Fri, 13 Nov 2009, 04:00 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster 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, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Justin Davis Runs 5.467/263.05, Now #17; Best prior run: 8.812/93.96, Was #22
Right Lane: Johnny Ahten Runs 5.256/269.78, Now #1; Best prior run: 8.587/98.16, Was #21

12:19 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 64 degrees, relative humidity 56 percent, barometer 28.71 inches, adjusted altitude 2,287 feet, track temperature 79 degrees.

Duane Shields is on the bump spot at 5.486.

Two broken runs yesterday., but not today. Davis has big numbers early, but can't keep the pace to just miss the bump.

Ahten stuns the crowd with a career best ET and MPH. He is the new #1 qualifier. Lots of dropped cylinders down track too.

Justin Davis' incremental times: 60ft-0.924 sec., 330ft-2.424, 660ft-3.604/210.41 mph, 1,000ft-4.613.
Johnny Ahten's incremental times: 60ft-0.948 sec., 330ft-2.421, 660ft-3.525/228.65 mph, 1,000ft-4.448.

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Left Lane: Darryl Hitchman Runs 5.743/262.08, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.856/241.76, Was #22
Right Lane: Randy Eakins Runs 5.445/256.16, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.508/252.00, Was #20

Both cars improve a little, but won't make the field. They get one more try at the end of today's schedule.

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Left Lane: Art Trautman Runs 5.625/231.64, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.636/233.44, Was #21
Right Lane: Joey Severance Runs 5.398/265.22, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.414/263.10, Was #15

No joy for Trautman, as the fueler is losing cylinders down track.

Nice pass for Severance, as moves away from the bump on a clean pass.

Joey Severance's incremental times: 60ft-0.935 sec., 330ft-2.396, 660ft-3.554/212.93 mph, 1,000ft-4.551.

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Left Lane: Derek Flynn Runs 5.431/251.67, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.492/249.26, Was #20
Right Lane: Jim Whiteley Runs 5.368/268.49, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.400/266.06, Was #15

Whiteley is uncharacteristicly way down on the bottom of the ladder.

The Why Not TAD gets from start to finish without an obvious problem, but can only move up to the #12 spot.

Dropped cylinder on the top end keep Flynn from bumping into the field. One more try to go!

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Left Lane: Duane Shields Runs 5.306/271.95, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.486/267.27, Was #20
Right Lane: Shawn Cowie Runs 5.485/265.64, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.376/267.00, Was #13

Lots of shake for Cowie and Shields finds some big power to move into the top quarter of the field.

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Left Lane: Doug Hegge No Time, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.428/263.72, Was #17
Right Lane: Mark Niver Runs 5.322/265.12, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.366/267.06, Was #12

OK!! We now have the quickest TAD field ever with Joey Severance on the bump spot at 5.398.

Hegge's car has problems and is pushed away.

Niver pick up his pace, still with dropped cylinders and moves into the top half of the field.

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Left Lane: Dale Carlson Runs 5.570/257.48, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.378/264.34, Was #15
Right Lane: Michael Manners Runs 5.373/267.53, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.361/267.11, Was #12

Carlson has good numbers down low and slows down track after moving around near mid-track.

Manners is dropping cylinders going down the track and still runs close to his prior best.

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Left Lane: Chris Demke Runs 9.657/82.04, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.346/265.43, Was #10
Right Lane: Brian Smith Runs 5.576/249.07, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.355/267.48, Was #11

Demke fires an falls back after a 0.916 sixty foot time.

Smith's fueler slows too.

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Left Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 5.289/267.43, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.343/263.15, Was #8
Right Lane: Brandon Johnson Runs 5.417/270.81, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.344/268.44, Was #9

Reichert slows his power and runs into the twenties and the top quarter of the field with a great looking field.

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Left Lane: Courtney Force Runs 5.361/261.98, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.306/263.72, Was #6
Right Lane: Brittany Force Runs 5.311/270.75, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.313/267.75, Was #7

The Force Ladies come to the line qualified #6 and #7.

Two clean passes and they keep their positions. Brittany picks up 0.001.

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Left Lane: Monroe Guest Runs 15.029/55.63, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.281/278.46, Was #2
Right Lane: Hillary Will Runs 5.319/270.54, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.300/271.35, Was #4

Last pair of the session.

The back of Guest's car jumps up in the air and smokes the tires at the green.

Will's fueler almost repeats on her prior pass.

12:51 p.m. Johnny Ahten is #1 with a 5.256 and Joey Severance is on the bump spot at 5.398.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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