NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

The Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals is the tradition-rich East Coast opener for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, and its 47th incarnation was big on drama. An incredible event was pulled off despite the threat of weather with the NHRA Safety Safari presented by AAA working hard from morning until night to set the stage for memorable race-day action.

The highlight of the event was surely Brittany Force finally winning her first event in the eighth Top Fuel final of her career. A first-time Top Fuel winner was guaranteed before the semifinal round with Force, Terry McMillen, Clay Millican, and Dave Connolly all advancing in the second round. The Monster Energy driver left nothing on the table after running low e.t. of every eliminations round and leaving the starting line first on each occasion.

“It feels good to finally bring home the win,” said Force. “Our car was on fire all weekend. It went down there and had great runs. This is a very proud moment for me and the John Force Racing team and the Monster Energy team. It took everyone to get us here.”

It was a huge triumph for the entire team. The John Force Racing organization is a juggernaut in the Funny Car class and had been on a huge learning curve to adapt to the dragster category since unveiling its first Top Fuel car in 2014. John Force pulled out all the stops this winter and hired tuning guru Alan Johnson to guide the team with crew chief Brian Husen taking the reins. The move has paid dividends with Brittany Force reaching back-to-back finals at the last two events. The first event of the season was won by Steve Torrence, who is also under Johnson’s umbrella.

Adding Johnson to the fold and winning three races into their tenure would be an oversimplification of Force’s road to victory. The entire team has had to adapt to Johnson’s process, including Force in the driver’s seat. It has gelled together quickly, and Force is on top of the points standings for the first time in her young career after her first victory on any level.

Gator on the rise: Force wasn’t the only Top Fuel driver to have a career-best outing. Terry McMillen made his first career final-round appearance, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Ask anyone who has raced where their major sponsor was also the title sponsor of the event, and they will tell you that whatever result they achieve is amplified significantly. McMillen might have had one of the lowest moments of his career when the longtime Amalie Motor Oil representative missed the 16-car field at this event last year, but he experienced the highest of highs when his consistency prevailed to score round-wins over Antron Brown, Tony Schumacher, and Clay Millican at this year’s event.

The Rob Wendland-led team received a shot in the arm after a frantic offseason of moving shops and switching to a chassis and parts from Don Schumacher Racing. Their efforts have been rewarded thus far with round-wins at all three events in 2016. McMillen is currently No. 5 in the NHRA Mello Yello points standings.

JFR double: Making Brittany Force’s win even sweeter was being joined by John Force Racing teammate Robert Hight in the winner’s circle for the first Top Fuel and Funny Car double-up in the history of the organization. It should be noted that they doubled twice in Funny Car and Top Alcohol Dragster in 2004, when Ashley Force Hood won in the alcohol ranks at Indy and the Auto Club NHRA Finals, joining Funny Car teammates Gary Densham and John Force, respectively.

Though Hight’s most recent win at the fall Las Vegas event last year wasn’t that long ago, it seemed like an eternity for the Auto Club Chevy Camaro team that had a good shot at winning each of the last three events. Timing and misfortune plagued the Mike Neff-led team in each instance, but they got the job done at Gainesville Raceway.

Hight made three consecutive runs between 3.969 and 3.973 during eliminations before defeating Ron Capps in a pedalfest. The 37th career win for Hight is his third at this event, having won in every even year since 2012.

Steamrolling: The KB Racing organization continued to pounce on the Pro Stock field with its third win and second all-Summit Racing final of the season.

Greg Anderson was just a tick behind teammate and Phoenix winner Jason Line all day, but the four-time Mello Yello champion did his job on the starting line to earn his 80th career victory. A .009 reaction time made the difference in a 6.598 to 6.581 contest.

“The whole weekend was great for KB Racing,” said Anderson. “These races are not decided on paper; they’re decided on the racetrack every time. We are human, and things happen different on the starting line. Somehow, I overachieved in the final and stole a victory from Jason. Good for me, but it’s still great for KB Racing. No matter what had happened in the final round, it was a victory for the team. I can’t be prouder of the race team I’m on.”

Steady Eddie: The Vance & Hines organization has a history at this event, particularly with co-founder Terry Vance winning it five times between 1982 and 1988. However, starting out strong isn’t necessarily a hallmark for the Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle team that understands the importance of hitting its stride during the playoffs. With one final-round appearance between teammates Eddie Krawiec and Andrew Hines at this event over the past three seasons, Krawiec stepped up and won the event for the fourth time.

Krawiec ran the table with low elapsed time and top speed of the event. Key to his victory was getting adapted to the racetrack early in the weekend while it was too little, too late when others hit their stride. Krawiec’s V-Rod ran 6.820 in the final to run down Hector Arana Sr.

It was a tough Pro Stock Motorcycle field with a 6.938-second bump. 2015 winner Karen Stoffer and two-time Mello Yello champ Matt Smith, who had qualified at 183 consecutive events over the past 12 years, both failed to make the cut. Smith’s pain was alleviated somewhat by father Rickie taking home the Wally in Pro Mod.

New faces: Adding excitement to the event was Tripp Tatum (pictured) and Alex Laughlin scoring their first round-wins in the Mello Yello ranks. Tatum, who has competed in Top Alcohol Dragster, made his Top Fuel debut in the Lagana family’s dragster and upset Phoenix winner Leah Pritchett in the first round. Laughlin’s Gas Monkey Chevy Camaro has shown strong potential, and he capitalized by defeating Matt Hartford in the opening round of Pro Stock.

In Top Alcohol Dragster, second-generation driver Megan Meyer made it to the final round in her national event debut. She finished just one-hundredth of a second behind winner Rich McPhillips in the final round. Mia Tedesco and Meyer qualified Nos. 1 and 2, which was the first time that women qualified in the top-two spots at a national event in Top Alcohol Dragster since Brittany and Courtney Force accomplished the feat at the 2010 season opener.

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Special Awards

Driver of the race: Brittany Force
She stepped up to earn her first win by leaving on every one of her opponents and doing everything that what asked of her behind the controls.

Crew chief of the race: Brian Husen/Alan Johnson
The Monster Energy dragster recorded the quickest elapsed time during every eliminations round. It was a consistent hot rod on a ladder that was otherwise defined by upsets.

Best run: Jonathan Gray’s 5.751 at 258.02 mph in Pro Mod round one
This run stood out despite a bevy of incredible performances in other classes on Saturday alone. During an incredible first round of NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series action on Saturday night, low elapsed time of the event was set in five consecutive pairs culminating with a new national record by Gray in the Precision Turbo and Engine Camaro.

Biggest upset: Chris Karamesines vs. Richie Crampton, Top Fuel round one
“The Greek” earned his first round-win since the Bristol event in 2014, which was also from the No. 16 position. Crampton, who ran an outstanding track record of 3.69 seconds during qualifying, blew the tires at the starting line.

Stats of the race: The sequence of Leah Pritchett winning Phoenix and Brittany Force winning Gainesville marked only the second time in Top Fuel history that two different women earned victories at consecutive events. The first time was 34 years ago when Shirley Muldowney won in Gainesville and Lucille Lee won in Atlanta. The only two other times that has happened in a Mello Yello category both involved Angelle Sampey and Karen Stoffer in Pro Stock Motorcycle, in 2004 and 2007. The victories by Pritchett and Force also signified first-time Top Fuel winners occurring in consecutive events for the first time since 1993 when Shelly Payne won in Reading followed by the late Scott Kalitta winning in Topeka.