 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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: Arley Langlo No Time, Now #21; Best prior run: 17.610/28.59, Was #21 4:18 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 80 degrees, relative humidity 18 percent, barometer 28.89 inches, adjusted altitude 2,922 feet, track temperature 93 degrees. Antron Brown is on the bump spot at 4.056. Langlo's weekend comes to an end without another chance to
qualify. He is shut off before staging the fueler due to an oil leak from the blower
snout. Left Lane: Steven Chrisman Runs 4.228/275.00, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.030/176.67, Was #18 Right Lane: Mike Strasburg Runs 3.960/311.49, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.691/101.66, Was #20 Nice improvement for Strasburg to move into the field in the current #15 spot. Chrisman will not qualify, as the car is lazy off the line and to the finish line. Left Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 3.934/307.65, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.534/246.48, Was #19 Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 3.907/309.42, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.992/105.17, Was #20 David Grubnic is on the bump spot at 4.008. Both cars have struggled on every prior attempt. We can finally see the header flames and both cars run all the way to the finish line
under power. Vandergriff has better numbers to the 330-ft. lights and Millican has all of the rest
of the number. If I counted correctly, Millican can't be bumped, but Vandergriff can by the two
next cars. Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 4.620/201.31, Now #19; Best prior run: 4.056/256.26, Was #19 Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 3.897/310.20, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.008/297.75, Was #18 Rod Fuller is on the bump spot at 3.939. Brown has his hands full with shake and spin before 60 feet. He pumps it and tries to get to the finish line under power. The car is all over the track and he won't make the field. Grubnic finds the short way down and bumps well into the field in the new #11 spot. Left Lane: Tim Boychuk Runs 4.356/188.38, Now #16; Best prior run: 3.925/304.60, Was #15 Right Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 3.862/310.34, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.939/281.01, Was #17 Bob Vandergriff is on the bump spot at 3.934 and has already run. Great pass for Fuller from start to finish.From #17 into the #4 spot. Boychuk is quicker from the starting line until after the 330-ft. lights, where the slicks start to spin. He pumps it and recovers enough to take over the bump spot. That should set the field, with only shuffling of qualifying positions to come. Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 6.280/103.98, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.884/307.72, Was #10 Right Lane: Troy Buff Runs 3.975/270.43, Now #14; Best prior run: 3.904/302.96, Was #14 Buff gets less than a full pull and will stay #14. The car wasn't running strong enough after mid-track to improve. Kalitta had better numbers at 60 feet, but was just too agressive after that. He smokes the tires and is done. He'll stay #10. Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.827/315.93, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.883/311.63, Was #9 Right Lane: Urs Erbacher Runs 8.571/82.22, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.904/309.20, Was #13 Schumacher is uncharacteristicly in the #9 spot going into the last round of qualifying. POW! Johnson power and Schumacher driving take the Army car to the top spot and the best MPH to boot. Finally looking good for tomorrow. Erbacher tries to turn the earth at the
green and is instantly up in smoke. Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 3.831/309.70, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.880/308.43, Was #9 Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 3.855/314.31, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.895/306.40, Was #11 A great pair of runs! Flames over the wings all the way down and Dixon just misses top spot by about three thousands of a second. McClenathan has his full pull and moves up into the top four for tomorrow. Left Lane: Steve Torrence Runs 3.862/291.32, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.870/313.22, Was #9 Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.434/184.93, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.877/307.58, Was #10 Torrance's car gets a nearly perfect run, with the car slowing a little on the top end. It's good enough to move him into the top half of the field for now. Herbert was right behind him until after the 330 lights and then strikes the tires. He'll stay #10. Left Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 3.849/311.05, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.863/310.77, Was #9 Right Lane: Hillary Will Runs 3.835/314.31, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.860/313.07, Was #6 Two great looking passes, but Schumacher stays #1. Bernstein has the beans to move well up the field and into the top four. Will has a better pass and was running 278.14 at the 660-ft. lights. Left Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 3.848/301.87, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.851/308.14, Was #5 Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 3.862/301.87, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.855/306.46, Was #7 These two have been one and two in TF until today. Todd has the inside of the engine go outside, after going up on the rev. limiter about 200 feet before the finish line. Huge fire that keep burning until the Safety Safari can roll up well past the finish and hose it down. Lots of excitement and he still moves up the ladder to the top four. No drama for Lucas on his pass, but he won't improve on his #7 position. 4:53 p.m. That ends 2008 Professional Qualifying with Tony
Schumacher in #1 at 3.827/315.93 and Tim Boychuk ends up on the bump spot at 3.925.
|
|
Ready to take your order at 1-800-230-3030 | Customer Service 1-800-517-1035