Fri, 1 Sep 2000, 06:00 PM INDY - Federal-Mogul Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Larry Sullivan

CLERMONT, Ind. - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Federal-Mogul Dragster at the 46th annual U.S. 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: Shawn Bowen Runs 5.975/248.48, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.786/251.16, Was #11
Right Lane: Russ Lindert Runs 5.634/248.11, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.713/225.18, Was #6

3:57 PM About the same speed, but totally different run profiles, Bowen's car still sluggish early in the run.

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Left Lane: Rick Santos Runs 5.540/257.33, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.569/256.70, Was #2
Right Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 6.386/202.33, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.113/220.26, Was #15

Santos comes into the session in the number two spot but doesn't stay there. He moves straight to the top spot with his ET and and sets the speed mark as well. Reichert appeared to have holes out in the A-Fuel car.

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Left Lane: Randy Bayne Runs 5.885/233.56, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.888/235.10, Was #13
Right Lane: Dave Hirata Runs 5.633/255.00, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.720/247.61, Was #7

The fuel burners seem to be having problems getting the cars to launch hard in the heat and humidity here. Hirata's car is running the top end very hard, but takes too long getting there.

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Left Lane: Steve Federlin Runs 5.661/250.32, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.661/250.32, Was #7
Right Lane: Darren Nicholson Runs 5.780/245.18, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.726/247.93, Was #8

Nice pass by Federlin to move closer to "the big dogs." Nicholson drove through visible shake about 100 feet out and that undoubtedly hurt his ET.

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Left Lane: Gary Ormsby Runs 5.582/253.47, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.575/254.38, Was #3
Right Lane: Jay Meyer Runs 5.656/251.67, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.553/253.75, Was #2

Ormsby's car posted a stout 0.945 60-foot time and a very consistent ET, close to his best. Meyer drove through a bit of shake, the right lane apparently a little more prone to the shakes than the left.

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Left Lane: Jeff Bohr Runs 6.004/230.25, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.431/221.34, Was #17
Right Lane: Robin Samsel No Time, Now #19; No Prior Run

Same story for Samsel - as soon as he dumps the clutch, the nitro burner sputters and dies. Nice pass by Bohr - nothing amazing, but clean and straight, something to tune from.

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Left Lane: Shelly Howard Runs 5.705/250.55, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.641/253.14, Was #6
Right Lane: Bill McCornack Runs 6.156/229.27, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.782/244.83, Was #10

The weather station says 88 degrees and 55 percent humidity - feels worse than that!

Another good run by Howard, while McCornack slows on the top end, reason not clear from here.

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Right Lane: Keith Stark Runs 6.284/231.75, Now #17; Best prior run: 6.339/237.50, Was #17

Dropped cylinders and a 1.10 60-foot time signaled doom for this run as soon as it started.

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Right Lane: Chad Pilkington Runs 6.818/209.75, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.947/208.71, Was #18

Final car of the session...Pilkington rolls the beams, not a good weekend so far for the "Hustlin' Hoosiers."




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