Fri, Feb 26, 07:37 PM CHANDLER - Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan You'll Never Guess Who's NUmber One

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 15th annual NHRA Checker Schuck's Kragen 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: Andrew Cowin Runs 4.717/303.64, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.812/258.32, Was #7
Right Lane: Bruce Sarver Runs 4.701/297.48, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.677/305.84, Was #4

4:48 PM The Australian rookie opens the round with a very nice pass, the car hooking up and arching on the launch and then storming down the middle of the lane to record a 300-plus speed and move up the ladder a notch. Nice pass by Sarver too, falling off his first-round pace a tad, but also showing no signs of distress anywhere in the run. However, the Safety Safari goes to work in the shutdown area, in Sarver's lane, so he suffered some minor damage after the finish line.

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Left Lane: Joe Amato Runs 8.336/99.41, Now #17; Best prior run: 8.638/83.49, Was #17
Right Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.715/299.13, Now #6; Best prior run: 9.132/88.62, Was #18

Amato got a bit further down the track this time, about 100 feet, then lost traction. Head didn't have traction problems this time, but dropped a cylinder early in the run.

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Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.697/317.42, Now #6; Best prior run: 7.149/114.36, Was #15
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.679/294.37, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.993/221.05, Was #12

Bernstein saved this run, pedaling just as the tires started to wad themselves up about 60 feet off the starting line. No apparent problems in Grubnic's lane, but his car nosed over on the top end - still a very nice ET, but a speed lower than expected.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 5.427/241.02, Now #14; Best prior run: 10.800/77.02, Was #20
Right Lane: Mike Dunn Runs 8.719/82.85, Now #20; Best prior run: 10.014/78.86, Was #19

Tire-smokers, a pair. Dunn lit them up and called it off. Cory Mac pedaled several times, smoking the tires each time and blazing them to the finish line.

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Left Lane: Randy Parks Runs 8.465/62.14, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.833/298.21, Was #13
Right Lane: Connie Kalitta Runs 4.762/296.57, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.723/292.14, Was #10

This was spectacular - Parks' car went into a power-wheelie and he pedaled it at least once, the front end stopping and starting back down, and then going back up again, past the point of no return. The car stood straight up, then swapped ends, landing nose first and crashing back on all four wheels. The car slid backward and sideways across the finish line, the chassis obviously bent in several different directions. Parks got out on his own, uninjured.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.656/301.87, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.709/293.47, Was #7
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.581/313.00, Now #1; Best prior run: 7.561/99.22, Was #17

The "Doug and Doug" show pleased the crowd, two nice, clean, straight runs to shuffle the order.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.580/323.74, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.647/314.09, Was #4
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.589/309.70, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.632/308.28, Was #2

This promised to be a good matchup, both cars quick out of the box, but nobody expected Schumacher to be quicker and faster than the Alan Johnson-tuned car driven by Scelzi. That may be the quickest side-by-side run ever - since it's qualifying, it won't show up in the list, however.

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Left Lane: Gina Ferraro Runs 5.124/262.44, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.762/122.90, Was #17
Right Lane: Robert Reehl Runs 4.743/297.55, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.831/304.19, Was #12

Ferraro began spinning the tires at 330 feet, pedaled it, lost traction again, pedaled again, and then the engine fireballed. Nice effort by Reehl, that team showing steady improvement with Rick Cassel turning the wrenches.

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Left Lane: Eddie Hill Runs 7.536/102.91, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.639/304.53, Was #4
Right Lane: Paul Romine Runs 4.738/290.44, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.832/287.11, Was #13

Hill left hard, then lost traction about 200 feet out. Romine made a clean pass, again falling off the pace on the top end.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 5.239/183.67, Now #16; Best prior run: 8.610/88.82, Was #19
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 6.895/115.56, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.635/126.76, Was #17

Vandergriff lost traction almost immediately. Dixon looked to be on a good pass, the car bouncing the front wheels on the launch and running hard to 330 feet, but then there was a puff of smoke from the rear tires as Dixon pedaled it, then more smoke, then silence.

5:26 PM and that's it for tonight, a surprise number-one qualifier (Schumacher) heading the field going into Saturday with a track speed record, 323.74 mph.




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