|
 |
![]()
|
|
|
|
Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session
Sat, 26 Jul 2003, 08:57 PM
Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 16th annual CARQUEST Auto
Parts 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:
Left Lane: Robert Hallock No Time, Now #20; No Prior Run
Hallock has not made a pass. The bump is Mike Strasburg at 6.878. No time for Hallock as a fuel leak
ends his weekend.
Left Lane: Ron Smith Runs 5.461/184.42, Now #13; Best prior run: 8.403/102.02, Was #18
Right Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 4.912/291.57, Now #7; Best prior run: 7.002/111.04, Was #17
Smith does a smokeless burnout, which does not bode well for his effort here. Russell has qualified at 60
events in a row.
Both drivers get in, but it wasn't pretty. Russell had at least one cylinder out most of the
way down, and Smith had a bit of a fire in the lights.
Left Lane: Mike Strasburg Runs 5.483/187.44, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.878/117.20, Was #18
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.775/310.27, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.744/130.47, Was #17
Brady Kalivoda is on the bump at 6.590. Great pass for Grubnic as he goes from out of the show to number
three. Strasburg gets in for now.
Left Lane: Paul Romine Runs 5.100/255.19, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.075/138.43, Was #17
Right Lane: Brady Kalivoda No Time, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.590/125.39, Was #18
Last chance for these two. Tons of pressure on Romine as he tries to qualify at his sponsor's
race.
Romine gets in, but it was ugly. He started hazing the tires, then the engine went away and he was on
fire as went across the finish line. Kalivoda shut it off early and debris from Romine's car tripped the lights in
Kalivoda's lane, so we have no e.t. for him. We have oil on the track, so we'll be down for a few minutes. 4:56
p.m.
Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.998/278.75, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.915/273.22, Was #10
Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.991/289.20, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.000/281.83, Was #12
5:05 p.m. Both cars had cylinders out the whole way down. No tire smoke though.
Left Lane: John Smith Runs 5.010/242.36, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.905/281.13, Was #7
Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 4.914/290.19, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.918/239.40, Was #11
Rhonda improves, and unless Scott Weis runs quicker than 4.905, it will be husband vs. wife in round one
tomorrow.
Left Lane: David Baca Runs 4.836/299.66, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.796/302.35, Was #5
Right Lane: Scott Weis Runs 4.827/289.07, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.912/239.53, Was #9
Weis does the Smith family a favor here, as he knocks John Smith down to 8th. Both drivers with very nice
runs, considering the conditions.
Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.693/310.91, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.790/294.63, Was #4
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.762/307.44, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.874/287.84, Was #7
Great runs here, as Bernstein misses the pole by a thousandth.
Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 5.210/195.05, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.710/304.87, Was #3
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.676/317.27, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.692/312.57, Was #1
Dixon puts an exclamation point on his second straight number one qualifying effort. Kalitta was out of
it before the 1000-foot mark.
Right Lane: Gordie Bonin No Time, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.828/158.52, Was #17
This is a new one. Bonin is running after the Funny Cars. Apparently because of the oil downs on two
previous runs. He needs to run quicker than 5.483 to get in.
Well, he runs 5.390, but the run is DQ'd because
of yet another oildown. Can't say we've ever seen that before.
5:53 p.m.
Timing data courtesy of
CompuLink
By Jonathan Adams
|
|
|
|
|
|
