LODRS 7-3 - Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

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Sat, 24 Mar 2012, 16:45 PM

Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

LAS VEGAS - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Pacific Division, event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

Left Lane: Nick Bastiao Runs 6.584/231.71, Now #1
Right Lane: Keeter Ray Runs 13.307/82.93, Now #2

12:54 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 82 degrees, relative humidity 17 percent, barometer 27.39 inches, adjusted altitude 4,574 feet, track temperature 117 degrees.

There will be two qualifying sessions today and eliminations tomorrow.

This will be Ray's first official qualifying pass of 2012, as they had issues in testing at Phoenix and were not able to participate.After a win at Pomona with his own car, the Goodwin tune up is a little too agressive for the track today.

Bastiao make near a full pass and still is able to reset his career best ET.

Nick Bastiao's incremental times: 60ft-1.000 sec., 330ft-2.999, 660ft-4.460/175.52 mph, 1,000ft-5.627.

Left Lane: Ross Stickler Runs 6.051/236.30, Now #2
Right Lane: Brian Smith Runs 5.882/246.26, Now #1

Smith makes a nice clean pass down the track to set the mark for the field to beat.

Stickler's Corvette wasn't as strong and his number may not stick for the top eight.

Ross Stickler's incremental times: 60ft-1.015 sec., 330ft-2.675, 660ft-3.983/189.04 mph, 1,000ft-5.101.
Brian Smith's incremental times: 60ft-1.011 sec., 330ft-2.623, 660ft-3.890/195.73 mph, 1,000ft-4.970.

Left Lane: Mike Drake Runs 6.396/186.85, Now #4
Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.695/254.04, Now #1

Something flies off of Drake's car near mid-track and he slows. It went dead right into the far lane wall and is reported to be the burst panel. Weird.

Gasparrelli improves on his season best ET in taking over the new top spot on a nice clean pass.

Steve Gasparrelli's incremental times: 60ft-0.985 sec., 330ft-2.550, 660ft-3.770/203.31 mph, 1,000ft-4.811.

Left Lane: Sean Bellemeur Runs 5.768/251.53, Now #2
Right Lane: Steve Griboski Runs 6.558/164.43, Now #6

This pair will give us a bump spot.

Bellemeur has a strong leave and runs right on down the track into the current #2 spot.

Griboski's Firebird is lazy off the line and he clicks it early.

Sean Bellemeur's incremental times: 60ft-0.991 sec., 330ft-2.581, 660ft-3.821/200.17 mph, 1,000ft-4.875.

Left Lane: Jason Rupert Runs 17.168/59.13, Now #10
Right Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 5.592/259.21, Now #1

Keeter Ray is on the bump spot at 13.307.

Rupert dusts the tires at the green and he lifts.

Bartone runs hard to move the top spot up by almost a dime.

Tony Bartone's incremental times: 60ft-0.956 sec., 330ft-2.496, 660ft-3.697/206.51 mph, 1,000ft-4.723.

Left Lane: Mark Woznichak Runs 5.786/235.39, Now #4
Right Lane: Annie Whiteley Runs 9.972/85.20, Now #10

Nick Bastiao is on the bump spot at 6.584.

Whiteley's Mustang starts to wag it's tail about 100 feet out and she gets off the throttle before the 330 lights.

Clean and straight for The Woz and he moves into the top four.

Mark Woznichak's incremental times: 60ft-0.985 sec., 330ft-2.564, 660ft-3.807/198.96 mph, 1,000ft-4.867.

Left Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.764/250.37, Now #4
Right Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.751/251.25, Now #3

Steve Griboski is on the bump spot at 6.558.

Great side by side passes for the two cars and they push into the top four for now. Nice!

Brian Hough's incremental times: 60ft-0.973 sec., 330ft-2.564, 660ft-3.811/199.91 mph, 1,000ft-4.868.
Doug Gordon's incremental times: 60ft-0.983 sec., 330ft-2.563, 660ft-3.803/200.20 mph, 1,000ft-4.857.

Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.633/256.99, Now #2
Right Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.791/242.32, Now #8

Ross Stickler is on the bump spot at 6.051. Lombardo's Monte Carlo has issues getting started and Payne waits a long time before he is finally told to start his engine. Right after he started to slow from his burnout, Lombardo's engine sputters to life and he does a quick hard burnout.

Looks like there were no terminal problems and Lombardo is still able to just get into the field in the bump spot.

Nice clean pass for Payne into the #2 position.

1:23 p.m. Tony Bartone is number one at 5.592

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink