Sat, 8 Oct 2005, 06:37 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Rick Green

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec 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: Tim Gibson Runs 14.768/65.70, Now #18; Best prior run: 13.807/78.47, Was #18
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.774/287.41, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.846/116.55, Was #17

Weather conditions: air temperature 75 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer 29.84 inches, adjusted altitude 1,318 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Gibson is up in smoke as soon as he hits the throttle. Grubnic launches and is able to keep it hooked up for the first time this weekend to get into the show. That will bump out Hartley, and put Bill Ancona on the bump spot with a 5.214.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.558/325.30, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.561/320.66, Was #9
Right Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 11.628/96.03, Now #17; Best prior run: 6.358/134.39, Was #17

Hartley is up in smoke as soon as he hits the throttle and clicks it off. Cory Mac with best pass of the weekend, but will stay ninth.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.918/208.10, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.518/328.94, Was #8
Right Lane: Bill Ancona Runs 4.935/229.35, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.214/218.65, Was #16

Kalitta drove through a lot of tire shake. Ancona with his best pass of the weekend, but will stay on the bubble.

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Left Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 10.996/89.00, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.509/320.81, Was #6
Right Lane: Scott Weis Runs 5.053/199.20, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.906/234.09, Was #15

Lucas is up in smoke as soon as he hits the throttle. Weis used up an engine on the top end with a big puff of smoke.

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Left Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 5.537/193.65, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.493/328.94, Was #4
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.772/266.53, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.636/305.08, Was #11

Fuller started to lose traction and was off and on the throttle one time to go back up in smoke. Beckman was on a good looking pass until around 1000 feet when the engine let go with a quick flash of fire.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.551/330.47, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.474/332.02, Was #3
Right Lane: Scott Kalitta Runs 4.609/320.81, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.570/321.88, Was #10

Schumacher with the quickest pass of the session. Tony Schumacher's incremental times: 60ft-0.860 sec., 330ft-2.158, 660ft-3.088/268.92mph, 1,000ft-3.872 Kalitta with a good clean pass.

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Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.513/325.61, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.458/328.86, Was #2
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.546/325.14, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.514/329.34, Was #7

The two quickest passes of the session. Melanie Troxel's incremental times: 60ft-0.846 sec., 330ft-2.141, 660ft-3.065/272.56mph, 1,000ft-3.841
Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.858 sec., 330ft-2.156, 660ft-3.080/272.28mph, 1,000ft-3.864

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.595/324.59, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.441/328.06, Was #1
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 6.722/122.66, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.494/328.62, Was #5

Bernstein started to strike the tires and clicked it off. Herbert with a good clean pass, and he will start from the pole for the third time. The other two were in 2002.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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