Up until now, every NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car Series round in 2012 has been won by John Force Racing, Ron Capps was able to end that at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, defeating JFR driver Robert Hight in the Final.
Capps set a 4.166-second run at 303.91 mph to take the win, while Hight’s Auto Club Ford Mustang trailed with a 4.399 at 273.44. It was also his third straight final round appearance.
TOP FUEL
In Top Fuel, little known Steve Torrence took a breakthrough win – in what was his first ever Final in NHRA Full Throttle competition.
It was no easy feat – coming up against Tony Schumacher in the Final. Schumacher held Atlanta as the only circuit on the NHRA tour that he hadn’t taken victory at. He will be forced to wait another day after Torrence took the popular victory.
“We’ve been working our tails off since last year at this race,” said Torrence – the 2005 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster Champion. “This was the last race that I raced with Dexter [Tuttle], and we set out to start our own team. To kind of start the new team and get the first win here, that’s a big deal for us. We’re 10 races into this new team.”
Australian racer, Dave Grubnic was eliminated in the opening round by Bob Vandergriff, who in turn was eliminated by Torrence on his way to the historic win.
PRO STOCK
Greg Anderson continued his domination of the category, taking his third win of the season. He had to rely on a superior reaction time to get over team-mate Jason Line in a 6.649 to 6.618 second final.
Anderson got around Greg Stanfield, Steve Kent, and Allen Johnson in his way to the Final.
PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE
Defending NHRA Full Throttle Series Champion, Eddie Krawiec took his second victory of the season, outrunning first-time finalist Michael Ray. Krawiec powered his Screamin’ Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson to a winning run of 6.905 at 195.53 to hold off Michael Ray’s Buell, which finished in 7.036 at 187.94.
Krawiec advanced to the final with early round-wins over Michael Phillips, Karen Stoffer, and Shawn Gann. It was Krawiec’s 13th career victory and second at Atlanta Dragway.
The next event will be held at Topeka May 18-20 for the Dollar General Summernationals.
