With air temperatures teetering near 90 all day and track temperatures bumped up near 120 degrees, competitors got their first taste of summer conditions during the opening day of action at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX, and Larry Dixon, Tony Bartone, and Dave Connolly adapted best to the hot, muggy conditions, grabbing the top spots on the provisional ladders in their respective classes.
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Bartone’s roller coaster ride of a season went back on the upswing when he outpaced the rest of the Funny Car field with a 4.881 clocking in his Jim Dunn-tuned, Canidae-backed Monte Carlo that seeds him No. 1 after two of four qualifying runs for the weekend. Bartone has one previous career start from the top spot on the ladder, in Englishtown in 2006.
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Rookie of the Year candidate Bob Tasca III is primed for the best start of his young career after wheeling his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang to a 4.901 for the provisional No. 2 spot. After sitting out a couple of events, Frank Hawley made a
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Read Candida Benson's full recap at NHRA.com