Sat, 20 Sep 2008, 03:38 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Ron Morrison Runs 5.936/242.58, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.985/230.02, Was #21

Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 48 percent, barometer 29.50 inches, adjusted altitude 2,823 feet, track temperature 111 degrees.

Morrison will have to run a career best here to get in the show. He makes a decent pass, his quickest so far, but he still misses by a big margin.

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Left Lane: Burl Brown Runs 5.709/245.45, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.777/248.43, Was #19

Brown makes a move to the left right off the line. He gets the car going straight but out of the groove. It doesn't seem to affect the run, no traction problems, and he gets in the show with his quickest run of the weekend.

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Left Lane: Paul Anderson Runs 5.793/250.18, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.742/232.03, Was #18
Right Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 5.640/253.33, Now #6; Best prior run: 7.601/124.72, Was #22

Anderson was moving around early in the run and lost some time. He stays on the throttle but will miss the show. Thompson makes a great pass and moves way up on the list.

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Left Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.751/253.99, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.738/253.85, Was #17
Right Lane: John Foster Runs 5.720/251.91, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.747/247.29, Was #20

Foster goes right down the groove and runs a career best to get in the show on the bump. Gordon makes a decent pass, just not quick enough to get in the show.

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Left Lane: Bob Alberty Runs 5.793/242.84, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.736/241.84, Was #17
Right Lane: Alexis De Joria Runs 5.879/249.21, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.741/250.13, Was #19

Alberty got out of the groove early, drifted toward the right, then back to the left.

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Left Lane: Vern Moats No Time, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.709/252.99, Was #14
Right Lane: Dennis Taylor No Time, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.696/253.47, Was #13

0-for-2 here, Moats hits the throttle before the tree is activated, follow quickly by Taylor, neither get a time.

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Left Lane: Sean O'Bannon Runs 5.655/256.65, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.691/254.66, Was #11
Right Lane: Bobby Martin Runs 5.632/257.24, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.696/256.11, Was #12

A couple of good-looking runs, both right down the groove. Martin moves into the sixth spot, O'Bannon into the ninth spot.

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Left Lane: Jimmy Jones No Time, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.686/255.39, Was #12
Right Lane: Andy Bohl Runs 5.715/255.53, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.678/254.47, Was #11

Jones stages, then hits the throttle early and leaves before the tree is activated. Bohl waits for the tree, then makes a decent pass but no improvement.

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Left Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.672/255.19, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.672/255.92, Was #10
Right Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.612/258.17, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.644/256.41, Was #8

Payne goes right down Broadway and moves all the way to the third spot. Gasparrelli matches his time from yesterday.

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Left Lane: Steve Burck Runs 5.635/254.47, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.631/253.66, Was #6
Right Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.754/251.11, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.628/255.39, Was #5

An impressive run for Burck, right down the groove, and he almost matches the career best he ran yesterday. No apparent problems for Hough, just not very quick.

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Left Lane: Von Smith Runs 5.612/256.06, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.621/255.10, Was #4

A nice run for Smith, matching Payne for the quickest of the round so far.

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Left Lane: Steve Harker Runs 9.886/91.39, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.586/258.02, Was #1
Right Lane: Nick Bastiao Runs 5.607/258.91, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.606/257.48, Was #2

Harker has traction about 400 feet out and backs off the throttle. Bastiao makes another good pass and will start from the second spot.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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