Words and photos by Ian Tocher
5/19/05

When the smoke finally cleared from Atlanta Dragway, a northerner had once again emerged victorious in the south, as Michigan’s Doug Kalitta earned his second straight Top Fuel win and his third of the year at the silver-anniversary edition of the NHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals. Meanwhile, John Force picked up his seventh Funny Car title at the north-Georgia strip, Greg Anderson returned to winning form in Pro Stock, and G.T. Tonglet scored in Pro Stock Motorcycle.

Unfortunately, the tarps got a workout as rain interrupted qualifying twice on Saturday, delayed the start of proceedings on raceday, then again shut everything down immediately after the first round of pro eliminations was completed. The racing in Atlanta finally wrapped up a little after 10 p.m. on Sunday, more than five hours later than scheduled. 

TOP FUEL

Tony Schumacher headed Top Fuel qualifying through three rounds, but Morgan Lucas stepped up in the final session with a 4.541-second pass at 326.40 mph to earn his first number-one starting spot in the nitro ranks. "I called my dad and he was just jazzed and my mom was ready to break down in tears,” the former Top Alcohol star said. “It's a big

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deal and for us and to do this is huge. I know we have three runner-up finishes, but being the number-one qualifier and the quickest car out of all 16 Top Fuel dragsters for the Atlanta race is big for me."

Although Schumacher improved to 4.545 in the final session, David Grubnic ran an identical time and took the number-two position based on running a slightly faster 327.27 to Schumacher’s 322.96 mph. Bobby Lagana secured the final raceday slot with a 4.923 pass at 294.95 mph.