Sun, 28 Apr 2013, 11:57 AM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 26th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  433 Bryan Brown                          5757 Terry Ruckman                
E1                  -0.270  5.734 245.45     ****WINNER****  0.038  7.979 124.71
 Qualified:             #8  5.741 252.24                        #7  5.729 258.42

This is the first time Brown and Ruckman have faced each other in eliminations. Brown goes red and Ruckman gets the gift as he shakes hard right off the starting line and clicks it off.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Jay Payne                               4 Annie Whiteley               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.103  5.719 255.29                     0.055  6.361 169.38
 Qualified:             #9  5.747 257.87                        #6  5.619 260.91

Payne and Whiteley have each won 1 times against the other in prior events. Whiteley is out of the gate first, but is real loose, Payne gets the lead by 400 feet and takes the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  440 Steve Burck                            10 Shane Westerfield            
E1                   0.051  5.864 246.35     ****WINNER****  0.049  5.617 257.73
 Qualified:            #12  5.898 221.89                        #3  5.590 260.01

Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 60 percent, barometer 29.94 inches, adjusted altitude 2,074 feet, track temperature 95 degrees.

This is the first time Burck and Westerfield have faced each other in eliminations. They leave together with Westerfield getting the slight advantage and never trailed for the win. Westerfield will have lane choice over Payne in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2606 Mark Billington                         2 Tony Bartone                 
E1                   0.068 11.835  43.19     ****WINNER****  0.000  6.344 223.47
 Qualified:            #14 21.530  33.59                        #1  5.566 263.87

This is Tony Bartone's 41st number one spot and that is fourth best in the TAFC class. He is an amazing 39-1 in round one when he is the top qualifier. Bartone with a perfect light and then got real loose, but got the win because Billington apparently banged the blower as he chutes were out before half track. Barton will get the bye in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 6180 Jirka Kaplan                            5 John Lombardo Jr.            
E1                  -0.006  5.734 255.58     ****WINNER****  0.115  5.628 260.36
 Qualified:            #13  8.307 112.08                        #2  5.578 259.66

This is the first time Kaplan and Lombardo Jr. have faced each other in eliminations. Kaplan goes red and Lombardo Jr gets the easy win. He will have lane choice over Ruckman in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   11 Todd Veney                              9 Steve Gasparrelli            
E1                   0.039  6.716 153.54     ****WINNER****  0.066  5.725 255.05
 Qualified:            #11  5.821 251.25                        #4  5.599 259.26

This is the third meeting between Todd Veney and Steve Gasparrelli and Steve has won both of the previous races...Their fathers, Ken Veney and Lou Gasparrelli also raced twice in the TAFC class and each won one of those races. Veney is off the line first, but then starts drifting out of the groove over by the wall and has to click it off. Gasparrelli with a clean pass to move on to the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   33 Ray Drew                                3 Mickey Ferro                 
E1                   0.076 12.351  68.90     ****WINNER****  0.055  5.736 245.14
 Qualified:            #10  5.808 255.29                        #5  5.608 258.96

Ferro is out of the gate first and never trailed as Drew shook really hard right off the the starting line and clicked it off. Ferro was really loose on the top end, but gets the win and will give up lane choice to Gasparrelli in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

Oct 18- DALLAS - Summary of Eliminations in JEGS Allstars Competition Eliminator
Oct 18- DALLAS - Summary of Eliminations in JEGS Allstars Super Street
Oct 18- DALLAS - Summary of Eliminations in Factory Stock Showdown
Oct 18- DALLAS - Summary of Eliminations in JEGS Allstars Top Sportsman
Oct 18- DALLAS - Summary of Eliminations in JEGS Allstars Top Dragster
Oct 18- DALLAS - Summary of Eliminations in Outlaw Street
Oct 18- DALLAS - Top Fuel Final, Round 4 Eliminations
Oct 18- DALLAS - Funny Car Final, Round 4 Eliminations
Oct 18- DALLAS - Pro Stock Final, Round 4 Eliminations
Oct 18- DALLAS - Pro Stock Motorcycle Final, Round 4 Eliminations