For the second event in a row NHRA racers and fans battle the elements. Thunderstorms hit Atlanta Dragway both on Saturday and Sunday delaying but not deleting racing action. Sunday’s final eliminations do not commence until after 3:00 PM making for a nighttime event conclusion.

John Force’s FC team which had surrendered the last three consecutive NHRA events to Don Schumacher’s potent Dodge camp, bounce back with vengeance at Atlanta. The “Boss Man” himself wins when he guides the Castrol GTX Start-Up Ford Mustang past his son-in-law/teammate Robert Hight in a very exciting final round. Force spots Hight an early lead before running him down at the stripe in the closest match of the entire event. Force runs low ET of the meet at 4.772 secs at 325.61 mph to edge out Hight’s 4.796 secs at 323.04 mph driving the AAA Auto Club Mustang.

Force’s win, which was his 2nd of 2005 and the 116th of his unbelievable career, moved him back on top of the NHRA POWERade points podium, 24 points ahead of Whit Bazemore who lost out in round one when he smoked the tires driving Don Schumacher’s Matco Tools Dodge Stratus.

FC racing was paced by another Schumacher car, recent Bristol event winner Gary Scelzi, who drove the Oakley/Mopar Dodge Stratus to the pole during Saturday’s rain-delayed final qualifying session. Scelzi ran a 4.782 secs. In round one Scelzi won over Richard Hartman but had a major fire while doing it. With help from the rain delay, his team toils to make repairs in time for round two, however Scelzi is gunned down by Cruz Pedregon.

The apparent demise of 2X NHRA POWERade World Champion Greg Anderson in Pro Stock appears now to be much premature as the North Carolina-based racer drove the Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac to its first win of the season. Like the FC final, the PS capper was a thriller with Anderson also winning by the narrowest of margins over his racing teammate Jason Line. Both racers recorded identical 6.781 secs elapsed times (!) with Anderson’s slightly better RT (.049 vs. .060) being the margin of victory.

The victory moved Anderson up to third in POWERade points and within only 16 points of David Connolly who was a surprising DNQ driving the all new Bullet Motorsports Chevy Cobalt.

Georgia’s Warren Johnson put on a good show for his homestate fans as he qualified on the pole (6.749 secs) and set top speed of the meet at 204.54 mph driving the GM Performance Parts Pontiac. “WJ” was however taken out of competition by Greg Anderson in the semi final round.

Pro Stock Motorcycle racing produced a first time circuit winner with G.T. Tonglet scoring aboard one of the Vance & Hines Screamin’ Eagle V-Rods

Tonglet is the quickest and fastest bike during each and every round of eliminations while winning. Tonglet eliminated rookie rider Chris Rivas in the championship final. Rivas’s final round appearance riding his ’05 Buell came in what was only his third Pro start.

The victory put Tonglet #1 in POWERade points after 3 of 15 events for 2005 and his win included low ET of the event at 7.081 secs.

PSM qualifying did produce a harrowing moment for Connie Cohen rider of the CMKX-sponsored Suzuki. During a qualifying run on Friday the lady racer was forced to bail off her bike when it developed a high speed wobble after a 7.33 secs run at 178+ mph. Thankfully Connie’s only injury was a fractured toe.

Doug Kalitta was able to build on his Top Fuel points margin following a second consecutive circuit victory. The Mac Tools dragster pilot handily beat David Baca in the final round with a winning 4.567 secs at 325.69 mph.

Baca’s bid to win his first TF title ended when he lost a blower belt down track.

Kalitta’s trek to victory lane included a crucial head-to-head match-up in round three against Tony Schumacher’s U.S. Army machine. Kalitta never trailed in that match as he left first and won a very dramatic 4.532 secs 327.43 mph to 4.549 secs 325.37 mph decision.

TF qualifying was anchored by Morgan Lucas whose 4.541 secs driving for Joe Amato and Lucas Oil gave him the first pole of his career. Lucas was however upset by the surprising Dennis Baca in round two: 4.602 secs to 4.628 secs.

The Atlanta event presented for the first time in NHRA national event history competition in the IHRA-born Top Sportsman category. A total of 20 racers competed in the special Dart Dash invitational which featured only “top 10” points finishers from the divisional level. Billy Gibson ran a final round 7.470 secs (7.46 secs dial in) to win driving his ’01 Pontiac when his opponent Todd Drummond had a red-light foul start in the final round.

Top Alcohol Funny Car racing produced a dominating victory by Frank Manzo who wheeled his Lucas Oil-sponsored Pontiac Firebird to the top of the heap again. Manzo blitzed the field recording both low ET and top speed of the meet at 5.578 secs and 258.71 mph. He singled for the title (his 10th overall at Atlanta Dragway) when his scheduled opponent Bobby Martin broke on his burnout.

TAD class racing produced a first time winner with Rich McPhillips winning the final round over Karen Benkovich in an all NHRA Northeast Division pairing. McPhillips wheeled his injected nitro entry to a winning 5.808 secs on a single after Benkovich’s machine would not go into reverse following her burnout.

The best TAD marks of the event were produced by supercharged alcohol cars with Guy Kelly setting low ET at 5.414 secs and Marty Thacker netting top speed at 264.03 mph.