Sun, 26 Oct 2003, 02:45 PM Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

By Jonathan Adams

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Third annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  337 Paul Romine                             6 Darrell Russell
E1                   0.043  8.711 106.01     ****WINNER****  0.062  6.974 112.65
 Qualified:             #8  4.598 321.12                        #9  4.628 310.91

For the fourth day in a row, we are under sunny skies. Romine comes in as the higher qualified car, but Russell is 3-0 out of the ninth spot.

Romine gets the holeshot but it blew up before the 330-foot mark. Russell started smoking the tires before half-track and pitched the blower belt, but fortunately for him, Romine was dead in the water. We'll be down for a few minutes as the tractor makes a couple of passes in each lane.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  888 Jim Head                               10 John Smith
E1                   0.061  6.744 124.33     ****WINNER****  0.050  5.529 190.57
 Qualified:             #7  4.591 322.34                       #10  4.630 293.35

Smith has not made a run since Friday. Head comes in with 40-1 odds at the local casinos, and is a popular longshot bet.

Both drivers smoke the tires early. Smith had a bunch of cylinders out and lost the blower belt, but still hung on for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Larry Dixon                           104 Clay Millican
E1                   0.069  5.027 206.80     ****WINNER****  0.055  4.625 308.99
 Qualified:             #6  4.558 324.05                       #11  4.641 313.15

Battle of the champions here. Millican is 0-5 against Dixon, including 0-4 this season.

Millican gets a slight holeshot, but Dixon quickly passed him and looked to be driving away until it blew up at half-track. Dixon had not lost in round one since the Finals last year, and had one this event three straight times. All of those streaks go up in flames, literally, as Millican gets the biggest NHRA round win of his career.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Cory McClenathan                      390 Shirley Muldowney
E1   ****WINNER****  0.081  4.619 319.14                     0.060  4.930 231.52
 Qualified:             #5  4.545 323.97                       #12  4.643 318.02

Dixon left some "stuff" in the left lane, but Cory Mac will stay put. Neither driver ran in the last session yesterday, but Shirley ran better in the heat on Saturday.

Muldowney gets a holeshot, but it was all Cory Mac after that. Still, Shirley will get a big ovation when she comes back down the return road.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  201 Scott Weis                            319 Scott Kalitta
E1                   0.085  7.229 111.25     ****WINNER****  0.077  4.577 322.65
 Qualified:            #14  4.659 291.76                        #3  4.532 329.10

Kalitta is the first driver to choose the right lane. It pays off, as he makes a near-perfect run and Weis goes up in smoke. He will have lane choice over Millican in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  423 Bill Ancona                             4 Doug Kalitta
E1                   0.085  5.518 170.34     ****WINNER****  0.077  4.580 320.97
 Qualified:            #13  4.658 303.16                        #4  4.543 325.30

Like cousin Scott, Doug chooses the right lane. Ancona stayed close until just before half-track when something broke on his car. Kalitta will have lane choice over Cory Mac in the second round. Once again, we're down for a clean-up in the left lane.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Kenny Bernstein                         9 Rhonda Hartman-Smith
E1   ****WINNER****  0.087  4.599 324.36                     0.082  5.014 245.63
 Qualified:             #2  4.529 326.95                       #15  4.671 315.71

During the clean-up, we saw a nice tribute to Shirley Muldowney on the Motel 6-Vision, and she got a big cheer as she came back down the return road.

Unlike the Kalittas, Bernstein picks the left lane, so apparently lane choice isn't much of a factor. Bernstein gets the win as Rhonda was up in smoke before half-track. He will have lane choice over John Smith in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  797 David Baca                              3 Tony Schumacher
E1                   0.102  4.666 310.27     ****WINNER****  0.076  4.628 316.15
 Qualified:            #16  4.714 250.41                        #1  4.503 328.22

In qualifying, Schumacher went 4.58, 4.52, 4.52, 4.50, while Baca struggled, only getting in on his last run.

Baca made it close, but Schumacher led wire-to-wire. He will have lane choice over Russell in round two.

Tony Schumacher's incremental margins: 60ft(0.030), 330 ft(0.033), 660ft(0.042), 1,000ft(0.053). MOV: 0.0648 seconds (approximately 29 feet).

11:40 p.m.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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