Sat, 15 Mar 2014, 11:56 AM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 45th annual Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals 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:

---

Left Lane: Marie Ferriolo Runs 5.705/246.93, Now #13; Best prior run: 7.897/82.34, Was #19

11:15 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 71 degrees, relative humidity 53 percent, barometer 29.98 inches, adjusted altitude 1,304 feet.

Ferriolo made a nice-looking run to open the final qualifying session, with little wasted motion. It's a few thousandths slower than her career-best ET and gets her in the field - for now anyway.

Mickey Ferro is now on the bump spot at 5.836.

Marie Ferriolo's incremental times: 60ft-0.959 sec., 330ft-2.506, 660ft-3.736/200.02 mph, 1,000ft-4.797.

---

Left Lane: Paul Noakes Runs 5.765/259.01, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.684/257.87, Was #12
Right Lane: Rob Pfeister No Time, Now #19; Best prior run: 6.378/166.01, Was #19

Pfiester's car did not fire and the crew towed it away. Noakes had problems staging the car, had to drop the RPMs and try again. The run used up a lot of the lane and he failed to improve.

---

Left Lane: Cassie Simonton Runs 5.624/257.48, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.669/256.84, Was #11
Right Lane: Mark Rogers No Time, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.863/246.48, Was #18

Rogers rolled the beams and will be on the list of alternates. He idled down the track, made a wide turn to go out the first gate, and left a trail of oil in the process.

Simonton made her best run of the event, moved into the top half.

---

Left Lane: Tony Bogolo Runs 10.345/78.57, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.635/258.71, Was #11
Right Lane: Jonnie Lindberg Runs 5.634/263.36, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.840/260.36, Was #17

These two waited through a long cleanup, then Bogolo launched into tire shake and slowed almost immediately. Lindberg, however, made a very nice run and moved well into the field.

Now John Headley is on the bump spot at 5.809.

---

Left Lane: Dan Pomponio Runs 5.600/258.86, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.633/257.92, Was #10
Right Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 6.098/255.10, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.836/255.24, Was #17

Ferro luanched into shake, backpedaled, and continued down the track. Pomponio made his best run of the event, his ETs steadily improving with each run, and moved into the top half of the field.

---

Left Lane: Andy Bohl Runs 5.615/259.61, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.631/258.91, Was #10
Right Lane: Matt Gill Runs 5.756/260.21, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.759/232.39, Was #15

Bohl also made his best run of the event, but stayed in the bottom half of the field. Gill improved a few thousandths, stayed 15th.

---

Left Lane: Annie Whiteley Runs 5.544/260.26, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.592/254.86, Was #7
Right Lane: Todd Veney Runs 5.554/256.70, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.573/258.71, Was #6

Two nice runs, both improving from their runs yesterday. Veney moved around Dale Brand to stay sixth, but Whiteley moved up to fourth.

---

Left Lane: Steve Harker Runs 9.619/89.26, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.546/264.75, Was #5
Right Lane: Dale Brand Runs 5.558/262.18, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.567/261.62, Was #7

Harker shook early and gave up the chase. Brand improved slightly, stayed seventh.

---

Left Lane: Ulf Leanders Runs 5.697/263.56, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.498/266.27, Was #1
Right Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.531/261.83, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.543/261.47, Was #3

Leanders drove through early shake that cost him some time, then paced Payne the rest of the way. Payne made his best run of the event, stayed third.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Jul 23- SONOMA - Funny Car Driver Ron Capps Has Sights Set On More Success
Jul 23- SEATTLE - Funny Car Driver Tim Wilkerson Aims to Repeat Previous Success
Jul 23- BRAINERD - Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Rumbles Back to Brainerd International Raceway
Jul 22- Pro Stock Points Leader Enders-Stevens to Skip Sonoma, Seattle Races
Jul 22- SONOMA - Pro Stock Motorcycle Rider Angie Smith Eager to Continue Banner Season
Jul 22- 60th Annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals Most Iconic Moments
Jul 22- SONOMA - Fact Sheet
Jul 22- SONOMA - Top Fuel Standout Shawn Langdon Back on Championship Chase
Jul 22- Mopar Extends NHRA Title Rights Sponsorship of Denver Event
Jul 22- DENVER - Special Awards