Sat, 02 Nov 2024, 18:14 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, 24th annual Ford Performance NHRA Nationals 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 Runs 5.892/116.51, Now #19; No Prior Run

2:08 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 66 degrees, relative humidity 28 percent, barometer 29.73 inches, adjusted altitude 3,284 feet.

Haddock had a cylinder out early and gave up on the run about 400 feet out.

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Left Lane: Buddy Hull Runs 4.316/267.37, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.207/275.34, Was #16
Right Lane: Daniel Wilkerson Runs 3.924/326.40, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.936/321.73, Was #10

Hull was moving around early in the run and he does not improve. Wilkerson goes down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend but he stays in the tenth spot for now.

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Left Lane: Chad Green Runs 4.052/312.64, Now #16; Best prior run: 8.446/82.58, Was #21
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 3.861/319.98, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.859/332.43, Was #2

Green put a cylinder out about 200 feet out, drifted a little to the right, but he stayed on the throttle and made his quickest pass of the weekend to get in on the bump for now. Beckman lost a cylinder about 900 feet out and he did not improve.

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Left Lane: John Hale Runs 4.941/174.55, Now #19; Best prior run: 8.014/90.64, Was #21
Right Lane: Tim Gibbons Runs 4.021/291.51, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.245/238.85, Was #18

Hale drifted to the right early in the run and backed off of the throttle about 700 feet out. Gibbons had a cylinder out and he drifted to the left all the way through the run. He gets close to the centerline near the end of the run but stayed on the throttle. He runs a career best and gets in the show in the 14th spot for now.

Tim Gibbons' incremental times: 60ft-0.893 sec., 330ft-2.285, 660ft-3.224/270.27 mph.

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Left Lane: Chris Morel Runs 7.661/81.43, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.758/125.78, Was #20
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 3.946/300.53, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.860/330.96, Was #3

Morel had a cylinder or two out at the hit and was off of the throttle early. Capps put out a cylinder late in the run, made a move toward the wall, but hangs on and makes a decent pass.

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Left Lane: Jason Rupert Runs 4.426/200.11, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.996/318.62, Was #12
Right Lane: Jeff Diehl Runs 4.014/313.00, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.039/273.61, Was #16

Rupert started drifting to the right, gets about 600 feet out and has to back off of the throttle. Diehl makes his quickest pass of the weekend and he moves up to the 13th spot.

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Left Lane: Austin Prock Runs 3.817/327.98, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.843/333.33, Was #1
Right Lane: Steven Densham Runs 4.050/289.94, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.017/291.19, Was #14

Prock goes down the groove with an impressive run, the quickest of the weekend. Densham has problems late in the run and is off of the throttle early.

Austin Prock's incremental times: 60ft-0.861 sec., 330ft-2.208, 660ft-3.088/290.26 mph.

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Left Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.022/312.28, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.033/253.37, Was #16
Right Lane: Dave Richards Runs 4.089/297.42, Now #11; Best prior run: 3.970/317.27, Was #11

Tasca makes his quickest pass of the weekend but he stays on the bump spot. Richards has problems late in the run and is off of the throttle early.

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Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 3.926/306.74, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.899/331.61, Was #7
Right Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 6.599/97.74, Now #9; Best prior run: 3.922/296.31, Was #9

Hagan was on a good run but blew the engine just before he went through the lights. DeJoria goes up in smoke and is off of the throttle early.

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Left Lane: Blake Alexander Runs 6.931/99.65, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.887/322.42, Was #5
Right Lane: Paul Lee Runs 3.863/324.44, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.866/322.04, Was #4

Alexander has problems about 500 feet out and is off of the throttle early. Lee goes down the groove with a career best and he stays in the fourth spot.

Paul Lee's incremental times: 60ft-0.873 sec., 330ft-2.224, 660ft-3.127/284.87 mph.

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Right Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 3.905/320.97, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.898/327.82, Was #6

Todd was up here earlier with Cruz Pedregon in the other lane. pedregon had problems on the burnout and the car came to a stop about 400 feet out. Todd had to click it off and went to the back of the line to make his run.

Todd goes down the groove with another good pass but he doesn't improve.

J.R. Todd's incremental times: 60ft-0.872 sec., 330ft-2.235, 660ft-3.158/280.49 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink

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