Sun, 9 Oct 2005, 01:51 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car 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
  766 Jason Rupert                          405 Jon Johnson                  
E2                         No Time           ****WINNER****  0.085  5.938 245.45
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Payne     ) 0.053  5.746 240.34      (V Moats     ) 0.054  5.802 252.99
 Qualified:            #17  6.356 177.77                       #10  5.841 244.43

Weather conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 39 percent, barometer 29.82 inches, adjusted altitude 856 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Rupert put oiled the track on the burnout and then when he was back up he got in his own oil and got completely sideways. Johnson with the freebie and he makes a nice safe pass for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   41 Jackie Stidham                         43 Steve Gasparrelli            
E2                         No Time           ****WINNER****  0.093  5.573 259.06
 Prior rounds:
E1    (S Jones     ) 0.081  5.900 196.64      (S Harker    ) 0.041  5.728 255.77
 Qualified:             #8  5.828 248.11                       #16  6.320 242.36

Stidham unable to make the call and Gasparrelli with a real nice pass, and big top end speed for him.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  455 Jimmy Jones                           433 Richard McClain              
E2   ****WINNER****  0.091  5.797 247.25                     0.365  5.710 254.38
 Prior rounds:
E1    (B Lewis     ) 0.151  5.625 256.06      (W Hanna     ) 0.054  5.971 208.59
 Qualified:            #14  5.976 250.23                        #6  5.759 244.83

Jones with a big starting line advantage when McClain is real late, and has the power to hold on for the hole shot win. Jones got out of the groove on the top end and close to the centerline. Jones will have lane choice over Johnson in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  484 Kebin Kinsley                          56 Bernie Harrington            
E2                   0.046 10.842  68.64     ****WINNER****  0.031  5.750 247.29
 Prior rounds:
E1    (D Taylor    ) 0.138  5.740 251.72      (E McDow     ) 0.441  5.780 248.71
 Qualified:             #5  5.743 250.55                        #4  5.738 249.44

Harrington launched hard and got out of the groove, but was able to reel it in and take the win.. He will give up lane choice to Gasparrelli in the semifinal. Kinsley with a lot of tire shake and clicked it off.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink