Atlanta Saturday summary

LUCAS, PAYNE ON TOP IN ATLANTA

Commerce, Ga. -- In the final rounds of qualifying for this weekend's $185,875 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Atlanta Dragway Morgan Lucas and Jay Payne grabbed the top spots in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Lucas, of Brownsburg, Ind., is taking a weekend off from the NHRA PowerAde Series where he pilots the Lucas Oil Top Fuel Dragster, to compete in his alcohol dragster where he out ran the field with a 5.344 second lap at 271.79 mph. Lucas is followed by Fontana, Calif., racer Thomas Bayer in second and Aaron Olivarez of Sandy, Utah, in third.

Payne, running out of Claremont, Calif., jumped to the top of the funny car field with a pass of 5.628 seconds at 358.27 mph. Payne is followed by Frank Manzo of Morganville, N.J., in the No. 2 spot. The two racers are locked in a battle for the NHRA Lucas Oil National Championship with Payne needing to win the event to over take Manzo, the current NHRA National Champion.

Michele Costa of Freehold, N.J., and Saddle River, N.J., racer Gerry Russo lead the Comp Eliminator field while Bob Dennis of Shorter, Ala., and John Livingston of Murfreesboro, Tenn., are qualified No. 1 in Super Stock and Stock respectively.

In the division's TracStar Systems Top Sportsman class it was Ronnie Davis taking the top spot out of Swanne, Ga., with a 6.493 second, 214.62 mph lap in his '63 Corvette. Davis was joined by Angie Travis of Conover, N.C., who qualified No. 1 in the Mid-State RV Top Dragster class.

Racing continues Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday with racers competing for nearly $200,000 in cash and contingency awards. Gates open at 8 a.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, children 12 and under are free with a paid adult. Atlanta Dragway is located at 500 E Ridgeway Road in Commerce, approximately 60 miles NE of Atlanta near the intersection of I-85 and Highway 441 in Banks Crossing.

-credit: nhra