Fri, 04 Sep 2015, 14:59 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

BROWNSBURG, Ind. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 61st annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Right Lane: Josh Hart Runs 5.571/257.19, Now #1

2:15 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 89 degrees, relative humidity 51 percent, barometer 29.10 inches, adjusted altitude 3,792 feet, track temperature 122 degrees.

Nice run by Hart, with career-best speed and ET.

Josh Hart's incremental times: 60ft-0.974 sec., 330ft-2.532, 660ft-3.711/213.10 mph, 1,000ft-4.708.

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Left Lane: Noah Condo Runs 5.617/259.56, Now #3
Right Lane: Matthew Cummings Runs 5.565/253.28, Now #1

Two more clean runs, with a season-best speed for Condo.

Noah Condo's incremental times: 60ft-0.960 sec., 330ft-2.502, 660ft-3.716/203.92 mph, 1,000ft-4.749.
Matthew Cummings' incremental times: 60ft-0.955 sec., 330ft-2.444, 660ft-3.640/205.82 mph, 1,000ft-4.678.

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Left Lane: Buddy Domingue Runs 8.442/134.98, Now #5
Right Lane: Jerry Powell Runs 5.809/246.98, Now #4

Domingue's car labored off the starting line and never did pick up much speed. Powell made a clean run after a rather slow launch. Not representative runs for either driver.

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Left Lane: Tripp Tatum Runs 5.782/217.49, Now #5
Right Lane: Jeff Veale Runs 5.521/264.96, Now #1

Tatum had a good launch, but fell off the pace before the 330-foot marker and he slowed on the top end. Veale was a little slow getting off the line, but his car picked up the pace after that.

Jeff Veale's incremental times: 60ft-1.003 sec., 330ft-2.550, 660ft-3.721/216.10 mph, 1,000ft-4.690.

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Left Lane: Jared Dreher Runs 5.462/260.11, Now #1
Right Lane: Bill Litton Runs 5.501/264.75, Now #2

Nice side-by-side runs to shuffle the rest of the field down a couple spots.

Jared Dreher's incremental times: 60ft-0.970 sec., 330ft-2.498, 660ft-3.642/219.54 mph, 1,000ft-4.614.
Bill Litton's incremental times: 60ft-0.979 sec., 330ft-2.515, 660ft-3.677/215.68 mph, 1,000ft-4.659.

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Left Lane: Cameron Ferre Runs 14.923/82.89, Now #11
Right Lane: Karen Stalba Runs 5.781/248.52, Now #7

Ferre spun the tires hard and idled through. Stalba spun/shook early in the run.

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Left Lane: Ashley Sanford Runs 5.924/207.66, Now #11
Right Lane: Brandon Booher Runs 5.573/264.29, Now #6

Sanford had a very quick launch, with a 0.948 60-foot time, but the car nosed over in the middle of the run. Booher was not quite as aggressive on the launch, but his car pulled hard through the middle of the run.

Brandon Booher's incremental times: 60ft-0.982 sec., 330ft-2.523, 660ft-3.720/209.69 mph, 1,000ft-4.723.

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Left Lane: Robin Samsel Runs 5.384/270.48, Now #1
Right Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.540/260.41, Now #5

Two good runs. Samsel's was the "gooder" of the two because it pulled hard all the way down the track. Thacker stayed close to half track, then started losing ground.

Robin Samsel's incremental times: 60ft-0.978 sec., 330ft-2.482, 660ft-3.607/222.80 mph, 1,000ft-4.561.
Marty Thacker's incremental times: 60ft-0.980 sec., 330ft-2.494, 660ft-3.671/210.50 mph, 1,000ft-4.679.

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Left Lane: Shawn Cowie Runs 10.868/75.43, Now #15

Rich McPhillips was supposed to be alongside Cowie, but was a no-show.

Cowie spun the tires hard, pedaled and spun them again.

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Left Lane: Michael Manners Runs 14.315/72.26, Now #17
Right Lane: Duane Shields Runs 10.053/131.22, Now #15

Side-by-side tire-smokers.

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Left Lane: Mia Tedesco Runs 5.354/268.49, Now #1
Right Lane: Randy Meyer Runs 5.455/266.79, Now #3

Nothing wrong with the track - the Hirata-tuned car went right down the groove and into the 31 spot. Meyer also made a clean run, but in the forties instead of the thirties.

Mia Tedesco's incremental times: 60ft-0.949 sec., 330ft-2.442, 660ft-3.573/221.89 mph, 1,000ft-4.526.
Randy Meyer's incremental times: 60ft-0.976 sec., 330ft-2.506, 660ft-3.656/218.65 mph, 1,000ft-4.624.

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Left Lane: Joey Severance Runs 12.409/90.55, Now #20
Right Lane: Chris Demke Runs 5.420/271.95, Now #3

Last pair. Buddy Domingue is on the bump spot at 8.442.

Sweverance spun the tires and slowed. Demke made a good run, should be able to tune from that for tomorrow.

Chris Demke's incremental times: 60ft-0.950 sec., 330ft-2.458, 660ft-3.616/215.41 mph, 1,000ft-4.593.

After one session, Mia tedesco leads the field at 5.354 and Ashley Sanford is on the bump spot at 5.924.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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