Ashley on top in Atlanta
COMMERCE, Ga. (April 27, 2007) - For the second race in a row, Mike Ashley drove the Torco Race Fuels, Inc. Dodge Charger to the provisional No. 1 qualifying position and set a track speed record. In the evening qualifying session of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, Ashley blasted ahead of the pack with a 4.704/331.04 pass and eclipsed the Atlanta Dragway speed record of 329.83 mph set by Tony Pedregon in May 2004.
"When you make No.1 qualifier once, it shows you have potential. When you do it twice in a row, it means you've found consistency," Ashley said.
"I have to tip my hat to Brian Corradi and the whole crew - these guys work tirelessly. After Vegas, the guys stayed over on Monday and tested to try to figure out what happened on race day. Then, they packed everything up and headed to Indy where they spent another whole day the following Monday working on different setups, trying to simulate race-day conditions," he said.
"We've found a few things with the clutch that have really worked out well, and now we're just focusing on staying consistently fast. It's really the only way to compete with the other teams out there, and we have found a great combination.
"Now we just have to take it through race day," Ashley said.
Qualifying in the 27th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, the sixth of 23 events in the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series is scheduled to continue at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Eliminations are scheduled to being at 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 29. ESPN2 will televise qualifying highlights beginning at 6 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday, April 28, and will follow with NHRA Race Day at 11 a.m. (EDT) on Sunday, April 29, ESPN2 and final eliminations beginning at 7 p.m.
OFFICIAL VIDEO NEWS RELEASES will be available via satellite:
Friday, April 27, 10-10:30 p.m. (EDT) - SBS 6 / Transponder 16K (12092.5 MHz, vertical)
Saturday, April 28, 9-9:30 p.m. (EDT) - SBS 6 / Transponder 16K (12092.5 MHz, vertical)
Sunday, April 29, 7-7:30 p.m. (EDT) - SBS 6 / Transponder 16K (12092.5 MHz, vertical)
