COMMERCE — John Force put himself in position to grab a share of the NHRA’s all-time qualifying record with a strong run Friday night in the second round of qualifying for the 31st annual Summit Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.
Force, the Funny Car division’s defending champion, posted an elapsed time of 4.072 seconds and a speed of 310.98 mph, to take the provisional No. 1 spot. Ordinarily that would all but assure him of the No. 1 spot going into Sunday’s finals, since the cooler temperatures in Friday night’s session are tough to overcome in the daytime heat Saturday. But with Saturday’s forecast calling for a break in the heat, Friday’s fast times could be in jeopardy.
Force said he thinks his time, which would tie Buford’s Warren Johnson for all-time No. 1 qualifiers at 138 and be his fourth consecutive this season, should be safe.
“Nothing’s a sure thing, but we’ll see,” said Force, who added that Johnson’s record and his are different, since he races in Funny Car and Johnson in Pro Stock.
“I never raced Warren Johnson,” Force said.
Mike Edwards bolted to the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot in Pro Stock with an elapsed time of 6.606 seconds and a speed of 208.55 mph. He said the qualifying order could be scrambled Saturday.
“If we get cooler weather, it won’t stand,” Edwards said of his provisional qualifying position.
Johnson, the veteran Pro Stock racer from Buford, stands ninth in his 600th NHRA start. His son, Kurt Johnson, ended Friday in 14th place after veering out of his lane during his second qualifying run.
In Pro Stock Bike, Eddie Krawiec, in the last pass of the night, bumped the father-and-son duo of Hector Arana and Hector Arana III to second and third place. Steve Johnson of Irondale, Ala., held onto the 12th spot with his bike, which is carrying the colors of the American Red Cross as part of an effort to raise money for victims of the recent tornados that struck the Southeast.
The only serious incident of the day saw Pat Musi’s Pro Mod Dodge go out of control down the track during a qualifying run. Musi veered out of his lane and crashed into the wall. Musi, from Carteret, N.J., was taken to Northridge Medical Center in Commerce for evaluation, according to a statement from the NHRA.
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