Seattle Friday Wrap Up

Amato, Force, and Johnson Lead Day One Qualifying

KENT WA - SUMMIT FastNews - The first day of qualifying is completed at the 12th Annual Prolong Super Lubricants Northwest Nationals presented by Al's Auto Supply and so far there have been very few surprises as John Force, Joe Amato and Warren Johnson are at the top of their respective fields. Force is the number one qualifier in Fuel Funny Car when he posted a 4.987/304.12 mph pass in the Castrol sponsored 1999 Ford Mustang. Force was the only fuel coupe in the four second range after two rounds of qualifying. Dean Skuza, from Brecksville, OH, fills the number two spot. Skuza, in his 1999 Dodge Avenger posted a run of 5.034/285.05 mph. The top Tony Pedregon; Del Worsham; Whit Bazemore; Jerry Toliver; Tommy Johnson Jr and Cruz Pedregon round half of the field out. Last year's event champion, Ron Capps, is currently qualified in the ninth spot in the field. Joe Amato, from Exeter, PA, used the best conditions of the day to post a track ET record 4.585 second run in his Tenneco Automotive sponsored dragster. Amato broke the one year old 4.590 track record posted at this event last year by Cristen Powell. He was far short of the 318.80 mph record held by Kenny Bernstein. Amato is well acquainted with Seattle International Raceway as he is the defending champion at the event. Doug Kalitta is the number two Top Fuel qualifier with a 4.652/306.05 mph pass. Also qualified in the first half of the field are Bob Vandergriff; Kenny Bernstein; Doug Herbert; Tony Schumacher; Mike Dunn and Larry Dixon. Track record holder, Warren Johnson is the current class of the Pro Stock field and is one of two cars over the magic 200 mph mark. Johnson qualified with a 6.901/200.50 quarter mile adventure. Kurt Johnson is the number two racer in the field and just .008 behind his father. Johnson the younger ran 6.909/200.14. Also in the top half of the Pro Stock field are Mark Pawuk; John Nobile; Allen Johnson; Tom Martino; Jim Yates and Jeg Coughlin. Leading the Federal-Mogul Dragster class is Melanie Troxel in the In-N-Out burger sponsored A/Fuel machine. Troxel ran 5.475/255.87 to lead the qualifying. In Federal-Mogul Funnycar the top qualifier is Steve Gasparrelli in his 1999 Firebird. Gasparrelli ran 5.792/243.41. Qualifying for the NHRA national event will continue on Saturday morning, beginning at 9:15 AM. First up will be the first round of Sportsman eliminations. Professional qualifying sessions are scheduled for 11:30 AM and 2:30 PM. Results provided by the FastNews Network, courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment ** http://www.summitracing.com/ **