Sat, 13 Nov 2004, 05:55 PM
Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations
|
|
By Darryl Jackman
|
POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series, 40th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
8 Doug Gordon 714 Dennis Taylor
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.071 5.697 250.13 0.052 5.720 249.95
Qualified: #8 5.677 251.81 #9 5.680 249.26
2:14 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 66 degrees, relative humidity 62 percent,
barometer 28.86 inches, adjusted altitude 2,001 feet, track temperature 93 degrees.
First pair out reminds me of a Div-7 event. Most any weekend this matchup could occur. Taylor
puts .02 on Gordon at the hit but Gordon comes closer to repeating his qualifying number. With
that Gordon gets a huge nineteen foot win.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
312 Danny Townsend 74 Bret Williamson
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.029 5.701 251.72 0.210 5.671 254.90
Qualified: #7 5.674 253.52 #10 5.685 247.93
Williamson must have gotten distracted at the line as the light was just about the worst
I've seen in awhile. Top make it look even worse Townsend just chopped the tree down.
Williamson was quicker but the win goes to Townsend.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
5 Jay Payne 739 Hannes Wernhart
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.077 5.634 253.85 0.109 5.660 251.95
Qualified: #1 5.557 256.55 #16 5.743 238.85
Payne took over the top spot as the last car down in qualifying last night. Well, Wernhart
has nothing to be embarrassed about here. With a better light he'd have been right there. The
biggest problem Wernhart had was getting the car stopped. I didn't see if he got the chutes out
late or he just ran out of room but he ran the nose of the car into the sand pretty hard. It's
going to take a few minutes to excavate the car.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
703 Mark Woznichak 63 Hank Coolidge
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.092 5.676 253.61 -0.127 5.719 252.76
Qualified: #3 5.633 253.42 #14 5.712 251.58
Wernhart's car is out of the kitty litter and we're back under steam. Coolidge needed a
miracle so he left early and prayed that the red wouldn't come on. Not answered. The red bulb
went on and then he BARELY managed to slew the car to a stop before the found the beach. The
'Woz' took the win and watched as Coolidge went sailing by him. Woznichak sets low ET of the
round to this point.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
2 Bucky Austin 9 Steve Gasparrelli
E1 No Time ****WINNER**** 0.323 5.664 255.34
Qualified: #4 5.656 256.75 #13 5.711 253.09
Austin came up and lighted the prestage bulb and quickly rolled forward and lighted the
stage light. Problem for him was that he kept right on rolling and by the time the tree came
down he was three feet over the line. No time and Gasparrelli will get the automatic
win.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
6515 Brian Hough 65 Clint Thompson
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.079 5.656 252.38 0.060 5.744 249.16
Qualified: #6 5.673 252.47 #11 5.691 249.95
This time it's Hough that sets low ET for the round and moves to round two.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
727 Ron August Jr 78 Mert Littlefield
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.107 5.588 258.22 0.106 7.147 128.18
Qualified: #5 5.663 257.04 #12 5.692 247.79
Step right up Mr. August! He's the first into the fifties in eliminations and takes a win.
Neither driver had a great light and Littlefield was really busy keeping the car in his own
lane after half track.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
7306 Jeff Carroll 79 John Weaver
E1 0.068 No Time ****WINNER**** 0.058 5.753 246.39
Qualified: #15 5.742 245.14 #17 5.765 245.67
Weaver is in as an alternate as Marc White and Randy Goodwin suffered a blackened crank on
their last qualifying pass on Friday evening. The Weavers bring four generations to the line
every time they come up. Whoops! Carroll punts the half track reflectors into Weavers lane and
his 5.849/206.39 is DQd. Round 2 will see Payne with lane choice against Gordon; August with
choice against Gasparrelli; Townsend with choice over Weaver and Hough with choice over
Woznichak.
Timing data courtesy of
CompuLink
NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]
Feb 10- Wally Parks 75th Anniversary Appreciation Fund Part of $27 Million Overall Purse
Feb 08- NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League Releases 2026 Schedule
Feb 07- Huge List of Legends Set to Appear at Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals
Feb 05- NHRA and Legends Global Extend Merchandise Partnership Ahead of 75th Anniversary Season
Feb 04- Doug Foley Announces Addition of Ron Douglas as Consultant to Foley Lewis Racing Top Fuel Team
Feb 04- Tickets Now on Sale for NHRA's Debut at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park and Rockingham Dragway
Feb 04- Reed, Zetterström to Share Driving Duties of Reed Trucking & Excavating Top Fuel Dragster
Jan 29- NHRA to Honor Iconic John Force in 2027 with "50 Years Of Force"
Jan 28- Top Fuel All-Star Callout Returns to Open NHRA's 75th Anniversary Season at Gatornationals
Jan 28- John Force Racing Announces Crew Chiefs for NHRA's 75th Anniversary Season
