Fri, 29 Sep 2000, 09:38 PM TOPEKA - Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Rick Green

TOPEKA, Kan. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 12th annual Advance Auto Parts 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: Doug Herbert Runs 6.773/120.94, Now #15; Best prior run: 10.898/77.64, Was #19
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 11.166/84.01, Now #19; Best prior run: 9.932/79.57, Was #18

Under the lights Top Fuel qualifying with the temperature in the mid-seventies, humidity at 32% and the barometer at 29.99 inches.

Kalitta was up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle. Herbert started to shake and lost traction around the 330-foot mark

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Left Lane: Luigi Novelli Runs 4.835/298.60, Now #10; Best prior run: 8.816/94.33, Was #16
Right Lane: Paul Romine Runs 9.711/86.84, Now #18; Best prior run: 9.893/86.53, Was #18

Romine lost traction right off the starting line and he pedaled it once and was back up in smoke. He then gave it up. Luigi with a good looking pass the header flames shooting way over the rear wing.

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Left Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 11.349/68.64, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.436/180.62, Was #14
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 4.693/309.06, Now #5; Best prior run: 9.078/86.58, Was #17

Joe Hartley shut it off by the 100-foot mark. Vandergriff with a pretty run and that is what makes night qualifying, so cool.

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Left Lane: Tim Gibson Runs 4.752/307.23, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.793/298.27, Was #9
Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 10.265/82.99, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.458/178.21, Was #16

Hartman-Smith started to drift out toward the wall and clicked it off. Gibson got real loose on the top end, but stayed with it to move into the top half of the show.

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Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.703/315.05, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.763/292.52, Was #9
Right Lane: Andrew Cowin Runs 7.851/91.63, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.330/204.76, Was #14

Grubnic kept it hitting on all eight cylinders all way through the 1320. Cowin started to lose traction and he pedaled it. When he got back on the throttle the front end headed for the sky and when he lifted the front end came crashing back to the ground.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.643/306.95, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.735/305.01, Was #8
Right Lane: Don Lampus Runs 10.984/75.68, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.136/239.02, Was #13

Dixon launched hard and kept the Miller Lite machine stuck to the track all the down the quarter mile. Lampus did not go 100 feet before he started to lose traction and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.639/309.98, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.717/288.89, Was #8
Right Lane: Joe Amato Runs 5.668/156.12, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.818/285.17, Was #10

That number one spot didn't last long for Dixon with Cory Mac stealing it away here. Amato got out of the groove and close to the wall and finally shut it off.

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Left Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.604/309.98, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.681/302.75, Was #5
Right Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.645/308.07, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.691/292.01, Was #6

A couple great looking passes here. Scelzi launched hard and then around half track there were some strange green flames out of the headers. It looks like the engine ended up eating itself up on the top end.

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Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.616/313.15, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.664/311.63, Was #5
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.633/314.02, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.666/301.13, Was #6

A pair of good passes, but not good enough to catch Scelzi. Schumacher got out of the groove and over by the wall, but stayed with it for the number three spot. we end the day with Hartman-Smith on the bubble at 5.458 at 178.21 mph.




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