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COMMERCE, Ga. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac 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: Left Lane: Paul Romine Runs 4.776/261.47, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.793/118.15, Was #20 Right Lane: Scott Palmer No Time, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.032/227.19, Was #19 3:09 PM Current weather conditions: 72 degrees, 78 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.05 inches, under mostly sunny skies with a track temperature of 109 degrees. On a
rapidly warming race track, these racers were facing Josh Starcher's 4.873 as the bump time.
Palmer's car fired and started to move forward, then went silent, so his weekend was over.
Romine made a good pass to the 1,000-foot marker, then there was a flash of flame from the
manifold and the top part of the engine did a bobble-head doll imitation as he crossed the
finish line and slowed. He sacrificed an engine, but should be in the field tomorrow. Left Lane: Don Garlits Runs 4.788/319.98, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.943/271.19, Was #19 Right Lane: Josh Starcher Runs 8.659/96.49, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.873/294.88, Was #17 These two needed to beat Scott Weis' 4.834 to get into the field. Starcher smoked the tires early. Garlits went right down the groove, no tire smoke anywhere in the run. For the gear heads out there, Don Garlits' incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.281, 660ft-3.273/256.55mph, 1,000ft-4.092. It was relatively soft in the first half of the run, but he picked up over 64 mph on the top half and that's just about as good as it gets. Left Lane: Luigi Novelli Runs 4.903/284.15, Now #19; Best prior run: 4.895/270.59, Was #19 Right Lane: Scott Weis Runs 8.816/86.74, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.834/303.57, Was #17 Weis lost traction after 200 feet. Novelli's car was slow from the start. With no more not-qualified cars left in the lanes, it's official, "Big" will be in eliminations tomorrow, wearing Summit livery at this Summit-sponsored event. Left Lane: John Smith Runs 4.706/310.84, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.671/287.90, Was #12 Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 4.655/309.70, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.805/295.40, Was #16 Husband-wife matchup, and Rhonda steps way up on a nice pass, moving Garlits to the sixteenth spot on the ladder, where he will face the #1 qualifier tomorrow. Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.598/318.62, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.665/295.53, Was #12 Right Lane: Chris Vandergriff Runs 4.946/239.57, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.701/306.95, Was #14 Clouds are moving back over the track - they look dry, however, so the shade could help the remaining cars find a bit more traction. Nice run by Herbert, into the fifties on a clean pass. Vandergriff was on a fairly good run to half track, then the engine let go in a ball of flame and he slowed. Right Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 7.293/103.19, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.644/316.52, Was #10 Russell got about 300 feet out, then lost traction, so will have to enter eliminations with just one full pass on the books. Left Lane: Don Lampus Runs 4.650/315.05, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.631/312.35, Was #8 Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 4.649/311.92, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.641/312.64, Was #9 Nice runs, but no improvement for either and it looks like they will face each other in the first round of eliminations. Left Lane: David Baca Runs 4.566/318.99, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.614/306.88, Was #7 Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.582/322.96, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.612/321.35, Was #6 Two good runs, but Baca moved around Kalitta and way up the order with the better of the two runs. To add injury to insult, one of Kalitta's chutes fouled and his brakes were ineffective, so he went into the "kitty litter" at the end of the track. Ironically, Baca's chutes also fouled, one a streamer and the other a "Mae West," spinning behind the car, but he managed to slow down anyway. Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.578/321.96, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.573/323.35, Was #5 Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.596/320.89, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.569/324.83, Was #4 Two pretty good runs, neither improving. Uncharacteristically, Dixon's engine erupted at the finish line, Dixon briefly engulfed in flames because of the airflow around the engine and cockpit. The Safety Safari has a bit of work to do in Dixon's lane before the final pair can run. Meanwhile, Cory Mac appeared very pleased in a top-end interview, as he should be with a worst-run of 4.607 in three qualifying attempts. Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.618/322.50, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.553/326.48, Was #2 Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.547/325.92, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.505/327.98, Was #1 There have been no updates on the condition of Schumacher's NASCAR teammate, Jerry Nadeu, but there are a lot of people here (and across the country) praying for him. Two good
runs to close out Top Fuel qualifying, but Bernstein pulled away from Schumacher in the first
half of the run and then held him off on the top end to retain the #1 spot for the second race
in a row. Both go into eliminations with solid qualifying performances.
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