Two first-time qualifiers and a little family dominance provided great storyline for Saturday’s conclusion of qualifying at the 39^th annual ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. Alan Bradshaw raced from the 17^th spot to No. 1 in Top Fuel with a 4.547 and was joined atop the world by first-time Pro Stock Motorcycle low qualifier Matt Guidera, who rode to a career-best 6.92 to top the two wheelers.

The father and son Pro Stock team of Warren and Kurt Johnson front the Pro Stock field after recoding identical passes of 6.665. W.J. captured the top spot with a superior speed, 208.36 mph to his son’s 207.27 clocking. Reigning NHRA POWERade world champ Tony Pedregon showed his championship form by leading the Funny Car class with a strong 4.780. It was an anxious day of qualifying after Friday’s washout and surprise DNQs were plentiful as teams had just two shots to get it right.

Alan Bradshaw

Just three weeks after failing to qualify in Phoenix, Bradshaw raced to his first career pole position, driving Dexter Tuttle's Vis Visa machine to a strong but fiery 4.547, a run that moved the former Top Alcohol Dragster world champ from the just outside the field to the top of the it.

“We left Phoenix with our heads down low, but we tested and did really well, and we made a pact to one another that, by God, we weren’t going to another race this season until we get the car to run,” said Bradshaw. “We’re still working on some fuel-system issues right now, but we’re getting close.

"We almost made it to the finish line under power but didn’t quite get there, but we’re No. 1, and that’s what counts. These boys haven’t seen what we’ve got yet. Once we get the fuel system ironed out we’ll be in the 4.4s, I believe.

Phoenix runner-up Dave Grubnic continues to look good in Connie Kalitta’s second Top Fueler, sponsored at this event by Technicoat, zipping to the second spot with a 4.553. Rod Fuller, last year’s championship runner-up, is ranked third with the Caterpillar dragster after a 4.553 and sits just ahead of David Powers Racing teammate Antron Brown, who is making his first start in Top Fuel at this event and qualified fourth with a 4.558. Reigning Top Fuel season and event champ Tony Schumacher qualified fifth with a 4.579 in the U.S. Army dragster.

Four drivers making their 2008 debuts cracked the elite 16, including Clay Millican and Doug Foley who, along with J.R. Todd, manage to claw their way into the field on their second try, qualifying 10th and 13th, respectively.

Middleburg, Fla., racer Mike Gunderson, in his first appearance since he qualified here at last year’s race, also made the field, in the 15th spot (4.743) just ahead of bump sitter Bruce Litton, who held down the final position with a 4.755 and will face Bradshaw in the first round Sunday.

Among the notables on the DNQ list are 2005 event champ Doug Kalitta, 2007’s fifth-place finisher, Bob Vandergriff Jr., and Morgan Lucas. Twenty-one Top Fuelers tried out for the field, the highest car count at this event in the last five years.

Tony Pedregon

Reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car world champ Tony Pedregon put behind him memories of his massive blower explosion and fire at the season opener by racing to the No. 1 spot with a 4.780 pass in his Dickie Venables-tuned Q Horsepower Impala.

“This is the best medicine for the team, and I think we’ve put [what happened in Pomona] behind us,” said Pedregon, who qualified No. 1 for the 32^nd time in his career and his second at the Gatornationals. “This is really what we expected for the first couple of races and just hadn’t hit our stride. Pomona was just a parts failure, and, to be honest, I was just happy to get in the car at Phoenix and make some runs because I was close to not being comfortable in the car, mentally and physically. Being able to do that made me comfortable and confident for this race.

“We know the performance is there and we just need to work on what took us to the championship last year. Dickie has a real great relationship with Rahn Tobler, who tunes [brother] Cruz’s car, and it really complements what we both do. In the past I’ve always felt like it was us helping Cruz [run better], but I can say that Tobler is contributing quite a bit to what we’re doing. We’re going to work real hard to break into that top 10, and we can do it with semifinals and wins and performances like this.”

Pedregon’s former boss, John Force, just missed out on the first No. 1 since his comeback from last September’s crash after piloting the Castrol GTX Mustang to a 4.816. They’re followed on the grid by Tim Wilkerson, whose two-race string of No. 1 spots was snapped with a 4.820, and Pedregon’s brother Cruz, who clocked a 4.841.

Former Gatornationals winner Jerry Toliver qualified on the bump spot with a 4.973 in the Rockstar entry and will oppose Pedregon in Sunday’s first round.

The first head-to-head matchup between husband and wife Tommy Johnson Jr. and Melanie Troxel couldn’t have gone much worse as Troxel crossed the centerline ahead of T.J., forcing him to abort his run, and neither driver qualified as a result. Troxel’s teammate, former Gators and world champ Frank Hawley, qualified 11th in his return to the class and will face one of his drag racing school instructors, Phoenix winner Jack Beckman, in round one.

Veteran Tony Bartone was uninjured in a spectacular incident in the day’s first session after making contact with both guardwalls with Jim Dunn’s Canidae All Natural Pet Food Monte Carlo. Bartone’s green machine launched into a three-foot wheelstand near half-track, and, after the New York driver wisely lifted, the front end slammed back to earth and apparently broke a steering component. Bartone crossed the centerline from right to left and slammed into the left guardwall, then pinballed back across the centerline and hard into the right wall.

Former world champ Gary Scelzi headed the list of surprise nonqualifiers and will be joined on the sidelines Sunday by Johnson, Troxel, and four others.

Warren Johnson

Kurt and Warren Johnson wowed the Gainesville crowd with their synchronized passes in the final pair of Pro Stock qualifying. W.J.’s new GM Performance Parts GXP earned him his 137th career No. 1 spot – and his ninth at this event – and his first since the 2005 Brainerd event just ahead of K.J.’s Cobalt, which flies the colors of event sponsor ACDelco.

“It’s always good to start off with a new car by qualifying No. 1,” said W.J. “The last time I qualified No. 1 in Brainerd it was the first race with our first GTO. It’s been a good start to the season, Early on we were making good power with the GTO at the first two races, which was a good indicator we had adequate power to qualify in the upper half of the field. This car seems to be a little quicker in the back half, which is where the mile-per-hour is coming.

“The guys on both mine and Kurt’s cars are working together back and forth on both cars to get used to what real teamwork is about, and we’re off to a good start.”

Reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series world champ Jeg Coughlin placed the Jegs Chevy with a 6.680 that moved him from seventh to third and even led the field until the Johnsons’ last-second heroics. Mike Edwards made the biggest move off the session, from 18th to fourth, by bettering his opening lap of 6.769 by nearly a tenth with a 6.685. Defending event champ Greg Anderson is sixth with a 6.689, just behind Allen Johnson’s 6.687.

Rickie Jones, son of chassis builder Rick Jones, qualified impressively in his national event debut, parking the QuarterMax/RJ Race Cars Dodge in the No. 9 spot with a 6.708 best.

Former NHRA Sport Compact world champ Matt Hartford qualified in the 16^th spot with David Nickens’ Dodge with his 6.743 registered in the first session. He’ll race low qualifier W.J. in the first round Sunday.

Among the 13 who failed to make the field are veteran Larry Morgan, Bill Glidden, Max Naylor, Kenny Koretsky, and Europeans Adam Flamholc and Jimmy Alund (Sweden) and Richard Sunblom (Finland).

Matt Guidera

Guidera stole the show in the final qualifying session, racing to his first pole with a career-best 6.922 at 192.85 mph aboard his Rick Maney-tuned Mohegan Sun/Rocklin Motorsports Buell. Guidera, who entered the final session No. 2 with a 7.00 behind first-session leader Andrew Hines’ 6.98, stormed to the front of the pack in the second to last pairing of the session.

“We knew we left some on the table in the first session, about five-hundredths," said Guidera. "The bike went left, and I had to pull it right because it was up in the air for half the run and not very aerodynamic at all. The last pass it left hard and was stuck. Rick made a last-minute adjustment to the clutch, and it really worked out. He missed the first session this morning because he got sick at dinner last night and the guys had to take him to urgent care this morning. They got him some Pepto Bismol and sent him back to bed, but when he heard that we were No. 2 after the first pass he got here in 20 minutes.

“The guys worked so hard our on our motor package in the off-season because we were about a tenth off last year, and all that hard work paid off. Running 6.92 here in the humidity, we had is really something.”

Hines’ Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson ran next but was bumped to third by reigning series champ Matt Smith, who rode his Nitro Fish Buell to a 6.972 next to Hines’ 7.001. Hines’ Harley teammate, Eddie Krawiec, sits fourth on the grid with a 7.001. The surprise of the field, other than Guidera, is Edward Murphy, who used a career-best 7.138 astride Michael Phillips’ second Suzuki to qualify for his first field in the 15th spot.

Hector Arana ended up on the bump spot with a 7.147 with his Lucas Oil Products Buell after improving from his 7.162 on his second pass and will face low qualifier Guidera in Sunday’s opening round.

The DNQ list is thick with talent including former national event winners and 2007 top 10 finishers Steve Johnson, who crashed into the field on his final run only to be bumped back out, and Craig Treble. Ironically, Johnson’s 7.18-second blast came at a speed of 191.05 mph, the second best speed among the two wheelers behind only Guidera.