Sun, Mar 21, 02:41 PM GAINESVILLE - Top Fuel Round 2 Eliminations

By Ed Dykes

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Fuel at the 30th annual Mac Tools Gatornationals:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 Larry Dixon         4.532 321.65  Q   8 Eddie Hill          4.577 314.97
   (P Romine    ) 0.570  4.699 299.73 E1   (C Kalitta   ) 0.517  6.323 276.63
 *****WINNER***** 0.483  4.563 314.83 E2                  0.499  8.754  93.97

2:21 PM and it's the day's the second appearance of the Kings of the Sport. Eddie Hill is a bit too aggressive too early, and the Pennzoil dragster is up in smoke by the 100' mark. It's 73 degrees and 110 on the asphalt, almost perfect temperatures for these cars.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Kenny Bernstein     4.537 317.49  Q   7 Bob Vandergriff     4.565 312.71
   (S Smith     ) 1.941  4.617 305.29 E1   (G Scelzi    ) 0.468  4.564 313.00
                  0.497  5.606 161.30 E2 *****WINNER***** 0.523  4.609 309.91

These two were dead even to 60' and 330', in fact they both recorded identical 2.135 second ETs to the 330' mark, then something went wrong with the Budweiser car and Kenny fell back quickly, coasting the last half of the course. What a difference a little testing makes, the Jerzees team very strong after their post-Phoenix testing. The front end of that car was light, too light, and you can bet they'll ad weight for the semis.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   5 Doug Kalitta        4.555 315.56  Q   4 Doug Herbert        4.551 316.67
   (T Schumacher) 0.489  4.561 319.82 E1   (C McClenatha) 0.508  4.663 307.16
                  0.506  6.636 129.95 E2 *****WINNER***** 0.501  4.560 312.86

Dick Lahaie's tuneup ate up some aluminum on the top end, but you can bet that Herbert's not going to complain. Kalitta was very aggressive on the starting line, and the car couldn't keep up with the amount of power they were feeding it, so the tire smoke started to appear at just before the 400' mark.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   3 Mike Dunn           4.540 297.75  Q  11 Bruce Sarver        4.597 315.34
   (J Head      ) 0.493  4.561 320.66 E1   (J Amato     ) 0.526  5.178 285.77
 *****WINNER***** 0.489  4.529 311.56 E2                  0.529  4.670 301.40

There are no clouds anywhere to be found right now, and these guys are tiptoeing down the track, scared to be too aggressive and scared not to be. Dunn was over against the left side wall all the way to the finish, but it didn't seem to affect the car's performance. The Gwynn team has a lot of fans here, as close to a home track for them as there is, and this was a very popular win with the crowd. Now it's time for more Funny Cars.

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