Sat, Mar 20, 05:23 PM GAINESVILLE - Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Rick Green It Takes a Sixty To Play on Sunday

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 30th Annual Mac Tools Gatornationals 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: Connie Kalitta Runs 4.670/271.30, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.584/314.61, Was #7
Right Lane: Joe Amato Runs 4.583/319.29, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.563/320.81, Was #5

Here we go for the last round of qualifying with four cars attempting to break into the quickest Top Fuel field ever. Amato is straight down broadway, but does not improve. Connie slows too.

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Left Lane: Eddie Hill Runs 4.851/222.84, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.577/314.97, Was #6
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 10.174/82.06, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.600/318.69, Was #9

Schumacher went out about 100 feet and then clicks it off. He did not smoke the tires, must of been tire shake. Hill has a wisp of smoke off the big Goodyears around 1000 feet.

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Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.684/283.49, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.660/298.87, Was #13
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 4.565/312.71, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.612/314.46, Was #10

Bob Vandergriff moving around a little in his lane, but still runs a career best et . This is a great pass considering they had a big engine explosion last round. No help for Head here.

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Left Lane: Paul Romine Runs 4.904/233.80, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.697/307.02, Was #15
Right Lane: Bruce Sarver Runs 4.597/315.34, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.646/303.16, Was #12

Sarver launches hard and keeps all the candles lit all the way through the quarter mile. Sarver with his career best pass here. Romine has an engine explosion in the other lane.

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Left Lane: Allen Hartley Runs 8.139/91.93, Now #20; Best prior run: 6.637/120.50, Was #20
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.633/296.83, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.587/311.34, Was #9

Hartley has Paul Smith helping out this weekend. He starts to smoke the tires before the 300-foot mark and clicks it off. Scelzi has a lot of engine smoke coming out of the engine on the top end.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.555/315.56, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.754/296.31, Was #18
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 6.076/139.99, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.725/298.47, Was #16

We have another career best pass here with Doug Kalitta's great looking straight as a string pass. Kalitta bumps out Grubnic on this pass.

Grubnic pedals it a couple times and then gives up on the pass.

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Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.537/317.49, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.548/318.62, Was #2
Right Lane: Steve Smith Runs 5.686/166.52, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.681/314.90, Was #15

Bernstein leaves really hard and you can just see the car pull and keep pulling all the way down the track. This is a career best for Bernstein. Smith loses traction and clicks it off, but remains in the show. Not only is this the quickest Top Fuel show, but you now have to run in the 4.60's to make it.

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Left Lane: Mike Dunn Runs 4.540/297.75, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.561/316.15, Was #5
Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.606/315.42, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.551/316.67, Was #3

Dunn is on a great pass here, but the fuse was just too short. He lost an engine around 1100 feet. He was going 271.77 miles per hour at half track. Herbert with his fastest pass of the weekend, but his et falls off a little.

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Left Lane: Randy Parks Runs 4.708/308.64, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.736/310.05, Was #18
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 5.533/160.88, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.532/321.65, Was #1

Dixon starts to haze the tires around 150 feet, but drives through it. Then when the clutch locks up it really blisters the big Goodyears, so he clicks it off. Parks with a great comeback effort after the blow-over in Phoenix three weeks ago, but falls just short (0.011 seconds short) of making the show. That wraps up qualifying for Top Fuel with Dixon the quickest of the weekend and he will face Romine, who for the third time in his career has been a part of the quickest Top Fuel fields.




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