A weather-compressed schedule at the Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by MOPAR gave Angelle Sampey just one qualifying pass before eliminations began Friday evening at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
Sampey drove the Hangsterfer’s FVP Mission Foods A/Fuel Dragster to a 5.327-second pass at 264.55 mph, placing her No. 8 in the Top Alcohol Dragster field. With rain threatening the remainder of the weekend, the opening round of eliminations was moved to Friday evening.
Sampey faced J.P. Gutierrez in the first round. Gutierrez left the starting line first and held the advantage through the finish, posting a 5.319 at 268.50 mph to defeat Sampey’s 5.446 at 262.54 mph.
“Friday, we only had one round of qualifying, and we went straight into eliminations on,” Sampey said. “We just did not run the number, so I lost first round.
“I know we didn’t get the opportunity to tune on the car with only one qualifying run, so it is what it is,” Sampey added. “There wasn’t a whole bunch we could do about it, but we didn’t run the number. We didn’t get it in there.”
Although Top Alcohol Dragster will not compete at the next two NHRA national events, Sampey will attend the NHRA Nationals at the Rock at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina, and the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, as a Mission Foods Ambassador.
“We don’t have the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge going on anymore for the rest of the season, but I’m still here hanging out, greeting fans and doing the Mission thing by bringing people to the starting line when we get a chance,” Sampey said.
Sampey will return to the Hangsterfer’s FVP Mission Foods A/Fuel Dragster at the Texas FallNationals at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas.
“My next event will be in Dallas, which means I only have three events to go for this year,” Sampey said. “I’m looking forward to Dallas.”
