Sat, 15 Mar 2003, 10:17 AM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 34th annual MAC Tools NHRA Gatornationals 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: Guy Kelly Runs 5.410/261.47, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.493/255.68, Was #9
Right Lane: David Wells Runs 5.523/253.73, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.578/254.74, Was #11

9:49 AM The final session of qualifying opens with Tim Rudy on the bubble at 5.690. Current weather conditions: 61 degrees, 100 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.00 inches and steady, with a track temperature of 75 degrees.

Kelly inadvertently deep-staged, so this run could have been even quicker, a pretty run. Nice pass for Wells too, both drivers with their best run of the weekend.

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Left Lane: Don Fiorelli Runs 5.700/245.49, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.693/243.63, Was #17
Right Lane: Artie Allen Runs 5.575/254.59, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.652/252.38, Was #14

Nice pass for Allen, moving him up a couple spots. Fiorelli, unfortunately, lost a few thousandths and stayed outside the field.

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Left Lane: Jason Cannon Runs 5.431/261.39, Now #7; Best prior run: 6.013/168.76, Was #20
Right Lane: Keith Stark Runs 5.718/254.88, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.849/248.34, Was #19

Cannon's car went straight down the lane, bumping Rudy. Stark's car picked up a bunch from yesterday, but he came up short of Mark Albert's new 5.655 bump time.

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Left Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 8.688/101.27, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.284/267.61, Was #1
Right Lane: Shelly Howard Runs 5.589/256.33, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.476/257.95, Was #9

Reichert shook and slowed. Howard fell off her second-round pace, so she will start from the bottom half of the field.

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Left Lane: Bill McCornack Runs 5.546/231.60, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.651/228.02, Was #15
Right Lane: Michael Gunderson Runs 6.758/145.18, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.373/268.89, Was #5

McCornack moved up the ladder with a nice improvement over his earlier runs. Gunderson's car was sluggish to 330 feet and he lifted before half track.

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Right Lane: Mark Albert Runs 8.352/100.81, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.655/251.67, Was #16

Albert's car shook the tires and headed for the 330-foot marker, so he lifted and will sweat out the rest of the round on the bubble.

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Right Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 5.291/264.62, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.289/270.18, Was #2

Since Bartone was solidly #2, obviously he was shooting for the #1 spot. He missed, but ran within two thousandths of his best of the weekend, so he's in good shape.

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Left Lane: Douglas Foley Runs 5.670/247.25, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.572/249.72, Was #13

Foley took his third shot and lost ground from his best run yesterday.

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Left Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.328/263.69, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.435/251.39, Was #8

Good morning Marty!! Nice run, a career-best elapsed time with a big speed to go with it. That makes him the quickest blown car in the field, by a bunch.

Sad sight, first alternate Tim Rudy's car was sitting in the staging lanes, but was unable to run and towed back to the pits.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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