[coverattach=1]COMMERCE, Ga., April 18, 2009 - What a difference a race weekend makes. After failing to qualify for his first race of the season two weeks ago at Las Vegas, Jerry Toliver showed continuous improvement over the course of two days of qualifying for this weekend's 29th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway to qualify the Canidae/Lucas Oil Chevy Funny Car 15th for tomorrow's eliminations.
Toliver made consistent runs of 4.399 seconds at 277.77 mph in Friday's first qualifying session, a 4.225 e.t. at 287.47 mph in Round 2, and an elapsed time of 4.201 seconds at 299.13 mph in today's third qualifying session. The Jim Dunn Racing team elected to roll back the Canidae/Lucas Oil car from the starting line as a precaution after a low oil-pressure reading prior to their fourth qualifying session. Toliver will face No. 2 qualifier John Force in tomorrow's first round of eliminations. Defending event winner Ashley Force Hood is qualified No. 1 with an elapsed time of 4.073 seconds at 310.05 mph.
"This was a great start to the weekend," Toliver said. "Last race for poor Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) was a disaster. We tore up everything in the trailer, but we found some stuff in between races that was the problem, a mechanical problem, not a tuning problem. Mechanical problems you can't control, and unfortunately we got bit by some but we've got 'em fixed and feel pretty good about that.
"This has been a much better weekend (than Las Vegas). We started with the first lap in qualifying yesterday and had a mag that was dead, so we only ran on one mag and didn't really learn much from that run. But we came back and learned from the second and third session, so it's coming around."
Canidae All Natural Pet Foods is committed to sharing the message of "Responsible Pet Ownership" through proper care and nutrition. Canidae provides its valued customers and their pets with the highest standard of excellence for product quality, palatability and customer satisfaction.
Toliver made consistent runs of 4.399 seconds at 277.77 mph in Friday's first qualifying session, a 4.225 e.t. at 287.47 mph in Round 2, and an elapsed time of 4.201 seconds at 299.13 mph in today's third qualifying session. The Jim Dunn Racing team elected to roll back the Canidae/Lucas Oil car from the starting line as a precaution after a low oil-pressure reading prior to their fourth qualifying session. Toliver will face No. 2 qualifier John Force in tomorrow's first round of eliminations. Defending event winner Ashley Force Hood is qualified No. 1 with an elapsed time of 4.073 seconds at 310.05 mph.
"This was a great start to the weekend," Toliver said. "Last race for poor Jim (team owner/crew chief Dunn) was a disaster. We tore up everything in the trailer, but we found some stuff in between races that was the problem, a mechanical problem, not a tuning problem. Mechanical problems you can't control, and unfortunately we got bit by some but we've got 'em fixed and feel pretty good about that.
"This has been a much better weekend (than Las Vegas). We started with the first lap in qualifying yesterday and had a mag that was dead, so we only ran on one mag and didn't really learn much from that run. But we came back and learned from the second and third session, so it's coming around."
Canidae All Natural Pet Foods is committed to sharing the message of "Responsible Pet Ownership" through proper care and nutrition. Canidae provides its valued customers and their pets with the highest standard of excellence for product quality, palatability and customer satisfaction.
