2011 NHRA Gatornationals

Ahhh, finally! After a long offseason in the cold, the wait is over. I am heading down south this weekend to attend my first race of the year — the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. I’ve been planning this trip for quite some time now and I have a lot of things that I want to do while I’m down there so I decided that I would compose a running blog to chronicle all of the action, both on and off the track, during my stay in the Sunshine State.

In an effort to keep this page from being a mile long, I went ahead and added some additional functionality to the site. By clicking on each of the update’s titles you are now able to expand and contract individual sections to have your desired amount of content displaying on the screen. Just like my blog chronicling the 2010 season finale in Pomona, all of the updates are numbered down the left side of the column and the latest additions will always be on top. Please feel free to comment or ask any questions down at the bottom of this page and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Enjoy!

LAST UPDATED: 9:31PM — Saturday, March 12, 2011

Schumacher, Hagan Grab Nitro Poles

Greetings! Sorry about the lack of update last night. After a long day in the sun and not getting back until late, I was spent by the time I got in the room and I just did not have the energy to compose an update. I’ve got coverage of both Friday and Saturday lined up for this post though as we get ready for eliminations tomorrow morning.

First things first — the racetrack. This is my first time ever attending a race in Gainesville and it has been an enjoyable experience. Obviously it’s nice that I’m in Florida in March getting a tan while everyone else is getting 12 inches of snow, but aside from the weather, it’s a pretty cool place to see a race. I wouldn’t call it my favorite track of all time, but I think that it definitely snatches up a place in my top 5.

This race is heavily attended. I noticed this the moment my mom and I pulled up to the track on Friday. It was 10:30 AM, on a work day, and the parking lot was almost full already. Most of the events that I have gone to usually have pretty sparse attendance on Friday morning until the second professional qualifying session later on in the evening once everyone is off work. The Gatornationals are definitely an exception to that rule and it’s cool to see a full house on all three days of a race.

The racing itself has been nothing short of exceptional either. In Pro Stock motorcycle, there has never been a pass in the 6.7 second zone. In Pro Stock, there has never been a pass in the 6.4 second zone. Check that. There hadn’t ever been a pass in either of those zones — until this weekend.

Hector Arana blistered the Gainesville quarter-mile on two wheels in 6.777 seconds at over 196mph to be the first rider to ever eclipse the 6.7 second barrier. Eddie Kraweic was right behind him and he duplicated the feat by posting a 6.788 second run and while running the fastest Pro Stock Motorcycle speed of all time at 199.26mph.

In Pro Stock, Mike Edwards was coming off of a DNQ in Pomona and he ripped off a 6.496 second pass right out of the box at over 213mph to be the first to go sub-6.50 and break the 213mph speed barrier. Rodger Brogdon and the Summit Racing teammates, Greg Anderson and Jason Line, also wrapped up qualifying with 6.49 seconds runs. Brogdon’s 6.495 second pass in the first round earned him the pole.

To touch on the Kurt Busch story that I’ve been bringing up during each post so far, the 2004 Sprint Cup Champ has had two dramatically different days in Gainesville. The first one wasn’t so good. Kurt shook his brains out on his first pass and he then proceeded to get timed out on his second run. He was unqualified going into Saturday, but on the strength of a 6.53 second pass and a 6.55 second pass, Kurt made it into the field to race on Sunday. He’ll face Erica Enders in first round tomorrow.

With all of the broken records in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle, the nitro cars performances weren’t talked about nearly as much as they usually are. The racing was far from a slouch, however. The Top Fuel field was one thousandth of a second shy from being the fastest in NHRA history. Funny Car was just as strong with only fifteen hundredths of a second separating the #1 and #16 qualifiers.

Don Schumacher Racing ran a clinic in both Top Fuel and and Funny Car. The juggernaut claimed the top three spots in Top Fuel and the #1, 2, 4, and 12 spots in Funny Car. As expected, the Force and Al-Anabi cars were strong as well and it’s hard to find a clear-cut favorite for either of the nitro classes heading into tomorrow’s eliminations.

I’ve been doing some minor video-taping for a couple time-lapse sequences as well as capturing a few runs with my GoPro Hero camera, but this is killing me not having a professional video camera here. The light has been absolutely fantastic and I have seen so many angles that would be killer for a video. I’ll hopefully have enough money saved up in the coming months to get a camera that I’ve been looking at for awhile and then I can get back into doing some producing at the track again.

That’s about it for tonight, though. I’m going to try and get to the racetrack as early as possible tomorrow to get a few timelapse shots from the stands before the race starts and a few shots of teams unloading their cars. We’ll see how that works out with the time change.

Anyways, I’m gonna grab some pizza and hit the sack. Thanks for checking in to see the updates. I’ll be back with a wrap-up tomorrow evening!

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Hello Sunshine State! I made it to Florida!

Comin’ at ya live from Jacksonville, Florida! After a hectic trip down, I’m happy to report that I made it safe and sound and I’m all set to head to my first NHRA race of the season tomorrow.

This is my first trip to Jacksonville and the city is really nice! My mom and I are staying by the airport, about 15 minutes from downtown. She took me out for a great dinner this evening at Olive Garden to celebrate my birthday and then we decided to go kill some time and check out the city.

It’s not the biggest city in the world, but it’s a really neat place. The Jacksonville Landing and Boardwalk is awesome. It runs right along the water and it is full of great restaurants and shops. While walking around, my mom and I noticed that there is a free Chuck Wicks concert going on there tomorrow night and we’re planning on heading back after the race to grab dinner and check that out. Should be fun!

Everything going on at the racetrack tomorrow is shaping up to be a great day. There are two professional qualifying sessions in the afternoon and the weather looks fantastic for racing. The high for tomorrow is 65 degrees. While that doesn’t sound like the best weather to come home with a tan from, the racecars are going to absolutely love those conditions.

The plan is to get to the track by around 10:30 to give ourselves plenty of time to walk around and get familiar with where everything is at. Aside from watching the racing action, I’ve got a couple of drivers that I want to go catch up with and I’m going to go say hello to my buddy from high school, Jason Hemphill, who works on Johnny Gray’s Nitro Funny Car.

I wanted to take a second to add on to something that I touched on yesterday. This Kurt Busch deal is getting huge. As you saw above, he was the lead story on ESPN.com at one point to day. He has been all over Speed and he is getting publicity on every major sports network and auto publication. People are really taking notice of what’s going on and they are excited to tune into the Gatornationals this weekend. Here’s a link to today’s interview with Kurt and a great article by ESPN.com’s David Newton.

This kind of extreme media attention just doesn’t happen for anything NHRA related. And the event hasn’t even started yet. If he qualifies and manages to go a round or two, it could be really, really big. Either way, having him entered this weekend is golden exposure for the NHRA and I can’t wait to see how he does.

Anyways, I’ve got a couple other things that I need to take care of to get ready for tomorrow and then I’m off to bed. I’m gonna get up early so I can be on the road early tomorrow morning to find my way to the track. I’ll report back sometime tomorrow evening with the day’s action and any visuals that I capture while I’m there. I can smell the nitro and I can feel the thunder already!

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*I do not claim the rights to the photos above. Ownership belongs to ESPN.

NHRA Gatornationals Wednesday Preview

Each March, thousands of drag racing fans celebrate their version of “spring break” as they make the trip to Gainesville Raceway to attend one of the most prestigious races on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series tour — the NHRA Gatornationals. I’ve always wanted to make it down to Gainesville to attend this race, but I was never able to because I didn’t have the time or money because of school. Now that I’m graduated and working full-time…BAM! I’m there. And it’s a wonderful thing.

I will be flying into, and staying in, Jacksonville during my time in the Sunshine State. My mom is also driving down for the weekend so I’ll be using her car to commute back and forth from the racetrack each day while she shops and enjoys the city. My plan is to visually document my time both at the racetrack and in Jacksonville as often as possible. I know that text updates will be easy with my phone, but I’ll have to wait and see what I can do with images once I’m there. Those might just have to end up being updated once I’m on my laptop back at the hotel.

I was fortunate enough to travel across the country to a lot of great tracks during my time as a pit crew member on Mark Thomas’ Alcohol Funny Car team, but this is my first time going to a race in Florida. This event is one of the most well-attended races of the year by both racers and fans alike. Needless to say, I’m really excited about these next couple days. Sooo…looking ahead, here are a couple of stories to watch for at the racetrack this weekend:

Morgan Lucas, Robert Hight, and Jason Line Bring Early Points Leads to Gainesville

While the first race of the year usually won’t make or break a season, the three professional category winners from Pomona all come into Gainesville with sky-high confidence looking to build on their early success. Morgan Lucas won a showdown over teammate Shawn Langdon in Top Fuel, Robert Hight drove his way past Matt Hagan on a holeshot in a fantastic final round in Funny Car, and Jason Line dominated is way through eliminations to take the Wally over Greg Stanfield in Pro Stock.

Morgan Lucas didn’t have the most spectacular runs on raceday, but he found a way to get the car to the other end of the racetrack on all four runs and he managed to take home the trophy. He’ll need to have a much faster racecar this weekend if he plans on winning back-to-back events, though. There were a lot of mistakes by the Top Fuel field on raceday that he took advantage of, but I can’t see some of the best teams out there beating themselves like that again.

Robert Hight and Jason Line’s racedays were another story. Both drivers pummeled their competition all day with great reaction times and flawless runs. Both Robert and Jason each ran quicker on every single run during eliminations on Sunday. If they can pull off similar performances this weekend in Gainesville, both of these previous World Champions will be well on their way towards earning another Wally.

Kurt Busch Makes His NHRA Pro Stock Debut

Kurt Busch is one of the most recognizable names in NASCAR. He has won a Sprint Cup Championship, he has won some of the sport’s biggest races, and he is off to a fantastic start to his 2011 season. The stock car boys have this weekend off before they head to their next race in Bristol. Busch, however, is as busy as he’s ever been. Kurt has been in Bradenton, Florida since the beginning of the week running the wheels off of his brand new NHRA Pro Stock Car. That’s right, Kurt Busch is attempting to qualify for a professional category at this weekend’s NHRA Gatornationals.

This isn’t the elder Busch’s first foray into drag racing, but it will be his first attempt to qualify for a 16-car professional field to race on Sunday. He will battle it out with the best Pro Stock racers that the world has to offer in four qualifying sessions to try and make the cut. This is far from a walk in the park, but Kurt has teamed up with the right guy in Allen Johnson and he has a car under him that could potentially qualify in the top half of the field. Whether that happens or not all depends on how Kurt drives.

I definitely feel like Kurt will make the show though, and I think he will turns some heads while doing so. He has taken all the right steps in the licensing process, tested multiple times, and he has surrounded himself with some of the best talent in the business. If Kurt can keep everything in perspective and cut a few good lights, I look for him to be a contender on Sunday.

Larry Dixon Looks to Rebound From His First Round Loss at Pomona

Three qualifying runs into the 2011 season and Larry Dixon looked just like he did during all of 2010 on his way to the NHRA Top Fuel World Championship: unstoppable. Dixon put on a clinic during qualifying on his way to setting the national elapsed time record at 3.770 seconds and he paced the field into raceday on the pole. Then raceday happened.

Dixon faced Terry McMillen in the first round and he was on pace for another killer lap while racing out to over a car length’s lead in the first 300 feet of the run. As the clutch was being applied, though, Dixon’s car overpowered the track and his tires (as well as his Winternationals title hopes) went up in smoke. Larry did a good job of pedaling the car and somewhat getting it to recover, but it was too late as McMillen blasted on by and into the next round. That’s 0 for 1 for the Champ in 2011 so far.

Is Dixon worried? No. Should he be? No. They’re too good of a team and they made a mistake by trying to be too aggressive at the first race of the season. It happens. Look for the Al-Anabi team to be right back on top in Gainesville and going deep into eliminations.

Pro Stock Motorcycles Begin Their 2011 Campaign

Of all the professional classes on the NHRA tour, I’ve got admit that I know the least about the Pro Stock Motorcycles. The one thing that I do know, though, is that Eddie Krawiec is bringing a nasty bike into the season opener.

Krawiec pummeled his competition in the final race of 2010 on his way to winning the Finals in Pomona. Eddie is a previous Full Throttle World Champion and he holds the current NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle National Speed record due to his performance last November. The experience and success that both he and Andrew Hines’ teams have had in the past will be huge this year as the try to dethrone the current Full Throttle World Champion and last year’s Rookie of the Year, LE Tonglet.

If the forecast holds true to what it is right now, I would bet on there being runs right on, if not faster, than the current national speed and elapsed time records with these three drivers leading the way.

Several Top Fuel and Funny Car Teams Hit the Track for the First Time This Season

Although the NHRA has already run its first race of their 60th Anniversary campaign, several teams elected to not make the trip out to Pomona, CA and they will make their 2011 debut in Gainesville. Qualifying for either of the nitro categories will be a tall order as both Top Fuel and Funny Car have pre-registered entries well over the 16 car cutoff.

Clay Millican, Dominick Lagana, Ike Maier, Pat Dakin, Chris Karamesines, Fred Farndon, Stig Neergaard, and Doug Foley all will mix it up in the Top Fuel ranks for the first time this year. On the Funny Car side, John Smith and Justin Schriefer each will be participating in their first race of the season at the Gatornationals.

In all, there are 22 Top Fuel cars and 20 Funny Cars that will be battling it out for a chance to race on Sunday. Yes, that’s 42 nitro cars. That place is going to be rockin’ all weekend long!

And that’s just a taste of what to look forward to. There’s way too much going on to write about all at once, but I will do my best to check in as often as possible and keep everyone updated with how everything is going. I leave Columbus at 9:31 tomorrow morning, make a quick stop in Atlanta, and then I hop on one more quick flight and land in Jacksonville 1:21. I’ll check in with more information once I’m there. Have a great day!

*I do not claim the rights to the photos above. Ownership belongs to Mark J. Rebilas, CompetitionPlus.com.