25th Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA POWERade Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac Next Weekend at Atlanta Dragway

If you've never been to a NHRA national event, here's your chance. TV just doesn't do this sport justice. See the sights you see on TV - plus hear the sound and feel the power that you can't experience on the tube!

The 25th Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA POWERade Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac will be held Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, GA) May 12-15, 2005.

More event information is available at:
GeorgiaDragRacing.com coverage and photos from previous events

NHRA Event Information

Ticket Information

Schedule

Entry Lists

Driver Appearances

Team Reports

Atlanta Dragway

New Photos on GeorgiaDragRacing.com

Well, the photos were actually posted a few weeks ago and I just plain forgot to let you know via the news section. New photos from Billy Webb , Rick Jordan and Charles Wilkins were added. Thanks for sharing your photos and information!

More Photos From the NSCA Southern Nationals

I've added more photos from last weekend's NSCA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway here.

Ready to go!

Bunky Bobo's Hemi Hurricane

Bunky Bobo's Hemi Hurricane Willys. See it and the Bobos at the NHRR next month. Thanks to Tony Bobo for sending the photos!

Warren Johnson to Appear on This Weekend's Wind Tunnel

Courtesy Jon G. Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing

Sugar Hill, Ga., May 4, 2005 - Six-time NHRA Pro Stock Champion Warren Johnson, who is coming off his second win of the 2005 POWERade Drag Racing season, will be a featured guest on this weekend's edition of Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain. Joining Johnson on this week's guest list will be fellow racing legend and NASCAR icon Richard Petty.

Starting second at this past weekend's O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN, Johnson tackled a mixture of young and veteran Pro Stock drivers en route to the 94th win of his stellar career. Opening with a first-round defeat of Allen Johnson, WJ then powered his GM Performance Parts Pontiac down the Tennessee quarter-mile in a track record 6.715 seconds at 203.83 mph to trailer Jason Line. After narrowly edging his son Kurt in the semi-finals, "The Professor" was awarded the automatic win when his opponent, Richie Stevens, red lit in the final round.

This was Johnson's second NHRA win at Bristol Dragway (to go with his six IHRA victories in Thunder Valley), and propelled him into the lead in the 2005 POWERade Championship Standings. Johnson is in his final full season on the NHRA circuit, which has been dubbed "The Professor's School's Out" tour.

Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain is Speed Channel's popular motorsports talk show which covers the world of racing from both the racers' and fans' point of view. Hosted by veteran motorsports journalist Dave Despain from the show's Charlotte, NC studios, the two-hour show features a combination of timely interviews with the sport's newsmakers and calls and e-mails from opinionated racing enthusiasts across the country. This week, Despain welcomes Nextel Cup driver Greg Biffle as his in-studio co-host.

Fans are encouraged to e-mail their questions for "The Professor" to windtunnel@speedtv.com, or to call 1-866-W-TUNNEL during the broadcast to speak to him directly. This weekend's show is scheduled to air at its normal time on Sunday evening from 9:00 - 11:00 p.m.. Please check your local listings for broadcast times in your area.

Hemi Hurricane Interior.

Here are a couple of recent photos of Bunky Bobo's beautifully restored Hemi Hurricane Willys gasser. Tony Bobo sent these photos and said they will take the car to Bowling Green, KY next month for the National Hot Rod Reunion. Check the newest Hot Rod magazine for more on the Hemi Hurricane. Thanks for sending the photos, Tony. Great job, guys!

Hartman Motorsports to Field Two Top Fuelers at the NHRA Southern Nationals

Virgil Hartman announced that his team, Hartman Motorsports, will field a second Top Fueler at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals May 12-15 at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga. The car will be driven by Josh Starcher. Great news, we need all the fuel cars we can get!
More Info

422 Motorsports wheels up action at the NSCA Southern Nationals (4-30-05 - Atlanta Dragway).

NSCA Southern Nationals Jim Wittenberg Memorial Results

NSCA Southern National Results and photos
NSCA Southern National Photos from GeorgiaDragRacing.com

Warren Johnson Blasts to His Second Win in Bristol

Courtesy Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

Sunday, May 1, 2005, Bristol, TN - Warren Johnson powered to his second win of the 2005 season on Sunday, taking home the Pro Stock title at the 5th annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN. It was another impressive performance by "The Professor", as for the third consecutive race, his GM Performance Parts Pontiac posted the quickest elapsed time of the weekend with a dramatic 6.715-second pass in the second round, setting the stage for the 94th win of his stellar career, and second at Bristol Dragway in NHRA competition. The win also allowed Johnson to reclaim the lead in the POWERade championship standings.

"We had a good day at the office," said Johnson. "The crew did everything they needed to get our GM Performance Parts Pontiac ready to race, I did what I needed to do, and we even got a break or two. Overall, it was one of those wins that didn't go exactly as scripted, but fortunately it came out in our favor.

"The biggest thing is that we had a great turnout by the spectators today, which, in light of the inclement weather of the past two days, was tremendous. Hopefully, we gave them a great show. It was pretty good from where we were sitting."

Starting from the second position, Johnson quickly showed that he would be a contender on race day, posting the second quickest elapsed time of the first round in defeating Allen Johnson. He followed this with an impressive 6.715-second pass in eliminating Jason Line in the quarter-finals, which was three hundredths of a second quicker than any other Pro Stock car would run all weekend, and a new Bristol Dragway track record.

"There was nothing left on that run," said Johnson. "It quivered the tires and was right at the point where it was as fast as it could go. I can't say we milked it, but we got everything out of it. It proved that if we could get on top of this just a little bit better, both Kurt and I could step up our performance. It also worked in our favor for the rest of the day, because it was one of those ominous daggers that gets in people's minds."

Advancing to the semi-finals for the fifth time in six races, Johnson faced a familiar foe, his son Kurt Johnson, who made headlines of his own during the weekend with the competitive debut of his new ACDelco Chevrolet Cobalt. Knowing the DRCE III under the hood of his son's race car was equal in performance to his own, the senior Johnson knew he would need a complete effort to move on to the 146th final round of his career, and combined a .025 reaction time with a 6.757-second, 204.29 mph pass to claim the family bragging rights for the weekend.

"Winning over Kurt was a great thing, because it allowed me to advance to the final," said Johnson. "Naturally, going in to the semifinals, we were in a win-win situation, because we knew one of our team cars was going to go to the final. Therefore, both teams did everything they could to win.

"Kurt is obviously going to be in contention for the championship before the year is out. The season is still very early, and he has a new car that is quite capable of performing at the head of the pack. Today, we were the ones to come out on top, but I'm confident he'll get his share of wins."

The final obstacle between Johnson and the winner's circle was Richie Stevens, who was making his first appearance in the championship round in four years. With Stevens having gained lane choice for the final by one thousandth of a second, Johnson found himself relegated to the less-preferred left-hand lane. However, it did not matter, as Stevens left the starting line almost five hundredths of a second early, awarding the automatic win to Johnson, who punctuated the win with a 6.756 second, 203.89 mph pass.

"Richie's a good driver. He just took at shot at the tree in the final," said Johnson. "Maybe they were thinking of the 6.71 we ran in the second round, or the fact that we ran a 6.75 in the semi-finals when we shook the tires. Therefore, they may have been worried that we'd run another good number, even though they ran well all day. Fortunately, we came away with the win.

"This was a tremendous performance for the entire team. We're back in the points lead, and even though it is very early in the season, it's always better to be first than second. It's not even a safety margin, but it shows our entire team is competitive on a race to race basis. Our goal continues to be winning the championship for GM Performance Parts, Pontiac and all the other sponsors who have stuck with us. Fortunately, it seems as if things are coming round. We are not about to bank on winning the title, but we're certainly going to keep working at it."

Fast Facts Following WJ's Win in Bristol -

This was WJ's 94th career win, which is the most by any Pro Stock driver in the history of the NHRA, and second only to John Force among all professional drivers.

This was also WJ's 146th final round appearance, also the most in Pro Stock history.

This was Johnson's second win at Bristol Dragway in NHRA competition.

This was the 24th time that WJ has won from the second starting position.

By winning the race, WJ scored his 800th career elimination round win, which is second only to John Force for the most among all professional drivers.

NHRA POWERade Championship Points Standings (after 6 of 23 events)

1. Warren Johnson 536
2. David Connolly 486
3. Jason Line 379
4. Greg Anderson 365
5. Ron Krisher 316

KJ takes his new ACDelco Cobalt to the Bristol Semifinals

CourtesyJon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

Kurt Johnson gave his new ACDelco Cobalt a successful debut on Sunday, powering to the semifinals of the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN. Despite having to deal with completely different weather conditions and a virtually untested race car, Johnson's close-knit crew made the right calls on race day, recording the quickest pass of the opening round at 6.747 seconds in defeating Ben Watson.

In the second round, Johnson combined a lightning-fast .019 reaction time and a consistent 6.745-second pass to eliminate veteran Rickie Smith. This set the stage for a semi-final match-up with his father, six-time Pro Stock champion Warren Johnson. Despite running in the less preferred left-hand lane, KJ posted a solid 6.759-second elapsed time. However, it was not enough to hold off the senior Johnson's 6.757-second, 204.29 mph pass.

Even so, Kurt realized it had been a great start for his new race car.

"We certainly would have liked to have taken our ACDelco Cobalt to the winner's circle in its first race, but it didn't happen. We felt we made some good runs today, but the last one was sub-par compared to the others. Even so, we were one of the better cars on race day, which, considering just how little time we have had with this car, has us excited moving forward.

"I was also happy with my driving this weekend. I had my best light of the season in the second round, and hopefully, it should get better as I get more comfortable in the car, getting the clutch pedal and everything else just right.

"We'll take what we learned today, evaluate it and make the necessary changes. We also plan to test in Atlanta over the next two days and get ready for our home race in a couple weeks."

BAZEMORE HOLDS ONTO FIRST PLACE

Courtesy Judy Stropus
DON SCHUMACHER RACING

BRISTOL, Tenn. (May 1, 2005) - It was an ugly Funny Car opening round for Whit Bazemore, but, then, it was ugly also for John Force and Robert Hight, all three of whom lost in the first round of eliminations today at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

With the top three in points eliminated early, Bazemore, in the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus R/T, held onto No. 1 in the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points lead, with a 58-point margin over Force. Cruz Pedregon, who lost in the semifinal, moved into third, and Hight dropped to fifth.

"It was amazing the way it transpired. Two of our main competitors also lost in the first round," said Bazemore, who had qualified 11th, and remains the only two-time Funny Car winner this year.

"Where we are in points right now really doesn't matter. What matters is that we're here to race and win a race and we had a problem with our car and we got beat in the first round. That's the bottom line.

"At the end of the year is when really looking at the points situation, not right now. Having said that, it's important that we're not 200 or 300 points behind, and we're not."

Failing cylinders as he hit the gas produced a 4.948/308.78 pass for Bazemore, while Tommy Johnson Jr. took the win with a 4.857/318.02.

"We're going to test here tomorrow. We have another race in two weeks, a race we won last year in Atlanta. We'll go there with a stronger car."

Next up is the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., May 13-15.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Whit Bazemore, 433
2. John Force, 375
3. Cruz Pedregon, 375
4. Gary Scelzi, 370 (winner today)
5. Robert Hight, 360
6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 319
7. Eric Medlen, 308
8. Ron Capps, 294
9. Bob Gilbertson, 292
10. Del Worsham, 280

Kalitta, Scelzi, WJ and Ashley Big Winners at the NHRA POWERade O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Quaker State

Doug Kalitta won his 21st career Top Fuel win (a holeshot win over "Hot Rod" Fuller) and claimed the points lead.

Gary Scelzi won Funny car (his 5th Funny Car win and 30th overall) and moved up to 4th in the points race. Gary also set Low ET (4.791) and Top Speed (329.26 MPH).

WJ picked up his 94th career NHRA Pro Stock victory, regained the points lead and set Low ET at 6.715 seconds. Kurt Johnson made it to the semis where he was defeated by WJ.

Mike Ashley won Pro Mod with his Shelby Mustang at 6.136 @ 230.57.


NHRA Recap

NSCA Southern Nationals Jim Wittenberg Memorial Event Photos from Atlanta Dragway

Some great action ocurred on Saturday after the rain stopped and the weather is forecasted to be much better Sunday. Lots of "old" (Nostalgia Super Stock) and new (just about everything else)that should make just about everyone happy! Come on out and support the NSCA - a lot of nice people are involved in this and they could use your support at Commerce. Especially after the Saturday morning weather.

NSCA
NSCA Southern Nationals Jim Wittenberg Memorial Event Photos

WJ Qualifies Second on His Single Attempt in Bristol

Courtesy Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

When Warren Johnson rolled his GM Performance Parts Pontiac to the line for his first qualifying attempt at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals, he knew he might have only one chance to earn a spot in Sunday's final eliminations field. After all, the wet weather that had washed out Friday's action at Bristol Dragway was forecast to return and put a premature end to qualifying.

However, Johnson quickly allayed any doubts about his participation on race day as he blasted through the quarter-mile in 6.834 seconds with a top speed of 201.58 mph, which earned "The Professor" the second starting position when rain prevented any further sessions.

"The possibility of not being able to make a second run seemed pretty obvious, so we loaded it up to the point that we would at least qualify well, but not shake the tires which would cause us to miss the show. I guess you could say we were cautiously aggressive. As a result, we were way off in the first sixty feet, which was part of our game plan, but the fastest car in the back half, which shows our GM Performance Parts Pontiac has plenty of power.

"We don’t know what exactly this track is going to yield tomorrow, because the first 120 feet has been replaced, and it will certainly have seen a lot of moisture over the last two days. It will be an entirely new ball game tomorrow, but everyone will be in the same boat, having only gotten one shot at the track.

"A lot will also depend on how the racing surface is prepared. They certainly had their hands full today, so I'm sure they will do their due diligence for tomorrow. The bottom line is that we will just have to do a better job of reading the conditions and dialing in the set-up than our competitors."

KJ's New ACDelco Cobalt Engineers the Third Starting Spot in Bristol

Courtesy Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

Kurt Johnson faced several obstacles entering Saturday's qualifying sessions at the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals. First, having unveiled his new ACDelco Cobalt one day earlier, he was racing a mostly untested car in the largest Pro Stock field of the 2005 season.

In addition, with the first 120 feet of racing surface at Bristol Dragway having been replaced prior to this event, adjustments would have to be made to their notes from previous races. Finally, with persistent rains threatening to curtail the on-track action at any moment, racers knew that they might be restricted to a single attempt to make Sunday's final elimination field.

However, all this seemed to matter little, as they took full advantage of their solitary qualifying pass, recording a 6.837 second, 200.83 mph pass, slotting them in the third starting position. The crew's efforts were rewarded when the NHRA officials designated the ACDelco Cobalt as the Best Engineered Car of the event.

"I had hoped that we would get two runs in today, but fortunately, we made some good calls on this new ACDelco Cobalt for what turned out to be our only qualifying pass. We got it under control in the first 100 feet, where it was acting up in testing. We also did a better job with the clutch and the overall set-up. Everybody on the team did their job, and the car went right down the racetrack.

"With our limited experience with this car, and an uncertain racing surface, we really didn't know what to expect. I looked at the starting line, and it seemed pretty good, so I adjusted the car accordingly, and it stuck. It ran .997 in sixty feet, and was at the top of the pack to the 330 foot mark, which was pretty good for a brand new race car. We're certainly pleased.

"Tomorrow should be interesting. Naturally, as the only new car in the field, everyone else will have a better notebook than we do on how to adjust for the conditions, so we'll rely on our experience and give it our best shot. It made a flawless run today, so now it's a matter of making four just like it on race day."

BAZEMORE QUALIFIES IN BOTTOM HALF OF FIELD...AGAIN

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus

BRISTOL, Tenn. (April 30, 2005) - Whit Bazemore qualified the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus Funny Car in the bottom half of the field for the fourth time in six races this year for the O'Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway today. Only one round of qualifying was held, as the other three were washed out by rain.

With only one round completed, the top 10 in POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points were assured a place in the field, with the rest of the field made up of those who qualified today.

Posting a 4.948/308.78 pass for the 11th spot, Funny Car points leader Bazemore is not disappointed, as his win in Las Vegas two weeks ago came from the bottom half of the field. His other win, in Gainesville, Fla., came from No. 8, and he is the only two-time winner this season.

"It's very frustrating and you feel bad for (President and General Manager of Bristol Motor Speedway and Dragway) Jeff Byrd and the staff here in Bristol," said Bazemore of the weather conditions here. "They certainly deserve to have better weather than what they've gotten this weekend, as we all do.

"That's part of the sport sometimes. In our case, we're satisfied that we went down the race track in light of some of the struggles we've had this year, but we really didn't run that quick.

"The good thing for us is we have a team - the Matco Tools team, led by Lee Beard - that, given one baseline run, can certainly tune the car from that, and we have a team that knows how to get performance out of it.

"I'll sleep well tonight. We'll be very confident. It's kind of good because the both races we won this year we've come from the back, and now we're 11th. That's not much better than 12th. We feel good, we like being in the back. We'll just sneak up on them and catch them by surprise."

Bazemore faces Tommy Johnson Jr., in first round of eliminations, which begin at noon on Sunday.

Bernstein, Medley and Connolly Top Pro Qualifiers at the NHRA POWERade O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Quaker State

The rain at Bristol only allowed one Pro qualifying session to be completed.

Whit Bazemore qualified #11 in Funny Car with a 4.948 @ 308.78.
Warren Johnson picked up the #2 spot in Pro Stock with a 6.834 @ 201.58 and Kurt Johnson is #3 with a 6.837 @ 200.83 in his new Cobalt. Barry Grant finished in the 26th position.


NHRA Recap