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Payne powers to No. 1 spot at Gatornationals
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 12) --
Despite a persistent rain and otherwise miserable conditions
that greeted Jay Payne and his '68 FireIce/BAE Camaro Pro Mod
crew at the start of Friday's action at the 41st annual Tire
Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals, ending the day at the top of the
charts wasn't too bad.
"I really didn't drive it good, but I'm not going to complain
because it went real fast," Payne said of his top qualifying
effort. "There was room for improvements on my end, because it
was dark and I was really amped up."
Payne said he was a little anxious about the lone run he got on
Friday at Gainesville Raceway because he wasn't sure exactly
what to expect from it. What he got was a field-best
5.887-second lap at 241.28 mph.
"It was absolutely awesome," Payne said. "Those guys went those
low 5.80s in Bradenton or wherever they were testing at. When we
tested we never got it out of low gear. Everything on this car
is brand new for the most part. That was the first full run we
made. The questions in your mind are 'Is the transmission right?
Is the chassis right?' The car's been all apart and put back
together several times so to see it all come together tonight
when it mattered the most, well, we couldn't be thrilled more."
Michael Cordani, CEO of GelTech Solutions and a Florida
resident, expected no less than the top-notch performance out of
Payne and team owner and crew chief Brad Anderson.
"Jay put on a great show for the firefighters and all of our
friends from our home office down in Jupiter," Cordani said.
"The weekend is off to a great start and I can't wait to see
what else Jay and Brad have in store for us. We couldn't have
better marketing partners."
Payne said there may still be a surprise or two left under the
hood of his bright red machine.
"There's going to be more rubber on the track tomorrow, which is
going to make it better for the guys who run in front of me,"
Payne said. "If it makes it better for them, it makes it better
for us. We just have to make the power to race with them."
In it's second year as Payne's sponsor, FireIce is an
environmentally friendly fire suppression gel firefighters add
to water in pumper trucks, helicopters, fire planes, and
handheld extinguishers to help extinguish fires much quicker
than with water alone.
Aside from sponsoring Payne's racecars and saluting the nation's
1.1 million firefighters through its association with his race
team, FireIce, a subsidiary of GelTech Solutions Inc., a
publically traded corporation (OTCBB: GLTC), is a corporate
partner to the Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which helps
firefighters in need.
Troxel shows off
her quick side at Gatornationals
Pulling double duty for the first time in her career, popular
pro Melanie Troxel started the 41st annual Tire Kingdom NHRA
Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway by posting the second
quickest Pro Mod pass of Friday's rain-shortened action. Troxel
also earned a spot in Funny Car, finishing 10th overall in the
one session NHRA managed to run after several rain showers.
"The first objective is to qualify the racecars and that thought
is amplified by a million when you lose a round to rain," Troxel
said. "So we're really pleased with this start because both cars
are in the field no matter what happens tomorrow."
Troxel's Pro Mod run was the most impressive as she raced her
In-N-Out Burger Corvette down the strip in 5.888 seconds at
236.71 mph. The run was just .001 seconds behind Day 1 leader
Jay Payne.
"(Co-crew chief) Bob Newberry is feeling really good about the
In-N-Out car right now," Troxel said. "He says we have a tune-up
that's very agreeable to the changes he's making and the car has
been going down the track every run, which is always a good
thing. He thinks we have a car that can go some rounds."
The Pro Mod class has just one qualifying session left Saturday
before action switches to eliminations, which begin with Round 1
Saturday night.
Troxel's ride in Funny Car was quite a bit more eventful than
her Pro Mod pass as her Roger Burgess-owned Dodge Charger R/T
made a move towards the retaining wall. Troxel stayed with it to
the finish line and posted a 4.255 at 271.41 mph, although her
time was two-tenths off the pace.
"It dropped a hole (cylinder) right at the hit and that drove me
out of the groove," Troxel said. "I fought it all the way down
and got as close to the wall as I've ever been but I didn't feel
as though I needed to lift before the finish line. With some
question marks lingering about the weather, I didn't want to
chance it.
"They say it'll be warm and sunny from here on out so we should
be able to get in two good runs tomorrow. That will help.
"It was an exciting day driving both cars. I'm tired, for sure,
but pretty happy overall."
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Friday’s qualifying results for the NHRA Get
Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series from the Tire
Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway.
1. Jay Payne, Chevy Camaro, 5.887, 241.28; 2. Melanie Troxel,
Chevy Corvette, 5.888, 236.71; 3. Mike Knowles, Corvette, 5.909,
244.60; 4. Kenny Lang, Corvette, 5.924, 241.24; 5. Michael
Gullqvist, Camaro, 5.933, 244.47; 6. Tony Pontieri, Camaro,
5.957, 241.07; 7. Rickie Smith, Camaro, 6.007, 236.88; 8. Chip
King, Dodge Daytona, 6.017, 236.46; 9. Ed Hoover, Camaro, 6.019,
235.84; 10. Tim Tindle, Shelby Mustang, 6.044, 236.13; 11. Roger
Burgess, Corvette, 6.423, 239.40; 12. Joe Baker, Pontiac
Firebird, 6.974, 148.28; 13. Brad Personett, Camaro, 7.102,
145.06; 14. Khalid Balooshi, Camaro, 7.548, 113.98; 15. Rick
Distefano, Camaro, 8.492, 108.87; 16. Adam Flamholc, Camaro,
8.740, 107.87. Not Qualified: 17. Dennis Radford, 10.140, 88.76;
18. Mike Castellana, 10.313, 85.22; 19. Von Smith, 10.829,
76.38; 20. Mike Janis, 11.074, 82.71; 21. Raymond Commisso,
11.184, 77.16; 22. Danny Rowe, 11.509, 69.82; 23. Troy Coughlin,
broke; 24. Scott Ray, broke; 25. Burton Auxier, broke.
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