Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 04:08 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Dan Bennett

DINWIDDIE, Va. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Second annual Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals 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: Terry Mcmillen No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.732/259.36, Was #15
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 4.646/307.51, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.398/176.03, Was #18

3:24 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 69 percent, barometer 29.92 inches, adjusted altitude 1,717 feet, track temperature 100 degrees.

McMillen gets shut off on the line and will not race tomorrow. Lucas gets in at the 15th position. McMillen is on the bump and will have to sweat out the two cars behind him.

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Left Lane: Clay Millican Runs 11.566/77.89, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.634/314.83, Was #13
Right Lane: Bobby Lagana Jr. Runs 4.853/289.26, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.920/267.00, Was #18

Millican smokes the tires early, though Lagana got to about 1000 feet before the flash and pop from a tossed supercharger.

We're rolling the trucks for an oildown in Lagana's lane. Luckily enough for the low buck team, he had a free one coming so there's no more money coming out of his pocket this weekend.

We're down to Cory being the only racer not in the show who's still waiting in staging.

3:33 p.m.

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Left Lane: Doug Foley Runs 10.793/80.33, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.605/316.30, Was #10
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.629/312.35, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.802/321.96, Was #17

3:41 p.m. and the next pair has finished their burnouts.

Foley smokes on the way to 330 and it's all over for this run. Cory lays down exactly what he needs and bumps into the show. Unofficially, that gets him the final spot by 5 points.

Morgan Lucas is on the bump spot at 4.646.

Cory McClenathan's incremental times: 60ft-0.855 sec., 330ft-2.181, 660ft-3.124/268.54mph, 1,000ft-3.923

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Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.587/314.02, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.603/317.64, Was #9
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 10.417/81.05, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.645/316.08, Was #15

Vandergriff needs a major improvement here to keep his year alive. Right now, he's a bit more than two rounds behind.

Vandergriff is off the throttle very early in the run. Grubnic accomplishes the unbelievable and gains enough qualifying position to put him into the Technicoat Top Fuel Shootout by 5 points - again, by my unofficial tally.

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Left Lane: Hillary Will Runs 7.073/107.59, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.601/308.50, Was #9
Right Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.640/317.12, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.633/323.58, Was #13

According to Bob Frey, if Hillary can run a 4.587 she will gain a position in the Technicoat Shootout.

She can't do it as she's up in smoke just about where the other cars have had problems. By our calculations, Grubnic will fill the final spot in the Shootout at Vegas.

Melanie doesn't improve but may have a consistent race day setup to draw upon.

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Left Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 4.616/308.78, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.591/321.50, Was #6
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.619/314.83, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.629/318.24, Was #11

It's a side by side pass though Fuller appeared to be pumping a bunch of raw fuel at the finish line.

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Left Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 4.705/279.67, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.577/311.49, Was #4
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.570/317.42, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.600/313.80, Was #8

Good news: JR, for once, is qualified well. Bad news: his bid for the championship is over after this race as he didn't make the final cut.

Dixon steps WAY up in the SkyTel car and goes all the way to the second spot. That mixes the first round pairings up a bit. That was an impressive run in these conditions and for this session.

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Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.576/320.89, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.574/321.42, Was #3
Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 7.454/98.65, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.591/306.05, Was #8

Whit's ready. End of statement.

He's four rounds behind at this point, so Bernstein would have to lose first round for him to have any chance.

Herbert got to about 800 feet before striking the tires.

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Left Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.586/323.50, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.549/321.58, Was #1
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.524/321.27, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.574/320.43, Was #4

I'm sitting here wondering if Alan Johnson has anything for the Bud car at this point. We're going to find out in just a few seconds.

What can you say about the man? In a stunning, knee-breaking move, the Army car runs a huge pass and changes just about everything about tomorrow's pairings.

Vandergriff has control of his future. He's going to meet Bernstein first round tomorrow and it is a must win for the UPS car. In another interesting pair, Todd takes on Cory.

So how bad do you want it? Stop in tomorrow to find out.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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