Sat, 13 Nov 1999, 07:30 PM POMONA - Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan It's a Very Tight Field

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Pro Stock at the 35th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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: Ron Krisher Runs 6.978/196.56, Now #16; Best prior run: 6.967/198.41, Was #15
Right Lane: Arturo Delgado Runs 6.958/198.20, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.973/197.91, Was #16

3:48 PM The final Pro Stock qualifying session opens with Arturo Delgado on the bubble at 6.973. He fixes that with a solid run, moving off the bubble and putting Krisher in the hotseat with his earlier 6.967. Both had 1.03 60-foot times, by the way, so look for a bunch of changes this round.

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Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.926/199.26, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.951/198.61, Was #10
Right Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 6.922/199.37, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.912/199.32, Was #2

KJ posts a 1.026 60-foot time on a straight launch and Jeg posts our third 1.03 of the session. KJ moves up the ladder on a good run.

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Left Lane: Troy Coughlin Runs 6.901/198.99, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.923/198.88, Was #3
Right Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.917/200.00, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.908/201.07, Was #1

The sun is low over the right-hand stands so the track is cooling off and conditions should improve throughout the session. Troy runs beside WJ and pushes him down to second with a 1.026 60-foot time and a very straight pass.

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Left Lane: Greg Anderson Runs 12.312/71.33, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.977/198.64, Was #18
Right Lane: Larry Nance Runs 7.006/196.62, Now #23; Best prior run: 6.999/196.70, Was #23

Looked like Anderson broke something on the launch and Nance appeared to skate around with tire shake.

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Left Lane: Jerry Eckman No Time, Now #27; Best prior run: 7.015/197.16, Was #27
Right Lane: Mark Pawuk Runs 6.920/198.09, Now #4; Best prior run: 6.924/198.70, Was #4

Eckman's Firebird got away from him on the launch and he took out the 330-foot marker while Pawuk showed the others how to get down the less-favored right lane.

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Left Lane: V. Gaines Runs 6.951/198.82, Now #10; Best prior run: 6.945/199.37, Was #10
Right Lane: Mike Trumble Runs 6.963/198.41, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.964/198.67, Was #14

Something was Gaines' car and they hurriedly went under the hood and fixed the problem - the delay while the 330-foot reflector was replaced just long enough to effect the repairs. He didn't improve, while Trumble treaded water with a 0.001 improvement.

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Left Lane: Tony Gillig No Time, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.966/198.32, Was #15
Right Lane: Don Beverley Runs 6.977/197.48, Now #19; Best prior run: 6.985/196.85, Was #20

Gillig made his burnout, but could not get the car into reverse and had to drive off the other end to clear the track. Now he'll have to sweat the rest of the session out, perilously close to the bump spot. Beverley is close, but close doesn't count.

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Left Lane: Tom Martino Runs 6.904/199.82, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.933/199.40, Was #7
Right Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.947/198.12, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.951/198.12, Was #11

Martino misses the pole position by just 0.003 seconds on a very good run.

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Left Lane: Steve Schmidt Runs 6.943/197.83, Now #10; Best prior run: 7.010/196.62, Was #25
Right Lane: Robert Patrick Runs 6.987/197.45, Now #21; Best prior run: 6.981/197.13, Was #20

The outsiders are still trying to beat Krisher's 6.967, by the way.

Schmidt launched with an unbelievable 1.016 60-foot time and parlayed that into a spot in the field, bumping Krisher.

Now the mark to beat is Gillig's 6.966.

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Left Lane: George Marnell Runs 7.007/196.30, Now #26; Best prior run: 7.049/196.96, Was #28
Right Lane: Darrell Alderman Runs 6.951/197.74, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.958/197.80, Was #14

Alderman improves just enough to edge one rung up the ladder.

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Left Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.910/198.44, Now #4; Best prior run: 6.939/198.55, Was #9
Right Lane: Bruce Allen Runs 6.940/198.70, Now #9; Best prior run: 6.937/198.79, Was #8

Yates pushes Jeg and Pawuk down a notch on a string-straight pass, right down the groove.

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Left Lane: Mike Edwards Runs 8.424/116.56, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.975/198.41, Was #18
Right Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 6.977/198.38, Now #20; Best prior run: 6.992/198.15, Was #22

Edwards looked like a cinch to get back into the field after posting a 1.029 60-foot time, but something broke around half track and the car slowed abruptly.

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Left Lane: Mike Thomas Runs 6.932/198.03, Now #9; Best prior run: 6.993/197.16, Was #23
Right Lane: Randy Jones Runs 6.988/197.51, Now #24; Best prior run: 6.999/196.33, Was #25

Thomas gets the run Edwards wanted, a 1.023 60-foot time getting him off to a good start. That bumps Gillig and puts Trumble on the bubble at 6.963.

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Left Lane: Hurley Blakeney Runs 6.982/196.44, Now #24; Best prior run: 7.013/196.27, Was #27
Right Lane: Richie Stevens Runs 6.959/197.48, Now #8; Best prior run: 6.928/198.00, Was #8

That's a wrap for Pro Stock qualifying until the year 2000 (I'll leave it up to the reader to determine if that's a new century or millennium). It's a quick field with a few surprises, Troy Coughlin on the pole at 6.901, WJ all the way down in third, and Mike Trumble on the bubble at 6.963, the sixteen-car field spanning just 0.062 seconds.




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