Sun, 9 Oct 2005, 12:45 PM Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Doug Kalitta                            7 Cory McClenathan             
E1   ****WINNER****  0.074  4.502 328.30                     0.060  5.869 156.19
 Qualified:             #8  4.518 328.94                        #9  4.558 325.30

Weather conditions: air temperature 64 degrees, relative humidity 46 percent, barometer 29.83 inches, adjusted altitude 575 feet, track temperature 88 degrees.

Cory Mac got out to about 300 feet and started to haze the tires and Cory pedaled, but couldn't get it to hook up. Kalitta with just a little bit of smoke out of the headers as he crossed the finish line and he runs his quickest pass of the weekend for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   91 Larry Dixon                             4 Scott Kalitta                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.053  4.583 320.97                     0.152  4.621 318.84
 Qualified:             #7  4.514 329.34                       #10  4.570 321.88

Dixon launched hard with the front end in the air and they gentle sets the front end back down to earth. Then on the top end Dixon's engine let go and oils the track for the first time in a 133 runs. Kalitta with a good pass, but will be going home.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  743 Morgan Lucas                           71 Jack Beckman                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.077  4.543 323.04                     0.072  6.125 139.62
 Qualified:             #6  4.509 320.81                       #11  4.636 305.08

Lucas with a real nice pass until right before the finish line when he started hazing the tires, but had the win in hand by then. Beckman blistered the Goodyears around 300 feet and clicked it off.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  507 Melanie Troxel                         10 Scott Weis                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.238  4.597 319.75                     0.140  4.772 271.30
 Qualified:             #2  4.458 328.86                       #15  4.906 234.09

Weis is out of the gate first and has the lead until around 1000 feet when he started using up the engine. Troxel was real late, but was able to chase him down around 1000 feet and take the win. Melanie will give up lane choice to Dixon in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    8 Doug Herbert                          423 Bill Ancona                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.116  4.551 324.28                     0.120  4.774 281.48
 Qualified:             #1  4.441 328.06                       #16  4.935 229.35

Herbert launched hard and keep it hitting on all eight and the Goodyear stuck to the track all the way down the 1320 for the win light. Ancona with his best pass of the weekend, and got out of the groove on the top end and real close to the wall. Herbert will give up lane choice to Doug Kalitta in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Schumacher                       443 Mitch King                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.112  4.484 331.28                     0.138  4.915 247.43
 Qualified:             #3  4.474 332.02                       #14  4.862 292.52

Schumacher with a great looking pass, straight down the groove and quick for the day. Tony Schumacher's incremental margins: 60ft(0.058), 330 ft(0.148), 660ft(0.219), 1,000ft(0.301). MOV: 0.4572 seconds (more than 100 feet). He will have lane choice over Lucas in the next round. King with a nice pass until around 1000 feet when he started to haze the tires.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  552 Rod Fuller                              5 David Grubnic                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.080  4.580 316.23                     0.094  5.777 194.21
 Qualified:             #4  4.493 328.94                       #13  4.774 287.41

Fuller with a good clean pass to move on to round two. Grubnic started dropping cylinders as soon as he hit the throttle and could never get them to pick back up.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Brandon Bernstein                     241 John Smith                   
E1                   0.096  6.230 214.38     ****WINNER****  0.058  5.512 236.55
 Qualified:             #5  4.494 328.62                       #12  4.674 287.60

Bernstein started to smoke the tires around 200 feet and he pedaled it and then Smith started to smoke the tires around 350 feet and pedaled it. Neither driver recovered, but Smith got his to hook up enough to win the pedal fest. Smith had a big fireball as he crossed the finish line, but no oil. Smith will give up lane choice to Fuller in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink