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Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #3
Sat, 19 Mar 2005, 01:33 PM
Notes from round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 36th annual
MAC Tools NHRA Gatornationals 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: Mitch King Runs 9.348/105.79, Now #14; No Prior Run
12:46 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 43
percent, barometer 29.98 inches, adjusted altitude 785 feet, track temperature 90
degrees.King launched, shook the tires hard, and lifted. he coasted his way into the field,
but that may not last long - with 19 cars here, he could get bumped.
Left Lane: Luigi Novelli Runs 11.067/85.86, Now #18; Best prior run: 11.500/82.97,
Was #17
Right Lane: Chris Karamesines Runs 4.883/243.96, Now #12; No Prior Run
Both these drivers were racing Top Fuel during "the golden years" (and maybe even
before). Novelli was up in smoke almost immediately. Karamesines made a nice run, but had a
short fuse, the header flames out well before the finish lane. That bumped "Hot Rod" Fuller.
Scott Weis is on the bump spot at 10.012.
Left Lane: Scott Weis Runs 4.778/315.67, Now #10; Best prior run: 10.012/97.03, Was
#16
Right Lane: John Smith Runs 8.882/99.56, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.629/318.58, Was
#7
Smith's car is promoting the Drag Racing Association of Women this weekend, a group
that does a lot for injured drag racing drivers and their families. He got about 200 feet out,
then struck the tires. Weis made a nice run to move well off the bump spot. Mitch King is now
on the bump spot at 9.348.
Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 9.932/94.80, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.774/225.67,
Was #9
Right Lane: Andrew Cowin Runs 4.583/314.35, Now #6; Best prior run: 12.287/68.98,
Was #19
Herbert was up in smoke before going 100 feet. Cowin made a nice run to about 1,100
feet, then the engine went BOOM in a big fireball, turning a "low fifty" into a "high fifty."
Andrew Cowin's incremental times: 60ft-0.853 sec., 330ft-2.175, 660ft-3.103/271.24mph,
1,000ft-3.889. That puts Cowin into the lead - in season oildowns, his fifth of the
three-race-old 2005 season (the Top Fuel total is now 12).
Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.561/324.09, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.543/326.56, Was
#4
Right Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 4.671/316.45, Now #9; Best prior run: 10.773/81.06, Was
#18
The Safety Safari did their usual great job of cleaning up the right lane quickly
and Fuller got his chance to bump his way back into the field. Bruce Litton was on the bump
spot and very vulnerable at 5.888. Nice run sin both lanes, Fuller solidly into the field and
Dixon not far off his best run of the weekend. Tony Schumacher is now on the bump spot at
5.396.
Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 11.602/78.07, Now #16; Best prior run:
5.396/171.72, Was #16
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 6.049/131.27, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.481/331.85,
Was #1
What a first-round pairing this would make!! It could happen, Schumacher up in
smoke almost instantly. Grubnic was on a strong pace for the first 330 feet, 2.154 seconds, but
then he lost traction and lifted.
Left Lane: Bruce Litton Runs 9.117/85.64, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.888/148.00,
Was #17
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.529/330.15, Now #3; Best prior run:
4.506/331.00, Was #3
Litton had a shot at bumping Schumacher, the last car in line with that opportunity
this round, but lost traction about 100 feet out and shut it off. Cory Mac made his second
strong run of the event with yet another 330 mph speed, a plateau that only he and David Grubnic
have reached at this track.
Left Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 6.978/109.24, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.835/219.03,
Was #14
Right Lane: David Baca Runs 9.017/84.73, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.805/222.05, Was
#13
Three hundred feet and a cloud of smoke...both lanes. Actually, Baca lost traction
first, before the 330-foot marker, and Lucas second, beyond that mark.
Left Lane: Clay Millican Runs 4.625/315.90, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.677/308.95,
Was #10
Right Lane: Scott Kalitta Runs 4.657/310.88, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.592/326.20,
Was #7
The Peter Lehman team is running the Werner Enterprises blue colors here instead of
the 104-Plus Octane Booster black paint scheme, debuting their new, 2005 Hadman car. The new
pipe seems to be working well, Millican outrunning Scott Kalitta in this pairing.
Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 8.154/98.11, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.488/325.14, Was
#2
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 9.721/81.61, Now #5; Best prior run:
4.551/325.85, Was #5
Last pair and another pair of "300 feet and a cloud of smoke" runs. With one
qualifying session to go, it's still David Grubnic on the top of the ladder at 4.481 seconds and
now it's points-leader Tony Schumacher on the bump spot at 5.396 seconds.
Timing data courtesy of
CompuLink
By Larry Sullivan
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