Thu, 12 Nov 2009, 06:48 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 45th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Stig Neergaard Runs 8.086/82.96, Now #2
Right Lane: Lex Joon Runs 4.349/205.01, Now #1

3:07 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 70 degrees, relative humidity 38 percent, barometer 28.65 inches, adjusted altitude 2,639 feet, track temperature 86 degrees.

Yee Haw!! They may not say that in the Netherlands, but Joon makes a big time rodeo pass. He leaves hard with a nice.0.862 sixty foot time and then the car makes a hard move towards the 660 reflectors and then he over corrects to almost hit the wall right after that. Crazy! He wisely gives it up.

Neergaard is in trouble at the 330 lights and slows.

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Left Lane: Tim Cullinan Runs 4.027/285.35, Now #1
Right Lane: Thomas Nataas Runs 12.158/72.33, Now #4

Nataas is up in smoke at the hit.

Cullinan makes a clean near career best pass to set the mark for the rest of the cars.

Tim Cullinan's incremental times: 60ft-0.912 sec., 330ft-2.257, 660ft-3.205/263.05 mph.

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Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 6.914/88.06, Now #4
Right Lane: Scott Palmer Runs 4.009/261.88, Now #1

Grubnic has the better numbers down low, but shakes and spins before the 330 lights.

Palmer's Fueler is on a great looking pass until near the 1000 foot lights, where it makes a huge move out of the groove towards the wall. He takes over the top spot, but that was scary!

Scott Palmer's incremental times: 60ft-0.863 sec., 330ft-2.193, 660ft-3.148/259.66 mph.

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Left Lane: Chris Karamesines No Time, Now #8
Right Lane: Urs Erbacher Runs 4.033/270.97, Now #3

The Greek has a weird burnout and then has the blower go BANG before ten feet.

Nice pass for Erbacher into the current #3 spot he stops on the track and has to be towed off.

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Left Lane: Steve Torrence Runs 3.891/306.53, Now #2
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 3.881/308.99, Now #1

Two good cars come to the line.

Two great looking side by side run finally!

Vandergriff is away first stays there with better numbers from start to finish.

Torrance is nos louch and runs right behind him into the #2 spot.

Cool!

Steve Torrence's incremental times: 60ft-0.845 sec., 330ft-2.168, 660ft-3.099/269.56 mph.
Bob Vandergriff's incremental times: 60ft-0.866 sec., 330ft-2.185, 660ft-3.100/275.17 mph.

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Left Lane: Mike Strasburg Runs 7.362/94.91, Now #8
Right Lane: Steven Chrisman No Time, Now #12

Christman has problems after the burnout and can't make the run.

Strasburg gets about 100 feet out and smokes the tires.

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Left Lane: Troy Buff Runs 8.099/91.57, Now #11
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 3.836/316.82, Now #1

Buff leaves first and then goes silent first.

Kalitta keeps the candles lit and has all of the numbers to take over the top spot on a clean pass. Nice run!

Doug Kalitta's incremental times: 60ft-0.845 sec., 330ft-2.159, 660ft-3.071/277.09 mph.

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Left Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 8.330/82.90, Now #13
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 3.909/303.84, Now #4

Team Lucas to the line.

Langdon is away first at the green and then slows with fuel coming out of the pipes.

Lucas gets a full pull and moves well up the ladder into the top quarter of the field.

Morgan Lucas' incremental times: 60ft-0.869 sec., 330ft-2.196, 660ft-3.122/273.22 mph.

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Left Lane: Spencer Massey Runs 3.922/308.14, Now #6
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 3.919/309.49, Now #5

Troy Buff is on the bump spot at 8.099.

Another great side by side pair. Big advantage off the line for Massey and he has the better numbers until after the 660 lights, where Bernstein gets on by to lead to the finish line. They take over the #5 and #6 spots on the ladder.

Spencer Massey's incremental times: 60ft-0.854 sec., 330ft-2.198, 660ft-3.135/270.59 mph.
Brandon Bernstein's incremental times: 60ft-0.873 sec., 330ft-2.217, 660ft-3.140/274.50 mph.

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Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 4.592/158.48, Now #12
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 3.838/316.38, Now #2

Mike Strasburg is on the bump spot at 7.362.

WOW! Huge MPH for The Fram dragster and Cory Mac misses the top spot by 0.002 seconds.

Brown has good numbers down low, after leaving first, and then has a Boomer right after the 330 lights.

Cory McClenathan's incremental times: 60ft-0.839 sec., 330ft-2.153, 660ft-3.071/275.73 mph.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 3.833/314.31, Now #2
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.832/316.52, Now #1

One point separates these two in the 2009 Top Fuel Championship. Qualifying points may be vital in determining how things end up on Sunday afternoon.

Final pair and its a good one. Oh,My! They fly down the track and Schumacher moves ahead by two points, as the Army car is 0.001 seconds ahead on the clocks.

They leave almost together and Dixon has the better numbers until very close to the finish line, where Schumacher just gets by for the top spot. Picture perfect pass for both.

Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.844 sec., 330ft-2.150, 660ft-3.064/277.26 mph.
Tony Schumacher's incremental times: 60ft-0.848 sec., 330ft-2.155, 660ft-3.066/277.49 mph.

3:43 p.m. Urs Erbacher is on the bump spot at 4.033.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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