Fri, 6 Oct 2000, 04:20 PM MEMPHIS - Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Pro Stock at the 13th annual AutoZone Nationals presented by Pennzoil listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Joe Lepone No Time, Now #1

2:23 PM We open Pro Stock qualifying under overcast skies, the temperature in the mid-fifties, with the clouds beginning to show signs of dissipating. Joe Lepone returns, on a single run after a long absence, in a new Dodge - and leaves before the tree is activated, apparently a bit rusty after the long layoff.

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Left Lane: Jim Cunningham Runs 7.164/196.10, Now #1
Right Lane: Vince Khoury Runs 7.290/189.42, Now #2

This is the first time we've seen Cunningham this year, he's in a new Cougar, and the first outing for Khoury also. Both cars were very loose for the first part of their run

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Left Lane: Michael Holton Runs 15.293/50.86, Now #1
Right Lane: Joel Bayless Runs 17.722/44.29, Now #2

Both cars made hard moves to the left on the launch, Bayless almost crossing the centerline.

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Left Lane: Ed Heck Runs 7.082/195.03, Now #1
Right Lane: Gary Wiggins Runs 7.207/170.64, Now #2

Heck was all over the left lane, the cars in that lane almost all making moves to the left on the launch. Wiggins had the chutes out before the finish line.

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Left Lane: Roger Jenkins Runs 16.448/47.82, Now #5
Right Lane: John Nobile Runs 13.202/57.10, Now #3

Ugly shake in both lanes, Jenkins' car turning right instead of left as have most in the left lane.

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Left Lane: Danny Coffman Runs 7.042/196.79, Now #1
Right Lane: Kenny Koretsky Runs 9.596/94.54, Now #4

Koretsky's Camaro was all over the lane in the fist 300 feet and he shut it down.

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Left Lane: Mark Osborne Runs 6.916/198.06, Now #1
Right Lane: Tony Gillig Runs 6.943/197.39, Now #2

After a bunch of very loose runs, these two made it look easy, right down the groove with a minimum of lateral movement.

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Left Lane: Mike Thomas Runs 6.987/195.79, Now #3
Right Lane: Scott Geoffrion Runs 7.037/198.96, Now #4

Thomas was on an even better run until about 1,000 feet, then the car started moving around a lot - looks like he lifted from the speed. Geoffrion shook the tires very hard on the launch, for about 60 feet.

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Left Lane: Robert Patrick Runs 6.907/198.61, Now #1
Right Lane: George Marnell Runs 6.908/198.96, Now #2

Two very nice runs, again side-by-side and making the other runs look even worse than they were.

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Left Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 8.163/119.93, Now #10
Right Lane: Brad Jeter Runs 9.640/93.14, Now #12

Morgan's car made a hard move to the left on the launch, then a hard move to the right at half track - then he decided he's had enough. Jeter shook and threw in the towel much earlier than Morgan.

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Left Lane: Greg Anderson Runs 6.948/197.88, Now #6
Right Lane: Rickie Smith Runs 6.882/199.52, Now #1

Two good runs, "Tricky Rickie" with a 1.00 60-foot time and just short of Warren Johnson's 6.881 track ET record.

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Left Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.895/197.86, Now #3
Right Lane: Bruce Allen Runs 6.879/199.40, Now #1

Two more very good runs, Allen taking the track record away from WJ.

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Left Lane: Tom Martino Runs 6.941/198.32, Now #8
Right Lane: Darrell Alderman Runs 6.890/198.99, Now #3

Alderman posts the third 1.00 60-foot time in a row in the right lane, and the third consecutive sub-6.90 ET.

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Left Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.859/199.58, Now #1
Right Lane: Richie Stevens Runs 6.939/197.08, Now #9

Wow! Yates posts a 0.996 60-foot time and makes it stick with a great run, just 0.037 seconds slower than the national record ET, smashing the new track record.

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Left Lane: Troy Coughlin Runs 6.868/200.08, Now #2
Right Lane: Mark Pawuk Runs 6.888/198.70, Now #5

The sun just came out, for the first time today. THat should help the track a bit, the mid-fifties air temperature not doing much to heat up the racing surface. Troy ties the track speed record, making Pawuk's very good run look almost slow by comparison.

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Left Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.881/200.59, Now #4
Right Lane: Ron Krisher Runs 8.074/126.23, Now #21

WJ had a rather pedestrian 1.03 60-foot time, but destroyed the track speed record. Krisher left hard, a 1.01 short time, but the car fell off the pace and was smoking on the top end of the run.

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Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.930/199.11, Now #13
Right Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 6.899/199.05, Now #9

Yawn! After what we've seen in this first session, these two pretty good runs are just run-of-the-mill.

That's it for now, Yates on the pole at 6.859 and Gillig on the bump at 6.943.




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