NHRA

Atlanta Saturday Qualifying Recap

COMMERCE GA - SUMMIT FastNews - Final qualifying for the 19th annual Advance Auto Parts Southern Nationals took place under more representative conditions for this time of year near Atlanta - sunny, warm, and humid. The result was a lot of tire ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

COMMERCE GA - SUMMIT FastNews - Final qualifying for the 19th annual Advance Auto Parts Southern Nationals took place under more representative conditions for this time of year near Atlanta - sunny, warm, and humid. The result was a lot of tire smoke, but somewhere along the way several teams found the combination needed to tame the slippery track surface and move up the ladder. By the time the tire smoke cleared, Bob Vandergriff, Tim Wilkerson, Warren Johnson, and Angelle Seeling found themselves atop their respective eliminations ladders. Vandergriff moved to the front of the line in Top Fuel in the first qualifying session Saturday, moving Friday's top qualifier, Larry Dixon, one rung down on the ladder. Vandergriff's 4.651 at 305.91 mph came amidst a spate of mid-4.70s runs by the top teams, making the run more impressive than the relatively modest numbers (by today's standards) would suggest. In Funny Car, Wilkerson's Friday-night 4.976 at 287.35 mph was good enough to retain the number one spot, though Cruz Pedregon and points leader John Force took determined shots at that mark, Pedregon with a 4.986 in the first session Saturday and Force with a 5.020 in the second. Johnson's domination over Pro Stock continued Saturday, but his dominance was challenged in the final qualifying session when Richie Stevens made the quickest run of the session. Since that round was run in the worst conditions of the day - hot, humid, and sunny - the feat was even more remarkable since those conditions usually favor Johnson. The sixteen-car field spans just 0.094 seconds, one of the tightest fields in recent events. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Angelle Seeling move to the front of the line with a 7.288 at 179.37 mph in the first session of the day and Matt Hines moved into second position with a 7.298 at 185.31 in the second, 0.002 seconds quicker than Seeling in the final session. The top eight riders are separated by just 0.095 seconds, a tight field indeed for the two-wheel warriors, one that offers the possibility of several upset victories Sunday. In the first two rounds of Pro Stock Truck eliminations, first-round upsets took out the number two and three qualifiers, leaving sixth place qualifier Randy Daniels to face eighth place qualifier Craig Eaton in the semifinals. On the other side of the ladder, number-one qualifier Tim Freeman survived and faces the number five qualifier, points leader Mark Osborne, in the semis. Eliminations action resumes Sunday at 11:00 AM EDT with the first round of Top Fuel. Results provided by the FastNews Network, courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment ** http://www.summitracing.com/ **

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Atlanta Qualifying Order RND two Pro Stock Motorcycle

Next article Atlanta Pontiac Racing Results

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 8 h

Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal

Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

10 h

Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix

Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 10 h

Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello

Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

10 h

Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts