Sat, 10 Apr 2010, 08:28 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil 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: Terry Haddock No Time, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.698/186.95, Was #17
Right Lane: T.J. Zizzo Runs 3.955/299.73, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.982/277.72, Was #13

6:25 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 58 percent, barometer 30.17 inches, adjusted altitude 1,028 feet, track temperature 91 degrees.

Del Cox Jr is on the bump spot at 4.151.

Haddock's car died on the burnout and he pulled it over next to the wall, so there won't be any bumping. Zizzo made a nice run as Del Cox Jr.'s car was pushed back to the pits, not needing to make a run and willing to meet the #1 qualifier in the first round tomorrow. That's Zizzo's best run of the season, both ET and speed, and it moved him up one spot in the order.

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Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 3.962/295.85, Now #11; Best prior run: 3.939/296.63, Was #11

With Cox out of the lineup, Lucas made a solo pass. It was a solid run, no visible problems, but also no improvement.

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Left Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 6.890/95.91, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.040/298.47, Was #14
Right Lane: Troy Buff Runs 4.055/218.34, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.936/293.28, Was #10

Bernstein's team has been struggling a bit since making some personnel changes, appeared to be headed in the right direction in the first session today, but took a big step backward here, the rear tires up in smoke before going 200 feet. Buff had a strong launch and good early numbers, but the car nosed over past 660 feet and the chutes came out early.

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Left Lane: Terry McMillen Runs 3.902/308.71, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.891/313.73, Was #8
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.143/211.83, Now #9; Best prior run: 3.916/312.71, Was #9

If nothing changes, these two will meet tomorrow in round one, probably in the first pair down the track.

Grubnic "blew it up" in a big fireball as he passed the 660-foot timing markers. He had one dead cylinder right from the start and the blower belt went sailing through the air after the explosion. Meanwhile, McMillen made another solid run, not quite as good as his second run yesterday, but a little better than his first run today.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 3.829/322.34, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.847/318.17, Was #6
Right Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 8.490/79.58, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.860/314.24, Was #7

7:01 p.m. The cleanup took awhile...Langdon rattled the tires and lifted, but Kalitta made a pretty run, posting the third-fastest speed ever at 1,000 feet, a career-best for Kalitta. Only Cory Mac and Schumacher have gone faster. Doug Kalitta's incremental times: 60ft-0.869 sec., 330ft-2.172, 660ft-3.074/280.84 mph.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 3.851/260.06, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.837/317.27, Was #5
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.785/321.81, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.818/320.43, Was #3

Speaking of Schumacher and McClentahan...Cory Mac was quicker to 660 feet, but started trailing death smoke and falling back. No problems for Schumacher, it was the tenth quickest run ever, giving Schumacher seven of the top ten ETs.

Cory McClenathan's incremental times: 60ft-0.843 sec., 330ft-2.128, 660ft-3.019/282.36 mph.
Tony Schumacher's incremental times: 60ft-0.839 sec., 330ft-2.132, 660ft-3.032/283.31 mph.

We'll be down for a bit for a cleanup in the left lane. Oh, yeah, that's a season-best ET for Schumacher.

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Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 3.777/318.09, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.794/321.96, Was #2
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 3.772/323.19, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.808/320.74, Was #3

That was a quick cleanup...and this is the final pair. These two battled over the #1 spot through three rounds, then Schumacher jumped in a took it away from them.

Okay, Schumacher, take two steps back! The quickest side-by-side run ever at 1,000 feet leaves Dixon #1 and Brown #2 - and Dixon runs the second-quickest and second-fastest run at that distance - both career bests. Brown also ran a career-best ET, the fourth-quickest ever.

Antron Brown's incremental times: 60ft-0.838 sec., 330ft-2.135, 660ft-3.019/285.29 mph.
Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.852 sec., 330ft-2.139, 660ft-3.024/286.19 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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