Sun, 23 Oct 2005, 06:05 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Fifth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Schumacher                         8 Doug Herbert                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.095  4.915 291.51                     0.071  5.251 293.54
 Prior rounds:
E2    (B Bernstein ) 0.062  5.046 275.96      (D Foley     ) 0.095  4.653 314.75
E1    (C Millican  ) 0.081  4.506 330.55      (J Beckman   ) 0.075  6.104 276.52
 Qualified:             #2  4.516 325.53                        #6  4.528 315.12

2:57 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 33 percent, barometer 28.28 inches, adjusted altitude 3,350 feet, track temperature 106 degrees.

Schumacher and Herbert have met in the final round at the last two events. Schumacher was looking to extend a 14-round win streak, against 10 different opponents. Herbert was looking to break that string, go to his third final round in a row, and get the win that has been so close.

It looked like it was all over when Herbert's rear tires puffed smoke early in the run, then it looked like "DougZilla" had a chance when Schumacher also started smoking them a little further down the track, but Schumacher once again got the rear tires hooked back up to get his 15th round win in a row, tying a record held by Cory McClenathan, Scott Kalitta, and Larry Dixon.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Scott Kalitta                           5 David Grubnic                
E3                   0.083  6.084 178.45     ****WINNER****  0.090  5.739 294.56
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Smith     ) 0.090  4.633 326.40      (M Lucas     ) 0.081  4.555 325.30
E1    (L Dixon     ) 0.075  4.591 325.61      (C McClenatha) 0.114  6.874 286.74
 Qualified:            #13  4.593 321.81                        #9  4.564 323.12

Another pedal fest, Grubnic losing traction first, Kalitta closer to half track before his tires started smoking. Grubnic did a better job of getting the tires slowed down enough to get to the finish line first. David Grubnic's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.039), 330 ft(-0.481), 660ft(-0.331), 1,000ft(-0.064). MOV: 0.3388 seconds (approximately 89 feet). He lost lane choice to Schumacher, however.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink