BRAINERD - Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Session #1

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Fri, 10 Aug 2007, 04:28 PM

Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dan Bennett

BRAINERD, Minn. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Pro Stock at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 26th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

Left Lane: Pat Herold Runs 6.987/198.52, Now #2
Right Lane: Steve Schmidt Runs 6.840/202.52, Now #1

2:58 p.m. and it's hot out there. Weather conditions: air temperature 94 degrees, relative humidity 39 percent, barometer 28.74 inches, adjusted altitude 3,907 feet.

The track temp is a scary 130 degrees.

Neither car has any problems at all. Schmidt carried the wheels for a long time. The Bad Rat team will have some good data to tune with.

As with the motorcycles, it doesn't look like the track temp is going to be a problem.

Left Lane: Craig Hankinson Runs 6.880/201.70, Now #3
Right Lane: Ron Krisher Runs 6.818/202.33, Now #1

I know I was gone for a while, but I'm still shaking my head at cars running this quickly on a hot summer day.

Left Lane: Tom Hammonds Runs 6.842/202.48, Now #3
Right Lane: Justin Humphreys Runs 6.856/202.76, Now #4

Bob Glidden is on the line with Humphreys, and so is crew chief Eric Luzinski.

Jerry Eckman tunes Hammonds to a very good pass. The GTO is right behind.

Left Lane: Max Naylor Runs 6.812/203.74, Now #1
Right Lane: Kenny Koretsky Runs 6.864/202.55, Now #6

I'd be pointing out the flaws I'm seeing in these runs other than they aren't really visible. The level of competition is so high these days that the fastest guys are 99.5% effective and the slower guys are 99%. No one is running through the clutch, shaking the tires, hitting the limiter, or any other obvious mistake. This class has become that good.

Naylor takes the Hemi to the top for now.

Left Lane: Greg Stanfield Runs 6.885/201.70, Now #9
Right Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.842/202.09, Now #5

OK, that time I did notice something that caught my eye. Yates' GTO seemed to be really torqued over in the first two gears. Sure didn't hurt his ET.

Stanfield and crew chief Mike Elliott still struggle to find the performance they so recently enjoyed. My bet is that they'll find it pretty soon.

Left Lane: Richie Stevens Runs 6.822/202.91, Now #3
Right Lane: V. Gaines Runs 6.824/202.30, Now #4

That's about as close as two non-team cars can run.

Richie Stevens' incremental times: 60ft-1.024 sec., 330ft-2.857, 660ft-4.389/160.82mph, 1,000ft-5.709
V. Gaines' incremental times: 60ft-1.019 sec., 330ft-2.859, 660ft-4.388/160.42mph, 1,000ft-5.710

Left Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 6.806/203.12, Now #1
Right Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.854/202.21, Now #9

Including the last pair, these are the guys who really need to go rounds this weekend if they want to compete after Reading.

Morgan is noticeably quicker on the front half of the track as he drives away from WJ.

Larry takes over the top spot.

Larry Morgan's incremental times: 60ft-1.017 sec., 330ft-2.850, 660ft-4.379/161.30mph, 1,000ft-5.695

Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.820/202.61, Now #4
Right Lane: Jason Line Runs 6.852/203.28, Now #10

In spite of rumors floated by some of the internet racing sites, (and Alan Reinhart on the PA) Jason tells us that unless someone is keeping a secret from him he's going to be driving this car next year.

Greg says he doesn't know anything about a driver change either.

Line misses the setup but I sure couldn't point to a good reason why.

Left Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.817/203.74, Now #3
Right Lane: Dave Connolly Runs 6.825/202.27, Now #8

For the first time, I'm seeing Pro Stock tires distorted with a standing wave, much like you the shape a Top Fuel tire takes on the top end.

AJ continues to produce one of the very strongest cars in the class.

Left Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 6.801/203.77, Now #2
Right Lane: Greg Anderson Runs 6.794/203.25, Now #1

Here are the big dogs, and it's a battle of the parts stores like so many times before.

As would be expected, these guys pick Larry Morgan's pocket and line up in the top two spots.

Anderson actually looked a bit lazier in the first two gears, as I thought Jeggie made a stronger move in the same location. But look at the numbers below and notice how quickly Greg made up his disadvantage at 60 feet.

Jeg Coughlin's incremental times: 60ft-1.007 sec., 330ft-2.847, 660ft-4.378/161.40mph, 1,000ft-5.694
Greg Anderson's incremental times: 60ft-1.014 sec., 330ft-2.845, 660ft-4.372/161.29mph, 1,000ft-5.687

We have another session today that hopefully might be a bit cooler. For now, it's Anderson on top and Humphreys anchoring the field at 6.856

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink