Fri, 12 Nov 2010, 04:10 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 46th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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: Mike Drake Runs 7.562/113.55, Now #16; Best prior run: 7.450/128.74, Was #16

12:33 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 24 percent, barometer 29.17 inches, adjusted altitude 1,877 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

Drake's car chattered the tires and headed for the centerline, then spit out the blower belt around half track.

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Left Lane: Brian Smith Runs 5.754/251.58, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.913/249.30, Was #15
Right Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.745/255.87, Now #14; Best prior run: 15.379/83.09, Was #21

Nice side-by-side show, but the times leave both drivers dangerously close to the bump spot. Lombardo bumped Drake from the field, putting Sean Bellemeur on the bump at 5.816.

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Right Lane: Bret Williamson Runs 5.618/254.38, Now #4; Best prior run: 14.015/63.01, Was #21

Nice run by Williamson to shake the field up a bit, his career-best ET bumping Bellemeur. Now Brian Smith is on the bump spot at 5.754.

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Left Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.694/248.89, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.664/257.38, Was #11
Right Lane: Alexis De Joria Runs 8.247/94.97, Now #19; Best prior run: 12.215/56.21, Was #21

DeJoria shook, pedaled, and one of her chutes came out. Good run by Hough, but no improvement and the track crew took a long look at his lane before firing the next pair..

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Left Lane: John Bojec Runs 10.948/75.54, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.646/251.81, Was #10
Right Lane: Keeter Ray Runs 13.196/73.88, Now #21; Best prior run: 9.429/99.54, Was #21

Both cars shook violently, Bojec pedaling before losing traction a second time.

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Left Lane: Mark Woznichak Runs 9.674/87.34, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.639/253.85, Was #8
Right Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 16.197/50.84, Now #20; Best prior run: 8.716/102.88, Was #20

Two more, same story, both cars up in smoke in the first 100 feet or less.

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Left Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.582/258.62, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.633/259.01, Was #7
Right Lane: Sean Bellemeur Runs 5.819/247.20, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.816/241.76, Was #17

Both cars got down the track, Gasparrelli on a strong run, Bellemeur steadily losing ground. Steve Gasparrelli's incremental times: 60ft-0.955 sec., 330ft-2.490, 660ft-3.687/206.16 mph, 1,000ft-4.712.

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Left Lane: Brent Henry Runs 9.071/95.14, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.624/247.57, Was #7
Right Lane: Ken Webster Runs 5.678/251.67, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.729/252.47, Was #14

Henry shook, fishtailed, and lifted. Webster improved a few hundredths and moved up one spot.

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Left Lane: Steve Burck Runs 5.670/253.09, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.619/253.66, Was #6
Right Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.599/256.99, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.676/255.68, Was #12

Both cars made strong runs, but Burck's car kept getting closer and closetr to the centerline. He barely cleared the finish line markers and the car briefly darted into the other lane as the chutes came out. It looked close from this end of the track, maybe five feet between the cars before Burck's car moved back to the left lane.

Steve Burck's incremental times: 60ft-0.976 sec., 330ft-2.526, 660ft-3.739/203.92 mph, 1,000ft-4.783.
Doug Gordon's incremental times: 60ft-0.953 sec., 330ft-2.491, 660ft-3.696/205.57 mph, 1,000ft-4.725. That moved Gordon from the bottom half way up into the top half and now the top five cars are in the fifties or better.

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Left Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 5.513/262.59, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.548/264.18, Was #2
Right Lane: Jay Payne Runs 6.371/166.37, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.639/248.29, Was #10

Nice run by Bartone, improving his hold on second spot. Payne lost a little ground ober the first half of the track, then slowed, the car trailing blue smoke. But the track was clean and they fired the next pair with no delay.

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Left Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 5.697/254.86, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.489/259.61, Was #1
Right Lane: Sean O'Bannon Runs 5.558/252.80, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.565/259.06, Was #3

Last pair. Ferro drove through early tire shake and could not match his pace from yesterday's "forty," O'Bannon improved slightly, no change in the order. Mickey Ferro's incremental times: 60ft-0.932 sec., 330ft-2.532, 660ft-3.770/201.16 mph, 1,000ft-4.814.
Sean O'Bannon's incremental times: 60ft-0.948 sec., 330ft-2.463, 660ft-3.655/207.62 mph, 1,000ft-4.681.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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