By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
Doug Kalitta won his second Top Fuel race in a row and moved into second place in the championship points Sunday night by beating season-long leader Melanie Troxel in the finals of the 26th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac at Atlanta Dragway. Former Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon, Pro Stock rising star Dave Connolly, and Pro Stock Motorcycle veteran Antron Brown also scored big wins at the $1.5 million race, the seventh of 23 on the $50 million POWERade Drag Racing Series, the final eliminations of which were delayed approximately four hours by rain.
Kalitta posted a stout 4.469-second pass at 327.57 mph to blow away Troxel, who smoked her tires 100 feet into the race. Pedregon and Brown each used holeshots to take out Robert Hight and Andrew Hines, respectively. Connolly caught and passed Greg Stanfield to become the seventh different Pro Stock winner in the first seven races of the season.
Kalitta has turned on the jets of late, racing to two winner circles in the past seven days. Just like in Bristol, his performance throughout the day spooked his final-round opponents into over-tuning their hot rods. Troxel's tire-smoker might not have mattered as Kalitta zoomed to the second-quickest pass of the weekend in the final, a 4.469 at 327.57 mph.
Troxel's lead in the POWERade standings is now 132 points. She has raced to six of seven finals this year. Kalitta moved around his Kalitta Motorsports teammate Dave Grubnic and into second place.
"This is still hard to believe but I'm pretty happy right now," Kalitta said. "Two in a row is great and it gives us some good momentum. Melanie's got a strong team over there and we're all trying to catch up to her. They've had a really good start to the year and she's out there quite a bit on all of us.
"After the rain we had great conditions. I probably would have had a better E.T. in the final but I poked the nose in there a little deep. That probably took some away. Either way, Rahn [Tobler, crew chief] has the car running great right now."
Kalitta and Troxel had two of the quickest cars on the property. Kalitta's Mac Tools rail posted a 4.55, 4.47, and a 4.48 to get him to his second final of the year, while Troxel's Skull Shine machine went 4.51, 4.49, and 4.51 to help her reach her sixth final of the first seven races.
Prior to this event, Pedregon hadn't made it past the quarterfinals this season, but the former series champion ran an intimidating gauntlet to win his 30th race in 53 career finals. He started with a squeaker over Whit Bazemore before facing all three cars from his former team, John Force Racing, in succession.
After dispatching Force and Eric Medlen in Rounds 2 and 3, he faced Hight in the money round and took the trophy on the line, leaving in .067 seconds to Hight's respectable .078-second start. At the other end, the holeshot was enough to make his 4.740 at 325.69 mph the winning time over Hight's 4.738 at 321.81 mph.
"If I had any friends left on that team they're probably gone now," Pedregon said. "That's a tough chore. I looked at the ladder this morning and I knew it wasn't going to be an easy day.
"We haven't performed up to our abilities this year and believe me I was thinking about the fact we weren't even in the top 10 at the start of the day. I want to deliver for our sponsors, so do the guys, and we just didn't give up. There is no better way in the world to make up for a slow start than to win here on the 10th anniversary of my first ever win."
Hight posted a 4.680 in the quarterfinals in route to his sixth career final in the Auto Club Ford Mustang, which tied him with both Cruz and Tony Pedregon for the second quickest clocking ever.
Ron Capps' first-round loss shrunk his lead over Force in the championship standings from 122 to 96 points.
Connolly became the seventh different Pro Stock winner of the year with his sixth career title and first with new crew chief Tommy Utt. He gave up a sizable .014- to .038-second starting line advantage to final-round foe Greg Stanfield, but was able to catch and pass his friend when Stanfield's car got out of shape a few hundred feet into the run. Connolly went on to win with a 6.695 at 205.69 mph.
"This is the best racecar I've ever had," Connolly said. "I couldn't complain about this thing at all. Tommy saved my butt three out of four races today. It's been a smooth transition, for sure. He's worked with Cagnazzi Racing and we use their motors so he knew how to put the power together with the chassis, obviously.
"This is the best way to rebound from a DNQ. It's almost like we're starting over. I have to thank all the Cagnazzi Racing guys because they've been a big help. It's great to have this feeling again, like you have a car you know can run with anyone."
Connolly rebounded nicely from last weekend's DNQ with his second final-round showing of the year and 15th of his young career. The Skull Gear racer started the day as the 14th qualifier.
Stanfield emerged from the No. 16 qualifying position to take out No. 1 qualifier and points leader Greg Anderson, Mike Edwards, and Jim Yates to put his PiranaZ GTO in the final round for the second time since he switched to the Pro Stock class.
In a classic Suzuki versus Harley final, Brown decided the race with his riding ability by stealing away the win light on a holeshot. Brown left with a near-perfect .005-second light against Hines' .038-second reaction time, and held on for the win with a 7.098 at 187.44 mph to Hines' quicker but losing 7.089 ay 187.94 mph.
The win was the first for Brown this year and the 15th of his career, drawing him level at 15-15 lifetime. He is now the POWERade points leader.
"I needed that .005 light because Andrew was stepping it up every round," Brown said. "The bike bogged at the start but by the time I went into high gear I still didn't see him and I just tucked low and held on. When I saw the win light I was the happiest guy in the world because that's the team to beat. They work hard over there but so do we.
"It's a great win for the U.S. Army. That's all three races this year. It means a lot for the soldiers watching us all around the world and we know that. The only bummer on the day was my teammate, Angelle Sampey, losing in Round 1 but at least the point lead stayed in our camp."
Brown's U.S. Army Suzuki was quickest of the first two elimination rounds with a track-record 7.045 in the opening session and a 7.065 in the quarterfinals. Then Hines' Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod came to life, earning him lane choice in the final with a 7.057 in the semi’s, which was .003-second quicker than Brown's pass.
After winning the first two races of the season, Angelle Sampey's first-round loss here was extremely costly as she went from a 63-point lead in the standings to a second-place ranking, six behind Brown.
