Fri, Mar 19, 01:00 PM GAINESVILLE - Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Ed Dykes It's Johnson... No, The Other One

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Pro Stock at the 30th annual Mac Tools Gatornationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Robert Harman Runs 7.103/194.77, Now #1
Right Lane: Ed Heck Runs 9.717/95.86, Now #2

11:35 AM and it's an absolutely beautiful day in Florida. The crowd was the biggest we've seen coming in this morning, traffic backed up a mile, very unusual for Friday. The temperature is 65 degrees, but the track is already up to 110 degrees, the hot sun doing it's dirty work since early this morning. Here, Heck's Firebird drives right to the centerline, forcing him to pull the plug.

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Left Lane: Kevin Sparks Runs 7.902/137.23, Now #2
Right Lane: Gary Wiggins Runs 10.223/118.00, Now #4

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Left Lane: Mark Thomas Runs 7.025/197.39, Now #1
Right Lane: Greg Anderson Runs 14.471/51.94, Now #6

Thomas pulled the plug early, just past the 60' mark.

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Left Lane: Bob Benza Runs 6.993/196.79, Now #1
Right Lane: Lewis Worden Runs 7.040/194.21, Now #3

Benza gets the honor of running the first 'six' this weekend.

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Left Lane: Dan Seamon 16.188/47.53, Now #10
Right Lane: Dester Cambron Runs 7.019/197.12, Now #3

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Left Lane: Darrell Alderman Runs 7.052/194.32, Now #5
Right Lane: John Nobile Runs 6.998/197.65, Now #2

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Left Lane: Tony Gillig Runs 6.987/197.77, Now #1
Right Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 6.998/198.03, Now #3

Morgan finally gets his Dodge into the sixes, and moves into the third slot. Meanwhile, Gillig puts his Olds Cutlass on the provisional pole.

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Left Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.930/199.43, Now #1
Right Lane: Bruce Allen Runs 7.038/196.02, Now #7

'The Other Dodge' shows us how it's done, stringing a great qualifying run on the back of his semifinal performance at Phoenix. Looks like Roy and Allen are starting to find the handle, and will be a force to be reckoned with.

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Left Lane: Mike Trumble Runs 7.058/195.59, Now #11
Right Lane: Robert Patrick Runs 19.114/35.60, Now #17

Patrick's Ford made a hard left turn right off the line, forcing him to abort.

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Left Lane: V. Gaines Runs 13.163/64.88, Now #17
Right Lane: Mike Edwards Runs 7.170/195.31, Now #13

Gaines had a decent 60' time, but an awful 330' so maybe he missed on the clutch.

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Left Lane: Rickie Smith Runs 7.043/196.99, Now #9
Right Lane: Steve Schmidt Runs 15.767/46.63, Now #19

Let's hope Trickie Rickie has better luck here than last weekend, when he was a DNQ at Darlington in his Pro Mod car. Schmidt was off the throttle early, way off in the clutch department.

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Left Lane: Troy Coughlin Runs 11.888/73.60, Now #17
Right Lane: Mike Bell Runs 13.218/75.49, Now #19

Bell in the famed Motown Missile again this weekend... and both machines are off the pace by the 330' mark.

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Left Lane: Danny Coffman Runs 7.034/196.70, Now #7
Right Lane: Ron Krisher Runs 7.196/190.92, Now #15

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Left Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.979/197.91, Now #2
Right Lane: Richie Stevens Runs 6.987/197.22, Now #4

Yates had a rather slow 1.06 in the first 60', but he made up for it and moves right in behind Allen Johnson's Dodge.

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Left Lane: Tom Martino Runs 7.090/197.62, Now #16
Right Lane: Hurley Blakely Runs 11.568/124.50, Now #23

Martino's Century 21 machine moved around a lot in the first couple hundred feet, and the ET reflects it.

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Left Lane: George Marnell Runs 6.935/198.35, Now #2
Right Lane: Scott Geoffrion Runs 7.074/194.72, Now #17

Marnell's 60' time was 1.04, and you can see how that translated to a great ET for the full quarter-mile. That moved him in ahead of Yates, just behind 'the Other Dodge'.

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Left Lane: Mark Pawuk Runs 6.957/198.38, Now #3
Right Lane: Ray Franks Runs 7.016/198.50, Now #10

Pawuk's new paint is beautiful, but I wouldn't know what color to call it... since it changes depending on the light and how you hold your head... Great pass, there.

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Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 11.767/74.74, Now #28
Right Lane: Mike Thomas Runs 15.321/50.84, Now #33

Kurt's Camaro drives hard right, across the centerline at the 200' mark. Couldn't tell what happened to Thomas, as I was watching Kurt's slolom run.

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Left Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 11.033/80.32, Now #28
Right Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.934/200.47, Now #2

Warren has a great back half, but that 1.067 in the first 60' hurt him. So it's still the Dodge on the pole, with just one more car to run..

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Left Lane: Larry Nance Runs 11.302/78.53, Now #28

And the final car here, so it's Johnson on the pole, but not the one you'd expect. And the bump spot is Lewis Worden at 7.040




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