{"id":3068,"date":"2016-05-14T23:43:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-15T04:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=3068"},"modified":"2016-05-15T13:56:27","modified_gmt":"2016-05-15T18:56:27","slug":"beckman-kalitta-anderson-and-sampey-sprint-to-no-1-qualifiers-at-summit-racing-equipment-nhra-southern-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/14\/beckman-kalitta-anderson-and-sampey-sprint-to-no-1-qualifiers-at-summit-racing-equipment-nhra-southern-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Beckman, Kalitta, Anderson and Sampey Sprint to No. 1 qualifiers at Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMERCE, Ga. \u2013 Jack Beckman<\/strong> secured the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car on Saturday in front of a sold out crowd at Atlanta Dragway<\/a> during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals.<\/a><\/p>\n

Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the seventh event of 24 on the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.<\/p>\n

\"107-JackBeckman-Atlanta-Saturday\"<\/p>\n

Beckman, a two-time Atlanta winner, used his track record 3.939-second run at 326.32 mph from Friday night in his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger R\/T to secure his fourth No. 1 of the season and 19th of his career. This is his first top qualifier at Atlanta Dragway. Beckman will face Jim Campbell to open Sunday\u2019s 11 a.m. eliminations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy where we are, qualifying No. 1,\u201d said Beckman, the 2012 Funny Car world champion. \u201cIt\u2019s nice for a little bit of prestige, you get some bonus points that go with it, and it\u2019s maybe even nicer because you get a more favorable matchup first round. The whole idea behind that is to play it smart and strategic and win four rounds on Sunday. I think I\u2019ll sleep well tonight and come in tomorrow embracing the fact that we\u2019ll be the favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Hagan, Beckman\u2019s Don Schumacher Racing teammate, qualified second with a 3.943 at 326.08 in his Rocky Boots\/Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R\/T. Hagan will meet Chad Head in the opening round.<\/p>\n

Courtney Force powered her Traxxas Chevy Camaro SS to the No. 3 spot with a 3.946 at 326.08 and will race Jeff Diehl in the first round. Force is riding momentum from her win at the most recent event in Houston. She is also the Funny Car points leader.<\/p>\n

\"108-DougKalitta-Atlanta-Saturday\"<\/p>\n

Kalitta, who won two weeks ago in Houston, powered his Mac Tools dragster to a 3.731 at 328.70 on Friday night to take the No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel. Kalitta, who reset Atlanta Dragway\u2019s elapsed time track record, earned his second No. 1 qualifier of the season and 45th in his career. This is his second No. 1 at Atlanta. Kalitta will face Terry Haddock in round one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking good,\u201d said Kalitta, the Top Fuel points leader. \u201cI think it\u2019s supposed to cool off a little more for tomorrow, but we were getting down a pretty hot racetrack today, so hopefully we\u2019ve got it dialed in for tomorrow. We\u2019re feeling pretty good about it. We\u2019ll be digging tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richie Crampton qualified second in his Lucas Oil dragster with 3.761 at 321.50, which came on Friday night. Crampton will face Chris Karamesines in round one.\u00a0\u00a0 J.R. Todd is third and is paired against Kyle Wurtzel. Steve Torrence, who won at the season-opening Winternationals, qualified fourth and will meet Scott Palmer in the opening round.<\/p>\n

\"109-GregAnderson-Atlanta-Saturday\"<\/p>\n

In Pro Stock, Anderson used his Friday night qualifying performance of 6.610 at 210.14 in his Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro to carry him to the No. 1 spot. The four-time Atlanta winner has four No. 1 qualifiers this season and has raced to three victories in the first six races of the year. This is his seventh top qualifier at Atlanta Dragway and the 84th of his career. Anderson will race fellow veteran V. Gaines in the first round of eliminations Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of magic at this racetrack and it makes it even more special to have Summit Racing Equipment on the billboard out there,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had four really good qualifying runs and I feel a little bit fortunate because it appears we have our No. 3 car, Bo Butner\u2019s car, faster than both Jason (Line)\u2019s and mine. Bottom line is we have three great cars over there at Ken Black Racing. We\u2019re going to have a great chance tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"110-AngelleSampey-Atlanta-Saturday\"<\/p>\n

Jason Line, Anderson\u2019s Summit Racing Equipment Chevy Camaro teammate, posted a 6.615 at 209.36 on Friday night to enter eliminations as the No. 2 qualifier. Line has three victories so far this year and has raced to the final round of every race in 2016. The two-time Atlanta winner and current points leader will meet John Gaydosh in the opener.<\/p>\n

Butner qualified third and will race against Alex Laughlin to open eliminations. Shane Gray is fourth and will go head-to-head with Kenny Delco.<\/p>\n

Sampey rode her Precision Service Equipment\/Star Racing Buell to her first No. 1 qualifier since 2008 with a 6.865 at 193.32, which she posted on Friday night. Sampey, who secured the 46th No. 1 qualifier of her career, has four victories at Atlanta Dragway. She will battle Steve Johnson to open eliminations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been so long and we\u2019ve only been back for a little less than two years, but this feels like the first No. 1 qualifier ever, not the first since 2008,\u201d Sampey said. \u201cI\u2019m very excited. We were contemplating not making that (final qualifying) run. I was ready to sit out because we wanted to save the engine and run it tomorrow. I didn\u2019t think we were going to do well with the headwind and when they told me it was an .87 I was very excited. We have a little bit more in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader Eddie Krawiec powered his Screamin\u2019 Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to a 6.880 at 193.71 to qualify second. Krawiec, who won the season-opening Gatornationals and is a two-time Atlanta winner, will meet Matt Smith in the first round.<\/p>\n

Chip Ellis qualified third and will race rookie Cory Reed Sunday morning, while Louisiana alligator farmer Jerry Savoie is fourth and will race Michael Phillips.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

COMMERCE, Ga. — Sunday’s first-round pairings for eliminations for the 36th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, the seventh of 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.\u00a0 Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.<\/p>\n

Top Fuel — 1. Doug Kalitta, 3.731 seconds, 328.70 mph\u00a0 vs. 16. Terry Haddock, 4.177, 284.51; 2. Richie Crampton, 3.761, 321.50\u00a0 vs. 15. Chris Karamesines, 4.149, 278.75; 3. J.R. Todd, 3.762, 323.81\u00a0 vs. 14. Kyle Wurtzel, 4.015, 278.92; 4. Steve Torrence, 3.771, 324.12\u00a0 vs. 13. Scott Palmer, 4.008, 295.08; 5. Antron Brown, 3.775, 321.27\u00a0 vs. 12. Pat Dakin, 3.878, 295.34; 6. Brittany Force, 3.777, 320.51\u00a0 vs. 11. Clay Millican, 3.868, 315.42; 7. Shawn Langdon, 3.783, 319.52\u00a0 vs. 10. Terry McMillen, 3.843, 319.37; 8. Tony Schumacher, 3.811, 319.82\u00a0 vs. 9. Leah Pritchett, 3.822, 308.07.\u00a0 Did Not Qualify: 17. Smax Smith, 4.466, 270.97.<\/p>\n

Funny Car — 1. Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger, 3.939, 326.32\u00a0 vs. 16. Jim Campbell, Toyota Camry, broke; 2. Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.943, 326.08\u00a0 vs. 15. Chad Head, Camry, 5.985, 136.88; 3. Courtney Force, Chevy Camaro, 3.946, 324.67\u00a0 vs. 14. Jeff Diehl, Toyota Solara, 5.509, 285.95; 4. Alexis DeJoria, Camry, 3.949, 318.69\u00a0 vs. 13. Dave Richards, Ford Mustang, 4.192, 288.27; 5. Tommy Johnson Jr., Charger, 3.973, 317.94\u00a0 vs. 12. John Hale, Charger, 4.093, 290.26; 6. Robert Hight, Camaro, 3.980, 323.58\u00a0 vs. 11. Cruz Pedregon, Camry, 4.042, 310.27; 7. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.001, 320.66\u00a0 vs. 10. Del Worsham, Camry, 4.019, 316.82; 8. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.003, 322.04\u00a0 vs. 9. John Force, Camaro, 4.010, 321.96.<\/p>\n

Pro Stock — 1. Greg Anderson, Chevy Camaro, 6.610, 210.14\u00a0 vs. 14. V. Gaines, Dodge Dart, 7.424, 140.90; 2. Jason Line, Camaro, 6.615, 209.36\u00a0 vs. 13. John Gaydosh Jr, Chevrolet Camaro, 6.748, 204.70; 3. Bo Butner, Camaro, 6.618, 209.26\u00a0 vs. 12. Alex Laughlin, Camaro, 6.734, 206.54; 4. Shane Gray, Camaro, 6.620, 208.04\u00a0 vs. 11. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.714, 206.10; 5. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.648, 208.39\u00a0 vs. 10. Erica Enders, Dart, 6.701, 207.05; 6. Allen Johnson, Dart, 6.649, 208.46 vs. 9. Vincent Nobile, Camaro, 6.688, 207.34; 7. Drew Skillman, Camaro, 6.666, 207.37\u00a0 vs. 8. Jeg Coughlin, Dart, 6.686, 206.86.<\/p>\n

Pro Stock Motorcycle — 1. Angelle Sampey, Buell, 6.865, 193.32\u00a0 vs. 16. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.973, 191.00; 2. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.880, 194.80\u00a0 vs. 15. Matt Smith, Victory, 6.962, 191.05; 3. Chip Ellis, Buell, 6.895, 194.04\u00a0 vs. 14. Cory Reed, Buell, 6.952, 190.38; 4. Jerry Savoie, Suzuki, 6.895, 193.85\u00a0 vs. 13. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 6.944, 194.74; 5. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.898, 192.22\u00a0 vs. 12. Scotty Pollacheck, Buell, 6.936, 191.73; 6. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.907, 194.04\u00a0 vs. 11. Shawn Gann, Buell, 6.933, 192.69; 7. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 6.910, 193.63\u00a0 vs. 10. Melissa Surber, Buell, 6.932, 192.17; 8. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.926, 193.18 vs. 9. Hector Arana Jr, Buell, 6.929, 192.88.\u00a0 Did Not Qualify: 17. Angie Smith, 6.973, 189.84; 18. Michael Ray, 6.979, 192.96; 19. Mike Berry, 6.993, 190.70; 20. Joe DeSantis, 7.004, 190.00; 21. David Hope, 7.038, 189.58; 22. Brian Pretzel, 7.049, 191.57; 23. Chaz Kennedy, 7.093, 188.67; 24. Lance Bonham, 7.256, 184.65; 25. Jim Underdahl, 14.659, 161.87.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMMERCE, Ga. \u2013 Jack Beckman secured the No. 1 qualifier in Funny Car on Saturday in front of a sold out crowd at Atlanta Dragway during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals. Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were No. 1 qualifiers in their respective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[90,6,215],"class_list":["post-3068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhra","tag-atlanta-dragway","tag-nhra","tag-nhra-southern-nationals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/107-JackBeckman-Atlanta-Saturday.jpg?fit=2200%2C1423&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-Nu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3068"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3075,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3068\/revisions\/3075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}