Sun, 1 Apr 2007, 05:10 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Bill Reichert                         436 Vitali Kazakevich            
E1   ****WINNER****  0.073  5.258 282.01                     0.049  6.475 220.44
 Qualified:             #1  5.230 278.17                       #16  6.567 217.46

3:43 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 73 degrees, relative humidity 85 percent, barometer 29.95 inches, adjusted altitude 1,238 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.

Reichert was unchallenged here, running the fastest speed ever, by two mph. He's 1 mph shy of having a backup to establish this as the speed record.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 7438 Morgan Lucas                           48 Chris Holley                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.090  5.279 272.94                           No Time      
 Qualified:             #2  5.245 274.27                       #15  6.075 223.84

Holley broke on the burnout and did not stage the car. Lucas made a very nice run, faster at half track than Reichert - 226.81 mph to Reichert's 226.32.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Spencer Massey                        412 David Brounkowski            
E1   ****WINNER****  0.033  5.331 263.87                     0.062  6.066 226.77
 Qualified:             #3  5.262 271.57                       #14  5.789 246.84

As usual, Massey was away first and, again as usual, his car went right down the groove on a smooth pass.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Duane Shields                         371 Dave Heitzman                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.119  5.360 274.78                           No Time      
 Qualified:             #4  5.317 274.44                       #13  5.691 264.55

"Dyno Dave" Heitzman was a no-show. Shields made a nice, clean pass to move to round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   33 Marty Thacker                         440 Kate Harker                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.006  5.460 261.37                     0.076 13.270  80.09
 Qualified:             #5  5.392 265.48                       #17  8.633  96.33

Harker is in as first alternate, for Darvin Martinets. She lost traction almost immediately while Thacker took our only blown alcohol dragster right down the lane. He loses lane choice to Shields, by a tenth of a second.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 John Finke                             44 Brandon Pierce               
E1                   0.167  5.477 267.22     ****WINNER****  0.080  5.412 272.94
 Qualified:             #6  5.439 267.69                       #11  5.518 237.80

Finke was late and Pierce was quicker at both ends of the track for the win, but he gave up lane choice to Massey in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2151 Lindsey Wood                            9 Aaron Olivarez               
E1                   0.066  5.752 251.86     ****WINNER****  0.048  5.432 264.60
 Qualified:             #7  5.442 263.98                       #10  5.505 267.48

Both these cars (and drivers) are capable of running in the twenties, but both failed to do so in the two qualifying sessions here.Wood's car dropped a cylinder immediately and fell back quickly. Olivarez improved over his qualifying effort, but still came up short of that car's potential and he lost lane choice to Lucas in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 7334 Shawn Langdon                         596 Randy Meyer                  
E1                   0.032  5.461 265.59     ****WINNER****  0.074  5.319 252.47
 Qualified:             #8  5.485 265.12                        #9  5.495 250.46

Last pair. They were just 0.01 seconds apart in qualifying, so this promised to be a driver's race. Meyer has a list of accomplishments that fills the screen, Langdon is a relative newcomer. The ncomer nailed the veteran to the tree, but Meyer had the muscle to run him down and take the win by a big margin. However, he won't have lane choice against Reichert in round two.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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