O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals
Houston, TX
(April 8-10)
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By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
Three-time NHRA champion Angelle Sampey was the star of Saturday's action at Houston Raceway Park as she leapfrogged Andrew Hines of the rival Vance & Hines camp to take the No. 1 position in Pro Stock Motorcycle at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil. Sampey shared the Low Qualifier podium with her U.S. Army Top Fuel teammate Tony Schumacher, Funny Car rookie Robert Hight, and Pro Stock legend Warren Johnson, who managed to improve his leading time from Friday with a 6.69. Qualifying opposite Hines in the day's first session, Sampey brought the HRP crowd to its feet when her Suzuki outran the reigning champ and his Harley. Her 7.055-second pass set a
"I get more confidence from that run right there than from the 4.49," Schumacher said. "Friday night is Friday night and if it's cool and cloudy tomorrow, great. But I don't think it will be. I'll say this; I would have been a little uneasy if we hadn't gotten down that time. "That last run was fun. That reminds me why I drive these things. It's not for the money or whatever; it's for runs like that. The front end was up longer than I wanted but it was pulling so strong I didn't want to lift. I almost got nervous. I could feel my knees rattling for a second. But then it settled down and just took off." Fram AirHog pilot Cory McClenathan remained the only driver besides Schumacher in the 4.4-second zone with his 4.496 at 329.10 mph. Snap-on Tools driver Doug Herbert stayed third with a 4.505, while Mac Tools' Doug Kalitta was fourth with a 4.512. Final qualifier Scott Palmer will try to pull off a huge upset in his O'Reilly Auto Parts rail when he squares off with Schumacher in Round 1 of his sponsor’s event. Palmer's best pass has been a 4.807 at 282.90 mph. Joe Hartley emerged unscathed from a bizarre final-round accident. Hartley was 60 feet into his run when his right rear tire and wheel separated from his dragster and sent him spinning out of control. His car eventually crossed the centerline and impacted the left-side retaining wall, where he slid for several hundred feet. Hartley did not qualify for the field. "The tires started to shake so I lifted and next thing I see is the tire going by me," Hartley said. "I thought, 'That's not supposed to happen,' and I was pretty much along for the ride at that point. The throttle hung open when I was up against the wall but I was able to shut off the fuel. I guess it's time for a new car."
"I'm just happy to be qualified, I really am," Hight said. "We made two good runs in the 4.80s today on a really hot racetrack so between that and running good last night when it was cooler we feel like we have a good handle on this track no matter what conditions we see. They say there might be clouds tomorrow but who knows. We'll be there. "I'm looking at the ladder and I see a lot of big hitters going up against each other in the first round. That means we could see some big moves in the points and we'd love to be able to move up as far as we can." Phil Burkart (4.813 seconds), Brut's Ron Capps (4.814), and 13-time champion John Force of Team Castrol (4.816) rounded out the top four. Capps slid into the sand trap in his last qualifying attempt to give his team some extra work before race day begins.
Schumacher couldn't match the fireworks of his 4.495 at 327.90 mph from Friday night, but his 4.52 in the final qualifying session, the hottest of the weekend, served notice that his U.S. Army dragster is the car to beat. Schumacher has now earned three of four low qualifier honors this year, bagging another $4,000 from Budweiser for his effort.
Tony Schumacher
Hight pleased a large contingent of Auto Club of Texas employees on hand when he wrapped up his second consecutive $4,000 Skoal Showdown Low Qualifier award with a Round 2 blast of 4.767 at 323.27 mph. The effort makes Hight the early-season frontrunner for the Auto Club Rookie of the Year award.
Robert Hight
Points leader Whit Bazemore struggled to a 12th-place berth with a best of just 4.899 seconds in the Matco Dodge. Interestingly, he'll open against Schumacher Racing teammate Gary Scelzi, who qualified fifth with a 4.822 at 313.37 mph.
Autolite's Bob Gilbertson, who shot up to fourth place in the POWERade points after his runner-up finish in Gainesville, barely made the cut here with a 16th-best 4.992 at 288.09 mph in Round 4. He'll try to take out Hight in the morning.
Johnson had the run of the weekend in the final session of Pro Stock when he pushed his GM Performance Parts Pontiac Grand Am through to a stout 6.696 at 205.63 mph, both the quickest and fastest Pro Stock runs of the weekend. The retiring "Professor of Pro Stock" has now claimed an NHRA record 131 No. 1 qualifier awards in 459 professional starts. This one was worth $3,000 from King Demon Crown.
Warren Johnson
"I really didn't know what to expect today," Johnson said. "We knew the conditions would be better than yesterday but since we have no downtime between now and next weekend in
"This year is no different than any other year for me. The fact I'm retiring from driving doesn't make winning any more important than it's been in the past. It would be nice to go out on top but our effort for doing that remains the same as it's always been."
Sunday's opening round of eliminations will feature the 61-year-old Johnson opening against 26-year-old Richie Stevens of the Team Mopar camp. Stevens, of
Current Rookie of the Year Jason Line qualified second with a 6.713 at 205.51 mph in his KB Framers Pontiac. He'll open against Rookie of the Year hopeful Erica Enders of
Ken Koretsky and Bruce Allen were the big shockers on Pro Stock's DNQ list.
Much to the delight of the
Angelle Sampey
Sampey got the end that pays, posting an elapsed time of 7.055 seconds at 189.60 mph for her 37th Low Qualifier award in 122 Pro starts, worth $1,000 from Ringer's Gloves. Hines was pleased with his track-record top speed of 195.73 mph and his improved 7.067-second time placed his Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson V-Rod second overall.
"Our first goal at any race is to qualify our two U.S. Army bikes in the top half of the field," Sampey said. "Then we try to get them up at the top. We love to be 1-2 on the ladder but 1-3 three is the next best thing and that's where we are this race. That means the only way we'll race each other is in the final.
"I'm not totally surprised to be ahead of [the Harley-Davidsons] but I am surprised that they're not faster than they are. It's a mystery to me why they’re not blowing us away with all that horsepower. I know if we had twice the cubic inches and electronic fuel injection we'd be running a lot quicker than we are now. We'd be in the sixes every pass."
Antron Brown will start eliminations on the opposite side of the ladder from his U.S. Army teammate after qualifying third with a 7.096 at 186.77 mph. Chip Ellis picked up the pace on his G-Squared S&S Buell V-Twin and picked up the No. 4 position.
MB Precision rider Mike Berry ended up precisely on the bump with a 7.179 at 186.95 mph after originally thinking he was one spot below the cut.
- Friday: Schumacher, Hight, W.J., and Hines grab early leads in Houston qualifying (04/08/2005)
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