Sat, 7 Oct 2000, 06:48 PM MEMPHIS - Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 13th annual AutoZone Nationals presented by Pennzoil 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: Luigi Novelli Runs 4.778/298.40, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.936/144.30, Was #17
Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 5.174/203.89, Now #16; Best prior run: 9.629/89.82, Was #18

3:59 PM Crunch time, eighteen cars trying to fit into sixteen spots on the ladder. These two needed to run better than Doug Herbert's 5.583 to get in. Hartman-Smith figured to do so earlier today, but she went into a giant wheelie and had to do a good job of driving just to get the front end down without serious damage to the car. Here Luigi made a very nice run, right down the groove, to easily get into the field, while Hartman-Smith appeared to lose the blower belt as she neared the 1,000-foot marker. Her ET was quick enough to bump Clay Millican, but not quick enough to make her "bump-proof" since Herbert and Millican are both capable of running much quicker than her 5.174 to bump her back out.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 5.577/164.87, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.583/166.21, Was #18

Bobby Baldwin was slated to run beside Herbert, but was qualified well enough to avoid any further bumping and turned around in the staging lanes. Herbert did his best, but the engine let go at half track, grenading in a ball of flame, the blower belt sailing over the wall. There were engine parts in both lanes and oil in the left lane, so Herbert not only doesn't qualify, he also earns another oildown penalty. Clay Millican is not in the staging lanes, so Hartman-Smith is safely in the field and will race the #1 qualifier tomorrow.

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Left Lane: Paul Romine Runs 4.746/294.95, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.747/301.67, Was #12

Romine had a wild ride here, the car heading for the half-track reflector. When he yanked it back, the car headed for the wall, skating and swerving, narrowly missing contact with the concrete. But he missed by at least a foot and improved by a whole 0.001 seconds.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.675/303.71, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.695/307.09, Was #11

Beer war, round four - aww, shucks, it's Miller Lite on a walkover, on a single run. Nice, easy pass, no muss, no fuss, just right down the groove. BUt he won't have lane choice tomorrow.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.598/313.07, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.666/298.27, Was #8
Right Lane: Kenny Bernstein No Time, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.694/302.62, Was #11

Now we get the other half of the beer war - but a casino versus beer war just isn't as much fun. Or maybe it is - Bernstein's Budweiser King veered left as he passed half track and took out the 1,000-foot, finish line speed start, and finish line reflector blocks. The incident was strange, there was nothing visible from here to explain why the car went to the left. Meanwhile Kalitta made a very nice pass to move up and play with the big boys tomorrow, the third car in the fifties this weekend. Fortunately Kalitta was well ahead of Bernstein, so his times were recorded before the blocks were knocked away.

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Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.666/283.85, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.633/311.49, Was #7
Right Lane: Don Lampus Runs 4.671/308.92, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.672/298.54, Was #9

Lampus' car left a thin trail of fluid about 200 feet down the track on the burnout, possibly a fuel spill from the tank breather because a couple swipes with a mop cleaned it up. No real change for these two, both making clean passes with no tire smoke and no engine damage we could see from here.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.645/274.44, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.619/310.63, Was #6
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 8.449/84.32, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.654/301.87, Was #8

Good, consistent run for Cory Mac, tire smoke and oil on the track for Vandergriff.

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Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.654/314.53, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.617/317.34, Was #5
Right Lane: Joe Amato Runs 4.606/283.43, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.592/306.67, Was #2

Nice side-by-side runs here, Amato losing the blower belt as his car neared the finish line.

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Left Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.633/306.46, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.604/311.85, Was #4
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.611/296.44, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.552/318.17, Was #1

This started as a good drag race, but turned horrifying when Schumacher's wing supports apparently broke beyond the finish line. The exact sequence of events was difficult to see from the starting line, but it appeared that the car cleared the finish line and then the wing struts broke, the wing coming straight back and unloading the rear of the car. The car went to the right and hit the wall hard a few hundred feet past the finish line, breaking into several pieces which then went over the wall. There was immediate concern not only for Schumacher, but also for safety personnel who were in the area where several of the pieces of the car landed. The reports from the top end took forever to come back to this end of the track, the doctor at the scene finally reporting that Schumacher was awake, alert, and stable, with a possible fracture of his lower right leg.




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