Fri, 5 Oct 2007, 07:44 PM Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dan Bennett

DINWIDDIE, Va. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Pro Stock at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Second annual Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Adam Flamholc Runs 6.790/203.61, Now #1
Right Lane: Tommy Brown Runs 7.493/127.78, Now #2

7:09 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 76 degrees, relative humidity 78 percent, barometer 29.97 inches, adjusted altitude 1,416 feet, track temperature 83 degrees.

This should be a very interesing session, as it's not too common for the Pro Stock cars to be the first class to race on a green track. For sure, the dew that's gathering on any surface should be some sort of factor. Most of the cars in staging have had their windshields covered while they've been waiting in the staging lanes.

The Pro Stock shuffle we've seen this evening is the extended version director's cut. Instead of just a few minutes for the crew chiefs to pace the track and decide their strategy, we've have about an hour with the team members checking out the track. The really good crew chiefs took a look, made a judgment, and have just been taking a casual check from time to time to make sure it's still what they had expected. Others will have looked at the track early and changed their mind twenty times since then. You may be able to tell the difference between the two from the times we're about to see.

I spoke to Jeg Coughlin just a few minutes ago and he told me that his team expected the track to be very good. Considering we just did what in essence was a complete pre-race track prep, I have no doubt he's right. However, if you take a look at the weather info posted above, note the humidity. There's lots of water in the air which is taking the space that gasoline could, so all of the cars will be down on power compared to ideal conditions.

The first pair are newcomers. The Brown ride is painted in the Steve Schmidt Competition colors and is a Ness car. Flamholc is one of the many Pro Stock teams racing in Sweden and lines up in a sharp, clean, new looking, white Bickel GTO.

I can't see much of the action due to the mass of people standing behind the cars, but see Flamholic getting close to the center line but never lifting. He puts down a very impressive first pass.

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Left Lane: Jim Cunningham Runs 6.857/199.85, Now #3
Right Lane: Bob Benza Runs 6.748/204.54, Now #1

Two passes with no problems that I could see from here.

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Left Lane: Dave Northrop Runs 24.587/29.48, Now #6
Right Lane: Craig Hankinson Runs 6.750/203.49, Now #2

Northrop didn't go anywhere, but again I couldn't see what was going on - looks like the fuel crews want to see what the track is holding.

Hankinson moves towards the top for now.

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Left Lane: Tom Hammonds Runs 6.775/199.29, Now #4
Right Lane: Ron Krisher Runs 6.729/205.19, Now #1

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Left Lane: Justin Humphreys Runs 6.681/206.54, Now #1
Right Lane: Mike Edwards Runs 6.725/205.57, Now #2

As the rubber on the starting line builds, the pairs keep getting quicker.

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Left Lane: Kenny Koretsky Runs 6.705/205.01, Now #2
Right Lane: Greg Stanfield Runs 6.707/204.26, Now #3

I can see the burnouts at least, and Stanfield just did a monster.

He's just slightly slower than Koretsky.

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Left Lane: Max Naylor Runs 6.771/203.98, Now #9
Right Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.725/204.94, Now #5

Both of the racers are capable of moving away from the pack and may show us what's out there.

Nope, not on this pair. Naylor spun fairly hard.

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Left Lane: V. Gaines Runs 7.134/194.24, Now #14
Right Lane: Richie Stevens Runs 6.673/206.54, Now #1

Not sure what went on here, but Stevens will be happy and Gaines won't be. Stevens had great short times and Gaines didn't.

V. Gaines' incremental times: 60ft-1.069 sec., 330ft-2.991, 660ft-4.594/153.53mph, 1,000ft-5.972
Richie Stevens' incremental times: 60ft-0.979 sec., 330ft-2.780, 660ft-4.286/163.33mph, 1,000ft-5.582

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Left Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.708/206.13, Now #6
Right Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 6.674/206.57, Now #2

WJ's man Terry Adams just walked back into staging lanes pretty quickly, so he may have seen something that needed a change.

Morgan puts up a good number along with some big speed. WJ is right there in the mph department, but what's new about that?

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Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.689/206.45, Now #4
Right Lane: Jason Line Runs 6.704/207.15, Now #5

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Left Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 6.661/207.27, Now #1
Right Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.677/206.29, Now #4

Adam Flamholc is on the bump spot at 6.790.

Jeg said he expected a good track, and it looks like his aggressive setup paid off as he absolutely hammered the first half of the track.

Jeg Coughlin's incremental times: 60ft-0.974 sec., 330ft-2.782, 660ft-4.283/164.15mph, 1,000ft-5.573
Allen Johnson's incremental times: 60ft-0.980 sec., 330ft-2.783, 660ft-4.288/163.59mph, 1,000ft-5.584

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Left Lane: Greg Anderson Runs 6.674/207.11, Now #4
Right Lane: Dave Connolly Runs 6.649/207.24, Now #1

And in a battle of the two top teams currently racing in Pro Stock, Connolly once again holds the upper hand.

Bob Benza finishes on the bump spot at 6.748 and we've got two more shots (weather permitting) tomorrow.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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