The third race of the American drag racing series was held in Gainesville, on the track which has been hosting NHRA competitions since 1970. It was the 45th running of the NHRA Gatornationals. For the first time in its history three automobile categories were joined by motorcycle drivers.
Doug Kalitta (on top photo) secured victory in the most powerful Top Fuel category. He arrived in Gainesville as the leader in overall standings although he was not the winner of either of the first two races. However, in Florida Kalitta rectified that omission brilliantly by leaving behind Brittany Force, the female driver who showed excellent performance in the previous race in Phoenix, his teammate in Kalitta Motorsports David Grubnic and Steve Torrence.
In the final run Kalitta “crossed swords” with Antron Brown. The 2012 champion made a minor mistake in the very beginning of the run thus giving away the victory in the third race of the series. For the first time in 2014 and for the 34th time in his career Kalitta walked away with the trophy statue in honour of the NHRA founder Wally Parks and secured his leadership in the overall championship standings. Doug has 309 points right now. Brown is taking the second position with 259 points. Third position is taken by Steve Torrence, who is 26 points behind Antron.
The bombshell of the racing day in Gainesville in the Top Fuel category was poor performance of Shawn Langdon, the defending NHRA champion. He raced to the qualifying lead on Friday; however, he “put down arms” in the opening round on the day of main competitions. Legendary Tony Schumacher was out of luck again — this time the seven-time champion made it to the quarterfinals only.
The fastest driver in the Funny Car category was Robert Hight who managed to defeat John Force — his father-in-law and also the 16-time champion — in the final round. Force qualified first in two previous races, but this time it took him great effort just to enter the main runs as he only managed to take 16th position after four qualifying attempts! However, his dragster showed better results on the main day of competitions letting John reach the final round again. Curiously enough, he had to run against his daughter Courtney in the semifinals but unfortunately she could not fight with her dad due to technical problems.
Force is still leading in the overall standings with 316 points. Hight, who had his 30th career victory in Gainesville, is now taking the second position with 273 points. Next come the winner of the previous race Alexis DeJoria and the ex-champion Del Worsham both scoring 187 points.
In the second race in a row Allen Johnson had no equal in the Pro Stock category. He managed to defeat Erica Enders-Stevens in the final round due to quicker reaction time. Right now Johnson scores 282 points making the top three together with V. Gaines (244) and Vincent Nobile (235).
Pro Stock Motorcycles category joined the NHRA championship in Gainesville (not all NHRA races comprise the two-wheel category). The first race brought an unexpected victory to Steve Johnson riding a Suzuki — during two previous seasons everyone got used to victories secured by pilots riding Buell or Harley Davidson motorcycles.
The next (fourth) race in the NHRA series will be held during the last week-end of March in Las Vegas, the gambling capital.