NHRA at Atlanta By Susan Wade Photos by Ron Lewis and Tracy Waters 5/18/04

Ron Lewis photo

op qualifier David Grubnic and No. 3 Cory McClenathan chatted before Sunday's final eliminations of the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals. The topic was how they were going to steer their Top Fuel dragsters down the hot, gummy Atlanta Dragway quarter-mile.

Grubnic had his theories and his third No. 1 qualifying advantage in the first seven races of the season. Cory Mac had only doubts.

"There comes a time you start to doubt yourself after awhile. And today was not the day I woke up and said, 'We've got one of the better cars today and we can win.' Let's be real honest about it," McClenathan would say after beating Millican to earn his first $40,000 victory in 30 races, the first since the November 2002 NHRA Finals at Pomona.

But standing there talking to Grubnic, Cory Mac had his hunch, too. Just get the car from start to finish. Don't worry about numbers. Just do what works and hope the driver in the other lane commits an error.

McClenathan didn't telegraph his concern. He simply said, "We just have to learn to go down those hot, tricky tracks now. That's all there is to it."

Tracy Waters photo

He was right. And he did. But his Carrier Boyz/Berryman Products Dragster didn't put up anything close to Grubnic's (photo above) track-record 4.469-second qualifying elapsed time or Schumacher's qualifying speed that raised the track mark to 329.02. He had to wonder how long he'd last when Millican and quick Kalitta cousins Doug and Scott (photo below) were ripping off 4.5-second runs.

Tracy Waters photo

The Anaheim, Calif., veteran got a first-round gift when improving Scott Weis red lit. Then, running a decent but unspectacular 4.7 and a 4.66, he eliminated Bernstein and Scott Kalitta. Finally, he overcame Millican, the three-time and reigning IHRA champion, who had been through the grinder himself in knocking off NHRA counterpart Larry Dixon, Grubnic, and Doug Kalitta and his quickest-and-fastest-on-earth Mac Tools Dragster. Millican had to be content with his runner-up for the third consecutive race.