Fri, 2 May 2003, 02:45 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Bob Orme

COMMERCE, Ga. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster 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, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Phil Mass Runs 10.114/79.37, Now #2
Right Lane: Keith Stark Runs 6.020/243.06, Now #1

Mass lost the blower belt shortly after the launch. Stark had a cylinder out almost immediately and dropped at least one more on the top end of the track.

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Left Lane: Dana Stripe Runs 6.266/175.55, Now #3
Right Lane: Bill McCornack Runs 5.724/247.20, Now #1

Stripe was on pace to the 330-foot mark but he started to fade before reaching half track.

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Left Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.540/258.62, Now #1
Right Lane: Don Fiorelli Runs 6.077/228.07, Now #4

Fiorelli left soft and never did get up to full power.

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Left Lane: Guy Kelly Runs 7.297/204.79, Now #7
Right Lane: Tim Rudy Runs 5.961/226.43, Now #3

Kelly had some kind of engine/drive train problems on the hit. His 60-foot time was 1.245-seconds. The safety safari had to do a quick sweep of Kelly's lane from the starting line to 200 feet.

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Left Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 5.619/243.90, Now #3
Right Lane: Arthur Gallant Runs 5.431/242.06, Now #1

Reichert had to drive through some early tire shake. Other than that, this was a pretty good looking pass for both cars.

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Left Lane: Richard Bourke Runs 5.385/263.98, Now #1
Right Lane: Darryl Hitchman Runs 5.549/237.17, Now #4

Hitchman was out of the groove and close to the retaining wall in the middle section of the track.

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Left Lane: Fran Monaghan Jr Runs 5.646/252.80, Now #7
Right Lane: Douglas Foley Runs 5.526/256.45, Now #3

Monaghan was very loose from the start through half track, the car moving all over his lane.

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Left Lane: Michael Gunderson No Time, Now #16
Right Lane: Jason Cannon Runs 5.714/253.66, Now #8

Gunderson's engine went silent immediately after the hit, the car coasting to a stop at half track.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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