Sat, 8 Jun 2002, 08:53 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

GRAND BEND, Ont. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series, Third annual Mopar Performance Parts Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol 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 Etter Runs 6.155/225.90, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.152/226.07, Was #13
Right Lane: Jeff Lancaster Runs 6.608/212.76, Now #19; Best prior run: 6.513/219.19, Was #19

8:10 PM It's 79 degrees, humidity 41 percent, barometer 30.08 and steady.

Lancaster was slow off the line with a 1.067 60-foot time and never did come up to a competitive pace. Etter almost matched his best run of the event, with a 0.987 60-foot time and a strong front end.

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Left Lane: Adam Szeler Runs 17.704/32.76, Now #21; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Lance Van Hauen Runs 7.072/224.10, Now #17; Best prior run: 6.310/226.75, Was #17

Szeler left before the tree was activated on his only other qualifying attempt, Friday. Here his car shook hard and he pedaled trying to salvage the run. Instead, something broke and the car coasted through, leaving a trail of oil from half track through the finish line area. Van Hauen also shook and pedaled. He managed to regain traction to complete the run, but was too slow to help his cause.

For the record, Dan Crownhart is on the bump spot at 6.296, a very vulnerable time.

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Left Lane: Russell Mudd Runs 7.191/149.77, Now #20; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Dan Crownhart Runs 6.202/217.23, Now #16; Best prior run: 0.000/226.75, Was #10

Mudd has had a weekend filled with problems. Crownhart has done almost as badly, but managed one pretty good run Friday to earn the bump spot. Mudd's luck didn't change here, the car very slow off the starting line with tire spin and then all over the lane for the first 300 feet. Crownhart made a good run, but not good enough to get off the bump spot. However, he did make it tougher for someone else to knock him off.

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Left Lane: Mark Thomas Runs 5.889/236.22, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.907/236.22, Was #5
Right Lane: Dale Brand Runs 5.909/217.33, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.970/236.46, Was #8

Good drag race, Thomas slightly quicker and Brand with "five hun" in the bank on reaction time to get to the finish line first and move two spots up the ladder.

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Left Lane: Larry Dobbs Runs 6.094/226.92, Now #10; Best prior run: 6.046/229.06, Was #10
Right Lane: Wayne Butler Runs 6.191/225.67, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.183/224.10, Was #14

Two pretty good runs, but no help for either driver since both failed to improve.

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Left Lane: Paul Noakes Runs 6.164/226.35, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.197/226.30, Was #15
Right Lane: Chris Foster Runs 6.058/233.40, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.059/234.68, Was #12

Two more pretty good runs, Noakes moving one spot further from the bump spot and Foster improving a thousandth over his previous best run.

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Left Lane: Laurie Cannister Runs 5.866/233.64, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.937/241.02, Was #6
Right Lane: Rob Atchison Runs 5.932/233.10, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.888/235.47, Was #4

Two nice runs, Cannister leapfrogging over Atchison to move into the top four, pushing Atchison out of that select group.

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Left Lane: Ronnie Midyette Runs 6.019/233.52, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.944/220.75, Was #8
Right Lane: Dave Miller Runs 9.682/82.90, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.484/216.08, Was #18

Miller's inaugural weekend in Funny car came to an early end when his car slipped out of the groove, near the wall, and he had to lift. Midyette's run looked okay, but it just didn't have the top-end zip he had in earlier runs.

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Left Lane: Terry McMillen Runs 5.946/233.88, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.984/236.90, Was #9
Right Lane: John Vouros Runs 5.899/234.00, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.868/237.09, Was #4

Two good runs to close the session, McMillen improving, but not enough to move into the top half of the field.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink

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