Sat, Feb 6, 07:29 AM POMONA - Friday Preview

by Larry Sullivan More of the Same?

POMONA, Calif. - Good morning from Pomona Raceway, where the skies overhead are still heavy and gray. Yesterday's rain was supposed to be scattered and light, but around 2 PM it turned into several hours of steady wetness, producing the usual Southern California spate of traffic accidents and news stories. The rain finally stopped some time last night and so far today it has not rained at the Fairplex. This stuff is supposed to move out of the area this morning - but that comes from the same fearless forecasters who said it would be brief and light yesterday.

Barring another surprise from Mother Nature, today will bring final qualifying for Stock Eliminator, class eliminations for Super Stock, and first round eliminations for Super Gas and Super Comp. The plan for Competition Eliminator is a little less certain, but race officials do not want to give them just one chance to qualify and hope to squeeze a second round in this afternoon. The Federal-Mogul cars will complete qualifying with two rounds today, as originally scheduled.

In the Professional ranks, yesterday's rainout shuffled the schedule slightly for the Pro Stock Truck competitors. They will make two qualifying runs today, as originally scheduled. Saturday they will make a final qualifying run in the time slot originally set for first-round eliminations, with first-round eliminations in the time slot for the second round. The trucks will run three rounds of eliminations Sunday, instead of two as originally scheduled.

Originally scheduled for two rounds Sunday? In 1999 Pro Stock Truck competition features two major changes: first, the manufacturer's guaranteed starting positions have been eliminated, so the sixteen-truck field will be filled by the sixteen quickest qualifiers; second, they will run two rounds of eliminations on Saturday, with semifinals and finals on Sunday.

All three of the Rick Jones Pro Stock cars that failed technical inspection Wednesday (Warren Johnson, Tom Martino, Mike Edwards) have been modified to fit newly-fashioned templates, though the pristine new paint jobs are a little the worse for wear. By now perhaps the drivers' moods have mellowed a bit too.

The weather appears to be holding and the cars are running, so the damp chill is bearable. Come back later today for updates on how all this all comes out.



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