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POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 35th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run: Left Lane: Arley Langlo Runs 17.703/24.47, Now #1 2:58 PM Langlo gives the crowd their first sniff of nitro for the weekend. Starter Rick Stewart checks over the JP1 engine carefully, then motions him to the starting line. Arley gets out about a hundred feet, then blows up the motor in a ball of flames. No oil was laid down on the track, so the cleanup will be very brief. Left Lane: Bobby Baldwin Runs 10.324/83.89, Now #2 Right Lane: Bruce Litton Runs 4.744/301.74, Now #1 Baldwin shook the tires very violently, then did a good job of getting off the throttle quickly when the tires lost traction. He'll be wanting some headache medicine after that run. Litton gets a great first-pass-of-the-day run to tune from. Left Lane: Garth Widdison No Time, Now #5 Right Lane: Don Lampus Runs 4.704/311.99, Now #1 Widdison's crew got the dragster started, but must have seen something wrong. The cut throat sign was quickly given, and Lampus will have a single. Don's ExpressParts.com entry went right down the middle of the lane on that run. Left Lane: Mike Smith Runs 4.787/297.55, Now #3 Right Lane: Robert Reehl Runs 5.343/204.91, Now #4 Reehl dropped a cylinder on the left side of the engine just past the 60-foot marker and finally lifted before blowing up the motor. Smith's run had holes out at the top end of the track as well, the mist of nitro spray visible in the setting sunshine. Left Lane: Andrew Cowin Runs 12.153/77.94, Now #7 Right Lane: Tim Gibson Runs 4.693/304.39, Now #1 Cowin lit up the Goodyears just off the starting line. It was hard to see Gibson's run through all the smoke, but Gibson's .849 60-foot time on the monitor was a sign of a good baseline pass for the Orange County CA driver. Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 10.254/84.95, Now #7 Right Lane: Scott Kalitta Runs 4.775/274.27, Now #4 Grubnic has trouble just past the Christmas tree. Kalitta's dragster started mixing up cylinders past the eighth mile marker, then blew so much oil smoke at the top end of the track we couldn't see what may have happened. The result is stuff on the racetrack, so we are down for a cleanup. 3:17 PM Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.784/261.74, Now #5 Right Lane: Randy Parks Runs 6.296/142.64, Now #8 3:22 PM Scott Kalitta's oildown wasn't very long, so it only took the safety safari a few minutes to cleanup the "stuff". Jim Head's CSK machine looked good till the 1000-foot mark, then orange, green and blue flames signalled the end of his engine. By the time Jim crossed the finishline line the engine was engulfed in flames. Parks smoked the tires early and lifted. This time it's the left lane that requires a cleanup... 3:27 PM Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.669/315.56, Now #1 Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 4.693/276.29, Now #3 3:30 PM Vandergriff was ahead to the eighth mile, then the top end charge of McClenathan took over. Nice baseline runs for both drivers and crew chiefs. Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.653/314.75, Now #1 Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.751/290.19, Now #7 Bernstein's BudKing was going 260 miles per hour at half track, Dixon's run was good considering he had at least two cylinders not firing all the way down the the track. The difference at the finish line was a little less than a tenth of a second. Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.658/293.98, Now #2 Right Lane: Mike Dunn Runs 4.720/286.13, Now #7 Dunn had a loose fuel fitting or something, a mist of spray came off the top of the engine when the Mopar dragster left the starting line. Dunn's engine didn't like not getting the fuel it needed, letting go in a cloud of flames at the top end of the track. Kalitta's missed Bernsteins number one time by just five thousandths of a second with that run. Time for another cleanup, this time in the right lane. 3:40 PM Left Lane: Joe Amato Runs 4.610/316.90, Now #1 Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.847/284.62, Now #14 3:43 PM Herbert's Snap On machine looked good till the top end of the track. First a couple of puff's of smoke came out the header pipes, then a big cloud of smoke followed. Once again the Safety safari's equipment rolls to clean up the right lane. Amato's run looked better then the ET indicated, the dragster ran smooth and clean all the way to the finish line. 3:47 PM Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.712/300.13, Now #9 Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.613/316.90, Now #2 3:51 PM Schumacher needs only to qualify for this event to clinch the Top Fuel Championship for 1999. Bragging rights are a big part of drag racing though, I'm sure these numbers will be discussed all over the grounds this evening.
Scelzi's "Big Red" dragster hiked up the front tires, then set them down
quickly, a sign the Hadman chassis was working as designed. There is no oil
on the track in either lane, giving the safety safari chance to relax a
little before we move to Funny Car.   NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ] Feb 10- Wally Parks 75th Anniversary Appreciation Fund Part of $27 Million Overall Purse Feb 08- NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League Releases 2026 Schedule Feb 07- Huge List of Legends Set to Appear at Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals Feb 05- NHRA and Legends Global Extend Merchandise Partnership Ahead of 75th Anniversary Season Feb 04- Doug Foley Announces Addition of Ron Douglas as Consultant to Foley Lewis Racing Top Fuel Team Feb 04- Tickets Now on Sale for NHRA's Debut at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park and Rockingham Dragway Feb 04- Reed, Zetterström to Share Driving Duties of Reed Trucking & Excavating Top Fuel Dragster Jan 29- NHRA to Honor Iconic John Force in 2027 with "50 Years Of Force" Jan 28- Top Fuel All-Star Callout Returns to Open NHRA's 75th Anniversary Season at Gatornationals Jan 28- John Force Racing Announces Crew Chiefs for NHRA's 75th Anniversary Season |
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