Commerce: Justin Humphreys final report

Humphreys Ecstatic with Semifinal Finish,
'Awesome' RaceRedi Pontiac at Atlanta

It was  almost like magic. Frank Gugliotta, a close friend of Justin
Humphreys and his  parents, accompanied their RaceRedi Motorsports Pro Stock team to
Commerce, Ga.,  to provide chassis tuning advice in the NHRA national event.

He did, and the Pontiac GXP responded better than it ever had. Humphreys turned in four solid qualifying runs at Atlanta Dragway and qualified third. And then he tacked on three more good runs during Sunday's eliminations en route to a semifinal finish -- his best outing of the season. He was so pleased that a minus .003-second red-light start in the semifinals against Jason Line didn't alter his mood.

"The car was awesome all weekend," said  a smiling Humphreys.  "We've now
made nine good back-to-back runs. The  credit goes to Frank and Bob Glidden.
Bob decided to leave the team after  the Las Vegas race and Frank stepped in to
help out. He drives a Ford Mustang at  IHRA races."

Humphreys, who climbed into ninth place in NHRA POWERade Series points with 276, began competition by defeating Greg Stanfield in the opening round. He had a .004-second reaction time and won easily, 6.688 seconds at 205.41 mph to 6.725 at 205.41 mph.

He continued  his string in the quarterfinals with a .024-reaction and a
hole-shot victory  over Kurt Johnson -- 6.681 at 205.82 to 6.669 at 206.83.

Humphreys  said he knew he had to "go for it" against Line.  "He was running
good and  we just missed it.  It has been a great weekend.  Now we are
excited  about going to St. Louis next week."

Line got the early win light  and stopped the clock in 6.655 seconds at
206.45 mph.  Humphreys had a  6.684 at 206.32.

-credit: rrm