EVENT ESSENTIALS:  Summit Southern Nationals – May 13-15^th, 2011  Commerce, GA.               

Jack Beckman rolled to a FC win in the Aaron's sponsored Mopar

Antron Brown Continues Atlanta Ownership

BROWN GETS FOURTH ATLANTA DRAGWAY WIN; BECKMAN, LINE, TONGLET ALSO WINNERS IN ATLANTA

Antron Brown held off his teammate Tony Schumacher as he raced to his second win of the season Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Jack Beckman, Jason Line and LE Tonglet also won in their respective categories at the sixth of 22 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Brown drove his Matco Tools dragster to a 3.856-second run at 318.69 mph  to hold off teammate Tony Schumacher  and earn  his second win of the season, 27th of his career and fourth at Atlanta Dragway (two in Top Fuel, two in Pro Stock Motorcycle).

“It was tough all weekend,” said Brown. “Qualifying didn’t go like we wanted it to of course. But our boys just pulled together like they did in Vegas and when race day comes, the game face goes on. Any given Sunday anybody can win it. We came out here this weekend and just took it one round at a time.”

With the win Brown moved up to the second spot in the Top Fuel point standings, 70 points behind leader Del Worsham, who lost in the first round of eliminations to Shawn Langdon.

In Funny Car, fellow Don Schumacher Racing driver Beckman also collected his second win of the season. Beckman powered his Aaron’s/Valvoline Dodge Charger to a 4.111 at 311.05  to charge past points leader Mike Neff in the final round. The win  was the 11th of  Beckman’s career win and his second win at Atlanta Dragway.

“Any win is good,” said Beckman. “You take everybody serious. But beating a John Force car has kind of got a nice topping on that ice cream sundae if you know what I mean. They are at the top of their game.”

Beckman moved up to the second spot in the Funny Car points standings with the win, 20 points behind leader and runner up Neff.

Jason Line held off teammate Greg Anderson in an all Summit Racing  Pro Stock final to secure his third win of the season and first at his sponsor’s event. Line drove his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP to a 6.600 at 208.42 to get his 23rd career win in Pro Stock.

Jason Line increased his overall points lead in Pro Stock

“It was a good day, it really was,” said Line. “After the semis, Greg and I got down there and we were excited. We felt we needed a miracle to win because we didn’t feel like we performed like we should’ve. But somehow we got it. But Summit won today and that was the biggest thing.”

The final round matchup between Line and Anderson gave the two drivers the first and second place spot in the point standings, respectively.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Tonglet held off the fast-charging Karen Stoffer in the final round to collect his first win of the season and sixth of his career. Tonglet rode his Nitro Fish Suzuki to a 6.924 at 191.62 to get the win and move to fourth in the point standings.

PSM winner LE Tonglet

“We’re really happy with the way that Nitro Fish Suzuki is running,” said Tonglet. “It’s really been a fun bike to ride. It’s so smooth and it’s just hauling butt. There is really nothing more we can do to it.”

With her runner-up finish, Stoffer secured the top spot in the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings, 15 points ahead of second-place Andrew Hines.

The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series continues May 20-22 with the 23rd annual NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas.

Veteran Hoover Cleans Up in GSA Pro Mod

Ed Hoover raced to his first career NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series victory Sunday during eliminations at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Hoover, from Gilbert, S.C., defeated New York’s Mike Castellana in the final round of eliminations to claim the victory. Hoover powered his Trussell Racing ’68 Camaro to a winning run of 5.958 seconds at 240.51 mph, but he ultimately wouldn’t need the strong performance as Castellana fouled at the start in his Al-Anabi Racing ’68 Camaro.

Hoover’s car was consistent throughout eliminations as he posted victories over Raymond Commisso, top qualifier Khalid Balooshi and Rickie Smith in earlier rounds.

In his quarterfinal match with Balooshi, Hoover posted his best time of the weekend with a 5.948 second effort.

Wily veteran driver Ed Hoover won in GSA Pro Mod action

Hoover’s history in Pro Mod racing runs deep as he defeated noted chassis builder Tim McAmis to win the first Pro Mod race in 1990 in Darlington, S.C.  Hoover, who has earned 17 Pro Mod victories in other drag racing sanctioning organizations over the years, also won an NHRA Pro Mod exhibition race at Atlanta Dragway in 2001.

With the win, Hoover moves into second in the Get Screened America Pro Mod Series point standings, 88 behind series leader Balooshi.

The NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series continues June 2-5 with the 42nd annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, N.J.

Posted by:  Zak Elcock

(Bruce Biegler Photos)