KUHLMANN CAPTURES ATLANTA SUPER CHEVY CROWN

words and photos by Ian Tocher

Bill Kuhlmann again demonstrated why he's "the man" in Super Chevy Nitro Coupe action June 3-4 at Atlanta Dragway. The popular Wentzville, Mo.-based driver set a new national elapsed time record in his final-round victory over Californian Dan Nickelson (final round shown above) with a 6.202 seconds pass at 227.31 mph and stretched his points lead over Jeff Brozovich to more than eight elimination round wins.

Brozovich appeared stunned, then resigned, as he watched Kuhlmann's win from the starting line. Kuhlmann's 6.250 at 225.03 mph qualifying pass put his '69 Corvette on top of the eight-car field on Saturday.

"I didn't think the track could hold that," Kuhlmann said afterwards. "That surprised me. I think we woke everybody up with that."

A 6.232/223.91 opening-round win over Rick Stivers on raceday stood up to officially back up the record within the required one percent.

Roger Gustin and Bill Kuhlmann check the nitro percentage at Atlanta.

"I feel real good about [the record]. It was nice to do it at this track because I haven't had the best of luck here in the past," Kuhlmann said. He faded slightly to a 6.519 ET against Doug Winters in the semis, who managed only an 8.015 in his 1958 Corvette, but surprisingly, Kuhlmann said his only real problem of the weekend came on his record-setting run.

"Everybody who sees these passes, they see these cars go straight, but they're not behind them," he explained. "This car went to the wall; I couldn't get it off the wall, and then it shot left and back right and it hit a bump, so I didn't expect any record. I knew it was fast, but when they slide around like that, it really makes you wonder.

"I almost lifted," the new world-record holder admitted, "I mean, you've got to race again next week, too."

HOTLANTA!
It's the heat AND the humidity that wreaked havoc on many of the Nitro Coupe tuners during Saturday's qualifying rounds. Temperatures in the mid-90s and humidity near 40 percent pushed Atlanta Dragway's true above sea level altitude of 250 feet to a corrected altitude of nearly 4,000 feet.

Jim "The Colorado Kid" Nordhougen said his team thought there was something wrong with their weather station when it gave an indicated altitude reading of 3,800 feet. Nordhougen's 1941 Willys stumbled to an off-the-pace, seven-second pass with a rich mixture in its first attempt.

"We'll believe it next time," he said. Nordhougen, the event winner a week earlier at Epping, N.H., made the field in third place with a 6.517/217.42 mph pass, but lost in the first elimination round to eventual finalist Dan Nickelson.

page 1 of 3