Sun, 9 Oct 2005, 02:55 PM Top Fuel Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 2 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
   91 Larry Dixon                           507 Melanie Troxel               
E2                   0.065  4.817 311.27     ****WINNER****  0.109  4.558 327.43
 Prior rounds:
E1    (S Kalitta   ) 0.053  4.583 320.97      (S Weis      ) 0.238  4.597 319.75
 Qualified:             #7  4.514 329.34                        #2  4.458 328.86

Weather conditions: air temperature 71 degrees, relative humidity 36 percent, barometer 29.78 inches, adjusted altitude 1,149 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.

dixon with the starting line advantage, but she had the difference made up by 150 feet and never looked back. This is first time in six tries Melanie has beat Dixon.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  552 Rod Fuller                            241 John Smith                   
E2   ****WINNER****  0.118  4.609 325.61                     0.050  7.246 134.20
 Prior rounds:
E1    (D Grubnic   ) 0.080  4.580 316.23      (B Bernstein ) 0.058  5.512 236.55
 Qualified:             #4  4.493 328.94                       #12  4.674 287.60

Smith lost traction around 300 feet and clicked off because Fuller was on another great pass.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Doug Kalitta                            8 Doug Herbert                 
E2                   0.076  5.663 190.54     ****WINNER****  0.090  4.567 321.81
 Prior rounds:
E1    (C McClenatha) 0.074  4.502 328.30      (B Ancona    ) 0.116  4.551 324.28
 Qualified:             #8  4.518 328.94                        #1  4.441 328.06

Kalitta was up in smoke by 300 feet and Herbert with a great looking pass is in the semifinal and will have lane choice over Fuller.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Schumacher                       743 Morgan Lucas                 
E2   ****WINNER****  0.076  6.081 299.00                     0.076  6.572 275.62
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M King      ) 0.112  4.484 331.28      (J Beckman   ) 0.077  4.543 323.04
 Qualified:             #3  4.474 332.02                        #6  4.509 320.81

They left together and then Schumacher is up in smoke and he is off the throttle. About that time Lucas is up in smoke and Schumacher is back on the throttle and pedaled it one more time, but took the win. Lucas was off and on the throttle a couple times and couldn't get it to hook up. Schumacher will give up lane choice to his teammate Troxel in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink