries.

"I hate that one of us will have to be going home after first round. We're obviously teammates, but when we get to the starting line it's on! It's good that an Al-Anabi car will advance no matter what, but we do hope that it's ours," said Jackson, who was followed in the first half of the race-day field by Robert Mathis, Jason Harris and Pat Stoken.

When asked if 3.70s were on the way for eliminations, Jackson answered, "I wouldn't rule 'em out."

IT'S PARTY TIME! - Trevor Eman's 4.063 at 177.44 mph straight off the trailer for round one of Extreme Pro Stock (XPS) qualifying stood up through two more sessions Apr. 13, to give the young driver from Aruba the first number-one start of his professional racing career.

"It felt really good; I hadn't felt being pushed back in the seat like that in quite awhile," Eman said later. "The (incremental) numbers on the time slip were decent, but it was the numbers on the scoreboard that were really awesome. And those are the ones that count." 

Rounding out the top five behind him at the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII at South Georgia Motorsports Park were Richard Penland, Pete Berner, John DeFlorian, the most recent winner on the 2013 ADRL tour, and former class champion John Montecalvo. On race day, Eman will face off against Scott Hintz, who secured the 16th and final position with an off-the-pace 5.15-seconds run. Only Ron Miller missing the cut for eliminations.

"That 5.15 doesn't mean anything, obviously. Scott is a real player in this class and I know he's real good on the tree, so if he figures out what's been bugging him in qualifying, that could be a tough race," Eman said.

Regardless of the racing outcome, the value of the number-one status lies in what it brings to his team, Eman reasoned. "We've been through some frustrations and last year was tough, but we got a good start in Rockingham with a decent qualifier (10th) and we went a couple of rounds, so to come here and qualify number one it just gives everyone more confidence and puts everybody on cloud nine."

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OWENS LEADS PXM FIELD INTO ELIMINATIONS - After three rounds of Pro Extreme Motorcycle qualifying for the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII were completed Apr. 13, a familiar name was written at the top of list. For the first time since his 2011 championship-winning season, Ashley Owens earned the top spot in the 16-bike field with a 4.074-seconds pass at 173.61 mph astride his 2013 Suzuki.

Owens' teammate Eric McKinney, whom Owens spent 2012 tuning to the PXM title, was second, a mere five-thousandths of a second back at 4.079 and 174.30 mph, followed by Canadian Terry Schweigert (4.097), Ronnie Procopio (4.110) and Georgia's own Travis Davis (4.113). Owens made his pole-sitting pass in the opening round of qualifying, while McKinney stepped up in the final round after both sat out the middle stanza in the heat of the day on the all-concrete eighth mile at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

"That was about what I expected," Owens said. "Eric was here (at SGMP) last week and won a race with an .07, so we kind of left his bike alone and got mine going, too. I'm just happy that both bikes are running so well. I think we're in pretty good shape."

McKinney said he was happy the best possible qualifying outcome was reached with he and Owens on opposite sides of the race-day ladder.

"If anybody's got to beat me I want it to be Ashley," he said. "You know, he's tuning both these bikes and they're not exactly the same; he's trying out different things and for both of them to be running that well is a testimony to what he's doing.

"I'm just glad we're one and two because that means we can't meet each other unless we're both in the final and that's exactly what we'll be trying to do. It didn't quite work out that way (in the previous event) at Rockingham, where he had some trouble, but hopefully here we'll be able to settle the win between us. That's what I'm hoping for, at least."

KEEN KEEPS NO. 1 POSITION IN PRO MOD - The same seven drivers, in the same order, remained from round one of Pro Mod qualifying on top of the eight car field for the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VIII.

After three qualifying sessions were in the books, Florida's Jimmy Keen, with tuning help from doorslammer legend Tony Christian, retained the number-one position with an out-of-the-box 3.916 pass at 190.97 mph in his nitrous-huffing '63 Corvette. Just one thousandth back was the nitrous-fed '70 Cuda of Puerto Rico's Raymond Matos, who finished runner-up last month in the ADRL season opener at Rockingham (NC) Dragway, followed by Kevin Rivenbark with a 3.921 in his roots-blown '05 Firebird.

Rockingham winner Adam Flamholc improved marginally in his supercharged '67 Camaro from a 3.937-seconds pass in the opening round to 3.935 in round two to hold on to fourth place, while Jamie Hancock's opening salvo of 3.952 from his nitrous-injected '68 Firebird held fifth and the also-nitrous-fed '68 Camaro of Travis Harvey stayed sixth with a 3.954-seconds pass.

All the way from Albuquerque, NM, Clint Satterfield held on to seventh place throughout qualifying with his turbocharged '68 Camaro, though he improved from 4.004 in round one to 3.974 in round three. Satterfield had actually been dropped down to eighth after round two by the 3.980 run by rookie TJ Tindle in his blown '68 Mustang, but Satterfield returned the favor to leave Tindle the last man standing for eliminations after 12 cars made qualifying attempts on the SGMP eighth mile.

CALL HIM THE KING ... OF QUALIFYING - After leading the opening round of Top Sportsman qualifying with a 4.080 pass, Ronnie "The King" Davis improved to 4.079 at a class-leading 182.75 mph in his Roush-Yates-powered '63 Corvette in round two that stood up through round three to lead the field into eliminations for the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII at South Georgia Motorsports Park.

Immediately following Davis on the list were Jeffrey Barker, Lizzy Musi, Rick Corn and Boyd Beyer.

"I really wasn't going out to be number one, but to be honest we didn't want anyone else to be number one. There's a few NHRA guys over here that we're competitive with so we just didn't want them to beat us here, either," Davis admitted.

The Suwanee, GA-based racer also said he welcomed the news that ADRL President Kenny Nowling had confirmed the series' Top Sportsman class would be limited to a 16-car field at all future events--an announcement he recognizes might be considered irrelevant at an event where only 14 Top Sportsman entries showed up.

"Top Sportsman is a bracket class, but I still like fast racing and with 16 cars you're going to attract not only a faster field but in my opinion a bigger field, too," Davis said. "I know it probably sounds counterproductive, but I actually think the draw over here (ADRL) is a 16-car go fast because in NHRA Top Sportsman, IHRA Top Sportsman, they're 32 cars and at NHRA divisionals sometimes it's even 48, so it leads to slow racing.

"So if you like to go fast, you get excited by the adrenaline that comes with just trying to qualify, I think 16 cars is the way to go. I know there are at least a few guys that will give this deal a second look now just because they're like me and like to go fast."

In Top Dragster, being contested in the ADRL for just the second time, Florida's Melissa Hutson ran 3.816 seconds at 189.87 in her 2010 Spitzer to lead 10 entries into eliminations on race day, while Bethany Crick was the top qualifier in Pro Jr. Dragster and Trey Butler led the way in Top Jr. Dragster.

 FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - GETTING READY FOR ROUND NO. 2

SPELLCHECK CHALLENGED -- ADRL Prez Kenny Nowling (left) and Director of Competition Bubba Corzine sport their brand-new "offical" series shirts in the tower at South Georgia Motorsports Park while comparing them to the "official" rendering sent to the apparel printing company. "We didn't even notice until halfway through the day when (Pro Extreme star) Von Smith pointed it out," Nowling freely admitted. "I guess I was just too busy running a race to get caught up in shirt editing." While it's too late to do anything about the mistake for this weekend's event, all of the offending shirts will be returned after the race, he added, and new "official" shirts will be distributed at the next stop on the 2013 ADRL tour, next month at Cordova, Illinois.

WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? -- They won their first time out in Pro Nitrous at 2013 ADRL season opener last month in Rockingham, NC, but "Stevie Fast" Jackson (left) and crew chief Billy Stocklin were struggling to find the right combination for their Al-Anabi Racing '68 Camaro in Friday's open test session at South Georgia Motorsports Park. "We're like a rat huntin' stinky cheese!" the driver quipped. "Yeah, but right now it's more stinky than cheese," his racing partner replied.

FIRST TIME OUT -- After spending his time tuning Tim Tindle's screw-blown 2007 Corvette in the ADRL and XDRL season openers so far this year--sending Tindle to the XDRL Pro Extreme final just last week in Tulsa, OK--2010 ADRL Pro Extreme World Champion Frankie "Mad Man" Taylor finally took to the track in his own '05 Corvette during testing on Friday at SGMP.

HGW SPOKESMAN -- During a restroom stop on the long ride down to SGMP from his Sonny's Racing Engines shop in Lynchburg, VA, Sonny Leonard spotted what he initially thought was a condom dispenser at a truck stop in South Carolina. Intrigued by the "Genuine Horny Goat Weed" title, Sonny ponied up the 75 cents and shared his, ahem, male enhancement product in the Goforth Racing pit on Friday night. "I haven't opened it yet," was all he would say about its effectiveness.

SHAKY START -- Members of Gene Hector's "Small Block Mafia" team remove the rearend from their RJ Race Cars-built '63 Corvette in order to gain access to a cracked X-brace from severe tire shake in a late-afternoon test pass at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Rickie Jones from RJRC was on hand to handle the welding repair and said the tire shake stemmed from aggressively going after increasingly quick elapsed times. Hector, from Big Spring, TX, said the screw-blown, 400-cubic-inch, Chevy-powered Vette ran 3.68 and a pair of .66s two weeks ago in a test session at Tulsa Raceway Park, but improved to a career-best 3.64 at 198 mph on Friday at SGMP.
NEW CREW -- Pro Nitrous racer Robert Mathis missed this year's ADRL season opener at Rockingham Dragway, but with a new clutch from Tommy Faust at AFT Clutches, he's finally ready to go at the ADRL Hardee's Georgia Drags VII. Other than the new clutch, which is about 8 pounds heavier than the old one, Mathis said, the combination remains essentially the same on his Bickel-built '69 Camaro with a Reher-Morrison 855 under the hood.

There have been major changes made to his team, though, as Mathis has an entirely new crew for 2013, including Justin Carmack of Nelson Competition handling the engine tuning, Chris Patrick aiding with computer tuning, former Charles Carpenter and Pat Musi crewman Kelly Bluebaugh on the clutch, and Mike Valerio, founder of Competition Engines, working with the nitrous bottles and building a new pair of carbon-fiber wheelie bars for the car.

"Them boys better look out; I've got me a serious crew now!" the Baker, FL-based driver declared.