Sun, 23 Sep 2001, 12:28 AM FMDRS 6-6 - Federal-Mogul Dragster Round 1 Eliminations

By Michael L. Jex

MEDFORD, Ore. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Federal-Mogul Dragster at the Snap On Tools Valley Thunder Weekend:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Duane Shields       5.445 260.13  Q    9 Bernie Plourd       5.907 237.00
 *****WINNER***** 0.592  5.536 258.74  E1                  0.411  7.569 118.13

Steve Federlin was supposed to race Duane Shields, but as he put it, "I broke all my stuff." Steve is here in the tower providing advice and perspective only a driver can give to the large crowd in Medford. Plourd is a huge underdog - and almost pulled this off! He bumped in deep after both cars had staged. The holeshot advantage was so big Shields didn't catch him till Bernie got over towards the centerline and had to lift off the loud pedal. The Short Line Express team dodged a bullet on this one!

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   5 Brian Hough         5.566 255.76  Q    4 Mark Hentges        5.545 228.46
                  0.463  5.703 257.23  E1 *****WINNER***** 0.476  5.637 252.98

The National Championship for this class may come down to this race for Mark Hentges. He leads Rick Santos by a razor thin margin - he must win this weekend to stay ahead of Santos. Brian has the talent, the car has all the right parts, and Mike Johnson has the knowledge and tune-up to make this too close to call. Tire Shake! Brian was out first, but the tires wadded up. Brian gamely tried to recover, but trailed Hentges the rest of the way to the stripe. It was pretty close - Margin of victory = 0.053 seconds (approximately 20 feet).

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   6 Don Hudson          5.683 253.07  Q    3 Paul Jones          5.514 255.76
                  0.476  5.742 252.50  E1 *****WINNER***** 0.456  5.617 254.11

Hudson's powerplant is known as a "Chemi" in some circles - The heads are Hemi in style, the block more like a big block Chevy. Jones had so much tire shake the rear slicks came off the ground - Paul never wavered, never lifted, and thundered into round two. Hudson was game till half track, then the Jones machine pulled away from there.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   8 Bill Edwards Jr.    5.765 240.52  Q    1 Rick Santos         5.402 260.19
                  0.440  6.174 227.41  E1 *****WINNER***** 0.485  5.511 253.13

For Santos this is the worst kind of first round - Santos has a big performance advantage, Edwards has been running better and better all year. To keep his title hopes FIRMLY alive Rick MUST win this RACE. The winner of this matchup will face Mark Hentges in round two. Santos made this look so easy - .928 (best of the weekend) short time, then a missle shot down the right lane. Edwards trailed by over 100 feet at the finish, and Santos will have lane choice against Hentges in round two. 5:22 PM

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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