Thu, 11 Nov 2004, 06:53 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 40th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Right Lane: Chris Karamesines Runs 4.809/301.74, Now #1

3:06 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 62 degrees, relative humidity 70 percent, barometer 29.08 inches, adjusted altitude 1,470 feet, track temperature 82 degrees.

Top Fuel opens with The Greek closing out what must be his 55th + year of Fuel Racing. The Greek gets a nice opener and there was not a hint of smoke or oil. Rumor has it that today is Karamesines 75 birthday.

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Left Lane: Gary Ormsby Jr Runs 11.366/72.04, Now #3
Right Lane: Steven Chrisman Runs 5.009/262.08, Now #2

I don't make make this stuff up. That was a career best run for Chrisman and his crew. Ormsby Jr rattles the tires hard and he shuts it off early.

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Left Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 7.665/105.28, Now #4
Right Lane: Andrew Cowin Runs 6.232/135.25, Now #3

Both cars launch hard but fall silent early in the run. There appeared to be some smoke from Hartley's car but the reason Cowin shut off wasn't evident.

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Left Lane: Scott Palmer Runs 4.801/305.29, Now #1
Right Lane: Mike Strasburg Runs 6.287/141.15, Now #5

Palmer moves The Greek down one spot so he won't have the pole for his birthday. The argument rages through the press room about just how old Karamesines is. Strasburg shut the car off way early.

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Left Lane: Mitch King Runs 4.840/259.66, Now #3
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas No Time, Now #10

Lucas went to fire Amato's car and there was a flash of fire. It appeared there was a fuel leak and the crew wound up pushing the car away. King was on a good looking run until the fire went out at about 900-1000 feet. There was no visible reason for the early shutoff.

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Left Lane: Brady Kalivoda Runs 4.594/316.30, Now #2
Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 4.521/322.04, Now #1

Millican goes all the way to the top of the field. Clay Millican's incremental times: 60ft-0.842 sec., 330ft-2.151, 660ft-3.070/277.54mph, 1,000ft-3.844. Pretty nice numbers but the half track mph is spectacular. The was a career best ET for Kalivoda.

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Left Lane: David Baca Runs 4.487/327.43, Now #1
Right Lane: John Smith Runs 4.615/308.99, Now #4

How about that folks! Not bad for a raceway made from a parking lot. Baca turns the world upside down for about 4.4 seconds. Larry Meyer had the right numbers in the timers on that run. David Baca's incremental times: 60ft-0.844 sec., 330ft-2.120, 660ft-3.032/275.17mph, 1,000ft-3.811. Smith was just a little bit behind.

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Left Lane: Scott Weis Runs 4.600/321.12, Now #4
Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 10.090/84.93, Now #13

Smith left pretty good but there was a flash from the engine after a .868 60 foot number and her ride fell silent. Weis got a full pull that puts him well into the top half of the show for the moment.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 7.263/135.10, Now #12
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan No Time, Now #18

Cory Mac made the burnout and kept right on going. Herbert was on and off the pedal before he finally had to call it off. No idea what happened to McClenathan.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.598/320.43, Now #4
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 8.059/91.76, Now #15

Grubnic blew the tires off fairly early in the run and didn't even try to pedal the Zantrex 3 racer. Dixon slots into the #4 spot on a pretty but uneventful run.

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Left Lane: Scott Kalitta Runs 4.509/322.34, Now #2
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.533/330.31, Now #4

That was strange. Something blew off the car and flow over the fence on the left hand side. I have no idea what that was but it seemed to have no effect on Bernstein's mount. Kalitta was even quicker and only misses the top spot in the show by .02. Nice runs by both cars as it seems the track is getting better and better.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.472/328.62, Now #1
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.503/318.99, Now #3

How about that. The final pair and it's Doug Kalitta that knocks Baca out of the top spot in the show. Even with his big numbers the incrementals were not quite as strong as Baca's, except for the final ones. Doug Kalitta's incremental times: 60ft-0.837 sec., 330ft-2.124, 660ft-3.025/277.20mph, 1,000ft-3.797. Oh, by the way, Schumacher was in the other lane and he's going to wind up #3 in round one.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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