Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Drag Racing '-- '-- Round 1: Gainesville Raceway Look who's dominatin now --j By Kevin McKenna GAINESVlLLE, FL, MARCH, 18-21 aybe, just maybe, things will be different this year after all. After watching Matt Hines dominate the NHRA Pro Stock division for the better part of the last two seasons, fans who attended the seaSOJ;lopening Mac Tools Gatornationals got a shock when Team Winston's Angelle Seeling, not Hines, turned in a dominating performance to win the Gatornationals, the first of 14 races on the 1999 NHRA schedule. Seeling and her Star Racing team tested extensively at Gainesville Raceway during the off-season, and their progress was evident early in qualifying as she stormed to a 7.27 to take the pole position, outqualifying Hines' new Eagle One Suzuki GSX-R by .02 of a second. The former registered nurse from New Orleans, Louisiana, only got stronger as elimina tions began. With a cold frgnt and a stiff tail wind providing optimum conditions, Seeling made the four quickest runs in the history of the class. The Winston rider capped it off with a 7.21 on her way to a final-round win over John Smith, who shattered the 190-mph barrier on his Anoka-Ramsey Sport Center Suzuk! in round one and M later posted an out-of-this-world 192.22 top speed. "Between our two test sessions and the ProStar race here last month, we probably made 17 or 18 runs over the winter," Seeling said. "It paid off, because from the moment I got here, I felt comfortable on the bike, and I probably wouldn't have felt that way if I had just sat around all winter. Last year, we all got tired of watching Matt win every week, but even then, my crew never gave up. They just worked harder to catch up to him. They gave me the best bike here. I was just happy to be able to do my job and win this race for them." Seeling's only trouble during the weekend came prior to Friday's first qualifying session, in which a leaking fuel line went undetected, dumping gasoline out of the carburetors and onto the pavement. With no fuel in the engine, the bike stumbled to an 8.77, but Seeling did not hurt the engine. "yYe got lucky on that one," George Bryce, Seeling's team owner; said. "Ever since we got home from Pomona last November, we've been working on our engine program and our clutch setup. We also did a lot of work-on the bike in order to make it easier for Angelle to ride. She had a lot of problems last year with red-lights, and not all of them were her fault. ow she has a lot more confidence on the bike, which was obvious to anyone who saw her ride this weekend." From the opening round, it was also obvious that Seeling was going to be a handful, as she stopped rookie Chris Reuter's new Suzuki with a 7.22, the quickest NHRA-Iegal Pro Stock Bike run in history at the time. Seeling nudged the record again in round two with a 7.21-t0-7.39 win over Larry Cook, earning a $1000 bonus as part of the MBNA World Record Gub. Seeling's closest battle came the semifinals when she downed Antron Brown's Te.am 23 Suzuki, 7.24 to 7.25, in one of the closest races of the day. Brown, who finished seventh in the points battle in his rookie season, showed.that he is ready to run at the front of the pack with Hines, Seeling and Smith after riding his Troy VinceI)towned Suzuki to the number-four qualifying spot and a pair of 7.24 runs in eliminations. The former college track star also joined Smith with a pair of 190mph runs in eliminations. "The bike bogged off the starting line; otherwise it might have gone quicker than a 7.24," Seeling said. "Our 60-foot time wasn't too good, which made that race a lot closer than it should have been. It was great for Antron to m (Above) Angelle Seeling not only won the Gatornationals, she also recorded the four quickest runs in the history of the Pro Stock Bike class, including an NHRA-record 7.21 on her Team Winston SuzukI. (Left) Seeling and the Team WinstonlStar Racing gang celebrated her sixth career victory. She also leads the points standings for the first time in her career. 8 • run that good. Obviously he's going to be tough this year." While Seeling cruised to her sixth career NHRA national-event victory, Hines stumbled and failed to reach the final round for just the fourth time in the last 15 races. The reigning and two-time class champ never found the right combination for his brand-new Trac Dynamics-built chassis, and he fought handling problems before slowing in the semifinals against Smith. "We tried a lot of things this weekend and nothing seemed to work," Hines said. "We did a lot of testing and solved a lot of our problems, but we didn't get all of the bugs worked out. If we had more time, we'd be able to fix our problems for sure, but we didn't have it together this weekend. Neither one of our two engines was right, and the new bike still needs some work. If we had our old bike here, we would have hauled ass, but that's not the way to get ahead in this class. The level of competition is way up this year, and we plan to stay ahead. We just had some teething problems this weekend." In addition to his 190-mph heroics, Smith also recorded the three quickest elapsed times of his career, including a 7.27 in round two to beat six-time NHRA Pro Stock Bike champ Dave Schultz, and a 7.26 in the semis against Hines. Smith got the jump on Seeling in the final by four-hundredths of a second but came up short at the finish line by the impoSSibly small margin of four-thousandths of a second in a 7.22-t0-7.26 thriller. "Do you know how many places there are to find four-thousandths on one of these bikes?" Smith asked while contemplating his runner-up finish. "We struggled here and never really found the right setup until rac~ day. After all the bad luck we had last year, I guess I can't be too upset about a runner-up finish, but there's definitely more left in the bike. If we have the power to run 192 mph, we have the power to run quicker e.t.s." _ Gainesville Raceway Gainesville, Florida Results: March 18-21 (Round t of 14) PRO STOCK FINAl.: 1. Angclle Seeling (Suz) 7.22, 185.79; 2. John Smith (SOl) 7.26,189.18. Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Dallas, Texas, April 22-25 Round 3 - Atlanta, Georgia, May 13-16

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