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UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Pep Boys All-Star Top Fuel Callout winner Josh Hart’s hopes for a double-up weekend ended early on a surprising first-round holeshot loss to five-time Gatornationals winner Tony Schumacher in the first pair of the opening stanza. Hart was uncharacteristically late with a .105 light and his strong 3.693, low e.t. of the meet, fell to Schumacher’s .048-launched 3.722. With a corrected altitude of just 740 feet at the early 10 o'clock start, these are the best conditions of the weekend.

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The holeshot hit parade continued in the very next pair where Austin Prock, winner of last year’s season finale in Pomona, beat Clay Millican by leaving ahead of him and lighting the win lamp with a 3.706 to Millican’s 3.705.

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Hart’s low e.t. lasted just two pairs as No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force, who ran 3.699 to take her 43rd No. 1 qualifying spot in her Monster Energy dragster, fired off a 3.692 to easily defeat Keith Murt.

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Force's low e.t. then lasted only one pair as Leah Pruett's sublime lime Dodge Power brokers machine powered to a 3.686 to defeat Doug Foley. It's nowhere near a career-best for L.P. though as people forget the sizzling 3.631 she ran at the 2018 Finals in Pomona, a run that is still the fourth quickest in history,

After a solid effort in testing with new crew chiefs Glen Huszar and Lance Larsen, Foley struggled early in qualifying. Suffering a clutch malfunction on their first attempt and then overpowering the track on their second as the team gets used to its new-found power. They hit it right in Q3 with a 3.805 to qualifying No. 13.

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The low e.t. changeover continued in the very next pair as Doug Kalitta raced to a career-best 3.634 in his newly-canopied Mac Tools dragster. Crew chief Brian Husen admitted that the team made wholesale changes to the combination over the winter after a subpar 2022 that was highlighted by low e.t. in Phoenix, where he ran his previous best of 3.657.

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Recently deposed world champ Steve Torrence added to the 3.6-second barrage (one each in five of the first six pairs) with a 3.689, also his best run of the event, in defeating Scott Palmer, who is making a welcome return to driving this year (albeit a limited schedule). Torrence, who won this event in 2020, will have second-round lane choice over Schumacher.

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It didn’t take long to get our first razor-thin win of the season as Antron Brown edged Shawn Langdon by just .0002-second. A.B. left first, .066 to 0.68, but Langdon outran him by about the same margin, 3.704 to Brown’s 3.706, but the holeshot win went to Brown, who won this race for the first and only time 10 years ago.

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Mike Salinas made it six 3.6-second winners out of eight with a 3.669, which was the second quickest of the frame. He'll have lane choice over Force in round two.

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Second-round Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Mike Salinas vs.Brittany Force; Steve Torrence vs. Tony Schumacher; Leah Pruett vs. Austin Prock; Doug Kalitta vs. Antron Brown

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The great conditions carried over into Funny car where J.R. Todd opened eliminations with a 3.893, better than his 3.900 qualifying effort, to defeat Blake Alexander's 3.95 in an all-three-second duel,

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Seven PPG paint technicians spent 300 hours painting Bob Tasca III’s Mustang Funny Car body but the car that fans saw in the first round took two guys – Tasca being one of them -- just two hours to prep.

The beautiful multicolored Ford body that Tasca ran in qualifying was heavily damaged by a broken rod-influenced blower explosion in the lights on his final qualifying run, a solid 3.885, forcing the team to bring out their unpainted backup body, that was decaled well into the evening last night.��

“It’ll still look good sitting in the winner’s circle,” said Tasca confidently earlier this morning. he then went out an reset low e.t. with a low e.t. 3.865 victory over Alex Laughlin in round one.

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Laughlin, making his first start in Funny Car after previously competing in Pro Stock and Top Fuel, admitted to some nerves entering the event.

“I only had seven runs in licensing and the furthest was just to 700 feet, so I was nervous to come out here and make my first full run in front of a big crowd and the TV cameras,” he said.

Laughlin qualified the Jim Dunn Racing/Havoline entry No. 13 with a 4.012 that would have been his first three-second Funny Car run had not the blower belt exited before the finish line, but made good with a 3.99 in round one, albeit in a losing effort against Tasca.

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Sixteen-time champ John Force got a reprieve after opponent Dave Richards had to be shut off on the starting line with a reverser issue and the GOAT rattled and smoked the tires to a 6.52 on the bye run.

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Low qualifier Ron Capps took back his low e.t.mark with a 3.855 against Terry Haddock. Capps also was the No. 1 qualifier at last year's season opener (which was in Pomona) and then went on to runner-up honors to kick off what would be a championship season. Capps will take on Alexis DeJoria in round two after she defeated tire-smoking Cruz Pedregon with a 3.90, her best run of the meet by five-hundredths,

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As was the case in Top Fuel, low e.t.s are apparently not meant to stick as Robert Hight blasted to a 3.843 in the Flav-R-Pac Camaro to beat John Smith. Hight will be in the Flav-R-Pac colors at four of the season's first five events, the outlier being the Winternstionals in Pomona, where he'll be back in the familiar Auto Club of Southern California livery.

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Defending event champ Matt Hagan ran his Gainesville win streak to five rounds with a 3.879 at 335.82, which is top speed of the meet, to spoilTim Wilkerson's Scag Power Equipment debut. Despite the great run, Hagan will cede second-round lane choice to Tasca.

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No, that's not Tim Wilkerson pictured above but stablemate Chad Green, who honored longtime Team Wilkerson backer Dick Levi by trading his own Bond Coat colors for the Levi, Ray & Shoup livery that Wilkerson ran for years, Levi is in attendance at the race and although his company is still represented (behind Scag) on Wilkerson's car, it was a class move by Green to honor Levi,

Levi will get another chance to see the car in round two as Green ran 3.94 to defeat Paul Lee and will have second-round lane choice over John Force,

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Second-round Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Ron Capps vs. Alexis DeJoria;��Bob Tasca III vs. Matt Hagan; Chad Green vs. John Force; Robert Hight vs. J.R. Todd

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The entire Pro Stock field was separated by just six hundredths of a second so it’s no surprise that the first round of Pro Stock featured many close side-by-side races. The first pair provided an indicator of things to come when No. 9 qualifier Deric Kramer drove his GetBioFuel Camaro past Bo Butner’s JHG Chevy, 6.559 to 6.577. Kramer, who is determined to recover from a sub-par season in 2022, got off the a solid start with a .006-second starting line advantage against the former champ. Kramer won just eight rounds last season and barely squeezed his way into the Top 10, but the team is already off to a better start than last season.

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Reigning Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals champion Dallas Glenn is still in the running to defend his title but it wasn’t as easy as it might have looked. Glenn, who made the best run in Saturday’s final qualifying session, was quick again with a 6.529 in his RAD Torque Systems Camaro, but the normally quick-leaving driver was left on the starting line by Camrie Caruso, who had one of the best lights of her career with a .005 (to Glenn’s .027). Caruso had a lead at the start, but had to shut off when her Right Trailers Camaro got loose at half-track.

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By his own admission, Matt Hartford “sucked” during qualifying as he put his Total Seal Camaro into the No. 13 spot with a 6.554. Hartford admitted quilt for the team’s struggles as they did not make a single test pass during the off-season. That did not prove to be an issue in round one as crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia found the sweet spot on race day with a 6.543 to stop Aaron Stanfield. Hartford did his part with a .011 light to win on a holeshot.

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The biggest shocker of the new season came in Pro Stock when reigning world champ Erica Enders missed her shot to win the Gatornationals when her JHG Camaro would not start in her round one match against her new teammate, Jerry Tucker. The Elite team worked furiously to get Enders’ car started, but it would not fire in time to make the run. The loss has to be especially galling for Enders, who was the No. 2 qualifier, and is still looking for her first Gatornationals win. As for Tucker, he’s perfect in his young career with an 8.125 early shut off. The good news for Enders is that she quickly recovered from a loss in Gainesville to win 10 events en route to her fifth championship.

Round two pairings (lane choice first): Coughlin vs. Kramer; Hartford vs. Glenn; Anderson vs. Tucker; Koretsky vs. M. McGaha.

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Reigning world champion Matt Smtih has worked extensively with Jianna Evaristo to improve her riding and the results in Gainesville have been obvious. Evaristo re-set her career best a couple of times in qualifying including a very quick 6.780 that was good for the No. 5 qualifying spot. The 2019 Pomona champ continued her string of good fortune in eliminations when she topped Marc Ingwersen with a solid 6.820 pass.

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Low qualifier Gaige Herrera admitted that his expectations for race day had been raised after he ran a pair of 6.6-second runs to qualify No. 1 in his debut for the Vance & Hines team. So far, Herrera has delivered with a 6.704 in his opening round win against No. 16 qualifier Ron “the Rat” Tornow. Herrera’s reward for his first NHRA round win will be a quarterfinal battle against his teammate, four time world champ Eddie Krawiec, who topped Hector Arana Jr. in round one.

Herrera figures to have his work cut out for him as Krawiec does some of his best work at the season-opener with six victories since 2010.

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Joey Gladstone, who nearly won the championship last year, admittedly struggled in qualifying aboard his Vance & Hines Suzuki. The three-time event winner barely made the field in the No. 15 spot with a 6.846 on his Reed Motorsports Suzuki. Facing a deficit of a tenth of a second against No. 2 qualifier Steve Johnson, Gladstone could admittedly use a break and he got one when Johnson red-lighted by .009-second. Gladstone made his best run of the event with a 6.813, a solid indicator that the team was getting a handle on it’s issues from qualifying, but it’s not certain if he could have beaten Johnson, who rode to a 6.776 after his foul start.

Round two pairings (lane choice first): Herrera vs. Krawiec; M. Smith vs. Evaristo; A. Smith vs. Gladstone; Van Sant vs. Oehler.

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Steve Torrence advanced to the semifinals with a 3.74 victory over tire-smoking Tony Schumacher and thus became the first official contestant in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, which will pit the semifinalists from this event against one another during qualifying at the next event, the NHRA Arizona Nationals, for a bonus purse and points.

Torrence’s opponent in the semifinals (and in Phoenix’s third qualifying session) will be Doug Kalitta, who will have lane choice after a 3.71 pasting of tire-smoking Antron Brown. Kalitta has three previous Gatornationals victories, the latest coming in 2014.

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Leah Pruett got a single run after it appeared that Austin Prock’s Montana Brand entry broke the throttle stop on the burnout, which over-revved the engine, wounding the motor, forcing the team to shut the car down. Pruett advanced to the semi’s with a fine 3.73.

Pruett will line up in round two against Mike Salinas, who had low e.t. of the round with a 3.69 in upsetting low qualifier and defending world champ Brittany Force.��

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Semifinal Top Fuel pairings (lane choice first): Mike Salinas vs. Leah Pruett; Doug Kalitta vs. Steve Torrence

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Crew chief Dickie Venables continued to enjoy his birthday as he put his driver, Matt Hagan, into the semifinals with a strong 3.88 to beat Bob Tasca III’s competitive 3.92. As mentioned previously, Hagan is the defending event champ.

Hagan will take on Alexis DeJoria in the semifinals with lane choice after she raced to a 3.93 against tire-smoking Ron Capps, who became the third world champ to bite the dust early, following on the heels of Brittany Force (Top Fuel) and Erica Enders (Pro Stock).

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Like his John Force Racing Top Fuel teammate Austin Prock a few minutes earlier, something seemed to go awry with Robert Hight’s throttle on the burnout. When the tree turned green against J.R. Todd, Hight’s car did not move, and Todd steamed to a 3.913 to advance to the semifinals.

Todd will take on Chad Green, who put out the fourth member of JFR on a 3.93 to 3.94 victory over John Force. Green has never won in Funny car, but did get a win in Pro Mod in 2020 at the Lucas Oil NHRA Summernationals in Indy during that COVID trio of races at IRP.

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Semifinal Funny Car pairings (lane choice first): Matt Hagan vs. Alexis DeJoria; J.R. Todd vs. Chad Green.

Most expected the second round to feature a titanic battle between Erica Enders and Greg Anderson, who have combined to win ten championship but fate intervened when Enders’ JHG Camaro would not start, gifting a win to Jerry Tucker, who is making his first NHRA start. Tucker had a shot to upset Anderson, but the race ended quickly with an early red-light start. Anderson was ripe for the taking when his HendrickCars.com Camaro rattled the tires and slowed to a 6.625. Regardless of how he got there, Anderson remains in contention for what could be his sixth Gatornationals victory. Tucker’s silver lining from his first start is that he’ll go to the next race in Phoenix as the eighth-ranked Pro Stock driver in the class.

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After a dreadful 2022 season, things are already looking up for the Harlow Sammons team as Mason McGaha put his Camaro into the semifinals with a win against Kyle Koretsky, who fouled. McGaha turned in a great effort in qualifying with a 6.519 that was third-quickest and he’s now beaten Fernando Cuadra and Koretsky to grab a spot in the final four where he’ll have lane choice against Greg Anderson. There are a number of drivers still looking for their first NHRA wins, and McGaha is easily one of the favorites to get there this season.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Glenn vs Coughlin; M. McGaha vs. Anderson

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The whole “rather be lucky than good” thing landed in Angie Smith’s lap in the second round when her Denso Buell bogged and stalled just off the starting line. Regardless, she’s earned a spot in the semifinals after opponent Joey Gladstone fouled by .011-second on his Reed Motorsports Suzuki. Adding insult to injury, Gladstone ran a very competitive 6.790 in the loss. Smith will be paired against rookie Chase Van Sant in the semifinals after the new WAR rider beat Ryan Oehler in their quarterfinal pairing.

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In 2019, Jianna Evaristo won her first race at the Auto Club Finals in Pomona but even she’ll admit that it was the result of luck as much if not more than talent. That’s no longer the case as Evaristo has matured into a competitive rider and she’s proved it in Gainesville with a pair of impressive victories on race day. After topping Marc Ingwersen in the opening round Evaristo scored perhaps the biggest win of her career in the quarterfinals when she stopped her teammate and mentor Matt Smith, the reigning world champ. Evaristo got off the starting line first with a very competitive .017 light and then outran Smith’s Denso Suzuki to the finish line, 6.846 to 6.864.

Semifinal pairings (lane choice first): Van Sant vs. A. Smith;���� vs. Evaristo

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Mike Salinas will have final-round lane choice in Top Fuel after powering his Scrappers Racing dragster to a blower-backfiring 3.72 against Leah Pruett, who smoked the tires several hundred feet downtrack.

His opponent will be 2020 Gatornationals Top Fuel winner Steve Torrence, who reached the money round with a 3.77 against Doug Kalitta, who lit the tires right at the green.

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Matt Hagan will have the chance to win his second straight Gatornationals Funny Car title after beating Alexis DeJoria on a 3.89 to 3.91 count.

Hagan will have final-round lane choice against J.R. Todd, who is looking for his first victory since this event two years ago. Todd’s DHL Toyota raced to a 3.90 to end Chad green’s Cinderella story despite a fine 3.96.

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There is the distinct possibility of a first-time winner in Pro Stock as Mason McGaha will take on low qualifier Troy Coughlin Jr. in the final round. McGaha, in his fourth season in the class, is appearing in his second career final round after a close 6.60 to 6.619 win over five-time world champ Greg Anderson in the semifinals. Coughlin will have lane choice in the final round after a 6.586 to 6.579 holeshot win over defending Gainesville winner Dallas Glenn. Coughlin is seeking his fourth win in Pro Stock and his second at the Gatornationals. He won the Super Gas title in Gainesville in 2013.

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Gaige Herrera will have lane choice by more than a tenth of a second when he takes on Angie Smith in the Pro Stock Motorcycle final in Gainesville. Herrera, in his first race with the Vance & Hines Mission Foods team, has been perfect so far as he’s qualified No. 1, set low elapsed time and top speed, and won his first three races. Herrera earned his spot in the final where he’ll take on Angie Smith, winner of the most recent event in Pomona last season. Smith topped rookie Chase Van Sant in the semifinals with a 6.882 on her Denso Buell, but will need to find some performance in order to catch Herrera, who was quick with a 6.742 in his semifinal win against Jianna Evaristo.