FORCE HOOD SITS NO. 1 IN TOPEKA; BROWN, EDWARDS ALSO IN PROVISIONAL SPOTS AT HEARTLAND PARK
John Force Racing NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car driver, Ashley Force Hood, grabbed the top spot in Friday's NHRA qualifying session for the 21st Annual O'Reilly Summer Nationals.
Courtesy: NHRA Media Relations
Antron Brown and Mike Edwards also took the provisional top spots in their respective categories at the ninth of 24 events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.
Force
Hood drove her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a 4.107-second pass at
295.59 mph to become the provisional top qualifier in Funny Car. If it
stands it would be Force Hood’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season,
sixth of her career and second consecutive No. 1 qualifier after taking
the No. 1 qualifier two weeks ago in
“I don’t know what Ron (
Defending event winner
In Top Fuel, Antron Brown drove his Matco Tools dragster to a 3.841 at 315.71 to take the provisional No. 1 spot. If it stands, it would be Brown’s third No. 1 qualifier of the season and 17th of his career.
“The run went perfect,” said Brown. “The conditions were changed dramatically with the sun going down. The track temp went down about 20 to 25 degrees from the earlier session, so we knew it was pretty stout. We went for a top three spot. The car was a little on the edge here and there, but it stuck right down there.”
Current points leader Tony Schumacher is currently sitting in the third spot while third-place points driver and 2007
Picking up where he left off in
“I’m living a dream right now with the way my car is running and how my team is performing,” said Edwards. “It seems like once you start jelling you go up there with confidence. I think you always have a little bit of doubt, but if you can go up there with 75 percent feeling good about the setup it’s better than going up there with 25 percent.”
Current points leader and defending world champion Jeg Coughlin is currently in the sixth spot, while defending event winner Ron Krisher is just one spot ahead in the fifth position.
Qualifying continues Saturday with sessions at 11:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday’s eliminations begin at 11 a.m.