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Pro Stock veteran Larry Morgan, whose Team
Mopar program has made a dramatic turnaround
since NHRA legend Bob Glidden came aboard as
an adviser, grabbed Friday's provisional top-qualifying
spot. Greg Anderson swiped it from him the next
day in the final session, denying Morgan his
first No. 1 qualifying position since the summer
of 1991.
Morgan failed to qualify for the first 11 events
last season before hiring the former Pro Stock
dominator who won 10 series championships and
85 races.
"He's the boss. I'm lucky to be the driver,"
Morgan said of Glidden. "The way I ran last
year, they should have thrown me out."
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The Pro Stock Motorcycle field made history
at the Gatornationals with three female riders
in the field of 16. Karen Stoffer eliminated
three- time series champion Angelle Savoie in
the first round. NHRA rookie Angie McBride lost
to Joe DeSantis in her debut.
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Angelle Savoie, the defending Gatornationals
winner who also won in 1999, had a rocky start
on the U.S. Army Suzuki in the Pro Stock Motorcycle
class' 2004 debut. She was disqualified for
crossing the center line on her first qualifying
attempt, then hit the retaining wall on her
next pass. She was treated by the NHRA medical
staff for a bruise on the outside of her right
calf.
She made the field the next day, qualifying
13th. That marked the first time in her nine-year
career that she was in the bottom half of the
field. It got worse. Because she lost to Karen
Stoffer in the opening round, Savoie started
the season outside the top 10 in the standings.
"We think the back tire may have been the reason
for me going to the right in both of my runs,"
Savoie said Friday. "For some reason, I immediately
was pushed to the right at the hit (of the throttle)."
She explained her impact with the wall by saying,
"I tried to fight it . . . But just couldn't
recover."
She vowed to improve: "This is probably a fitting
end to what has been a pretty tough weekend.
It will get better for us, I promise you."
- - -
Two-time defending Top Fuel series champion
Larry Dixon continued to struggle. His opening-round
loss to Doug Kalitta marked the first time in
his career he has been eliminated three consecutive
times by the same opponent. In both of the previous
two races, at Pomona, Calif., and Phoenix, Kalitta
beat Dixon in the second round.
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Funny Car runner-up John Force tied Pro Stock's
Warren Johnson for most final-round appearances
at the Gatornationals with nine.
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The Jeg's Foundation and its "Racing for Cancer
Research" program celebrated its first anniversary
with a generous pledge from the Don Schumacher
Racing camp. Schumacher and wife Sara, Funny
Car driver Whit Bazemore and crew chief Lee
Beard will donate $500 each, a total of $2,000,
each time Bazemore and the Matco Tools Iron
Eagle Dodge Stratus win a race.
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Whit Bazemore wasn't able to make his first
contribution to the Jeg's Foundation at Gainesville.
He was the No. 2 Funny Car qualifier, but he
dropped from fifth place in points to eighth
after losing to Cory Lee in the first round.
"That's how the sport is," he said of all the
upsets. "It's a brutal game. Budgets sometimes
don't matter. That's the beauty of our sport.
When you go to the starting line as underdog
or favorite, you only have one car and one motor,
and you've prepared your stuff to the best of
your ability and you go race."
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