Sat, 20 Oct 2001, 05:55 PM DALLAS - Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Rick Green

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 16th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec 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: Rob Passey Runs 5.694/186.18, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.346/263.77, Was #18

Passey launched hard and started to haze the tires just past half track and then pitched the blower belt.

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Left Lane: Steve Smith Runs 6.988/125.57, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.101/245.63, Was #16

Smith is up in smoke as soon as he hits the throttle and let it settle down and then got on the throttle one more time.

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Left Lane: Scott Weis Runs 8.774/95.59, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.852/297.42, Was #14

Weis started to lose traction right off the starting line and then threw the blower belt off.

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Left Lane: Don Lampus Runs 4.626/309.59, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.786/302.01, Was #13
Right Lane: Mark Kinsella Runs 4.952/276.92, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.195/241.02, Was #17

Lampus with a 0.863 60-foot time and parlayed that into a low 4.60 to move into the top half of the show. Kinsella with his career best pass to get in the show and bump out Steve Smith.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.904/229.76, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.728/306.53, Was #12
Right Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 4.721/314.13, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.678/310.77, Was #9

I did not see Herbert lose the blower belt, but it looked like he must of or clicked it off as he was quicker and faster to 1000 feet than Russell. Russell was able to motor on through the 1320.

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Left Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 11.278/88.01, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.680/308.95, Was #10
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.576/320.97, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.601/321.54, Was #6

Rhonda launched into severe tire shake and clicked it off. Kalitta with a great 0.850 60-foot time and was running 267.45 at half track to move into the number three spot.

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Left Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 7.162/112.10, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.631/318.02, Was #8
Right Lane: Andrew Cowin Runs 4.621/318.24, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.599/319.37, Was #6

Scelzi is up in smoke by 150 feet. Cowin with another good pass giving him three out four good passes for the weekend.

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Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.602/324.67, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.577/326.56, Was #4
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.722/273.80, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.592/320.62, Was #5

Schumacher with a flash of flame right in the lights. Bernstein with a 0.865 60-foot time and was going 268.33 mph at half track.

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Left Lane: Mike Dunn Runs 9.368/85.29, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.558/325.26, Was #2
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.530/322.34, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.508/321.65, Was #1

Dunn was up in smoke by 200 feet. Dixon with a picture perfect pass to give him the quickest passes in both sessions today. He had a 0.853 60-foot time and was running 273.88 mph at half track.

Dixon held on to the number one spot and will face number 16 Mark Kinsella in round one.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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