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LAS VEGAS - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Pacific Division, Shortline Express Markets Gambler Shootout at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway 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: Left Lane: David Ray Runs 5.786/247.70, Now #2; Best prior run: 10.965/78.72, Was #24 Right Lane: Mert Littlefield Runs 11.011/80.23, Now #26; No Prior Run 11:43 a.m. and we're going into our first round of alcohol qualifying today. It's an absolutely beautiful day with weather that would be spring-like in other parts of the country. The sky is just about cloudless and the nearby mountain ranges are clearly viewed. A lot of teams are going to be looking for their first tuning run of the weekend since last night didn't go so well for a lot of them. Ray makes a sweet pass right down the middle, moving up from #24 to #2 spot. Littlefield quivers the tires which then go into shake and shuts down by 400 feet. David Ray's incremental times: 60ft-0.986 sec., 330ft-2.563, 660ft-3.812/197.36mph, 1,000ft-4.881 Left Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.703/251.11, Now #1; Best prior run: 10.543/103.71, Was #24 Right Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 5.736/249.16, Now #2; Best prior run: 10.988/96.66, Was #25 Ken Kraus is on the bump spot at 5.912 but we expect almost all the positions to change in this session. Neither of these cars are in. But they are now. Hough drove pretty much all over the lane and even with this stout pass he left some ET on the table. Thompson was right alongside though he only ran 1320. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 28 percent, barometer 28.26 inches, adjusted altitude 3,123 feet, track temperature 98 degrees.
Left Lane: John Weaver Runs 5.742/249.86, Now #4; Best prior run: 8.192/150.41, Was #20 Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 15.063/54.24, Now #25; Best prior run: 9.943/110.15, Was #22 Nice shot for Weaver, but Gasparrelli blows the tires off on the hit. John Weaver's incremental times: 60ft-0.985 sec., 330ft-2.545, 660ft-3.781/198.96mph, 1,000ft-4.843 Left Lane: Paul Crifasi Runs 5.939/241.41, Now #14; Best prior run: 7.816/122.70, Was #22 Right Lane: Don Hudson Runs 5.790/242.02, Now #6; Best prior run: 8.477/106.60, Was #24 Crifasi gets a smooth run across the line but then we see the burst panel go flying and he is very close to the wall. Hudson got to about 1300 feet until the smoke started boiling. He didn't waste any time getting the car stopped partway up the shutdown hill. There's no visible fire but it looks like we're down for a cleanup. Left Lane: Dennis Taylor Runs 5.849/246.66, Now #10; Best prior run: 6.969/142.66, Was #23 Right Lane: Roger Bateman Runs 5.726/250.97, Now #2; Best prior run: 8.153/123.71, Was #24 Steve Harker is on the bump spot at 5.811. Nice pass for Bateman! Taylor won't be happy with his pass since he didn't get in but he has some good data for the run later today. He earned his keep driving the car at halftrack as it was moving around a bunch. Roger Bateman's incremental times: 60ft-1.002 sec., 330ft-2.554, 660ft-3.778/202.55mph, 1,000ft-4.830 Dennis Taylor's incremental times: 60ft-0.992 sec., 330ft-2.592, 660ft-3.857/195.79mph, 1,000ft-4.937 Left Lane: Larry Miner Runs 5.806/247.79, Now #9; Best prior run: 6.660/151.00, Was #24 Right Lane: Mike Drake Runs 9.616/101.70, Now #24; Best prior run: 6.295/172.32, Was #23 Miner is back in business after last night's fire and lines his bright blue Monte Carlo up against the Mopar of Drake. Both cars chatter the tires off the line but Drake's ride went out into the ozone and after a move to the wall he clicked it off. Miner gets to the finish line on a straight run but wasn't quite quick enough to get a spot in this 8 car field. Left Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.710/250.27, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.062/245.72, Was #22 Right Lane: Mark Woznichak Runs 6.624/216.93, Now #23; Best prior run: 6.255/180.98, Was #23 Jason Rupert is on the bump spot at 5.800. Two cars next to each other in the order, and both are looking for a big step up to get into this very tough field. There are 26 quality cars here and remember only 8 get to race. Gordon gets what he needs and more. It was a very nice looking run. Woz looked like he had a combination of dead cylinder(s) and maybe a lazy clutch as the car just didn't move that hard. Doug Gordon's incremental times: 60ft-0.984 sec., 330ft-2..534, 660ft-3.759/201.61mph, 1,000ft-4.814 Mark Woznichak's incremental times: 60ft-1.121 sec., 330ft-2.944, 660ft-4.370/173.36mph, 1,000ft-5.588 The safety truck rolls and there's a cleanup WAY down in the shutdown area in Mark's lane. 12:10 p.m. Left Lane: Dale Van Gundy Runs 6.060/208.91, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.999/239.65, Was #22 Right Lane: Hank Coolidge Runs 5.869/245.45, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.917/247.61, Was #17 12:15 p.m. and they've finished the top end cleaning. Van Gundy is trying to defend his division's honor as a lot of the fast cars at the top of the list right now are from Division 6. Coolidge wants to join his buddies on that list. Neither driver got what they needed or wanted. Both are moving around and don't run the number. Left Lane: Ron August Jr Runs 5.725/253.09, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.989/239.10, Was #21 Right Lane: Ken Kraus No Time, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.912/219.97, Was #17 Surprisingly enough, the tunnel bump downtrack does not seem to be affecting these cars this session. With no rear suspension, TAFC are among the most susceptible to getting upset. Both of the cars need to step up bigtime if they want to compete. It's not to be for Kraus as he shuts off after backing up from his burnout. August pulls it off and vaults to the third spot. David Ray is on the bump spot at 5.786. We have some stuff in the right lane at about 500 feet so now we know why Kraus shut off. They're mopping the area and the tire drag tractor is on its way to that spot. 12:22 p.m. Left Lane: Bernie Harrington Runs 5.891/243.15, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.971/239.19, Was #21 Right Lane: Jeff Carroll Runs 5.821/249.72, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.905/248.98, Was #17 12:24 p.m. and we fire the next pair. I'm not sure there is a division in the country that supports TAFC any more strongly than Division 7. Of course, now that I've typed that, Harrington (Division 5) pulls to the water box. Hey, at least he lives in California. Both runs looked really good, and if this race was a 16 car field things would be great. However, since it's not both teams will take the data from a clean run and try to improve in the final session. Left Lane: John Patton No Time, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.967/244.29, Was #21 Right Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.695/254.38, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.860/249.16, Was #15 Pro Mod champ Payne pulls into the water, and everyone in the class has to be wondering if this is the pass he's going to hit his target. Patton loses an engine big time on the burnout and leaves a BUNCH of goop all the way to half track. He pulls over against the wall and jumps out of the car as they're going to send Payne on a solo. Even though the car made some very nasty moves at the big end, Payne shows the rest of the field how it's supposed to be done. Jay Payne's incremental times: 60ft-0.989 sec., 330ft-2.549, 660ft-3.769/202.97mph, 1,000ft-4.812 John Weaver is now on the bump spot at 5.742. From the looks of the slime in the left lane, this one is going to take a while. 12:32 p.m. Left Lane: Ross Stickler Runs 6.076/242.02, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.903/244.25, Was #18 Right Lane: Steve Harker Runs 5.700/249.58, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.811/249.58, Was #13 12:37 p.m. and as usual, the Safety Safari does a world class job. Harker is 5 spots away from qualifying, Stickler 10. Stickler left hard but ran into shake. Harker just got with the show and went straight to the finish line on a sweet pass. Von Smith is on the bump spot at 5.738, and he was #1 coming in to the session. By the way, he's pulling into the water as I type this. Left Lane: Jason Rupert Runs 5.879/250.23, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.800/245.00, Was #12 Right Lane: Von Smith Runs 5.714/251.25, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.738/250.27, Was #8 Rupert makes a vicious move to the centerline at about 500 feet and loses a lot of ET. Smith shows his new pals that he intends on racing on Sunday. 12:44 p.m. and we end the session with Jay Payne on top and Clint Thompson on the bump at 5.736 Stop back by because we've got a bunch of good racing yet to come.
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