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MADISON, Ill. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Pro Modified at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 12th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol 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: Rick Stivers No Time, Now #24; No Prior Run Right Lane: Alex Hossler No Time, Now #23; Best prior run: 24.593/27.08, Was #23 This one started out good and turned ugly. The cars were past half track charging for the traps when Stivers' car made a vicious move and crossed the center line. At about the same time, Hossler's car was making a move towards the wall. The action disappeared into a cloud of dust and at this point I'm not sure exactly what happened. All I see at this point is sweepers cleaning up the track, so it looks like both racers made it through. Checking with Race Control, Stivers is DQd for crossing the center line, and Hossler is DQd for contacting the wall. No contact between the cars and no injuries, so that's very good news. Left Lane: Steve Engel Runs 9.440/103.63, Now #16; Best prior run: 12.816/73.62, Was #18 Right Lane: Taylor Lastor Runs 9.999/88.79, Now #18; Best prior run: 16.806/39.31, Was #22 Both cars were hammering the tires early in the run and gave up the chase. Left Lane: Shelly Payne Runs 19.972/35.15, Now #15; Best prior run: 8.411/154.51, Was #15 Right Lane: Mike Knowles No Time, Now #22; Best prior run: 16.184/59.29, Was #22 Shelly shakes hard and lifts. Knowles rolled back out of the beams and was redlighted before the tree came down. Left Lane: John Russo Runs 12.633/66.79, Now #15; Best prior run: 8.301/113.56, Was #14 Right Lane: Scott Ray Runs 6.384/180.02, Now #9; Best prior run: 15.281/68.28, Was #21 Russo hits the tires and clicks it off. Ray is smoking heavily the entire length of the track but a quick check shows no oil or fluids on the track. We're firing the next pair. Left Lane: Dan Saitz Runs 6.489/212.66, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.634/218.09, Was #12 Right Lane: Raymond Vettel Runs 11.447/81.21, Now #20; Best prior run: 13.466/79.80, Was #21 Vettel spins immediately while Saitz is quietly streaking down the track on the other side. That Mustang is running a lot more consistent than the first time I saw it, but you just know there's a whole bunch of performance still left in it. Left Lane: Tommy Gray Runs 7.403/104.60, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.571/220.12, Was #12 Right Lane: Danny Rowe No Time, Now #21; Best prior run: 12.431/77.49, Was #21 The news on this one is Rowe's wild ride. The car started moving right towards the wall but blew the tires off completely and went shooting left over into the left lane. As it made the arc, it went up on two wheels. Rowe was unable to steer at that point, and the car contacted the left side wall fairly hard. It spun a couple of times as it headed back to the right side wall. We hear that Rowe got out of the car on his own and is talking to the track personnel. Things are OK, as Rowe just rode his scooter back to the tower to talk things over with his crew. Left Lane: Joe Baker Runs 10.936/85.23, Now #8; Best prior run: 6.204/229.55, Was #8 Right Lane: Raymond Commisso Runs 16.673/48.10, Now #18; Best prior run: 9.658/94.15, Was #18 It looks like we're going to have some single runs here and there. The sweeper is making one last pass in the right lane so we're about ready to get back to racing. 9:04 p.m. and we're finally firing the next pair. This should be interesting, as Commisso is known for having big top end power. Let's see if they've got a handle on the track. Well, the top end doesn't matter as neither car moves ten feet without shaking or spinning. Left Lane: Eddie Ware Runs 9.428/106.77, Now #6; Best prior run: 6.114/234.98, Was #6 Right Lane: Harold Laird Runs 6.404/225.45, Now #10; Best prior run: 7.683/143.12, Was #14 Laird hits the tires hard, and was off and on the throttle a couple of times before he got to 400 feet. Even with all the bouncing and unloading, he got the car settled down enough to get across the finish line. Ware spun hard right away. Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 11.296/86.33, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.107/236.80, Was #5 Right Lane: Tony Pontieri Runs 5.969/239.53, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.086/236.05, Was #3 We're told that this is the last pair as some cars left staging and pulled back to their pits. AMAZING! On a track that no one get get down, Pontieri stuns the crowd and goes straight to the top. Payne's Camara was waggling from the hit and he finally lifted after three or four oscillations. That's it for the first day here at Madison. Whatever you do, don't forget to stop back by tomorrow as the action should prove the most exciting yet.
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