NHRA’s first Eastern national event of the 2015 season, the 46th annual Amalie Oil Gatornationals, played out in sunny Florida last weekend….
Spencer Massey claimed his first Top Fuel win of the season during the fabled event held at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville. Ron Capps (Funny Car), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners at the third of 24 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events in the season.
Massey piloted his Red Fuel dragster to a holeshot victory, winning with a performance of 3.882 seconds at 320.74 mph to defending world champ Tony Schumacher’s quicker but losing 3.873 at 313.29 in the U.S. Army dragster. It was Massey’s first win at Gainesville and 18th of his career. The victory moves Massey into a tie with Shirley Muldowney and Darrell Gwynn for 12th on the all-time wins list in Top Fuel.
Top Fuel winner – Spencer Massey
“Tony has been running really strong,” said Massey, who moved to third in points with the win. “I know that he can step his game up and be deadly when he needs to on the starting line. We’ve got four new members on the team and three of four haven’t won a race. Now they’ve won the Gators.”
It was Schumacher’s second consecutive final round appearance of 2015, as he earned a victory at Phoenix in late February. With the runner-up finish he moved to third in points.
Larry Dixon provided the event’s biggest moment – surviving this harrowing incident unscathed on Saturday.
In Funny Car, Capps drove his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T to a performance of 4.115 at 311.05 to take the victory over first-time finalist John Hale. The win was Capps’ first of the season, third at this event and 44th of his career (43rd in Funny Car). The win tied him for second all-time on the Funny Car wins list. Following the victory, Capps moves to second in points behind Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan.
“When you’ve got a race car like today, you almost wait for something to go wrong,” said Capps, who last won in Brainerd last season. “I’ve driven for almost 18 years and I feel like I find myself driving the car as if I am driving something that’s just so far behind the other cars. I think that really helped me this weekend.”
Ron Capps rode his new Dodge Charger to victory in fuel FC.
Rookie driver Hale was appearing in his first career Funny Car final in only his sixth career start. Driving the ALO Drink Dodge Charger for Jim Dunn Racing, Hale defeated 16-time world champ John Force, Alexis DeJoria and Blake Alexander to reach the finals. It was JDR’s first final round appearance since Seattle 2008.
Rookie driver John Hale too the Jim Dunn Racing Dodge to the FC final round.
Anderson claimed his milestone 75th career victory and first in Pro Stock since Englishtown in 2012, when he clocked a 6.538 at 213.43 to defeat teammate Jason Line in an all-Summit Racing Chevy Camaro final round. Anderson’s third Gatornationals win moves him to sixth in the points standings.
Greg Anderson completed his comeback to driving with an impressive win in Pro Stock
“It’s a special day and weekend,” said Anderson, a four-time Pro Stock world champ who had off-season heart surgery prior to the start of the 2014 season. “It was my birthday yesterday so it’s pretty darn cool. A year ago I couldn’t even come to this race [due to the surgery]. It was a great day for Greg Anderson, KB Racing and everyone involved with us.”
Line continued an impressive start to the 2015 season with his runner-up finish. He won the season-opening event at Pomona and this final round result was his 40th career runner-up finish. Line, a two-time world champ, sits second in points.
Chris McGaha was the quickest Pro Stock car after qualifying.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Stoffer defeated three-time world champ Eddie Krawiec in the final with a 6.900 at 195.11 on her Suzuki Extended Protection Suzuki to claim her second victory at this event. Appearing in her first race since Indianapolis in 2013, Stoffer defeated Steve Johnson, Angie Smith, and Shawn Gann en route to the final. The win was Stoffer’s first since Denver in 2011 and her seventh overall.
“We had a lot of heart and a lot of passion,” Stoffer said. “We don’t have a big budget but we certainly have a big heart. We certainly tried to get some high performance out of it and we were able to do it. The boys worked hard, worked till about midnight each night and gave us a good bike on Sunday.”
Karen Stoffer was an unexpected winner in PSM
C7 Scores in First Ever Event!
Michigan’s Bob Rahaim raced to victory in the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing portion of the AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Pro Mod racing at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville was co-presented by the Real Pro Mod Association and Jerry Bickel Race Cars, Inc.
Rahaim powered his all new 2015 TLC Waste Disposal Corvette to a 5.957-second pass at 243.99 mph, defeating Pete Farber’s 8.965 at 107.26 in his ’69 Dodge Daytona in the finals. It was Rahaim’s first career Pro Mod win and seventh career race in the category. Rahaim was the No. 9 qualifier and defeated Mike Castellana, No. 1 qualifier Don Walsh and Troy Coughlin on the way to the final.
Bob Rahaim ran his awesome new C7 Corvette to victory in it’s debut race.
“We hadn’t even won a round of competition before yesterday,” Rahaim said. “First round of eliminations, we were fortunate enough to take that win. We didn’t beat ourselves. I guess the consistency of going down the track every time won this event for us.”
Farber entered eliminations as the No. 6 qualifier. He defeated Mike Knowles, Eric Latino and Troy Coughlin Jr. on the way to the finals. Farber has one career win in four career finals.
The Lucas Oil Lowdown!
Randy Meyer and Ulf Leanders raced to victory in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Auto-Plus Raceway at Gainesville.
Meyer scored this seventh national event win in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series knocking out reigning Top Alcohol Dragster National Champion Chris Demke with a lap of 5.219 seconds at 277.37 mph. The pair left the line together but Meyer slowly pulled away beating Demke by a tenth of a second as Demke clocked in at 5.330, 276.24. Meyer also won here back in 2007.
Randy Meyer drove his injected nitro car to victory in TAD
Leanders, Niksjofors, SWE, captured his first national event win in just his second final round as he took out the reigning national champion Steve Harker, Gainesville Ga. Leanders was out first and led the whole way posting a 5.541 second lap at 261.47 mph to Harker’s 5.626, 256.80.
Sweden’s Ulf Leanders ran the fastest TAFC speed ever while winning his first NHRA race.
Joining Leanders as a first time winner was William Clark, Dartmouth, NS, CAN, in Super Gas who went 10.321, 124.67 mph in his ’00 Firebird in beating Craig Porter, Silver Spring, Md., who left early with a red light foul start.
Canadian William Clark emerged victorious in the very competitive Super Gas class
In Comp Eliminator it was former Super Stock Champion Joe Santangelo winning over another former champion in Al Ackerman. The two were even at the start with Santangelo, Marlborough, Conn., posting at 7.745 second run at 165.33 mph in his ’34 roadster to Ackerman’s 7.971, 169.42.
Joe Santangelo won in Comp driving for team owner Arnie Martel
David Rampy and Kevin Helms both added wins to their impressive careers with Rampy taking his 87th and Helms his 22nd at the national event level. Rampy, Piedmont, Ala., ran down Mike Crutchfield, Montgomery, Ala., in Super Stock going 10.238 at 127.57 mph in his ’87 Camaro. Helms collected a nice .021-second final round package to down Jeff Adkinson, Damascus, Ga., in Stock Eliminator. Helms, Schriever, La., was .018 at the line with an 8.923 on his 8.92 dial in.
Kevin Helms drove his DragPak to a big win in Stock
Super Stock went to David Rampy’s high-flying Chevy Camaro.
John Labbous and Ronnie Davis rounded out the winners this past weekend as Labbous, White House, Tenn., downed Anthony Bertozzi in a double breakout Super Comp final round and Davis, Suwanee, Ga., outran Jeffrey Barker, Kathleen, Ga., in Top Sportsman. The wins were the second for both drivers.
Posted with files from NHRA Communications – Eric Lotz & Bruce Biegler
All photos by: Bruce Biegler & Tracy Waters
To view DragRaceCanada’s extensive Gatornationals event photo gallery click: HERE
