Fri, 13 Nov 2009, 10:16 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car 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: Dennis Taylor Runs 11.031/65.67, Now #23; Best prior run: 10.258/72.33, Was #23
Right Lane: Jason Rupert Runs 5.816/248.02, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.784/251.20, Was #17

4:49 p.m. Final session and Mark Woznichak is on the bump spot at 5.779. Both these cars should be in the field...

Once again, Taylor's car went crazy as soon as he launched, dancing from one rear tire to the other and fishtailing violently. In the other lane, Rupert made a good run, but failed to improve and the field stayed the same.

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Left Lane: Thomas Carter Runs 5.744/257.28, Now #14; Best prior run: 7.728/120.01, Was #22
Right Lane: Mark Woznichak Runs 5.864/249.72, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.779/250.78, Was #16

Carter's car also tried to dance on the launch, but not as violently and he was able to tame it down enough to make a full pass and bump into the field. "The Woz" was in the other lane and failed to improve, so he is now on the outside and Alexis De Joria is on the bump spot at 5.772.

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Left Lane: Ken Webster Runs 5.623/258.42, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.052/238.51, Was #22
Right Lane: Bret Williamson Runs 8.788/93.19, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.756/249.67, Was #15

Williamson had problems before the 330-foot marker and he lifted. Webster made a nice run, matching his career-best speed, bumping DeJoria from the field.

Bad news for Webster, his chutes did not deploy and he went off the end of the track and into the net in a huge cloud of dust.

Webster's run puts Williamson on the bump spot at 5.756.

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Left Lane: Paul Gill Runs 5.690/252.14, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.881/252.57, Was #22
Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.809/254.76, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.735/257.24, Was #14

5:46 p.m. The new safety nets do a great job, but extracting the car and resetting the nets takes a long time. We have no word yet on Webster's condition, but the car is reported to be "a mess."

Gill is another who should already be in the field, but has yet to make a good run.

Nice run by Gill to bump Williamson and move Gasparrelli down a spot. Now Thomas Carter is on the bump spot at 5.744.

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Left Lane: Ron August Jr Runs 14.316/41.75, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.854/251.81, Was #22
Right Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.926/199.26, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.670/256.06, Was #12

August is another who figured to be in the field, but he'll need a season-best (or very close to it) to beat the current bump time.

Won't happen, August lost traction, then there was a POP and he slowed. Gordon made a good run to half track, but slowed on the top end - could not see why in the darkness.

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Left Lane: Alexis De Joria Runs 5.744/255.43, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.772/253.23, Was #18
Right Lane: Steve Burck Runs 11.467/49.38, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.665/249.21, Was #11

6:55 p.m. Another delay, this time for the Safety Safari to take a close look at both lanes and remove the previous pair of cars from the track, then clean up both lanes. Updated weather conditions: air temperature 66 degrees, relative humidity 45 percent, barometer 28.73 inches, adjusted altitude 2,326 feet, track temperature 70 degrees.

DeJoria appears to be the last car in the lanes and outside the field. Burck was already in the field.

DeJoria left hard, her car made several early moves, and she stayed with it, matching the bump time to the thousandth. By virtue of speed, she ended up in the first alternate position. Since Webster is in the field and his car is destroyed, she will get to run tomorrow.

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Left Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 13.794/56.97, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.632/255.82, Was #6
Right Lane: Brian Thiel Runs 5.976/245.36, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.644/252.52, Was #9

Bartone's car made the same darting moves that DeJoria's did, but he was already in the field and lifted. Thiel got a bit further, then also started moving around and he, too, lifted.

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Right Lane: Brian Hough Runs 6.569/146.72, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.642/255.29, Was #8

Hough and Thiel are teammates and wanted to break up a first-round matchup. Hough went into the sand earlier today, so his team had to work overtime to get back and run tonight. Hough made a good launch, but shut off around half track and the teammates will run each other in round one.

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Right Lane: Sean O'Bannon Runs 5.562/257.28, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.635/256.99, Was #7

O'Bannon is the 2009 Division 7 champion and will apparently be the final car of the day.

O'Bannon saved the best for last, going right to the head of the list, scrambling all the pairings except for Hough-Thiel.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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