Force, Schumacher, Line Lead Gatornationals Qualifying

Story By: SCOTT SMITH / NHRA – GAINESVILLE, FL – John Force raced to the Funny Car qualifying lead Friday evening at the 48th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.

Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are also provisional qualifying leaders at the third of 24 events on the 2017 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

Force, a sixteen-time world champion, ran a track elapsed time record of 3.832 seconds at 333.25 mph in his PEAK Chevy Camaro in the second qualifying session.

“It feels good. The old hot trod went down the race track well,” Force said. “We made a lot of changes recently. Robert Hight and I decided to switch teams. It all just made sense. My heart felt good and I knew it was good beacuse I started hearing the music and when you lose the music you’re dead and you don’t even know it. You gotta find the music. That’s the hardest thing to do and that makes everything right.”

Force’s teammate Robert Hight sits second with a 3.844 at 331.61 in his Auto Club Chevy Camaro, Matt Hagan, already a two-time winner this season, ran a 3.854 at 328.70 in his Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T for third and Force’s daughter, Courtney, is fourth with a 3.860 at a track speed record of 333.25 in the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro.

Schumacher, a nine-time Top Fuel world champion, leads qualifying after his track elapsed time record run of 3.682 at 328.22 in the U.S. Army dragster during the second session.

“I think that was a good quality run,” Schumacher said. “It’ll stay in the top couple if nothing else. I’m proud of my team they did a great job to do what it took to get down the race track and at least for Friday night hold that No. 1 spot.”

Doug Kalitta and the Mac Tools dragster are second with a 3.698 run at 328.78 and defending and three-time world champion Antron Brown is third with a 3.716 at 325.22 in his Matco Tools dragster. Defending event winner, Brittany Force and the Monster Energy dragster sit in fourth.

Defending world champion Jason Line holds the Pro Stock top spot after running a 6.476 at 213.87 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro in the second session.

“The class as a whole has picked up a fair amount of power over the off-season,” Line said. “We’re certainly much faster than we were last year at this time. It felt like we could go that fast, maybe a little bit faster. Nonetheless, saying it is one thing but doing it is another so we did it. It was a good day.”

Line bumped teammate Bo Butner who ran a 6.477 at 213.60 in his Jim Butner’s Auto Chevy Camaro and now sits in second. Two-time world champ Erica Enders is in third with a 6.490 at 214.01 in her Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, three-time world champion Eddie Krawiec currently sits in the No. 1 qualifier position with a 6.791 pass at 198.17 on his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.

“To come off the trailer and to set the pace like that it kind of sets your trend for the weekend,” Krawiec said. “We knew we had fast Harleys we just had to continue to work on the setup. Our main focus was come here, unload off the truck, get a solid run, get qualified, get in the show and then start working.”

Hector Arana Sr. sits in second position with a 6.813 pass at 197.02 on his Lucas Oil Buell and LE Tonglet on his Nitro Fish Racing Suzuki is in third. Defending world champion Jerry Savoie sits fifth.

Qualifying at the 48th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals continues at noon and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Gainesville Raceway.

Steven Jackson, powered to the qualifying lead Friday during the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. This weekend’s Pro Mod racing, presented by Jerry Bickel Race Cars, Inc., is the first of 12 events on the season.

Jackson made his NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series debut in his ‘17 Camaro and raced to the top qualifying position with his track record elapsed time pass of 5.781-seconds at 251.58 mph.

“It’s awesome, I mean, we got here just hoping to qualify. And everybody always says that, but we picked the car up six or seven days ago,” Jackson said. “I told the guys before we took it and tested it we wanted to try and qualify 16th and get beat first round and we’d call it a success. We took it out. First round down the track in Bradenton two days ago, it ran good. So we got here, I told the boys, I don’t want to just qualify – I want to qualify in the top half. After the first run today I thought we were gonna go to the front. We had it real wicked up there. I wasn’t going up there to putt it up to the green, I was going to knock it in the hole from about 300 yards out.”

Defending NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series world champion Rickie Smith is third with his run of 5.800 at 252.00. Sidnei Frigo is second with a 5.795 pass at 256.70. Currently the field is the quickest in the history of the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series with Kevin Fiscus currently qualified with a time of 5.882 seconds in the 16th position.

Pro Mod Series qualifying will continue at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Saturday with the first round of eliminations at 4:15 p.m.

***

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Friday’s results after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the 48th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, third of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday’s final eliminations.

Top Fuel — 1. Tony Schumacher, 3.682 seconds, 328.22 mph; 2. Doug Kalitta, 3.698, 328.78; 3. Antron Brown, 3.716, 325.22; 4. Brittany Force, 3.719, 326.79; 5. Steve Torrence, 3.726, 327.51; 6. Troy Coughlin Jr., 3.747, 327.03; 7. Clay Millican, 3.765, 327.11; 8. Terry McMillen, 3.789, 321.50; 9. Scott Palmer, 3.841, 283.97; 10. Shawn Reed, 3.890, 303.03; 11. Pat Dakin, 4.405, 179.16; 12. Larry Dixon, 4.606, 163.18; 13. Leah Pritchett, 4.686, 142.09; 14. Ike Maier, 6.491, 185.95; 15. Chris Karamesines, 8.475, 86.79.

Funny Car — 1. John Force, Chevy Camaro, 3.832, 333.25; 2. Robert Hight, Camaro, 3.844, 331.77; 3. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.854, 328.70; 4. Courtney Force, Camaro, 3.860, 333.25; 5. Tommy Johnson Jr., Charger, 3.865, 329.83; 6. Ron Capps, Charger, 3.865, 329.58; 7. J.R. Todd, Toyota Camry, 3.871, 332.51; 8. Jack Beckman, Charger, 3.883, 321.27; 9. Tim Wilkerson, Ford Mustang, 3.920, 309.06; 10. Jonnie Lindberg, Camry, 3.927, 325.37; 11. Alexis DeJoria, Camry, 3.963, 324.75; 12. Cruz Pedregon, Camry, 4.053, 313.88; 13. Jim Campbell, Charger, 4.152, 295.72; 14. Dave Richards, Mustang, 4.152, 255.10; 15. Del Worsham, Camry, 4.544, 191.57; 16. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 12.657, 75.79.

Pro Stock — 1. Jason Line, Chevy Camaro, 6.476, 213.87; 2. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.477, 214.28; 3. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.490, 214.01; 4. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.491, 214.31; 5. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.491, 214.59; 6. Shane Gray, Camaro, 6.493, 214.11; 7. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.517, 212.96; 8. Drew Skillman, Camaro, 6.526, 213.20; 9. Tanner Gray, Camaro, 6.531, 213.37; 10. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.562, 211.56; 11. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.584, 211.59; 12. Alan Prusiensky, Dodge Dart, 6.609, 211.03; 13. Allen Johnson, Dart, 9.838, 93.04; 14. Vincent Nobile, Camaro, 18.742, 42.69; 15. John Gaydosh Jr, Chevrolet Camaro, broke.

Pro Stock Motorcycle — 1. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.791, 198.17; 2. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.813, 197.02; 3. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.819, 196.59; 4. Hector Arana Jr, Buell, 6.828, 195.42; 5. Jerry Savoie, Suzuki, 6.830, 197.65; 6. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.855, 196.96; 7. Angie Smith, Buell, 6.868, 194.74; 8. Scotty Pollacheck, Suzuki, 6.890, 189.71; 9. Matt Smith, Victory, 6.911, 191.19; 10. Cory Reed, Victory, 6.921, 190.51; 11. Shawn Gann, Buell, 6.941, 191.21; 12. Joey Gladstone, Suzuki, 6.950, 195.56; 13. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.001, 189.52; 14. David Hope, Buell, 7.003, 188.57; 15. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 7.015, 192.96; 16. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.020, 187.94. Not Qualified: 17. Scott Bottorff, 7.072, 189.68; 18. Mike Berry, 7.168, 168.66; 19. Melissa Surber, 7.178, 188.89; 20. James Surber, 7.307, 179.83; 21. Andie Rawlings, 8.273, 135.65; 22. John Hall, 8.496, 115.11; 23. Angelle Sampey, 9.619, 79.61; 24. Brian Pretzel, broke.

Friday’s results after the first two of three rounds of qualifying for the 48th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. The race is the first of 12 events in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Saturday’s first round of eliminations.

Pro Modified — 1. Steve Jackson, Chevy Camaro, 5.781, 251.58; 2. Sidnei Frigo, Chevy Corvette, 5.795, 256.70; 3. Rickie Smith, Camaro, 5.800, 253.47; 4. Mike Janis, Camaro, 5.803, 248.25; 5. Steven Whiteley, Cadillac CTS-V, 5.805, 251.58; 6. Danny Rowe, Corvette, 5.815, 252.14; 7. Khalid alBalooshi, Camaro, 5.820, 251.16; 8. Steve Matusek, Camaro, 5.821, 253.85; 9. Troy Coughlin, Corvette, 5.828, 253.33; 10. Kevin Rivenbark, Corvette, 5.836, 246.17; 11. Shannon Jenkins, Ford Mustang, 5.838, 249.35; 12. Todd Tutterow, Camaro, 5.845, 248.39; 13. Jim Whiteley, Chevy Chevelle, 5.848, 215.75; 14. Michael Biehle, Mustang, 5.854, 251.81; 15. Dan Stevenson, Camaro, 5.881, 250.88; 16. Kevin Fiscus, Mustang, 5.882, 248.25. Not Qualified: 17. Bob Rahaim, 5.888, 246.62; 18. Chuck Little, 5.939, 236.55; 19. Kenny Lang, 5.953, 243.63; 20. Doug Winters, 6.005, 213.06; 21. Clint Satterfield, 6.103, 243.99; 22. Ruben Tetsoshvili, 6.203, 243.33; 23. Pete Farber, 6.611, 145.74; 24. Eric Latino, 7.760, 141.11; 25. Chip King, 7.880, 112.08; 26. Mike Castellana, 8.748, 104.38; 27. Shane Molinari, 11.507, 93.75.