RT66 Friday Qualifying Story

AMATO, PEDREGON, JOHNSON, & HINES LEAD FRIDAY QUALIFYING At Inaugural NHRA Fram Route 66 Nationals

By Ed Dykes

JOLIET, Ill. - SUMMIT FastNews - Any concerns the racers had about traction at the brand new Route 66 Raceway were put to rest tonight when Joe Amato covered the quarter-mile in 4.554 seconds, the third-quickest elapsed time in history, to lead the twenty-six Top Fuel Dragsters in attendance at the NHRA Fram Route 66 Nationals.

Unheralded David Grubnic was the surprise #2 qualifier in Top Fuel, when the Montana racer recorded a 4.629 second elapsed time at just over 309 miles per hour.

In fact, the track produced exceptional times and speeds in all categories, including Cruz Pedregon's 4.889 second / 315.27 miles per hour low qualifier in Funny Car, Warren Johnson's 6.978 second / 196.82 mile per hour run to lead Pro Stock, and Matt Hines' 7.348 second /178.45 mile per hour #1 qualifying pass on his Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle.

One of the day's most impressive performances was Clay Millican's debut in Top Fuel Dragster. In his first career pass down the NHRA quarter-mile, the Drummond, Tennessee resident ran 4.973 seconds at 291.13, which is thought to be the quickest and fastest NHRA debut ever.

Larry Kopp took over the #1 spot in the final round of Pro Stock Truck qualifying today, moving ahead of John Lingenfelter who had led the field thru the first three rounds. Eliminations will be conducted tomorrow for the trucks, NHRA's newest professional category.

This is the debut event at the showcase Route 66 Raceway facility, which has exceeded the expectations of racers and fans alike. The stadium-style seating is a hit with the spectators, who turned out in massive numbers for the weekend's first professional category qualifying sessions today.

Qualifying will continue tomorrow, with professional category final eliminations scheduled to begin Sunday morning.

Results provided by the FastNews Network, courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment ** http://www.summitracing.com/ ** -