After two days of delays due to the heavy rainfall at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, die-hard race fans waited under umbrellas for days. On Sunday, the wait proved to be well worth it. As track officials and crew prepped the track for elimination rounds, the pits fired up to sound of thousands of deep-South racing fans. At spark of a DiamondFire plug, the smell of nitromethane and sound of Pro Mods returned the concrete for E3 Spark Plugs season opener at the 53rd Gatornationals.
After rain washed out qualifying on Friday at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA nationals in Gainesville, drivers running the Pep Boys NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout made their picks on Saturday with Brittany Force choosing Antron Brown, Mike Salinas selecting Shawn Langdon as first-round opponents for the All Star matchup. That left Doug Kalitta paired against Justin Ashley and Steve Torrence seeded against Leah Pruett in her third weekend driving for Tony Stewart Racing.
This unique specialty race (within an NHRA event) kept the fans in their seats with eight star drivers competing for big money. The shootout was the first to utilize a “call out” format with the number one seed getting their first choice of opponent. Steve Torrence, Brittany Force, Mike Salinas, and Justin Ashley all earned victories at the Gatornationals and advance to the final two rounds at the prestigious Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Sept.
Thorne Nails .015 RT at Pro Mod Gatornationals
Pro Mod veteran Kris Thorne captured his first career win on Sunday in Sunday’s final round at the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series at Gainesville Raceway. Racing in his first career final round, the local Florida driver had a championship round reaction time of .015 seconds posting a 5.642 ET at 255.10 mph in his ProCharger-powered Pro Mod Camaro to defeat Sidnei Frigo at the 53rd annual Gatornationals presented by FTI Performance.
Thorne had a terrific .015 reaction time and never trailed to finish off a standout Sunday at Gainesville Raceway. Frigo posted a 5.716 ET at 251.81 mph after having reached the final round of eliminations with victories over Justin Bond, Dwayne Wolfe, and Mike Thielen. Thorne’s first career win also included round wins against J.R. Gray, Lyle Barnett and defending event winner and world champ Jose Gonzalez. making a pair of runs in the 5.60s before the finals.
Photo courtesy Kris Thorne Racing Facebook Photos
UP COMING:
NHRA Four Wide Nationals in Charlotte
The E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Drag Racing Series returns to action for round two on April 29-May 1 as part of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC.
