Race Wrap: The 2013 Edition Of The NHRA Gatornationals

DRAGZINE’S EXTENSIVE PHOTO COVERAGE FROM THE GATORNATIONALS

Johnny Gray’s Funny Car victory over Del Worsham at Sunday’s Amalie Oil Gatornationals pushed Don Schumacher Racing to the brink of a major National Hot Rod Association performance plateau more than 40 years in the making.
 

And reigning Top Fuel champion Antron Brown’s first victory of the season landed DSR atop the 200-victory plateau at the fabled Gainesville, Fla., track (now called Auto-Plus Raceway). It’s where Kenny Bernstein became the King of Speed and “Big Daddy” Don Garlits proved that the East Coast could produce a bona fide hot-rod legend worthy of the Southern California-born sport.
 
“It was all of us together. It wasn’t just my team. It was all of us together,” Brown said.
 
An emotional Don Schumacher called the feat “a tremendous reward” and said, “My family and I are thrilled and pleased.” Then his voice broke as he recalled that his team won both nitro-class championships with Brown in Top Fuel and Jack Beckman in Funny Car but he had no time to enjoy that moment because his mother passed away the day after the race.
 
“I haven’t had joy, really, since then. Today brings a special meaning to all of my efforts out here for all these years, from the mid-60s to today,” he said.

 “It started in 1970 at Indianapolis, when I was driving my own Funny Car and I beat Leroy Goldstein in the final and won the U.S. Nationals,” Schumacher said. “I’ve racked up only five of those wins. My team members racked up all the rest of them. I don’t look to win 200 NHRA national meets, never thought that would happen — never even considered it.
 
“I’m very proud of what I have accomplished,” said the drag-racing pioneer who will be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega, Ala., in May. “But it’s because of all the people I surround myself with. I wouldn’t have been able to do this by myself. I can’t.”
 
BROWN MORE THAN CRASH VICTIM – Antron Brown used a 3.761-second, 318.77-mph effort on the 1,000-foot course to dash six-time International Hot Rod Association Top Fuel champion Clay Millican’s hopes for a first NHRA victory in his fifth final-round appearance. Millican drove the Parts-Plus / MPE Dragster out of the Bob Vandergriff organization to a 3.813-second effort at a faster 319.67 mph. Brown replaced Tony Schumacher as points leader heading into the April 5-7 SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas. It was his 22nd victory in Top Fuel, his 38th overall, and first at Gainesville. The former bike racer was Gatornationals runner-up in both a dragster (2010) and on a bike (2006).
 
“Our Matco Tools-Toyota guys were in the zone all day. We had to execute because Top Fuel is, by far, the toughest it has ever been. You can’t take any of these guys lightly, because if you do, you’re going home,” Brown said. “To win now, you have to have every piece of the pie. You can’t have three-quarters of it and expect to win anymore.”

 Despite outstanding qualifying (fourth at Pomona and No. 2 at both Phoenix and Gainesville) Brown ignited his biggest buzz of the season with his fiery crash at the Winternationals. Saying he was eager to “put Pomona behind us and keep moving forward.”

 
GRAY’S REVERSAL OF FORTUNE – Johnny Gray vaulted from fifth place to tie with Ron Capps for first place as he drove his Pitch Energy Dodge Charger past Del Worsham and helped team owner Don Schumacher’s organization reach the 200th-victory milestone. He also qualified for the Traxxas Shootout bonus race that will offer $100,000 to the winner during the U.S. Nationals in September.

Being that this is my last year racing, this is just so great. I was pretty disappointed last year — we had a good racecar, and we should have won it [the Gatornationals]. – Johnny Gray

“We’re thrilled to death to win this race early and get in the Traxxas deal,” Gray said after defeating Del Worsham (4.053, 315.49 to 4.100, 303.50) for his fourth victory. “We’re just thrilled to death, period, and we sure plan on winning more this year. This is just fun.
 
“Being that this is my last year racing, this is just so great,” Gray said. “I was pretty disappointed last year — we had a good racecar, and we should have won it.” He was a finalist on Monday at the rain-delayed Gatornationals last year, but he lost out to Robert Hight in a pedaling contest. “But we definitely got our redemption this year. Everyone knows that this is such a historic race, and to finally win this prestigious race with the fans just packed in and everyone just cheering you on like that, well, it’s awesome.”
 
ALL-MOPAR PRO STOCK FINAL – Alan Johnson’s off-season alignment with Jeg Coughlin paid dividends for Mopar, as the two ended up facing each other in the final. Reigning class champion Johnson earned his first victory of the season, beating Coughlin on a holeshot. Johnson had the better reaction time, a nearly perfect .005-second light, and his 6.535-second elapsed time (at 212.59 mph) edged the quicker Coughlin’s 6.514-second E.T. (at 212.26 mph).
 
“I think we’re one of the premier teams in Pro Stock now, and I think anyone would tell you that,” Johnson said after giving Mopar its second Pro Stock trophy in three races this year. (Teammate Vincent Nobile defeated Coughlin at Pomona, Calif., to open the season.) “We’ve got a crew that makes great decisions based on scientific methods and data, and we keep improving those decision-making tools. We’ll be right there again [for the championship].
 
“Everybody asks me why I hired my two assassins, two of the best drivers in the class,” he said. “They make me better. I hope we can go head-to-head a bunch.”

 ARANA JR. WINS BIKE OPENER – Hector Arana Jr. and his father yielded the Pro Stock Motorcycle spotlight to 21-year-old Adam Arana, who was making his pro debut. In the end, Hector Jr. took the bows after beating dad Hector Sr. in the semifinals, then claiming his fourth victory by topping Steve Johnson. Arana Jr., on the Lucas Oil Buell, had a 6.888, 195.65 victory against Johnson’s 6.909, 193.99 on a Suzuki.

Both Arana Jr. and Johnson have been vocal about a need for the NHRA to adjust the rules to ensure more equality. In the off-season, the sanctioning body imposed new rules aimed at parity that forced the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team of Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines to redesign their motors completely. So no matter which finalist won Sunday, the victory marked a departure from Harley-Davidson dominance. A Suzuki reached the final only twice in 16 races last season.

I’m looking forward to close racing, action-packed racing for Pro Stock Motorcycle. I think we [took] a good step forward. – Hector Arana Jr.

“I’m really happy with the class now,” Arana Jr. said. “I’m looking forward to close racing, action-packed racing for Pro Stock Motorcycle. I think we [took] a good step forward.” But he congratulated the Vance & Hines team. “They had to build a completely new motor, and they were able to qualify both bikes and do well.”
 
For Miami-born Arana Jr., it was his first victory since October 2011 at Phoenix. He denied Johnson his first victory in 73 races, since the 2008 zMAX Dragway inaugural at Charlotte.
 
“To grab the race win for Team Arana and Lucas Oil is a big accomplishment, and it proves that having a third bike isn’t going to slow us down but actually speed us up,” the 24-year-old Purdue University engineering student from Milltown, Ind., said.
 
EDWARDS STELLAR – Mike Edwards didn’t reach the final round. But he was the star of the Pro Stock show all weekend until tire shake ended his day in the semifinals against Jeg Coughlin. By the end of qualifying, the I Am Second/Interstate Batteries Chevy Camaro driver had set the national elapsed-time record at 6.473 seconds in the quarter-mile, registered three of the top five ET.s in class history, clocked three of the top five speeds in Pro Stock history, and earned the No. 1 starting spot for the third time in as many races this year.

“It is a great consolation prize that we are leaving Gainesville with the national E.T. record, and more importantly the points lead,” Edwards said. “We have a lot of work still to do. To be able to earn both of those this weekend is giving us real promise when we have it all together and really hit our stride.”
 
NO. 2S NO. 1 IN THE END – Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Johnny Gray (Funny Car), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock), and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all won from the No. 2 starting position Sunday.
 
SMITH NABS PRO MOD TROPHY – Von Smith won the Pro Modified class season-opener in his ’68 Camaro as final-round opponent Chip King red-lighted in his ’69 Dodge Daytona.
 
NO. 1 AGAIN – Doug Kalitta scored his second straight No. 1 Top Fuel start.
 
CREW CHIEF HANGS WITH COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF – Mike Kern, crew chief for T.J. Zizzo’s Peak Motor Oil Dragster, missed Friday qualifying because he was back in Chicago, hanging out with the President of the United States. Kern works at Argonne National Laboratory. The President toured the Lemont, Ill., facility that day and gave a speech about his energy policy. Although filming for the President’s weekly address was taking place about 10 feet from his office door and he was surrounded by Secret Service agents and high-ranking White House officials, Kern was texting his race team in Florida and monitoring the opening round of time trials. “Seeing what goes on to put together a Presidential visit, I’ll take drag racing any day of the week,” Kern said.
 
MAMA MIA! – Mia Tedesco reached the finals of both the Super Gas and Super Comp classes. She lost to Troy Coughlin Jr. as he earned his third victory and first in Super Gas. The 19-year-old from Murrysville, Pa., whose family owns Pittsburgh Raceway Park, lost the Super Comp title to Greg Kamplain.