GAINESVILLE - Dave Grubnic waited until the fourth and final session for the NHRA's Gatornationals to earn his second straight top qualifying position in Top Fuel.
Pro Stock points leader Greg Anderson also waited until his final chance Saturday to lead his 16-car grid. The reigning champion set a Gainesville Raceway record with an elapsed time of 6.763 seconds at 204.31 mph to preserve his eighth consecutive No. 1 honor in a Pontiac Grand Am.
And Tim Wilkerson was quickest in Funny Car on the last try.
Andrew Hines took the No. 1 spot in Pro Stock Motorcycles from 2003 champion Geno Scali. It was the first of his career and only the second for a Harley-Davidson.
Final eliminations start at 11 a.m. today.
BIG CHANCE: Grubnic, who never has won an NHRA race, has an excellent chance in the third Connie Kalitta-owned dragster. Many thought his ride would be a research-and-development car to support Scott and Doug Kalitta.
"If they have an opportunity to go after it, they do," Grubnic said of his crew after running 4.623 seconds at 311.74. He said no one should be alarmed that the Kalitta cousins qualified seventh and 12th, respectively. "These cars have their own idiosyncrasies," he said. "Please don't underestimate those other two cars."
PRESSURE TIME: Anderson said he "completely overestimated the track" Friday after missing the opening session with a mechanical glitch. His car did a wheel stand on Saturday's first pass, leaving him fifth on the list with one more chance. He said his qualifying streak "weighed on me. We didn't want to be fifth. It's probably why we made the changes we made."
MAKING A MARK: Hines made no mistakes in posting a 7.097-second elapsed time, at 189.43 mph that set a track record.
"Now everybody has to play catchup with us, and it's nice," he said.
He said he wasn't sure what Harley-Davidson's goals were when it established its program last year, "but I know what mine are: I'm out here to win races and win championships. We won't be satisfied until we win a race. That'll be something monumental for Harley-Davidson."
Wilkerson said of his 4.906-second pass at 300 mph: "I said we had nothing to lose. We're going to try to rotate the earth." His run snagged the top spot, despite dropping two cylinders and causing him to shut off the engine about 100 feet before the finish line.
BUSY DAY: Legendary car builder Carroll Shelby pulled double duty Saturday. After serving as grand marshal at the 12 Hours of Sebring, he flew north to watch Day 2 of Gatornationals qualifying.
Shelby, most famous for his classic Cobra sports car, began his career - one that included driving, designing and manufacturing - at a drag strip in Dallas. He quickly switched to road racing and made his mark at Le Mans and after retiring, collaborated with all three of America's manufacturers.
Shelby visited briefly with NHRA legends Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, who owns a Top Fuel dragster and two Funny Cars, and John Force, the 12-time champion who drives one of his three Funny Cars. Shelby sponsored Prudhomme in the 1960s.
He called Prudhomme "a class act" and Force "a wonderful spokesman for the sport."
Shelby said he can't compare his heyday to the state of the drag racing today. "We were hot-rodders in the '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s. Most of us didn't have an education. Now you have these trained engineers, and they're 10 times smarter than we were. ... I'm just proud these kids are doing what they're doing."
