COLUMBUS - Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

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Sun, 15 Jun 2003, 11:59 AM

Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

HEBRON, Ohio - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 39th annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit Racing:


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Doug Herbert                           10 John Smith
E1   ****WINNER****  0.049  4.703 299.06                     0.051  5.004 269.29
 Qualified:             #9  4.668 314.46                        #8  4.628 311.70

11:21 AM Current weather conditions: 73 degrees,67 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.14 inches, with a track temperature of 91 degrees.

We're just a bit behind schedule because of an accident during the first round of Top Alcohol Dragster eliminations. Doug Herbert, who has won this event twice during his career, came into this race with a 2-1 edge over John Smith. He extended that to 3-1, but it was an expensive win. Smith took the lead almost immediately, but started smoking the tires as he neared half track and Herbert went by and pulled away on a strong run, clocked at 3.170 seconds and 265.27 mph at half track. Smith pedaled and lost traction again and may have hurt the engine, the header flames getting very orange. The major engine damage, however, came as Herbert neared the finish line, his engine erupting in flames, the supercharger sitting crooked as he tried to stop the Snap-On Tools dragster. Herbert went across the road, but stopped short of the sand pit.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  201 Scott Weis                              2 Kenny Bernstein
E1   ****WINNER****  0.068  4.911 245.05                     0.072  7.166 113.59
 Qualified:            #10  4.688 315.05                        #7  4.615 322.73

Bernstein held a 4-0 advantage over Weis in races prior to today. Both teams struggled a bit during qualifying, Bernstein with just one full pass in two runs, losing the third when an electrical gremlin kept the engine from firing. Weis also only had one full pass in two tries, skipping the third session. Upset city! Weis broke Bernstein's shutout when the Budweiser dragster lost traction about 100 feet out, gaining a big enough margin to coast home the winner when Weis' car spit out the blower belt on the top end , running a mid-seventies pace up to that point.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  797 David Baca                              5 Cory McClenathan
E1                   0.097  4.656 314.02     ****WINNER****  0.078  4.616 324.12
 Qualified:            #11  4.688 314.24                        #6  4.611 321.88

Former teammates Baca and McClenathan have raced each other just once before, Cory Mac winning that one. It was a good race, but Cory Mac had the starting line advantage and never gave it up. Baca closed the gap on the first half of the run, but dropped a cylinder and McClenathan slowly pulled away for the win. Cory McClenathan's incremental margins: 60ft(0.035), 330 ft(0.017), 660ft(0.018), 1,000ft(0.037). MOV: 0.0596 seconds (approximately 27 feet).


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Darrell Russell                         9 Rhonda Hartman-Smith
E1   ****WINNER****  0.062  4.640 311.49                     0.083  6.077 158.43
 Qualified:             #5  4.589 319.29                       #12  4.750 293.22

Russell held a 2-1 edge over Hartman-Smith coming into this race. He did well here in Top Alcohol Dragster, by the way, the winner in 1996 and runner-up in 1997. Joe Amato's birthday is this weekend, so a win would be a nice birthday present for Joe. Still sporting the new one-piece body, Russell's car went right down the groove while Hartman-Smith's struck the tires about 200 feet out and was never in it after that.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  183 Josh Starcher                         888 Jim Head
E1                   0.100  5.041 214.62     ****WINNER****  0.072  4.587 321.12
 Qualified:            #13  4.768 300.60                        #4  4.579 317.42

"The kid against the veteran," this was the first time Starcher and Head have faced each other in eliminations. Head gave the youngster a lesson today, leaving first and steadily pulling away over the first half of the run. It appeared that something went wrong on Starcher's dragster on the top end because the car nosed over abruptly, slowing from a half-track speed of 259.71 mph. Head posted our first 4.50s elapsed time of the day and will have lane choice against Russell next round.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  345 Bruce Litton                            1 Larry Dixon
E1                   0.074  4.650 306.26     ****WINNER****  0.084  4.535 326.32
 Qualified:            #14  4.838 260.41                        #3  4.565 321.35

Larry Dixon won this event the last two years and had a chance to become the only driver to win it three times in a row, holding a 5-0 record against Litton during their careers. Litton was away first and turned in his best run of the weekend, by two-tenths of a second, in fact it was a career-best elapsed time, but Dixon wasn't far behind on the launch and led from the 60-foot timer, running low elapsed time of eliminations (so far). He will have lane choice against Cory McClenathan next round.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  337 Paul Romine                             3 Tony Schumacher
E1                   0.041  4.580 318.09     ****WINNER****  0.068  4.547 324.44
 Qualified:            #15  4.916 263.67                        #2  4.559 325.22

Schumacher held a 4-3 edge over Romine in prior meetings, but Romine came very close to putting a win in his column with a great effort here. Romine tattooed Schumacher at the tree and led all the way to the 1,000-foot marker before Schumacher edged by for the win. .Tony Schumacher's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.016), 330 ft(-0.022), 660ft(-0.016), 1,000ft(-0.004). MOV: 0.0069 seconds (approximately 3 feet). Schumacher will have lane choice against Scott Weis next round.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  323 Chris Karamesines                       4 Doug Kalitta
E1                  -0.215  4.943 252.76     ****WINNER****  0.066  4.552 324.98
 Qualified:            #16  5.960 153.42                        #1  4.508 325.30

This is only the second time Doug Kalitta has faced Karamesines, but "Bounty Hunter versus Chizler" match races were fixtures in this part of the country during the sixties, so Connie Kalitta has a long track record against Doug's first-round opponent. To put that in perspective, Don Garlits was running "Swamp Rat IV" in those days. Karamesines competed in Top Fuel at the inaugural event here, in 1965 (at age 35), and was runner-up to Maynard Rupp that year. Karamesines was a big underdog and knew it, taking a shot at the tree and missing. It probably didn't matter, Kalitta's car went right down the groove. Kalitta will have lane choice against Herbert in the second round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink