Toliver Loses First-Round Match-Up with Force at Atlanta

Jerry Toliver and his CANIDAE Racing team made an early exit from the Summit Racing NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway after a first-round loss to 14-time Funny Car champ John Force.

After near-identical reaction times, Force slowly pulled away with a winning elapsed time of 4.123 seconds at 308.57 mph as Toliver drove the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy to an elapsed time of 4.213 seconds at 301.74 mph.  

"Even though we lost, this was a good bounce-back weekend for us," Toliver said. "We made consistent runs in qualifying, and then made a good, solid run in the first round today that just wasn't enough. (John) Force is obviously a tough match-up, but we made a good pass and at least made him earn it. We got some good data this weekend, so it's on to St. Louis and we'll keep trying to get better." 

Toliver qualified 15th for the 16-car Funny Car field with a 4.201-second elapsed time at 299.13 mph to earn his first-round pairing with No. 2 qualifier Force. 

Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals at Gateway Int'l. Raceway in Madison, Ill., from May 1-3.

Kirk Weeks