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QUALIFYING ROUND RECAPS

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q1 (1:40 p.m.): Joey Gladstone and Scotty Pollacheck, teammates on the Stoffer/Underdahl team, occupy the first two spots in qualifying after the opening session in Gainesville. Gladstone matched his career-best with a 6.793 on his Yellow Corn Suzuki and Pollacheckwas close behind at 6.826. Five-time champion Andrew Hines was third-best with a 6.844. The battle for the elusive 200-mph barrier remains ongoing with the best speed of the round going to reigning champ Eddir Krawiec with a 198.93 blast on his Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson. Earlier in the day, NHRA announced the formation of the Denso Spark Plugs 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle club. The first rider will receive a $10,000 bonus while the remaining three members will split an additional $10,000.

PRO STOCK Q1 (1:50 p.m.): Four-time Gainesville winner Greg Anderson leads the Pro Stock class after the first session with a 6.522 in his Summit Camaro. Anderson picked up three qualifying bonus points while Alex Laughin (6.525) and Phoenix champ Chris McGaha are second and third, respectively. Several of the pre-race favorites including Tanner Gray, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Erica Enders and points leader Jason Line aborted their runs due to tire shake/spin.

FUNNY CAR Q1 (2:56 p.m.): Despite great track conditions, only three Funny Cars made it to the finish line quicker than four seconds. One of them was piloted by Jack Beckman. His 3.958-second run earned him three points, while Bob Tasca (3.989) and J.R. Todd (3.998) finished second and third, respectively. Tim Wilkerson and Del Worsham rounded ran close to 4 seconds, making for something of an unlikely top five. Jonnie Lindberg is holding down the bump spot as he smoked the tires right away, though only 16 of the 17 cars on property ran during the first session. 

TOP FUEL Q1 (3:21 p.m.): The finishing order for Top Fuel wound up just as wild as in Funny Car. Tony Schumacher (3.785) and Leah Pritchett (3.811) took the top two spots, while Clay Millican (3.913) grabbed third position despite shutting off early. From there, a slew of slow runs filled the run sheet as teams struggled to get down the track. Terry Haddock is in the top half of the field with a 4.038, while Mike Salinas is at the bottom of the sheet with an 8.493. Steve Torrence, Brittany Force and Richie Crampton all posted six-second runs. 

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE Q2: (5.47 p.m.): Eddie Krawiec ran a 6.785 to take over the top spot in Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying after two runs, but the talk of Gainesville Raceway is Hector Arana Jr. who became the inaugural member of the newly-announced DENSO Spark Plugs 200-MPH Pro Stock Motorcycle club with a 200.23-mph blast on his Lucas Oil EBR. Arana, who earned a $10,000 bonus for the historic feat, did not make a clean run. In fact, his 6.937 was not even one of the ten best runs of the session, but a gearing change allowed the bike to officially surpass the double-century mark. After two runs, Krawiec is the leader with Joey Gladstone, Andrew Hines, and Scotty Pollacheck rounding out the top four.

PRO STOCK Q2 (6:00 p.m.): The KB Racing cars swept all the bonus points during Friday’s session Pro Stock Motorcycle session with Greg Anderson, Bo Butner, and Jason Line combining to make the three best runs of the round. Anderson, who was No. 1 after the first run, drove his Summit Camaro to a 6.526, 213.00 to pick up the three bonus points. Butner and Line tied with matching 6.534-second elapsed times with Line’s better speed (213.03 to 212.53) providing the tire-breaker. Phoenix  champ Chris McGaha was also strong with a 6.536, 213.27 run in his Harlow Sammons Camaro.

FUNNY CAR Q2 (7:07 p.m.): Jack Beckman improved on his first qualifying run and made a 3.911-second pass to stay on top. The big news of the second session came when John Force suffered another massive explosion (gif below). He walked away shortly after his Funny Car came to a stop, but that's the third time in three races that the 16-time champion has gone through the ringer. After many cars struggled to get down the track in the first session, there are now 10 cars who have made 3-second runs. 

TOP FUEL Q2 (7:57 p.m.): Clay Millican stepped all the way up to the top in the second qualifying session with a 3.708-second pass, besting Steve Torrence (3.739) and Antron Brown (3.751). While Funny Car made big improvements as a class in the second session, the dragster category made only a slight step forward in the last qualifying run on Friday evening. That was in part due to a couple of heavy hitters, Leah Pritchett and Doug Kalitta, not making their second runs of the evening. Scott Palmer caused a long oil down delay, and then Pritchett was unable to back up her dragster. Kalitta was told he’d have a solo run and then his dragster died on the line.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE LOW QUALIFIER EDDIE KRAWIEC: :As racers we want to be here at the track, not back in Indiana getting snowed in or rained on or whatever. Good to be back out racing. We had a very successful test session earlier in the week. We went to Orlando Speed World and made a couple laps and we liked what we saw. We loaded stuff up and came Gainesville and pretty much started right where we left off and that’s kind of our motive for these first couple or races. We didn’t change anything since Pomona last fall. We opted to come here, be fresh, be ready and know what we have under us. Going into the wintertime you tend to make a lot of changes and there is a possibility of being lost.

"I’m pretty excited with my 6.78 lap. Our first run wasn’t so hot. Came of the truck and had a 1.12 sixty-foot time. We put our heads together, collectively made some changes on both motorcycles and we were able to muster up an .80 on Andrew’s bike and a .78 on mine both at 199 mph so it’s definitely moving in the right direction.

"For years we haven’t had anyone representing that 200-mph run and I want to mention that Denso stepped up and Hector Jr. went out and did it. Good for him. It shows you how competitive this class it. One thing I want to touch on is brand parity across the board. Everyone is running good ETs and speeds. All that plays into everbody’s work over the winter. One thing I think we do well here is the way that we attack the beginning of the season. I don’t want to give it away, but we try to just play it smart. You come to this race and a lot of people aren’t prepared. We go about things a little different. This is a long horse race. Ever since the Countdown it changed the way we attack the points system. You need to be there all season and in the Countdown you need to hit your stride."

PRO STOCK LOW QUALIFIER GREG ANDERSON: "So far, so good. Obviously, Friday was great for me. I love this racetrack. We’ve had great success here so it’s a feel-good track for KB Racing. After day one I’m qualified exactly where I want to and need to It’s going to warm up a little tomorrow and a little more on Sunday, so it will be different Sunday race conditions. Even if I do lose the pole tomorrow I think I should be able to stay in that top two or three or four cars.

"I don’t if it’s bad luck. I just haven’t been qualifying where I want to. I’ve gotten stung by two of my teammates in the first two races. I met them at the wrong time and they’ve got just as fast of a race car as I do. I need to make amends for that. I’ve got three teammates and I need to just have the best car out of the four for a change. We made two great runs today. and I’m feeling great and feeling confident. Hopefully we can continue what we started today.:

FUNNY CAR LOW QUALIFIER JACK BECKMAN: “I thought everybody must just be missing it, and we ran a 3.95. I don’t know if that was a reflex action to slowing our car down after watching everyone spin. I truly thought someone was going to run in the 3.80s because these are just crazy good conditions. I’m frankly surprised that Funny Cars didn’t run better today.”

“I think as a driver sometimes you can know too much. There’s some data that can be superfluous. It’s just data that doesn’t help you drive the car. John Medlen and I always get on the radio when I’m a few cars back and he’s telling me about bumps in the lane I’m going to drive in so I can get my head wrapped around what I need to do, but I think crew chiefs always race the race track. When you look at the numbers that’s really all the track conditions were going to give us, but I don’t think that’s all the weather was going to give us.”

TOP FUEL LOW QUALIFIER CLAY MILLICAN:

"I was getting giddy because I saw Grubby changing things and twisting knobs and things. I knew we were fixing to grip one, you know? As it got darker, I was like, ‘aw yeah, this is good.’ He actually leaned into the car at one point and said, ‘I actually slowed it down a lot.’ And I said, ‘really?’ And he said, ‘yeah, I slowed it down. I’m just not comfortable with what we were trying to do. It should go 3.72, plus or minus two hundredths.’”

“That’s what I’ve been talking all week about. We know we’ve got the quickest car on the planet, but it’s been a one-hit wonder so to speak. It’s been the baddest car out there or it doesn’t make it. Grubby said this week that he’s gotta get on the other side of it because we know how to run those low .60s. I’m very surprised to be up here as the No. 1 qualifier to be honest because that wasn’t my mindset coming into this weekend.”

Friday night recap: Krawiec takes first provisional qualifier of the season; Beckman, Millican, Anderson snag Friday poles. 

FEATURES

It took Antron Brown four races to get his first Wally last season in what turned into an off-year for the former Top Fuel champion. His three round wins to start the season aren’t anything to sneeze at, but they’re also not up to the high bar that Brown and the Matco Tools have set for themselves. It’s still early in the season, though, and the one-time Gainesville winner knows there’s time to work out the kinks.

“We’re still working our way through some things,” said Brown. “You go out West, learn some things and come back home for a week or so and then head to Florida with a game plan. We’re making good power but, in Phoenix, we struggled taming that beast down. We left some things on the table out there.”

Both of his first-round victories came against Mike Salinas after qualifying near the bottom of the top half of the field (sixth and eighth, respectively). Then he lost to Tony Schumacher in Pomona and was upset by Greg Carrillo in Phoenix. One of those is easier to stomach than the other, more because of the tire-smoke endured in the desert than because of who was in the other lane.

"Tony was strong in Pomona and we just got beat, but Phoenix, we felt like we kind of beat ourselves,” said Brown. “The more laps we get the better we’ll be. The experience we went through there will help us get there. I’ve got total confidence in my Matco Tools/U.S. Army guys. The good thing about Gainesville is that we’re back to what I call more normal tracks and that should be a good thing for us.”

One thing is generally true about Gainesville Raceway: There’s a lot of power available. Of course, that was true in Phoenix, too. That came to the aid of Schumacher, who set the national record for speed. That hasn’t come through for Brown in the same way yet, who is in his first year without Brian Corradi after the longtime tuner moved over to John Force Racing to work with Courtney Force.

No time like the present for the team to turn that around.

Defending Top Fuel champion Brittany Force got her season off on the wrong foot with a devastating crash at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals. She rebounded at the NHRA Arizona Nationals by getting her first round win of the season but bowed out in the second round to semifinalist Billy Torrence. That win came with the same car she won her 2017 title with.

This weekend, Force will try to get back on track at a track she has fond memories at. Force got her first Top Fuel win at the 2016 Gatornationals. She went on to win twice more that season (the Charlotte Four Wide and Brainerd) and then earn the rest of her seven career victories a season ago. If she earns the Wally this weekend, it would the first time the driver won twice at the same track.

“Gainesville will always be a special track for me. My Monster Energy team had been chasing down our first win since my rookie season in 2013 and we made it happen at the Gatornationals in Gainesville," said Force. "A first win is something a driver will never forget. That win was the first Top Fuel win for John Force Racing and the first double-up win with teammate Robert Hight. That track, that day is something I'll never forget, and I can't wait to get back to the Gatornationals this weekend."

John Force Racing has enjoyed some success in Gainesville over the past six years, winning five of a possible 12 Wallys in that span. Three have been won by Hight, one by Brittany Force and last year John Force beat Jonnie Lindberg in the Funny Car final. For a time, John Force dominated the Gatornationals, winning it five years in a row between 1992-96.

That’s ancient history as far as his Top Fuel driving daughter is concerned. Her focus is on getting the Monster Energy dragster into the winner’s circle again.

Richie Crampton is still looking for his first round win of the season, but that hasn’t dampened the confidence of the affable Australian. Now in his 11^th race of the season with Kalitta Motorsports, Crampton is racing under the Kalitta Air banner in the same dragster teammate Shawn Langdon drove a season ago.

“Obviously, we don’t have many round wins under our belt yet, but the car runs well,” said Crampton. “Right away when I got in the car last year, the SealMaster car, everyone made me feel at home right away. I think the car is running well and I’m driving well, so I’m really comfortable and really excited to make more runs and get a win under our belt.”

The biggest problem for Crampton at the moment has been getting down the race track on Sunday. His two runs during eliminations have been 4.234 and 5.061 seconds, respectively. He’s qualified 10^th and 5^th in the first two races of the season, but he hasn’t translated that into Sunday success.

“We’re definitely trying stuff in qualifying of course, and I would say both of our race days have been situational,” he said. “I don’t think we’re pinpointing failures by crew guys or parts, we just haven’t hit our marks. These are things that happen in these 10,000 horsepower race cars of course, so we’re just chipping away at it. “

Crampton’s reaction times have been the best in the class in the early going of the season. While the sample size remains incredibly small, it’s an encouraging sign for the racer. He says that has as much to do with the car he’s driving as what he’s doing behind the wheel.

“This race car is actually what Shawn was driving last year, and we know what this car is capable of at the tree, so as the driver I’m just trying to hold up my end of the bargain and get better,” said Crampton. “We live and die by those reaction times man, and I know how important that is. I’m trying to not worry about it and just get better and more consistent.

“We made some minor changes, moved the steering wheel a little bit and put my seat in it obviously, but overall they were really minor changes because Shawn and I are so similar. The transition was really similar.”

The Aussie is still looking for his first final round appearance in Gainesville. He reached one final round in 2017, where he came up short to teammate Doug Kalitta in the second Charlotte event.

“This is one of the races on the tour that’s so historic, the fans out here are amazing. It makes it so fun to come out here and compete,” said Crampton. “I’ve never had a lot of success out here, but it’s so special that I want to win here so bad.”

The Gatornationals marks the one-year anniversary of Jimmy Prock and Robert Hight teaming up, and the results have been exceptional. The pair won four races last season, reaching seven finals and setting both ends of the national record in the process. Only the duo of Ron Capps and Rahn Tobler hold more Wallys over the last 12 months.

“Last year we got teamed back together with crew chief Jimmy Prock and we have been working towards a dominant tune-up,” said Hight. “We got it figured out last summer and won the championship. This year I want to dominate the whole season and win another championship. I have a lot of confidence in this Auto Club team and really the whole John Force Racing team.”

Hight has three career wins at the Gatornationals and is looking for his first since 2016. The 2017 champion earned his last Wally in Dallas, now four races ago. The Auto Club Chevy got off to a strong start at the Winternationals with a strong second day of qualifying before falling to Matt Hagan in the final round.

The NHRA Arizona Nationals didn’t go so smoothly. Hight qualified 11th (he only qualified in the bottom half of the field twice in 2017) and made passes of 4 seconds or slower on all but one run en route to a first-round exit. He only got bounced in the first round three times in 2017 and one of those came in the season opener (another in Epping and the final time in Chicago).

Hight lost to eventual finalist Jonnie Lindberg in last year’s edition of the Gatornationals and hopes to right the ship in the 49th running of the historic event. That’s while teammate John Force goes for two in a row at a race he’s done a lot of winning at. It’s never a bad idea to bet against the defending champ, even when he’s racing against his boss.

Jonnie Lindberg walked away from a scary crash between the Swedish driver and John Force three weeks ago at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. His chassis had to be front-halved and the blue body the Jim Head owned Funny Car sported for the first two races of the season is no more. It’s now orange (or is it yellow? It depends on the light you view it in) and boasts the same Landmeco sponsor Lindberg’s Top Alcohol Funny Car had on its side.

Maybe it’s right that Lindberg’s Funny Car is a little nostalgic at the 49^th running of the Gatornationals. After all, the Swedish driver started his Nitro Funny Car career at this very event a season ago – that went very well for the racer. He reached the final round before losing to Force in the final round.

“Started here a year ago and we didn’t test that car and we haven’t tested this car, so maybe that’s a good thing,” Lindberg said wryly. “Maybe we can do the same as last year, but a little bit better.”

Lindberg reached three final rounds in his debut season but has yet to bring home a Wally in the pro category. He’s a former Alcohol Funny Car champion. His previous Funny Car sported a Toyota Camry body, but his new car is of the Ford Mustang variety. That makes three full-time Mustangs on tour (the other two belong to Bob Tasca III and Tim Wilkerson).

“It’s the same car basically, the same seat, it should be good,” said Lindberg. “The vision in the Ford body is better. The doghouse is smaller, so I can see the track better, so that helps. It helps down track as far as seeing the groove.”

As far as any trepidation getting into the car, well, he doesn’t have any.

“I’m ready, I wanted to get back in the car first thing after the crash, but I’m ready,” said Lindberg. “There’s not much you can do other than hop in the car and hit the gas, you know? If you’re scared, you shouldn’t be driving one. It could’ve been worse, I’m glad that both John is okay, and me. We’re here, both of us, and we’re ready.”

Cory Lee may get to run the secondary Del Worsham family Funny Car this weekend. Okay, let’s upgrade that to probably. He last ran on Saturday in St. Louis last season after Worsham solidly put himself in the Funny Car field, and this weekend will follow a similar pattern.

​“Del was trying to double up on that weekend and trying to keep my license current,” said Lee. “I don’t get to drive very often, so it’s tough to keep up the skill. The Worsham car has to get in, and if that happens Q4 I get to take a little shot at it.”

Despite coming from the same team, the two floppers don’t share many similarities. The body on the secondary Funny Car used to be the show room body for the DHL Funny Car, which should give you an indication of how old it is. Lee said the chassis has around 400 runs on it.

“It’s a completely different animal. That car has its own identity,” he said. “It’s about 80-90 pounds heavier than this body, so we run that car very differently. The controllers, the clutches, just about everything is different.”

Despite that, Lee has confidence the car can punch into the field if it gets down the track. It can run in the 3.90s, which is more than competitive enough, even considering the great conditions expected at Gainesville Raceway this weekend.

Will the real Chris McGaha please stand up? After a tough outing in Pomona where he qualified in the bottom half of the field and lost in the first round, McGaha and his Harlow Sammons team made a quick rebound in Phoenix, where the former Comp racer won his sixth-career race. McGaha qualified No. 7 in Phoenix but he ran low elapsed time in the final with a 6.529 in his win over Jason Line.

“We had the same power at both races but we did hurt an engine in Pomona and we didn’t catch it right away,” said McGaha. “We went back to the shop [in Odessa, Texas] and got it fixed. I feel pretty confident about the power we’ve got here.”

Returning to Gainesville, McGaha also can’t help reflect on the 2015 Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals where he qualified No. 1, but slowed in the semifinals against Greg Anderson.

“It would be pretty special to win this race,” McGaha said. “In 2015 we had the car to beat but we didn’t get it done. We had the fastest car by a good margin and we screwed it up in eliminations. If feels like we’re going there looking for some revenge.”

With competitive power under the hood of his American Ethanol Camaro thanks to the KB Racing team, Deric Kramer has had the opportunity get long-awaited answers to some important questions during his racing career.

“I’ve always wondered if I can really drive one of these cars and win some rounds and the same goes for my crew chief [Michael Hiner]. We know he understands these cars but until you get competitive power you don’t get to see results.”

After opening the season with a pair of semifinal finishes, and his first low qualifier award, Kramer now knows he’s a legit Pro Stock contender. And, if he can reach the semifinals this weekend, he’ll match his career round wins total [6] for his career. Ironically, Kramer wasn’t initially going to attend the Gainesville race, but his recent success has led to a change of heart.

“We didn’t plan on coming to Gainesville until a couple of days after Phoenix was after. I had stuff going on, so did a couple of other guys, but we figured out that we could bump it,” said Kramer. “I like going to new tracks, it’s always fun. It’s a new experience regardless, it’s all good.

“I think I’m always kind of, I don’t want to say on edge, but I’m always trying to stay calm,” Kramer said. “I’ve got a job to do and I’m trying to do it. It’s my first time in Gainesville, so I’m looking forward to going down the track and seeing how it is. The guys talked me into it. No one’s ever been No. 1 qualifier and said, ‘yeah, I think I’ll take the next week off,’ so we’re here and we’re gonna see how we do.”

When it comes to his driving, Kramer was frustrated by a pair of foul starts in Phoenix and Pomona that prevented what was likely his first final round appearance but he understands that’s the price of success in one of NHRA’s most competitive classes.

“The first red light [in Pomona] was me just driving poorly and I double stepped it and left too soon. The second was a product of me having my foot in an odd position. We took a look at the clutch sensor and saw that it was different from all the other runs. So, now that I’m conscious of it, it’s something that I can adjust to moving forward.”

“I can see how I release the clutch basically, we can see that’s different from all the other runs that weekend. I just need to concentrate on being the same so that they can tune the car the same. It’s just lack of seat time. There are guys out here who do a lot more runs than I do.”

Bo Butner’s first qualifying run in Gainesville resulted in a 6.572, and that it’s competitive, it was ultimately disappointing for the reigning world champ and it continues a disturbing trend.

“We’re now in the third race and I haven’t made a clean run yet,” said Butner. “Honestly, I have no idea how I won Pomona other than just luck. On that [Q1] run, the car made a hard right and it was 1.00-seconds to sixty feet. That’s not good. The good think is that we do seem to improve a little each pass so I think we’ll be just fine. I can’t really say there’s anything wrong with our team or anything wrong with the car. We just haven’t put it all together yet. It’s a long season. We’ll be fine.”

It’s probably also fair to remind Butner and everyone else that a year ago in Gainesville, he’d won exactly zero Pro Stock races and was admittedly a longshot to win the title.

“We have come a long way in the last year,” Butner acknowledged. “These cars aren’t easy to drive. I wasn’t going give up, though. I don’t quit easily.

Butner also pointed out that he does already have a Wally trophy from Gainesville Raceway as a result of his Stock Eliminator win in 2013. 

The worst kept secret in drag racing was revealed recently when it was confirmed that veteran Steve Johnson would be racing as a teammate to Jerry Savoie on the White Alligator team this season. Johnson, who has the longest tenure in the history of the Pro Stock Motorcycle class, feels that racing alongside Savoie and crew chief Tim Kulungian gives him the best chance to break a winless drought that extends back to the 2014 season.

“I went to Jerry a few years ago with the concept of racing two bikes but we weren’t able to make it happen,” said Johnson. “I wasn’t financially ready so I sat on the sidelines while LE [Tonglet] raced with Jerry last season and won a lot of races. When the deal became available this year, I told Jerry to give me five days to put a program together. It’s taken a little longer than that but here we are.

Johnson, who is appearing in his 411th event this weekend, won just three rounds last season and missed the top ten. He credits longtime crew member Ervin “Jock” Allen for helping the team get through a trying season.

“Jock was a life saver,” said Johnson. “He’s been our glue. I’m excited to race with Jerry for a lot of reasons. Now, I don’t have to do 25 different jobs horribly. I can focus on important things like sponsorship and generating leads.

Given that Tonglet appeared in eight finals last year and scored six wins, Johnson realizes that he’s going to subject to increased expectations this year and he’s fine with that. His six-career wins include two in Gainesville and he’d love to add a third this weekend.

“My initial goal is to qualify well and ride well and I’d like to think I can go out there and still win some races.”

When Eddie Krawiec ran 199.26 at the 2011 Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, most insiders assumed that it was just a matter of time before the sport’s first 200-mph Pro Stock Motorcycle run. It’s likely that no one could have predicted that seven years later, NHRA’s two-wheel stars would still be chasing that elusive barrier. Since 2011, five riders have combined to make ten 199-mph runs. The fastest have come from Krawiec, Hector Arana Jr., and Matt Smith, who all possess 199.88-mph time slips so now, the question remains, is this the weekend when the 200-mph barrier for Pro Stock Motorcycles finally falls?

“I don’t think so,” said Krawiec. “We finally have some good conditions here, like we always do in Gainesville, but the barometer isn’t quite as good as it needs to be. If NHRA would do us a favor and schedule one of our qualifying runs for 8 a.m. I think we’d do it easily but by the time we ran today [Friday] it was warm and the track temp was up and even though we had a bit of a tailwind it just wasn’t enough.”

Krawiec turned in the fastest speed of Friday’s Q1 with a 198.93 effort while teammate Hines ran 197.77. Hector Arana Sr. also made a solid run at 198.64 on his Lucas Oil Buell while Steve Johnson had the fastest Suzuki speed at 197.48 mph.

With one engine damaged during pre-season testing and a second new bullet not quite ready, LE Tonglet almost withdrew his Nitro Fish Suzuki from the Gainesville opener last week. Fortunately, fellow Suzuki racer Freddie Camarena came to the rescue and shipped an engine from California to Louisiana so the Tonglet’s could compete this weekend.

“We called almost everyone we could think of but it was Freddie that came through for us,” said Tonglet. “I’m not kidding when I say we almost didn’t come to this race. It was a close call but we’re okay now. We have a new engine on the way and we’re going to be alright over the long-term but this was a temporary thing that most of the Suzuki teams are going through.”

After one run, Tonglet is 11th quickest with a 6.943, but he didn’t need to look at a computer screen to know there is a lot more left in his combination.

“We had a 1.11 sixty-foot time and that won’t get it done anywhere,” said Tonglet, who returned to his family run team after spending a year as a part of Jerry Savoie’s WAR team. Racing with the family, Tonglet depends on his father, Gary, and brother, GT, for advice and support.

“We put the band back together,” Tonglet said. “GT took most of the year off last year and that was good, especially since he’s got a new baby. My dad is always the same. He loves it out here. We’re going to be just fine this season.”

Given his engine situation, Tonglet also hinted that he might consider skipping one of Saturday’s two qualifying rounds depending on his qualifying position.

“I guess I’d have to look at where I am in the field and what the weather is,” said Tonglet. “IF we really didn’t think we’d learn anything we might decided to sit out. Probably not, though. Our goal coming in here is to make eight runs.”

PHOTOS

Fans packed the pits ahead of the first day of qualifying at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals.

 
Old school hot rods were on display for the enjoyment of NHRA Drag Racing fans. 

In addition to sponsoring the upcoming Four Wide racing in Charlotte, NGK Spark Plugs sponsors Megan Meyers Top Alcohol Dragster.

Angie Smith debuted her brand-new Denso-sponsored motorcycle ahead of the first Pro Stock Motorcycle race of the season.

Next year will be the 50th running of the famous Gatornationals and signage is already up around the track celebrating the milestone.

"Big Daddy" Don Garlits and NHRA announcer Alan Reinhart helped kick off the NHRA Legends Tour, a year long celebration of the history of the NHRA which will culminate in the 50th running of the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. 

Pro Stock Motorcycle riders signed autographs fans who were eager to see the racers make their season debut. 

PREVIEW

The big milestone for the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals comes next year when one of the most famous races on the NHRA Drag Racing tour turns 50 years old, but we might still see a little bit of history during the 49^th rendition of the event. At the season debut for both Pro Stock Motorcycle and Pro Mod, there’s the opportunity (if the weather cooperates) for record-setting runs in both categories. At the very least, the action on the track heats up in the three categories with two races under their belts, while it’ll be very nice to see the two-wheelers back on the pavement.

Steve Torrence, and the Capco Contractors “team” put together as solid an eliminations performance as possible. The Torrence boys faced off in the semifinals and Steve defeated Scott Palmer in the CatSpot Kitty Litter pilot’s first ever final round. Palmer gets tuning help from Richard Hogan and Bobby Lagana, making him as close to a team car without technically being a team car as you’re going to get in this sport. Regardless, Torrence enters Gainesville in first place by 39 points. That’s a much better start than 2017, when he came into Florida in sixth with only two round wins to his name.

Things remain tight at the top in Funny Car. Courtney Force may be in second place in the flopper category, but she’s got the car to beat this weekend after a great performance in the NHRA Arizona Nationals. Force, Brian Corradi and Dan Hood took the Advance Auto Parts Chevy Camaro from pole position to the winner’s circle. IndyCar racer husband Graham Rahal took his car from last all the way to second in last weekend’s Tampa race, which would make a second-straight win for Force even sweeter – it would also almost certainly put her in first place in the standings for the first time since leaving Epping in 2016.

Take a look at the top three in Pro Stock right now: Jason Line (makes sense), Deric Kramer (ri-right) and Chris McGaha. This season’s going to be fun. McGaha’s win in Phoenix came with a little help from both feet as he got a holeshot win over Erica Enders (nice) and created a hell of a lot of power en route to his first victory in nearly 12 months. He’s only 43 points behind Line, and just two points behind Kramer and is the guy to beat heading into the Gatornationals. His hot start to the season isn’t exactly a shock given his strong performance over the last couple of seasons, but McGaha has hit another level to start the 2018 campaign.

Welcome back, Pro Stock Motorcycle. Does anyone have anything for Eddie Krawiec? Okay, anyone other than Andrew Hines? As the class chases down the first 200 mph run in class history, Krawiec looks for his second-straight title – while the field tries to stop him. It’s going to be very difficult. The Harley-Davidson contingent won all but one race during the Countdown to the Championship (and they won the prelude to the playoffs, too). There has been a whole offseason for everyone to work out the kinks, and a resurgent Matt Smith might be the dark horse candidate to dethrone the king. But until it happens, well, Krawiec has the No. 1 on the side of his Street Rod for a reason.