2006 NHRA AcDelco Gatornationals ~ Gainesville

Race day coverage of the NHRA AcDelco Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, FL, dated March 19, 2006. This event marks the return of legendary sportscaster Paul Page to announcing NHRA telecasts. Thanks for watching and enjoy the race!
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Race Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:03 Top Fuel – 1st Round Highlights
7:46 Funny Car – 1st Round Highlights
12:26 Top Fuel – 2nd Round
22:03 Funny Car – 2nd Round
33:40 Pro Stock – 1st Round Highlights
38:26 Pro Stock Bike – 1st Round Highlights
42:42 Pro Stock – 2nd Round
51:29 Pro Stock Bike – 2nd Round
57:21 Powerade Power Time – Rod Fuller
59:04 Top Fuel – Semi-Final
1:04:31 Funny Car – Semi-Final
1:09:23 Pro Stock – Semi-Final
1:13:45 Pro Stock Bike – Semi-Final
1:17:02 Final Rounds

The following is presented on TSN HD Canada Sports leader in high definition welcome to Gainesville and the gator Nationals one of the most coveted wins in all of drag racing and everybody knows it the fans the drivers the teams matter of fact the reserve seats were sold out over a week ago

Everybody is ready back in Nitro alley the final preparations are now underway this telecast is available on ESPN 2HD presented by Dish Network after opening the season with two straight races out west the NH comes to Gainesville Florida the gator Nationals is one of the sports most storied events and these drivers are

Ready to go here we go B go never stop going Slow baby go never back’s going to stop [Applause] Us from Gainesville Raceway in North Florida it’s round number three of the NH power a drag racing series the fans show up early in the morning here at Gainesville they’re ready as are we for the AC Delo Gator Nationals the first two days of qualifying we had bright sunlight but

It’s a light overcast that Shields the track and cools it down a bit as it does the spectators let’s get right to the action and go to first round of Top Fuel well the first pair featured the Phoenix winner Rod Fuller up against Cory mat and for Cory Mack that’s his first

Round win in the last seven races and that brought up after that really incredible finish David Baka and Doug Keta David won his first round of competition here in 2003 Keta the defending champion and it was Keta all the way and watch Doug Colette on this replay as he

Starts applying the clutch Ron toler’s got it cooked up both front wheels off the ground and Doug Keta steers it into the second round that was Hillary will who got her Top alcohol dragster license here against Bob Vandergriff and he goes career best and Vandergriff in front of a lot of UPS

People here to watch him takes that win well and somebody else that was watching was still re will right about that point all she can do is watch Bob pull away for the win it with Brandon Bernstein who is trying to turn his season around he’s not won around in

2006 and he’s not going to win this one Melanie Troxel the points leader in top fuel takes the Win and then it was tacher and Herbert and Herbert doesn’t have to do it but boy he looks strong and Herbert moves forward big surprise here for your defending power a champion Alan Johnson just missed it as it just starts toly the clutch air and gets the tires loose

Tony tries to get to recover but by then it’s too late and that would be Doug py alongside Larry Dixon on the line Dixon the runner up here in 2000 in five and the win there Morgan Lucas Scott we twice 100th night throw start but not a win Lucas takes it watch

Morgan Lucas here watch his right hand he’s going to go to the break just to make sure it gets through that shake point back on the steering wheel that’s some heads up driving there and that brought up the Australians cow first start with his new team

But it’s grubby all the way as grubnic takes the win up board with David here pretty much a nice straight run it kind of moves around a little bit shuts off just a little bit before the finish line but he’s into the next round so Melanie Troxel continues on Gary

Gerald when you come in leading the Top Fuel Championship point standings even when it’s early in the season you want to make a statement in the first round Melanie trael I think made a very resounding statement with a 450 run at 329 mph did you feel like you had to

Step things up you were going against Brandon Bernstein kind of a a tough competitor yeah absolutely you know we struggled to qualify here weren’t in coming into that last session made it happen got in with a nice conservative run but we knew we were going to have to

Step up this morning and uh that’s the great thing about working with these guys my crew chief Richard Hogan all the skull gear guys they stepped up to the plate and uh put the big number down so we feel pretty confident about going into next round for everybody on this

Team TCO game Matt Co Oakley everybody involved with it it’s uh we’re just happy to get one more round very surprising turn of events because your teammate Tony Schumacher ends up losing in his first round of eliminations does that put more pressure on you does it in

Fact change anything at all about the way you now approach the rest of the day or the next round of eliminations uh you know I don’t really think it does change anything for us I mean uh we’re disappointed because they are our teammates but on the other hand they’re

The toughest team out here so uh that’s one less team we’re going to have to come up against so you know that’s have mixed emotions about that but you know they’re they’re a tough team they’ve come from behind before to win the championship so we’re going to try and

Get every round we can on them and make it harder for him this year and even though it’s only the third race of the Season every one of these drivers is thinking a whole lot about Championship points now there’s a g that knows how to get it down to a championship and she’s

Starting at the right time in round two it’ll be Herbert and mcclenathan and Lucas and Melanie Troxel and on the other side of the ladder you got a great match up between Larry Dixon and Doug Keta David grub against Bob Vander who’s coming off that career best ET of 452 in

The first round and we welcome you all I’m Paul Paige uh Marty is On Assignment now to the Indie Racing League he will be back a little later in the season though we’ll kind of share the duties Mike Dunn is here as always and as always is watching the weather and the

Brand new tire the 2420 which is now mandated on to every car out there well and the weather plays a factor into these new tires because all the crew trees are trying to learn now they feel if there’s a little bit of cloud cover and that track is tight that you know

The tire is just about as good or maybe even better than the 1430 but when the sun comes out there and that track gets a little bit greasy that track seem that tire seems to really go away and it can give the uh crew chief some fits there’s

The way the weather is looking right now track temperature up at 106° altitude 1300 ft so what does that give you how do you prepare for it well I mean the crewes are going to have to go out there and look at the race track and see what they

Think it’s going to hold obviously the first round usually is is when the track is prepared to its best it’s going to be a little bit warmer second round is going to be much more touchy for the cars to get down the racetrack oh and as

We move the funny car John for is going to have a big matchup here’s Dave Reef ah the most compelling match up in round number one of funny car involves this man John Forest the number one qualifier should you get a fate as bad as to have to race Tony pedregon

Remember it was Tony pedon that ended John Force’s hopes with a whole shot loss that loss haunted John forest all season long but you know what I just talked to John he said he doesn’t just want to avenge that loss that man wants to avenge every loss that’s how you

Become a 13-time champion already seven times a winner here he will go after number eight today meanwhile right next door that’s where we find his teammate Robert height that’s the man who gets to race the series most recent winner Tommy Johnson Jr the most competitive playoffs in the

NH just became even tougher Tommy Johnson’s win at Phoenix over 13-time champion John Forest placed him on the long list of contenders for the 2006 Championship well Tommy Johnson figures into round one highlights of course he and Robert height both funny car winners in 2006 but it was height all the way

Here and then Jeff Ren his first race of the year and Eric Medlin and for Medlin the first round win of 2006 and so that brought up Jim headed and Tony Barton Barton on the near side and drives on to his first round win of the year he’s also one here in

Top alcohol dragster Tony Barton’s been doing a great job coming off that number three qualifying position with the career best 478 of laps time he backs it up here in the first round with a 481 to get him into the second round and that brought up Tony pedan and John

John fors fourth time that Tony’s qualified on the bump but it was John forest all the way the runner up at Phoenix who has seven wins here big match up here but it was at done early as Tony Petron dropped the cylinder had to back pet relet the cylinder but it

Was too little too late as John Force pulled away for the win and it was the defending Champion here went basemore his 600 round of racing against Cruz pedregon and score that one to Cruz this was a a battle of the backpedaling uh here in Whit basemore got the bad side of it trying to get this thing to recover Cruz pedon on the other hand he was able to get his recover now let’s go on board and just Listen what it sounds like trying to hook up 8,000 horsepower when it won’t do it and that brought up Phil burkard and Gary denum Gary’s first whole shot loss since Vegas of 2004 Mike Ashley the Pro Mod King up against Ron caps and look at the hole shot as caps

Takes the win identical elapse times and then it was Gary C four whole shot losses this season wow Del Worsham who won here in 2004 now let’s go down to Gary Gerald he’s with Gary celi back in Gary sel’s transporter obviously huge disappointment for him and this team as a defending Champion he

Comes back you’re taking a look here at a replay of your launch what have you learned well I learned that Dell was first off the line but it look like I was that bad um I took a little bit off the star line I didn’t roll it in deep

Because I knew what force had ran the round before and um you know the car the yellow lights on and the car is moving forward and then the green goes so but I’m watching the pre-stage on Dells and the light goes out first I mean he’s obviously ahead reaction time is better

But you know it’s just one of those things that just you feel like an ass when you let your team down they come back and they analyze it frame by frame but it doesn’t change the outcome of that pair so here’s the ladder in funny car now Forest against waram height and burkart

And on the other side of the ladder we got Cruz Petron and Eric Medlin Barton and caps with Medlin and caps having Lane choice and when we come back it’s going to be Cory mclenan who is ready to come up against Doug Herbert who knocked off shocker in round one we’ll be right

Back and we welcome you back to uh slightly overcast but still beautiful floorida day the NH Power Aid drag racing series and the AC Delco Gator Nationals one of the big ones in the event I’m I’m a little hesitant uh Allan Johnson in the booth this early who you

Got your first win here as a crew chief though back in what 88 88 yeah with my brother it was his first national event win it was uh you know we thought we were going to have some real good luck in Gainesville after that but it’s been

A tough road yeah standing here now has got to hurt well let’s take a look at the ladder as we’re ready to go here Herbert mcclanathan Lucas and Troxel and then Dixon and Keta and grubnic and Vander first pair on the line ready to Go oh nice little race there PL of moves forward Dixon’s got a problem ho shot is the key boy what a great drag race though that’s kind of unusual on two points usually Larry Dixon doesn’t get beat on a hole shot very often and also you usually don’t see that thing on fire

Going through the lights no it’s uh that’s unusual you know Donnie Benner’s been doing a great job with that thing lately and uh wonderful job this weekend qualifying on his at 54 in his last run and the 56 there as the track heats up still good and Doug Keta did a great job

Had almost you know little over 300 of a second Advantage off of the starting line Larry Dixon didn’t have a bad reaction time but it just wasn’t good enough as we watch him go down the racetrack he’s run 270 mph at the eth let’s see right there cylinder goes out

Do you think might be a little rev limiter deal there well it could be I’m sure it is it’s coming into play here cuz the tires are slipping a little down track so it comes in a little early and could have dropped a couple holes and

Then uh looks like it might have knocked a rod out of it remember the rev limiter comes in to slow these cars down by taking ignition timing out when it sees a little bit too much RPM and that sets us up now for Herbert and mcclanathan let’s go check in with Gary

Gerald now Dua you’re one of the drivers who has consistently been on that brand new Goodyear Tire through the first two events and through all of the testing do you feel like that’s put you and your team ahead of the curb at all you know I’ve just been telling everybody wait uh

Wait until we’re done on Sunday and I’ll tell you but uh you know braon and Connie they’ve stuck with the thing and and you know we’re obviously behind him on that so we’re hoping to carry it through and uh you know this m tools distrib car uh is a strong run we got

Out there I mean it was exciting for me threw the Bell off right at the finish line and you know I figured Larry was going to go by us but he didn’t so uh we’ll take the win for sure you bet you on to the next round

Thanks so back up at the start line ready to grow go with Herbert mclenan mclenan will start over there on the left side here we go oh right Away and Herbert takes that win was like in the first round when he ran out came up against you Allen smoke the tires and he gets the win makes a decent run but uh you just that was a good run 457 I mean that’s you know that’s they struggled in

Qualifying they got it together first round and uh continue here that’s you know a couple of different points of view for you Mike I think Allen’s right I mean it’s just you give uh crew chief Wayne D enough time he’s going to figure it out just keeps getting a little bit

Better and better heat of the day 450 7 I’m sure they’ll be relatively happy with that look down track that starts to drift towards the center line a little bit but long as you don’t cross it you’re fine and he’s into the semifinals let’s go down to the far end

Again Gary’s with Herbert and D we were mentioning yesterday in our qualifying show that your sister Heather captain in the Army you’re in a rock back she got here just in time for you to punch your way into a solid qualifying position is she the good luck charm this weekend

I’ll tell you what if she is I’m going to have to write the general and see if I can get him to let her off more days to come to the DFT Graces I can’t say enough Snap On Tools uh with uh Wayne dup uh everybody that we got on board

Everybody’s working really hard on this car we’ve had a we had a heck of a winter and uh with uh race brecks and uh and and auto light everybody that has came on board with us man I I can’t stand enough we’re going to we’re going

To win this race here pretty soon all right thanks back up at the line it’s the Aussie David grubnic and Bob Vander J UPS car for Vander and they’ve got a lot of corporate folks here lot lot of sponsorship involvement this weekend so far they’ve been doing a great job and

Bob Vander came into this round having Lane Choice he chose that left-hand Lane the majority of the teams the only one in the first round was actually Lee beard and Rod Fuller the initial car out that chose the left hand lane that had Lane Choice the reason he did he ran up

Great 452 in the first round so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that left lane do you Allan no there really isn’t I think the only issue is down there probably around 7 6 700 ft there’s a bump and if I guess if you hit it just

Wrong you know you could it could make you smoke the tires but track’s cool enough right now I don’t think it’s going to come to play Vander beat Hillary will in first round Rob to beat Cowan beat cow that was a race of the Australians for Australian bragging rights

There so I think basically both of these teams are comfortable in the lane they have I’m sure David grack has no problem being in that right hand lane no I don’t think so I think it uh couple of mid-50s here probably and Vander Griff lights up right at the starting line and gives

Grubnic the win that was a bit of a surprise here now do you think do you think that’s a tire cuz I’ve heard people say that that a tire tire on the initial hit of the throttle gets a little touchy sometimes and we’re seeing some spin there no I don’t know about

That this track could be a little bit tricky I think the tire is fairly consistent from what I’ve seen but you know that team is uh they’re pretty new this year they haven’t got a lot of uh you know stuff on Sunday so you know you

Can expect that once in a while we watch David grubman go down track nice straight clean run again into the semi-finals well Pro Stock will be coming up a little bit later and uh Dave Reef we’re looking forward to that you bet as are the Ladies down here at the

Time slip Booth out at the far end of Gainesville Raceway they like to have a little fun now please believe me it is not biased they do like Greg Anderson but let me tell you how they’ve sweetened the pot for the Pro Stock drivers not named Greg Anderson should

He be knocked off today that driver will earn 1 2 3 4 5 six boxes of Tootsie poxs this is actually something that started a couple of years ago when Greg won here for the first time it began as one box well now you can see that it’s grown to

Five and while it was six but I can promise you that we’re going to have a good time back in the pits after this race gets over Pro Stock to come though s right hey thanks for the suckers boy that better come by here Dave and then bring to the top end

Reaper on way baby Morgan Lucas and Melanie Troxel coming up Melanie has had a terrific year thus far Melanie Troxel is the only Top Fuel driver to appear in all eight rounds this season and she’s won seven of them backed by the team that won two straight championships can Troxel continue her

Early season success well there’s Melanie Trel Richard Hogan is her crew chief you got some experience there yeah me uh Richard go way back and uh he’s doing a fine job um you know two teams went together and built that car and he’s taken over from there and he’s doing quite well how

About the job Melanie’s doing I mean what do you think she look like she’s just getting better and better every race oh sure you know it’s not easy driving one of these cars and you know she had a you know a year where she didn’t do a lot of driving so getting

Used to a car that runs 440s isn’t all that easy so she’s doing well Morgan Lucas on the left wow grifted a little bit over toward the line but Melanie Troxel takes that win with a 472 Bo I think she’s breathing a sigh of relief on that one you’re going to see

We watch a replay she gets jump off the starting line good launch and boy Morgan just just basically spun the tires early probably wi that tire shake and look how close she gets that thing to the center line I mean she really ared it around then the cylinders went out because the

Chassi unloaded started spinning the tires I’m sure that had nothing to do with the rev limiter at that point it just flat got out of the groove and started to spin the tires watch this I mean it’s run pretty good down there and then all of a sudden as a clutch starts

Coming in this thing makes a move over towards the center and she has to jerk the wheel cuz at that point it was about ready to drift over the over the center line on board look good bye Melanie you can see even there C moved over to the

Left question is can she drive question answer Melanie Troxel there’s the way they will then match up in the semifinal Melanie will face Doug Herbert and it’ll be Doug Keta and grubnic with team match up going for us there huh it’s going to be funny cars when we

Return to the AC Delco game Gator Nationals from Gainesville Raceway in Florida go go home and watch you got a choice for me it going so what’s it going to be you got a choice to me if you really want it you can go hard go

Home you got a choice to me St qu you go hard go home you got AO do you it and it’s time for the funny car comes out second round action here is the Lanner for you Forest moram Heiden burkart Cruz pedron and Medlin and Barton and caps right now we got Eric

Mlin and Cruz peton on the Star Line Cruz had to backel his way into this round Eric mlin ran a 482 but they’ve been having a lot of trouble breaking a lot of engine parts this weekend there is and medin takes it a 482 321 mph boy that was Eric medin from start

To finish left on Cruz pedon and just pulled away makes a nice run and the one good thing is it looked like it was nice and clean at the Finish Line something we haven’t seen in the last couple runs from him yeah it was clean it did uh didn’t

Dro any holes down there wasn’t mixing them up and uh I’m sure they’re happy with that yeah what’s the difference in you know we always talk about top fuel in funny car what’s the hardest part and you’ve tuned both of them what’s the hardest part about tuning a funny car

Versus a Top Field Drager uh you just have to be a little bit more conservative with funny car you know you get a lot away with a lot more you know you can have those home run shots with a funny car that uh or with a dragster

That you can’t get away with with a funny car so they’re just a little bit a little bit harder to you know get aggressive with all right let’s send you down to the far end again Eric medin is with Gary Gerald Eric medin said did I do something wrong it’s quiet down here

No that was just a solid 82 how good did it feel it was felt real good Gary you know uh I think all the pieces stayed where they were supposed to stay for once but uh we’ve had a little trouble here this weekend with our syntech Ford

But the guys are doing a great job back there and I can’t say enough about Jason Morton and Zach cedr and Brian mgra coming back to give his hand a little bit last round but we got plenty of guys out there and we got some great oil and

Some great parts so we’ll see what happens the rest of the day just want to wish John and Robert some good luck and uh like I said you know you can’t say enough about these guys they’re the ones that make it happen so thank you bet thank

You Melanie trel’s car comes back to the pits get to work on that get ready for the next round and fortunately it looks like that’s going to be uh pretty routine for them yeah even though it spun the tires out there in the middle and it got loose

And probably put some C out but I don’t think she was in the throttle long enough by hting Parts you Allan no it looks like she she pedal it once down there after she straightened it out but I I doubt that there’s too much damage and so that’ll bring up Tony

Barton who defeated head in round number one and he will face Ron Caps Cap’s the only one with the older body he’s in the stratus and we’ve seen the charger and the rest of the team yeah both the Chargers are out right now Stratus is still in but I don’t think that had anything to do with the body no I really doubt

It this is a good match up here Tony Barton’s been having a pretty much a career weekend for him in funny car Bron caps is going to have to have his work cut out for him well bone gave it to run but caps takes the

Win so it’s caps with a the 481 317 foul on Barton side red light Barton just took a shot at the tree you had a bad reaction time in the first round I got to believe that probably affected him he wanted to gear up for it and just kind

Of took a shot and missed it by only 7,000 of a second but it wasn’t going to make any difference looked like he might have spun the tires down track or possibly even broke something as a result Ron caps is in the semifinals well just kind of any way you

Get there though isn’t it right yeah it’s whatever it takes I sure I don’t care if they red light or whatever when I can get how about you Alan I would have taken a red light first round back in grck fits they’re working on the car Dave himself there working with the

Parachute has the bragging rights in Australia as you mentioned might done now after that first round match up against T and how long does it take your guys basically to I mean we always talk they got 75 minutes between rounds but actually once they get it there pull

That engine apart put it back together and fired up what is a normal time for that H you know if they’re really pushing it humping in like 19 to 20 minutes 19 to 20 minutes to rebuild the complete engine put a clutch in it fire back up that’s

Amazing we do uh one of the exercises we do is when we test we try to make five runs in one day so we’ll stay start at at 11: and and finish at five and make five runs in between so so you guys had to kind of use that to test your crew

Out too we do yeah we do back over in the Trel pit as they get ready as well boy it’s amazing to see how fast the heads come off and everything that’s those are some pretty spectacular numbers Alone 17 18 minutes well now back up at the far end

Gary Gerald is with Ron caps Ron caps that looks like a routine one but I’m wondering is there ever a routine run when you’re Wheeling one of these beasts no first I want to Don maer’s mom was a little sick he left for the week and

Just got back so I want to say hope she’s watching and uh we’re going to do good for her but but guys back at the shop they they don’t get any Kudos you hear NASCAR guys saying I want to thank the guys back at the shop but we got

Guys in Brownsburg that big shop that are watching and listening and the internet and everything and they don’t get any any uh but look behind we got army guys they’re out first round are down here ready to help us and that’s great but like you uh you asked me I got

To tell you the red limiter thing there’s a whole new deal that popped up this weekend and with a slip tube it’s getting up there and getting on the chassis and when it hits the limiter it’s hit it twice bad here at 1200 ft and it unloads a car and I thought it

Blew a tire it took me to the right hard so it’s doing weird stuff but uh you know we’re trying to keep going around as Forest is breathing down our neck and uh it’s fun I guess there’s no such thing as a routine run in a funny car

Seems to be the answer in two weeks drivers in the world’s fastest Motorsport move into Houston Texas for the O’Reilly Auto Part Spring Nationals ESPN 2 will have coverage of qualifying on April 1st no honestly on April 1st at 8:00 in the evening then ra NH today

Sunday April 2nd 11:30 in the morning in the East and then the finals on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 coverage of the O’Reilly Auto Part Spring Nationals is also available in high definition on espn2hd call your cable operator or satellite provider today boy and here is

A great match up here John Force and Del Worsham nobody ever takes Dell Worsham lightly and I mean he can take you out at any time and John Force knows he has to be ready for this race yeah John Force can’t take him likely because Dell be for’s going the win here in

20 but not this time with a 479 322 mph it’s John Force boy but still a great drag race I mean Del Worsham had about 100th of a second Advantage off of the starting line is almost enough but his 481 came up just a little bit short of

John Force’s 479 we go back look down track here both cars pretty straight John St drift for a little bit but then reeled it back in just a great side by-side drag race Allan yeah I think force was even in a little bit deep so that was a pretty good run Austin’s got

A pretty good grip on that thing this year I think he’s made some clutch changes over the year and uh it’s working for him what do you think of Austin Coyle obviously as a crew chief I mean what makes him so good well for one he’s got a big database behind him for

Starters and you know he’s obviously a pretty brilliant guy and he’s uh you know he’s an innovator and um he Works real hard at it and uh it pays all right let’s go to Dave Reef he’s with grubby right now you bet gnik of course running that 2420 doing so all

Season long and congratulations you are going to your first semi-final I now it’s fantastic and uh you know we struggled earlier on in the year but you know we’re getting a handle on this tire we got great sponsors in strion and M tills Technic Co Red Line they’ve

Supported us and Connie jono I can’t say enough about him man we’ll we’ll just keep going rounds and see how it goes second round anytime we’re down here I love spending time with this gy Shirley mold the legend we want to congratulate you on induction into the international

Drag racing Hall of Fame this weekend thank you yeah it was quite an honor quite the honor what was it like being in there amongst your peers and being honored once again yeah it definitely made made me feel as old as I am but uh I knew that that was the ultimate

Recognition in Drag Racing well we certainly love you and congratulate you thank you back up to Paul it’s always good to see Shirley Mal Downey lady and pink and looking top in Ron cat’s pits right now the car back ready to go to work it’s a ballet isn’t

It yeah they uh they can’t get mixed up in there that’s everybody needs another job Phil burkart Jr on the line now Phil burkard he’s been known as the Giant Killer and he’s up against Robert height we know Phil I mean he can take out the the Champions left and right he’s done

It with Gary seli and John Force now he’s up against John’s teammate Robert height with his crew chief Jimmy proc there one of the best in the business of making horsepower once again just like Dell you can’t take Phil for granted but uh I’ll tell you what watch

Out oh now there’s a race height with a 479 321 mph wow how about Phil burkart now an 07 reaction time and all he had an 05 I think in the first round I mean if if he’s guessing he’s guessing awfully good I would say I don’t even

Think he’s deep staging that much he’s just uh either wired to it or he’s guessing man but still was enough Robert height and Jimmy proc with that 479 horsepower just uh pulled drove basically drove around uh Phil burkart not a whole lot wrong there no tire Shake looks pretty smooth Robert doing a

Great job keeping that thing stuck right in the middle of the middle of the lane there so here are the matchups in funny car for the semi five finals uh it’ll be John Forest who will have Lane Choice over Robert hey and Eric Medlin Ron caps will face

Him and caps has rain Lane Choice well it’s been good having you here but uh you understand if I say we really don’t want to see you back well I don’t want to be here again to be honest with you now I’ve enjoyed this you know

If it happens to have be in the cards again maybe I’ll be up here but I I hope that doesn’t happen anymore I’m sure it won’t well coming up it’s going to be Pro Stock big matchup coming up Erica Anders and Jason line stay with Us we welcome you back to Gainesville Raceway for the AC Doo Gator Nationals the crowd is ready as are we for Pro Stock the professor Warren Johnson is running down career win number 100 his victory in Phoenix was Number 96 and it could not have been sweeter Johnson’s

Win in the final came against his former crew chief at three-time defending Champion Greg Anderson the professor is back and class is back in session yeah but he’s in the middle of kind of a verbal barrage with Greg Anderson he says Johnson if he isn’t

Ahead of me by the Eighth Mile then he’s toast and Greg Anderson he fires back and I quote I guess he’s got to talk when he gets a chance because he doesn’t have that many moments in the sun anymore he got an easy one he shouldn’t

He should have lost in the first round the second round and the final he just got lucky bottom line ongoing chapters yet to be written so we want to show you some highlights in Pro Stock elimination and we’ll start with Warren Johnson up against Larry Morgan yeah that’s right Morgan takes the win

Then V gains and Greg Stanfield yeah but everything that mattered here really back at the starting line with a red light Ricky Smith Jim Yates and that’s Smith with the 670 205 mph off of the hole shot Tom Martino and Ricky Stevens Martino takes the win bringing up Max Naylor and Edwards Naylor just coming off an accident to get here a red light by Edwards that gives Naylor the win And want Erica oh yeah and the crowd loved it how about Erica getting the win on a hole shot she got the advantage off the starting line over Jason line held on to the finish line to get the win great Job she runs through the gear right now she’s just looking over see if Jason’s there he’s coming on fast but just ran out of real estate oh yeah he he got to feel good there Greg Anderson Dave Howard continuing Pro Stock coverage Anderson with a 666 at 206

Mph with CG Anderson he had to drive around Dave Howard who got the jump off the star line but that horsepower on the other end he was able B to do it yeah look at that finish though that’s very pretty and then up came Allan Johnson and Ron chrisher red light once

Again this time for Johnson and Allen moves on Ron moves on let’s go down the far end Erica and Gary Gerald The Familiar colors of Erica Enders machine Slammers the ultimate milk is their sponsor they’ve about 100 people from their headquarters in West Palm Beach here today they are excited

As well they should be how excited are you when you knock out a number two qualifier in Jason line oh we’re extremely excited The Slammer ultimate milk crew is here Bravo Foods are here there’s not a better place to take out Jason or Greg or somebody you know

They’re tough they’re a classy bunch of guys and we really love them to death but we’re we’re so happy to go up there you know we knew we had to bring our game we didn’t make it down the track a couple times this weekend um but we

Brought it today and I’m ready to go confidence is soaring in case you hadn’t noticed that so in Pro Stock here is the way it stands right now Anderson and Stanfield and Naylor and Martino will go against one another trying to find out the results for the

Semifinal and on the other side we got Derk Anders and Ricky Smith Morgan and chrisher with Ricky Smith and Larry Morgan having the lane choice and in Pro Stock Motorcycle they’re uh looking for parody this year some rule changes to get us there writing the momentum of his historic run

At Gainesville Andrew Hines took home his second straight Power Aid championship in ‘ 05 and along with his teammate GT tonglet a onew highly finish in the standings but had the offseason rule changes given Suzuki Riders the upper hand in Pro Stock Motorcycle we’ll go back and look at the round one

Highlights there the first pair coming up Dino scall and Matt Smith and the problem on the far side D it the scall all the Way good race there but the whole shot win really pay off for Sean Karen coming back after that bad accident comes up against Craig treble And Karen takes the win on the whole shot there are the intervals look at that a great race actually Craig treble was ahead of th foot and then she went on by once again just good side by side race Mike Barry and Chip Ellis Mike Barry red light and America’s Georgia chip Ellis

Goes on to take that win on the red light brings up Andrew Hines and the defending Champion here Steve Johnson Johnson on the right side and it’s goodbye to Steve Hines moves forward Ste just signed a major sponsorship with snap on it looks like the bike just kind of moved over towards

The wall and he finally had to get out of the throttle all he could do is watch yeah you notice he had a sign asking for a pro St crew chief call it andron brown on the left side Brown against Wesley Wells anron moves forward and it was to santis and Ryan Schnitz Schnitz had three wins last year the most of anybody in proto motorcycle and look there he takes that as well with a 708 1886 mph that brought up samp and tonglet sampi on on the left

Side the winningest female driver in all NH history is she on her way to another one it looks very possible and how about Karen stoer let’s go down to Gary Gerald it was of course just 5 months ago that this woman Karen stoer underwent a horrendous freak accident in

Las Vegas she ended up with broken pelvis she ended up with broken bones in her face her nose her hand of course that operates the clutch and the Motorcycle and after all the rehab you come back you have a stunning first round elimination win is there a giant sense

Of accomplishment or relief or what are you feeling after that first round success you know I was so elated you know I really don’t like beating up on Craig he taught me a lot he taught me everything I knew and we had to bring it

On for that first round but you know we focused so much on my rehab during the winter months on my hand and just exercising and an exercising and I’m so glad that I could pay it back for the team and win the race on a whole shot

Because it was a question mark we never knew coming into the season if it was going to be back and uh we showed early on and it was back so I was elated it was just it was it was pure joy this is an amazing story and it’s great to have

You back with that big smile oh thank you I’m so happy to be here and good to see that smile as well big matchups coming up then schnit scall Ellis s Brown Gan and Hines and staer that’s the way they set as they’ll take a look for the semifinals some

Great matchups including in Pro Stock Erica Anders Larry Morgan and of course Greg Anderson all when we come Back back at the AC Delo Gator Nationals Gainesville Raceway in North Florida and it’s Pro Stock that we are ready to go with now and once again we’ve got a visitor and uh it was your dad C Johnson that originally dubb this thing the The

Penalty Box if you came in here yeah I guess so really it feels like I’m on a prison line up here with Mike and Paul like I did something which I guess we didn’t side there’s the front we didn’t do enough is what the problem was but uh

Just a few Gremlins in the AC duckco Cobalt this weekend and uh we’re going to try and mash them and get them figured out for Houston but the good side of that is you do get to spend a lot of time now with some folks who are

At the track and smooth a little bit that’s good for them yeah I spent about an hour signing autographs this morning which is great for the AC Delco Chevrolet people and uh you know the FR really bring you back to life after after you crawl out a hole this morning

You know trying to get get back on your feet and and they really make you feel good kind of revitalizing absolutely Anders and Smith and it’s Erica whole shot win for that’s two in a row for her today how about that she couldn’t even get this card down the racetrack Harley but one time and qualifying now they’re kind of getting together not running the kind of numbers we saw them in the first two

Races but still with her driving she’s managed to get into the semifinals I’m sure they went back and looked at their notes and made two good runs with the slammer Cobalt like they only made one good run in qualifying and had three bad ones but they put it together on Sunday

And that’s when it counts and and it was a whole shot win I mean she only got about a 6,000 of a second Advance was pretty much an even start but when his drivers are talking with each other but still it’s a whole shot win because she

Ran a slow relapse time and got the win because she got there first because she got off the starting line first yeah take a look at that that’s a rematch of course of round one at Phoenix which would was run one then by Richie Smith so we’re in Balance now oh

Yeah good now it can be even better after final round nice going Erica and the fans love every moment of that as they should now C we are a lot of teams talking about how this racetrack was a little bit loose the first 30 ft for the pro stock cars and

We saw the run one run where you got really sideways when you let the clutch pedal out is it is it still that way here today you think or well it’s been an issue you know the ACW Cobalt’s been making a lot of power and it’s been hard

To apply we’ve been struggling with the first 160 330 ft and the way the racetrack is it’s got a real Co finish to it it’s got almost groes in it on the starting line so it’s been a problem Martino with a 670 205 mph let’s go up to the far end Gary how’s

Erica doing I want to know is this a story book kind of a day away it’s starting to unfold I hope so that’d be wonderful we’re really excited you know that’s Ricky and I’s fifth time to race we seem him to line up against each

Other every time we pull up but we were two and two and now we’re three and two so we’re happy to bring one home for Slammers we got a tough round next round so we’ll see if we can go get them and Ricky had a hug for when he came over after the

Loss don’t forget the next Sunday March 26 the Indie Car Series is in Homestead Florida for the Toyota Indie 300 and you’ll be meeting for the first time in one of those cars third generation driver Marco Andrey it’s the start of what should be a storied career the

Toyota N300 330 on ABC Sports join us then won’t you my old buddy Marty will be working with Scott goodear and Rusty Wallace some of those race car drivers actually have turn left at the end of the straightaway which we don’t really understand do we C at with those two

Also good luck Rusty and Scott probably going over the top of Marty’s head Larry Morgan went to the semifinals at the Winter Nationals Ron has not been to a semifinal round this year he’s coming off a first round loss at Phoenix to Mike Edwards so chrisher with a 668 205 mph

Over Morgan good run for Ron right there at 668 that’s pretty stout Larry’s been borderline all week and run close to Tire shake so that’s probably what happened there yeah yeah he got way loose wow look at that thing slide out he had about 100 a second Advance like

You said they were both didn’t have very good reaction times but look at that spins the tires pulls second gear that thing really moved out there did a great job to hang on but by that point Ron chrisher was gone yeah amazing to see all the movement in the right rear at

That car Dave Reef what’s going on down at Robert Heights fit oh love watching a good Nitro turnaround they have 75 minutes to actually complete the turnaround as far as teams go they actually begin that process at the far of the racetrack the Zeus tabs come off

A lot of the safety equipment that keeps the oil off the racetrack that comes off at the far end by the time this thing gets back to the pit area in just under 10 minutes the bottom end guy will take the oil pan off take the main bearings

Out everything in the bottom end comes off on the top side same story valve cover comes off the cylinder heads are removed this thing is stripped of Pistons taken down to a bare block and built back up meanwhile behind them the clutch man takes all the clutch discs

Off replaces those you notice that man and a lot of the others have some gloves on why is that well there’s a lot of hot Parts as hot as 800° you got to keep yourself protected as far as hot goes well that describes John Force Racing as a whole as all

Three cars are into the semifinals for the first time since Robert height has been a part of this team they are guaranteed at least one car to the finals possibly two if Eric medin should beat Ron caps everybody chasing that elusive Gainesville Wally though but man I love watching turnarounds they’re

Awesome oh they are it’s something to see all that work Greg Anderson has been to the finals first two races of the Season he’ll take on Greg Stanfield who has never beat Greg Anderson in their prior six meetings including the semis at Phoenix this will be a tough race right

Here both of them are good on the tree stanfield’s been real good um I hope Greg wins that again well now that you’ve done that on uh on National Television if it doesn’t work out you’re going to be in trouble they’ll blame you he’s got 1200 well carries it there upset run [Applause] wow Stanfield the 666 at 205 milph what a great job by Craig Stanfield the 12 you were talking about Kurt 12,000 of a second Advantage off the starting line over Greg Anderson and then even ran quicker 666 with a nine to a

667 with a zero 1,000 of a second quicker what a great drag race excellent Run for the piranha Z car back and look at Greg Anderson’s on board Well GRE had Lane Choice he moved over the right lane maybe when he saw what happened with Larry Morgan in front of him thought maybe that lane was uh going away a little bit could have possibly cost him because it didn’t seem like that lane affected Greg Stanfield at

All so here’s the matchups now for the semifinal round in Pro Stock Stanfield and Martino Stanfield will have the lane Choice there and Erica will take on Ron and ker has the lane choice in that one let’s go down to Gary once again and Greg Stanfield has just come climbing

Out of there I want to know when you knock off Greg Anderson who is a three-time Series champion is that an upset in your mind oh that’s a big upset uh you don’t know how bad I’ve been wanting to be Greg um probably one of the best drivers out there with the best

Team and uh the Royal Purple Bron a z behind us and Don Bart price uh going to the semi-finals how does the 669 sound in your book that’s awesome awesome all the credit goes to our team mik Elliot my brother and Larry hey we’re pumped up

You should be yeah you ought to be career best run that’s really really nice for him so well it’s good to have you here nevertheless good to see you we don’t want to see you as we mentioned a little bit earlier to see you here again

Okay no no more Penalty Box for prison lineup well the AC Delo Gator Nationals the crowd has just a short time here to go down and get something cold and some food and then we’re going to go right back to race SC an at Power Aid series and we welcome you back once

Again to Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville Florida yeah yeah I like that the fans obviously having a great time here we’re ready for the first appearance this season of the Pro Stock Motorcycle and there are the ladders Schnitz scall Ellis samp Brown and Gan Hines and Karen is back after all those

Injuries first pair is already on the line Karen staer and Andrew Hines Karen on the Suzuki getting that extra cubic inch for those engin she’s been running awfully good and Andrew hind not kind of run not really run the numbers he’s been capable of this should

Be a good race hindes won Harley’s first race here in 2004 Ken red lights just missed it by 3,000 of a second she’ been very good on the tree so the winner is Hines on the red light she’ll be kicking herself cuz she threw away 722 Andrew ran a 723 but it

Didn’t matter because Karen threw it away on the starting line in two weeks drivers in the world fastest Motorsports moved to Houston Texas for the O’Reilly Auto Part Spring Nationals and on ESPN 2 we’ll have qualifying on Saturday at 8:00 in the evening then NH today on Sunday 11 :30

In the morning Eastern time and then the finals will come to you on Sunday afternoon 4:00 one Pacific Pro Stock motorcycles continue CHF Ellis and anel sampy onel driving for uh don Shumacher racing up against their old boss George Bryce over there with that SNS bu chip

Bellis with both these bike’s been uh pretty tough so far today s whole shot win for her she did a great job we Karen stoer before was 3,000 of a second too early and got the red light anel Andel sene easy for me to say was 3,000 from perfect now that’s the

Difference between winning and losing because that3 reaction time was enough to hold chip Ellis even though he ran a quicker elapse time and just to explain it while it’s spelled s m p y is really s that’s why I just call her onel that’s the way to do

It anron brown if you saw nhri today saw really great inside look at him his family relationships and Antron he has had probably the best bike from qualifying even though he didn’t end up number one he ran that 702 yesterday and the heat was far better than the next closest

Competitor and and he’s just been running some great numbers he’s got a good chance to win this whole thing today Sean defeated defeated Bradford to get into the run over in the right Lane another red light Sean Gan by 11,000 of a second he miss it andron brown takes down to a 710 Anton brown with a uh 710 and now we have a great matchup coming snitz who had trouble with the bike blew a rear tire and qualifying and still kept the thing

Going I take your back and show you that look at him on the left there 186 mph on left side of your screen I don’t know how that thing didn’t go down he’s just tremendous Rider did a great job to save that then he comes back the next day

Didn’t pH him all he runs that 701 in the next session for the number one qualifying position and thus far low E of the me and Ryan who says here maybe at Houston but unless they get an infusion of money it might be the end of their

Season that’d be tough cuz there’s a lot of talent over there we need to really keep him out here on the postto motorcycle circuit scall former Series champion defeated Smith to get Here scall wow I’m a little surprised at that one with a 71484 from start to finish double 04 Reaction Time 4,000 from perfect Ryan had a good Reaction Time 016 16,000 so he was a little bit behind but the big deal was Gino just flat out run Ryan

Schnitz which I which is a big surprise but great job by the former power a Champion so for the semifinals here is the way they’ll match up up samp and scall and scall will have the lane choice and the other half of the semifinals andron Brown and Andrew hin and brown with the lane Choice there well you remember uh Reeves report earlier well the collection is now in

Order they drop the pops and off they go while they go away we’ll be back in just a minute well the clouds for the most part have gone away here in Gainesville for the AC Delco Gator Nationals the temperatures are beginning to warm up doesn’t scare the crowd away though they’re looking

Forward to some great semifinal and final runs at the last race in Phoenix Top Fuel driver Rod Fuller took home his second career Wall-E but his win was more Bittersweet than sweet in January Rod’s Wife Tammy divorced leaving Rod both shocked and distraught in this power a power time Fuller tells how hard

It was for the past couple of months you know sometimes people think us race car drivers and stars or whatever you know that we’re immune to all these things that and it doesn’t affect us and you know and it really does and uh you know I feel the same

Pain as you know that the next person does turn this way yeah the wife you know Leaving Me is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with and it’s still I mean I’m not telling you today I’m I’m fully recovered from it I mean there’s you

Know there’s a there’s a big a big hole in my heart there was a person that I could pick out besides you know my family she was you know uh an incal part of me getting into one of these Top Field Carters and although Rod still struggles with his emotions he

Attributes his recent success to the support of his friends right here at the racetrack hey these guys here behind me Lee beer and these crew guys are the ones that picked me up and you know uh and got me to the position where I was

Right in the head that I can win this race this deal has been really hard for me but you know it’s like getting thrown off a horse you you you got two scenarios you can walk away from her or you dust yourself off and get right back

On and that’s what I what I did well looking at the ladder now Doug Herbert continues to march on after his first round upset he’ll face Melanie Troxel and Doug Keta will take on Dave Grubnic so the big noise comes up on the line Doug Herbert and Melanie Troxel Troxel over there on the far side Herbert in the near Lane having Lane Choice he CHS that left hand lane kind of been going back and forth a little bit uh today most of the teams

Were in fuel anyway have been taking the right in hand lane but uh we heard Alan Johnson say previously he doesn’t really think there’s a big difference between either Lane other than maybe that bump down track in that left hand lane Herbert is looking to go to his second

Ever final here at Gainesville Raceway he lost the 99 final to Mike Dunn he reminded me of that the other day too he reminded you or you you brought that up nah I think it’s him yeah it’s uh it’s one of those things we us drivers we

Never forget final rounds I can pretty much remember every final round I was in especially the ones I lost Melanie Troxel you got a quick glimpse of her what a season she’s having this should be a good matchup I mean Wayne D really struggled with Doug Herbert’s car coming

In here as did uh Richard Hogan with Melanie tral in qualifying they got together they’ve got lowy the meet they ran that in the first round but she kind of just got a little bit lucky the previous round if she can get her stuck though this will be a good

Race a smoke on Herbert’s [Applause] side and Melanie tril last time uh Top Fuel driver to start the season with with three final rounds in a row was Larry Dixon in 2002 who won the championship That season so what does that hold in store for Melanie

C boy they are hot right now the previous round Melanie drove it out of the group toward the center in left side of your screen not this time I mean she kept that thing stuck right down the middle Richard Hogan gave her a great

Tuneup to run a 452 at 327 milph In the Heat of the day good job yeah there’s going to be one very happy lady going to the finals it’s going to be Dave grnet and Doug Keta the teammates are going to face one another when we return in the top fuel semifinals second Parry ready for our second pair Dave grubnic and Doug Keta and right now Dave Rees is with Richard Hogan and Richard you and Melanie trox will going to your third final in a row what changes did you make to that race car to combat the sunshine here in the semis uh

Just a really bad qualifying weekend got us ready for today we ran so bad Friday Saturday we worked extra hard three consecutive finals nicely done thank yeah if you want to start the only thing could be better is to win three of them M only one1 and leads in the points fight

Another good match up between the teammates here I guess uh jimo talked with Dave Reef between rounds and we always talk about team orders being involved with this he says yeah just tell those guys up in the booth we both going to dive that’s pretty hard to do but I it

Actually kind of happened once back in the cun Nationals a long time ago But grck 456 320 mph his last final on the tour was in Englishtown last year there he lost to Larry Dixon this a good job by Jim overhof Connie KET David grck and the team you see him spraying the injector try to kill that engine here we go back on

Board watching uh David grck just basically they left the starting line together and then David grck just pulled away I think maybe Doug Colette had a cylinder out we’re on board now the car launches just like we’ seen the other two runs I think pretty much stay stuck

Right in the middle of Lane down track kind of May moves around just a little bit but not enough to hurt anything meanwhile over on the other side here’s how it looked yeah just motor was soft there there you see the cylinder out on the left hand side which obviously

Slowed him down quite a bit and allowed his teammate David gret to get into the final round and so this guarantees that we will have a first time Top Fuel winner for the Gator Nationals will it be Troxel or will it be grubby that’s the final round as it’s

Set up when we come back yeah it’s these guys noisy rude and fast the funny cards here we go go it on baby go go never going to stop nobody’s going to slow us down we go round after round after [Applause] round this telecast is available on ESPN2 HD and boy the pictures in HD are just Crystal Clear first time since Robert hey has joined the team that all of the force cars are in the semifinals Medlin and caps will be first pretty amazing feed even for John Forest

But uh right now Ron caps wants to put Eric Away well for Medlin it goes up right after the start line and Ron caps will move on to the final medlin’s last win on the tour was over Ron caps last year at Memphis but not to be here you can see the tell toe signs telltale signs of

That panel blowing out right side of your screen Eric mlin has been Pro having problems all week long this time it came at a most inopportune time because Brun caps was laboring down through there he only ran a 487 I know they were trying to run better than that

But it just sound like the engine had some cylinders out or was just some sort of problem it didn’t run the kind of number I’m sure the ace was looking for but it’s good enough to get him in the final let’s go well how about it the Ace

Mulla he’s over wrenching Now Dave Reef what’s he think well what what does Ed the ace Mulla think you’ve been uh having to deal with the tuning conditions today Cloud Sun but you got it done well right now our biggest obstacle is Team Force I mean uh three

Against one that don’t really seem fair but uh we got one of them there so we’ll see who we get next round uh conditions are what they are is all we can do is go race them good luck to you and as far as that goes take a look behind me here the

Cars have already actually stopped but John Force Robert height just performed a lane swap it was John Force who has the lane Choice he chose the right lane cuz Ron caps just went right down there and seems to be an appropriate time now for this week’s brute essence of the

NH if you’ve been watching the last couple races one thing you probably noticed is a lot of drivers having problems getting their parachutes out now here in the funny car most of the drivers in the past and still now have the parachute levers mounted up on the

Roofs when the body’s lowered it’s up up above you one drawback to that is you have to loosen your Armory restraint so much it becomes kind of dangerous another option the drivers have is a push button you’ll see that in Top Fuel and funny car simply push the button out

Come the parachutes and one thing we have over here on the brute team is when they lower the body these levers that are mounted here end up right here during the run now all I do about 1,000 foot Mark is reach over hit those levers and look here’s my hand right on the

Brake very safe very simple now one thing we’ve noticed here at Gainesville you won’t have a problem with that you could probably make 330 mph and stop with the brakes only very long shutdown looking over there on the left Robert height who won the Winter Nationals got a lot of people think that

The parachute problem has been aerodynamically related to but most of it has been mechanical you know basically the handles have been breaking and so for so it’s just one of those ongoing things Robert height who won the Winter Nationals is only final of the season and he faces the man John Force

Looking to go to his second consecutive final this season it would be his 11th final here at [Applause] Gainesville and it’s going to be John fors with a 475 323 mph and the crowd happy with that one John Forest moves to the final round what a great drag race we talk

About t- mors here there there hasn’t been t-s for a long time I don’t even know why we talk about it anymore cuz everybody’s pretty much racing heads up and John obviously did the same thing Robert had slight Advantage off the starting line thousands of a second and John was

Able to drive around and get the win with a 475 at 323 mph take a look at that as they come to the line you see John just basically came around on the other end to get the win as basically Robert slowed down to only

336 mph at the finish so for the final matchup in Top Fuel Ron caps and John Force be the 10th time that they’ve gone head-to-head with one another in the finals Forest leads in that battle 7 to2 we’ll be Back oh yeah it’s time for Pro Stock here’s Erica at the AC Delo Gator Nationals and as we show you the latter not one driver in Pro Stock has ever won the class here at Gainesville so we’re looking for a first time winner Mike D yeah this is

Going to be a great matchup here I mean Erica Enders was you know really struggling qualifying but boy her driving has got her to this point in the semi-finals she’s just done a great job but gr chrisher he’s got some big horsepower under the hood there when he

Gets that thing hooked up it makes some really good runs yeah but Erica has won her first three whole shots so she sits over there on the left we’ll see how she does Ron chrisher on the right never been to a final here at Gainesville deed like

Cher Erica doesn’t even have to work for it with the red light she takes the win and moves to the final Zack greater what that’s just a situation Ron chrisher knew she’d been on the tree all day long and knew that he could not give anything

Up to her off the starting line he just pushed it a little too hard missed it by 7,000 of a second Mike D it’s funny that you said that that’s exactly what Ron chrisher told me just moments before pulling into the water box he knew that Eric Anders

Had been driving well and he knew he had to push the tree so that red light probably not going to be a great surprise to him well he did push it he paid for it and Erica she’s going to move forward to the final round is that great or What in two weeks drivers of the world’s fastest Motorsport moving to Houston Texas it’s the O’Reilly Auto Part Spring Nationals and on ESPN 2 we’ll have qualifying on Saturday April Fool’s Day at 8:00 in the evening eastern time and and then NH today comes up Sunday

Morning at 11:30 and the finals at 4: in the afternoon all that from Houston let’s go to Gary Gerald well first there was a couple of whole shot winds now a red light makes it kind of an easy pass for you against Ron chrisher you’re going to the finals is that sinking in

Right now oh it’s awesome you know the whole way down the track I seen him ahead of me I had no idea that he red lighted so I’m going through the beams I hit my shoots and I’m like crap you know he just beat us my guys come on they’re

Like he red light he red lighted so we’re going to the finals and so so excited Slammer ultimate milk is here once again and Bravo Foods we’re so happy to have him on the car this is awesome go turn it around thank you and as Mike dun suggested those early hole

Shots may have P pushed the psychology of that thing and helped out with that win definitely makes the driver think you got two good drivers here right now Greg Stanfield Tom Martino Tom Martino seems like he can sit out two years and come in act like he never took a day off

Just a pure natural driver great Stanfield also one of the best drivers I think out there he knows how to Win and there we go Martino look at that identical ETS wow what a drag race identic like you said 670 the difference was on the starting line neither driver let me I want to make sure you guys understand this neither driver has anything to complain about they did great jobs Tom Martino

And 04 light to Greg stanfields 07 light that was the difference by 3,000 of a second advantage that Tom Martino got off the starting line was what got him the win light and into the final round of the Gator Nationals you know what Martino will be going to his second

Final round in a borrowed race car he was runner up in the finals last season and to Jack M excuse me Jack cin in a Larry Morgan car so here’s how they will line up Martino and Erica Martino he’ll have the lane choice for Pro Stock finals at the gator

Nationals yeah you’re right that’s [Applause] great there’s s sitting on her Pro Stock Motorcycle ready for the semifinal matchup as she’s about to take on Gino scall two former power a Champions going at it here in the semi-finals at the gator Nationals both Riders doing good

Jobs up to this point anytime you get to the semifinals at the gator Nationals you got to be doing a good job but I we watch anel on a couple runs get totally sideways on that bike and qualifying in one one of the runs she just reeled it

Back in Andel three time power eight Champion scall he’s been a champ once red Light R SC just a minuscule mistake and it’s all over s will go on and they now have a chance for three female Pro winners when this day is over let’s go to Gary Gerald let’s check in here with Tom Martino and what an interesting story the last time he was

In a finals he was in a borrowed car from Larry Morgan at the end of last season now he’s in a borrowed car from V gains and you’re in the final again who you going to borrow from next I don’t know I work for Bob Benz and and he’s

Got a pretty good hot rod I’m thinking maybe I’ll borrow his at the next race but I just got to be thankful to Bob Benzel Larry Morgan V gains my especially my family you know I’ve been out of racing uh driving and and for 2 and a half years before the World Finals

I was lucky enough to get in there and you know it’s always lucky when you get to the final we have good crew behind me um they called Larry called and said he had some stuff he wanted to test here would I mind driving and Bob benza said

It was okay to do with my my employer and and uh unfortunately Bob he didn’t qualify but he’s hopefully he’s enjoying the day and me be in the finals maybe I go one more round and uh come home with the trophy yeah don’t sell this guy

Short the second semi and it is Anon Brown Pro Stock motorcycles over Hind wow we have an all shoe marer final anron Brown doing the job great ratch time off the starting line to get away from Andrew Hines and then just outow him to the finish and shoeer has got to be

Celebrating now no matter what imagine what it can be like at the end of the day now let’s take a look at our Checker Shucks craigan Tracer well let’s talk about field ejection since the Suzukis are allowed to run them here this weekend although most them are running the carburetor it

Is a system replacing conventional carburation which delivers fuel under pressure in comb in the combustion chamber are in air flow prior to entering the chamber oh my God I feel fuel injection is something that uh you can see across the board in the uh Proto motorcycles this year little celebrating down there you

Bet final matchup Sam p and and brown W big battle within the group we’ll see how it comes out but it’s not good out there right now it’s a clear sky overhead at the AC Delco Gator Nationals and we’re ready for our final rounds we’re going to start out in Pro Stock

Motorcycle and jel is won here in 1999 and in 2003 it’s an all army fight now if Pro St motorcycle there’s the weather you can see that warmed up a little bit Paul 80° but the sun’s getting down in that Horizon it’s going to start cooling off pretty quick still relatively dry

Track temperature still just over 100° density altitude or corrected altitude just over 2,000 ft as we look at angel andron Brown is looking for his first win here at the gator Nationals made his debut here and on paper he has the better bike coming into this final round but uh any

Anything can happen in Drag Racing oh unbelievable you would not expect a brown red light here samp takes the win she now has at least one win in each of her 11 years of being a pro well Antron knew his teammate as good as anybody on the starting line he

Had to push that tree in these proo motorcycles remember they rack very quickly it’s easy to red light on the bikes as opposed to the top fueler funny cars that don’t move quite as quick off the starting line he only missed it by 8 thousand of a second but it might might

As well have been 8/10 it does make any difference onel got the win and Dave Reef has don schacher don schacher who’s got an opportunity for a couple of Gainesville wins today one of them was a sure thing though what your your interpretation of the race hey that was

A great job of that US Army team both Antron and Amel got to say the lady has his number she’s beat them pretty consistently they had identical ETS I don’t know how bad the red light was but they both did a great great job and this team has been just awesome putting this

Program together 8,000 soon way to go for the Suzukis after the rule changes big winner of course is the US Army now it’s could be very interesting sponsorship on both of the Pro Stock motorcycles well no whim woman as every one here in the Pro Stock

Category for the cars both Tom and Erica F out in their Past final rounds so it’s kind of anybody’s guess isn’t it yeah I mean there’s a fact there have never been two female class winners in the same event in the professional categories there are three women in the

Finals this weekend so we can see history made right here this weekend now Erica Enders this is a great matchup these cars are pretty evenly matched on paper and performance- wise so this race could very easily be decided just like in Pro Stock Motorcycle right on the starting

Line Gary Gerald will catch up with anel a little bit later she went all the way down the track G’s got to do some uh running to catch up to her now there’s you know these these two had a little incident at the finals last year when Tom Martino beat her in the

First round on a hole shot they had a few little words at the end of the uh run so there’s you know there’s a little bit here going on before these cars going to say a lot of pressure for both drivers we’ll see which one Rises to the

Occasion Martino in a V gains race car got a glimpse of Erica’s father there who Martino hangs on Erica has her problems at the start line Martino with a 667 205 mph wins the gator Nationals wow neither driver had great reaction times Tom Tom Martino did get the advantage off the starting line

Let’s see if we can tell what happened to Erica probably just SP oh went a spar Tire Shake right off the starting line you saw them big goodar just cued underneath there that was pretty much the end of it but how about Tom Martino

I mean that was a great pass for him in the final round a 667 at 205 mph a well-deserved Gator Nationals victory yeah dad knew it right off Tom’s last win on the tour was at snowman 2001 he used to compete fulltime on the tour until 02 and then he lost his sponsor

Let’s go to Gary and in the Valene Winner Circle here is Tom Martino how good does it feel to jump into a borrowed race car a part-time racer and now hold a wallet uh it feels absolutely undescribable all I want to do is I want

To say sorry to my son Tom he had a big basketball tournament this weekend in Baltimore and I didn’t let him come and he told me for the final if I don’t win he’s not talking to me the rest of his life he’s only 14 so this one’s for him

I want to thank V gains Larry Morgan especially and Bob benah for letting me do this so uh hi Robin sorry you missed it and Bubba that one’s for you I understand right there we’re going to look for anel down here we’ll have her in just a moment Paul okay we mentioned

Right at starting Mike thought how how significant the gator Nationals is you really want to have that win in your portfolio here is John Forest who has plenty of them and Ron caps will come out against him yeah I mean the second biggest race is definitely one of

The majors in our sport it’s the only the only one bigger is a US Nationals so everybody loves to win the gator Nationals let’s go now to Gary Gerald he’s got anel in the Valene winers Circle next pair of winners will be coming toward us momentarily anel congratulations how good does it feel

With a new rules package to come out here after all that great testing and walk away a winner you know it’s I’m I feel kind of weird right now because we had a really bad time just now in the pit anon’s bike blew up and so we had

Some electrical problems with mine and he was working on my motorcycle just as hard as he was working on his so I feel kind of like you know like an Army soldier does we were all working as a team he didn’t want to leave me behind I

Told him I said just go if I can’t race without a shift if I have to race without a shift light I’ll race without one my shift light wasn’t working and he would not leave the pits without me until my bike was done so that’s that Soldier motto we don’t leave any Fallen

Comrades we made it to the starting line late but we made it and the US Army Suzukis are in The Winner Circle both of them cuz we both both deserve this trophy cuz our team is the one that won it for us not me today my team won this trophy today thanks outstanding

Work Ashley Forest looks on John Forest would have his eighth win in funny car here but his first in five years caps has only beaten John two times in their prior nine finals down well Forest fights it early and then drifts over and so it’s Ron

Caps his first ever win at the gator Nationals how about that Ron caps and Ed a MLL you look at Austin Co pretty much disgusted right at that point Andy a mall he’s loving it wasn’t the big number he’s looking for 486 but it got the win because John Force got into Tire Shake early and had to backpedal the car

They refound at the Ace Ace youve won here before Ron caps never has you’ve provided him that Wally well it didn’t run what we wanted it to run we were trying to run a little bit harder than that but uh I I’ve said this before I’ve been lucky in Gainesville and once again

I guess I just got to say that we were lucky so uh but we’ll take a win anyway we can get it Point litter extends his lead now down to the baling Winner Circle in Gary Gerald and the helmet comes off the smile is in place Ron caps

We were talking early today about the value of not letting opportunities get away early in the season how valuable is this win here your first Gator Nationals Victory Gary first of all I’m standing Abby so I’m not as tall as people think I am at home right now uh it’s amazing I

Told you championships are won oh first of all I want to thank AC Delco for putting on this race and uh of course power raid as usual but uh this weekend’s been tough and championships are one when you’re not doing well we’re going to have weekends where everything

Goes great and it’s this weekends where they’re not going so good and you got to get through them and the brute guys did a heck of a job and Dodge and we still got the old Stratus but you know uh uh I don’t know what else to say I mean

Everybody everybody just read the side of the car I mean Super winch uh uh especially brute I mean everything they’ve done it’s been amazing he may want to stick with that old Stratus for a while longer W Cap’s last win here was at the fall Vegas race and we will have a firsttime

Winner in Top Fuel here here at Gainesville as we take a look at Dave grubnic and of course he faces melan proxil last time there was a female winner in top school here at Gainesville was Shirley mold dowy in 81 and again in 82 you could see history be made

Today good match up right here we see crew chief Richard Hogan making the final adjustment for Melanie before she brings her in there’s Shirley mold Downey with my buddy AC Bill there watching on as their man David grck Gets Ready To Stay Stay that strive backed team braer try to get a second

Win well Melanie lights the tires early the win goes to grubnic well Paul it wasn’t very pretty if both cars gotten trouble David grck was a little bit less trouble than Melanie went out there in the tire shake backp it and got to recover and got the

Win good job Dave reef is down with Shirley mney right now and I’ll tell you what Shirley mown has always been in Dave grub Nick’s corner and he did it for you on your special week in the Hall of Fame a race win for the team manager

Does it get any better no it doesn’t get any better and you know there’s one thing about him and even round we talked about it the other night laying in bed that guy is so versatile he can get in any car and he can produce it doesn’t

Matter whe the car fits him or not but he’s probably one of the best test drivers to ever be in the sport so I told him today you must do this for me and he did feeling he did down to the valine Winter Circle once again with

Gary Gerald and of course as grubby comes out they’re just talking with Shirley moldy on a weekend when she is inducted into the international drag racing Hall of Fame what does it mean to you as an Aussie driver to not only win your second career event but to win it

For a woman like Shirley well that’s that this shley this kind it means a lot really but there there’s a lot of people make this happen you know like my guys I got to thank them they’re the best my sponsor strion Dennis Mitch Gina they’re brilliant you know there’s M’s Technic

Red line I have to thank these people they make all this happen it’s brilliant I’m loving it that was fun too when a that believe me well surely loved it we hope you did too well we started out today talking about the new tire all in

All we saw a few upsets but basically we saw some great side by side racing and some very popular wins NCAA women’s basketball championship presented by orbits is coming up next this has been a presentation of ESPN the worldwide leader in sports we’ll see you the first win of April in Houston