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Monday, April 16
Gatornationals: Act 2 for Top Fuel
By Bill Stephens
ESPN.com
On March 18, the Mac Tools Gatornationals should have been completed at Gainesville Raceway before a huge crowd of fans after the largest gate in drag racing history had assembled for Saturday's qualifying program. But rain changed everyone's plans.
The event will be completed Saturday after two "test and tune" runs Friday for the five professional categories, which all succeeded in completing qualifying, and therefore securing their fields in March. But the picture we were looking at in Top Fuel has changed dramatically from the one we now see as the third event of the season has essentially become the fifth.
|  | | Kenny Bernstein has been smoking since teaming up with "The General," Tim Richards. |
Darrell Russell had won the season-opening Winternationals and had advanced to the final round in Phoenix where he lost to Doug Kalitta. He was in position to make history in Gainesville, Fla., had he reached the final round, becoming the first Top Fuel rookie to go to finals in his first three pro races. But Russell has been a non-factor in the two races since the Gainesville rainout, failing to advance past the second round at either race. This weekend, the freshman will be looking to reverse his fortune.
There have been no repeat winners in Top Fuel as of yet this season, but it's Gary Scelzi's 0-for-4 start to 2001 that has been a real surprise. Although he waited until the 11th race of the season in 1998 to win his first event and then went on to win the title, the class as a whole has become much more competitive in the last three years and Scelzi knows a win is very much needed.
Gainesville, however, has not been kind to the three-time champ. He has never won there. On the plus side, he will begin eliminations from the No.1 spot Saturday.
But Kenny Bernstein will be the most watched Top Fuel driver this weekend due to his inspiring win in Las Vegas. Last week he buried all comers with an unbroken string of 4.50 passes. Bernstein has a warm spot in his heart for Gainesville after winning the event four times, three times in Funny Car and once in Top Fuel.
Of course, Bernstein's biggest Gatornationals moment was in 1992 when he ran the sport's first 300 mph pass. Back in March, he had just switched his tuning line-up when he released Mike Green, retained Johnny West and hired Tim Richards. That crew will return to Florida as the No. 5 qualifiers.
Mike Dunn has a win this year in Houston and continues to run big numbers on almost every pass, while Kalitta returns to Gainesville as the defending event champ. Larry Dixon has run more 4.50 passes than anyone this year, but is still winless, while Andrew Cowin's runner-up effort at Vegas could send him into the Gatornationals with a legitimate shot.
And will Tony Schumacher finally show his former championship style after his disappointing first-round loss to Rhonda Hartman-Smith in Las Vegas?
One other point to ponder: with an IHRA race scheduled this weekend in Virginia, drivers such as Clay Millican, Paul Romine and Bruce Litton, who are all qualified for the Gators, may decide to run the IHRA event instead, where they perhaps have a better shot at a race victory and may find themselves in the running for that sanctioning body's championship. The NHRA has announced substitute drivers will be allowed to drive in the qualified cars, however, only Owner's Cup points will be awarded.
It is far too early to be drawing conclusions from the current standings. But a round win in April is worth just as many points as a round win in November.
Wins and losses are still the defining elements of the championship outcome and the top-five drivers in the standings are all within a single race (100 points) of each other. All but Dixon have won a race this year and each knows that with five races in the next six weeks, there is a great deal of ground to be made up or lost this weekend.
Let's just hope it doesn't rain. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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