Fri, 13 Nov 2009, 03:08 PM Competition Eliminator Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Competition Eliminator 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 this round, amount over/under index this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time, speed & over/under Index, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Tyler Hogan Runs 7.194/185.82/-0.376, Now #26; C/DA Index: 7.57, Prior Best: 7.265/183.10/-0.305, Was #27
Right Lane: Brian Fitzpatrick Runs 13.037/60.90/6.037, Now #34; H/D Index: 7.00, Prior Best: 7.240/151.31/0.240, Was #34

11:33 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 70 degrees, relative humidity 54 percent, barometer 28.71 inches, adjusted altitude 2,697 feet, track temperature 76 degrees.

Fitzpatrick has initial problems in the burnout and has to make a second attempt.

The Hair Dryer still has issues and will not make the show!

Hogan's C/DA moves around at the launch, but he is still able to improve enough to take over the #26 position.

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Left Lane: Paul Pittman Runs 7.072/196.13/-0.548, Now #11; B/AA Index: 7.62, Prior Best: 7.129/193.29/-0.491, Was #17
Right Lane: Tom Brown Runs 8.288/161.21/-0.502, Now #18; F/ED Index: 8.79, Prior Best: 8.310/160.42/-0.480, Was #19

Nicole Lyons is on the bump spot at -0.040.

Nice Improvement for Pittman into the top half of the field. Brown moves up one too.

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Left Lane: Ed Sigmon Runs 8.588/153.28/-0.502, Now #19; C/SR Index: 9.09, Prior Best: 8.933/122.83/-0.157, Was #28
Right Lane: Brian Moscini Runs 7.435/183.02/-0.525, Now #12; C/AA Index: 7.96, Prior Best: 7.418/182.87/-0.542, Was #12

Moscini's car drives left at the green and he has to pull it back into the groove. He slows a little.

Sigmon finds some power and moves nine spots up the ladder.

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Left Lane: Ross Wilson Runs 8.311/163.26/-0.449, Now #25; C/SMA Index: 8.76, Prior Best: 8.705/132.75/-0.055, Was #31
Right Lane: Justin Lamb Runs 8.803/152.06/-0.527, Now #14; G/SMA Index: 9.33, Prior Best: 8.801/151.10/-0.529, Was #14

Lamb is driving hurt. He had his appendix out on Wednesday! The Cobalt picks up some ET, but stays 14.

Wilson finds almost four tenth and only six spots on the ladder.

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Left Lane: Aaron Strong Runs 8.096/166.54/-0.524, Now #16; F/A Index: 8.62, Prior Best: 8.097/167.55/-0.523, Was #16
Right Lane: Ron Weems Runs 7.853/196.44/0.703, Now #30; A/AA Index: 7.15, Prior Best: 7.034/198.70/-0.116, Was #30

Weems has problems at the hit and slows.

Strong runs 0.001 to his prior run.

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Left Lane: Steve Graham Runs 7.513/182.60/-0.457, Now #23; C/A Index: 7.97, Prior Best: 7.514/181.62/-0.456, Was #23
Right Lane: Jeff Lane Runs 8.236/161.71/-0.524, Now #17; C/SMA Index: 8.76, Prior Best: 8.304/160.82/-0.456, Was #22

Lane just misses the top half of the field and Graham is just 0.001 better.

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Left Lane: Marty Ladwig Runs 7.241/190.97/-0.679, Now #1; AA/AF Index: 7.92, Prior Best: 8.007/174.26/0.087, Was #33
Right Lane: Art Hodges Runs 6.543/211.99/-0.507, Now #2; A/PM Index: 7.05, Prior Best: 6.443/215.86/-0.607, Was #1

Zero to Hero in one pass. Ladwig was 33 going in and #1 going out. Hodges slows from yesterday.

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Left Lane: Jacklyn Gebhardt-Still Runs 6.697/201.40/-0.503, Now #21; A/ED Index: 7.20, Prior Best: 6.766/197.48/-0.434, Was #27
Right Lane: Tom Huggins Runs 7.032/195.00/-0.528, Now #16; B/A Index: 7.56, Prior Best: 7.095/194.02/-0.465, Was #23

Gary Tackett is on the bump spot at -0.088. Huggins moves up into the top half of the field on a nice pass and Gebhardt moves up six spots.

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Left Lane: Scott Hedlund Runs 7.866/172.45/-0.494, Now #17; A/SM Index: 8.36, Prior Best: 7.834/172.39/-0.526, Was #17
Right Lane: Craig Johnson Runs 7.959/170.11/0.889, Now #35; AA/A Index: 7.07, Prior Best: 7.599/160.14/0.529, Was #35

Johnson bounces off the line and slows.

Hedlund is just a little off the pace.

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Left Lane: Tom Mettler Runs 7.425/183.17/-0.565, Now #3; PST Index: 7.99, Prior Best: 7.396/183.72/-0.594, Was #3
Right Lane: Gary Tackett Runs 8.585/159.48/-0.105, Now #32; B/SMA Index: 8.69, Prior Best: 8.602/148.07/-0.088, Was #32

Both cars move around their lanes at the green and stay in their prior positions.

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Left Lane: Scott McClay Runs 18.174/48.59/10.304, Now #20; C/ED Index: 7.87, Prior Best: 7.351/179.25/-0.519, Was #20
Right Lane: Blake Alexander Runs 7.268/159.93/0.048, Now #30; A/AP Index: 7.22, Prior Best: 6.873/199.73/-0.347, Was #30

McClay smokes the tires at the hit.

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Left Lane: Doug Lambeck Runs 8.430/159.59/-0.540, Now #14; D/SMA Index: 8.97, Prior Best: 8.541/142.97/-0.429, Was #28
Right Lane: Chris Rado No Time, Now #15; AA/AF Index: 7.92, Prior Best: 7.381/199.32/-0.539, Was #14

Rado's front wheel drive "Scion TC" has some weird looking wheelie bars and a bogus 0.742 sixty foot time. The clocks show 1.049 under his index, but that's bogus.

Nice pass for Lambeck this time, into the top half of the field.

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Left Lane: David Beckley Runs 9.411/99.31/1.441, Now #27; C/A Index: 7.97, Prior Best: 7.520/182.50/-0.450, Was #27
Right Lane: Alan Ellis Runs 8.669/110.95/1.449, Now #25; A/AP Index: 7.22, Prior Best: 6.735/200.29/-0.485, Was #25

Two broken runs.

Ellis is way loose off the line and moves towards the center line,.

Beckley slows for no apparent reason.

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Left Lane: Nicole Lyons Runs 7.107/194.66/-0.043, Now #33; A/AA Index: 7.15, Prior Best: 7.110/193.82/-0.040, Was #33
Right Lane: Steve Holloway Runs 7.045/193.46/-0.575, Now #6; B/AA Index: 7.62, Prior Best: 7.037/195.99/-0.583, Was #6

No joy here, as neither class can improve.

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Left Lane: John Edwards Runs 7.387/181.30/-0.573, Now #8; C/AA Index: 7.96, Prior Best: 7.382/180.77/-0.578, Was #8
Right Lane: Mike DePalma Runs 8.312/145.36/-0.518, Now #5; C/T Index: 8.83, Prior Best: 8.242/148.89/-0.588, Was #5

No improvements here either.

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Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 6.976/203.06/0.176, Now #34; AA/PM Index: 6.80, Prior Best: 9.443/94.18/2.643, Was #36
Right Lane: Lee Sharp Runs 7.940/136.21/-0.290, Now #4; D/AA Index: 8.23, Prior Best: 7.642/177.35/-0.588, Was #4

Payne's car leaves hard with a 0.995 sixty foot time and gets way out of share at the 2-3 shift and slows. He won't make the field.

Sharp slows too.

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Left Lane: Dan Fletcher Runs 7.821/159.01/-0.519, Now #7; B/EA Index: 8.34, Prior Best: 7.761/174.71/-0.579, Was #7
Right Lane: Bo Butner Runs 7.240/200.35/-0.310, Now #9; CC/A Index: 7.55, Prior Best: 6.992/201.10/-0.558, Was #9

Neither car can improve.

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Right Lane: Jeff Taylor Runs 8.989/149.48/-0.541, Now #11; H/SMA Index: 9.53, Prior Best: 8.978/149.15/-0.552, Was #11

Last car and Taylor can't improve.

12:02 p.m. That's a wrap for Comp. qualifying: Marty Ladwig is #1 at -0.679 and Gary Tackett is on the bump spot at -0.105.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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