Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Fri, 28 Jul 2006, 09:39 PM

Competition Eliminator Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Darryl Jackman

SONOMA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Competition Eliminator at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 19th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed this round, amount over/under index this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time, speed & over/under Index, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Jirka Kaplan Runs 6.861/194.49/-0.789, Now #1; BB/AM Index: 7.65, Prior Best: 8.845/106.00/1.195, Was #29
Right Lane: Jeff Gracia Runs 8.741/153.89/-0.499, Now #13; E/SM Index: 9.24, Prior Best: 8.688/153.56/-0.552, Was #12

6:10 p.m. Kaplan comes up big and goes right on by Treadwell and his -.73 hit. He moves Gracia down a spot.

Left Lane: Jim Cowan Runs 8.338/159.48/-0.642, Now #4; D/EA Index: 8.98, Prior Best: 8.358/153.67/-0.622, Was #6
Right Lane: J.D. Zink Runs 6.993/188.78/-0.547, Now #9; A/ND Index: 7.54, Prior Best: 6.954/185.66/-0.586, Was #9

This could be a big session for the Comp cars.

Left Lane: Bryan Fitzgerald Runs 7.878/170.26/-0.532, Now #12; E/AA Index: 8.41, Prior Best: 7.854/170.51/-0.556, Was #12
Right Lane: Rob Harrison Runs 9.081/108.65/0.591, Now #5; J/A Index: 8.49, Prior Best: 7.850/171.51/-0.640, Was #5

No help for this pair though.

Left Lane: Brian Moscini Runs 8.027/169.83/-0.023, Now #28; D/AA Index: 8.05, Prior Best: 7.909/171.01/-0.141, Was #28
Right Lane: Wayne Ramay Runs 7.252/182.62/-0.288, Now #20; A/ND Index: 7.54, Prior Best: 7.032/189.55/-0.508, Was #20

Moscini slows and so does Ramay.

Left Lane: David Sumek Runs 6.919/193.63/-0.251, Now #26; AA/AM Index: 7.17, Prior Best: 6.829/197.94/-0.341, Was #26
Right Lane: Kurt Hugger Runs 7.572/178.07/-0.498, Now #19; PST Index: 8.07, Prior Best: 7.554/179.37/-0.516, Was #19

Were those first few runs flukes? No one's even coming close now.

Left Lane: Dustin Lee Runs 7.747/123.67/0.267, Now #27; B/ED Index: 7.48, Prior Best: 7.191/187.99/-0.289, Was #27
Right Lane: Jeff Lion Runs 8.824/120.71/0.114, Now #18; F/A Index: 8.71, Prior Best: 8.181/164.61/-0.529, Was #18

Both drivers over the index on this hit...humm?

Left Lane: Bob Marshall Runs 7.247/188.38/-0.483, Now #23; B/AA Index: 7.73, Prior Best: 7.308/188.46/-0.422, Was #24
Right Lane: Randy Jones Runs 14.227/62.32/4.987, Now #22; E/SM Index: 9.24, Prior Best: 8.742/155.33/-0.498, Was #22

Marshall picks up almost a tenth and one spot. Jones appeared to have wounded his Cavalier before the launch and he sort of idled on through.

Left Lane: Dean Carter Runs 10.453/141.19/2.913, Now #14; A/ND Index: 7.54, Prior Best: 6.988/192.30/-0.552, Was #14
Right Lane: Bruce Perkin Runs 8.721/154.12/-0.519, Now #17; E/SM Index: 9.24, Prior Best: 8.698/155.17/-0.542, Was #17

Carter left hard, 1.049 sixty, and then the engine fell flat on it's face. Carter picked it back up but the run was broken. Perkin ran well but didn't improve.

Left Lane: David Beckley Runs 12.397/101.35/5.017, Now #29; A/AA Index: 7.38, Prior Best: 7.802/202.21/0.422, Was #29
Right Lane: Vinnie Deceglie Runs 6.558/212.16/-0.632, Now #6; A/A Index: 7.19, Prior Best: 6.566/212.23/-0.624, Was #6

Beckley tried to swap lanes at the hit and was forced off the loud pedal. Deceglie continues to run hard and card the big speeds.

Left Lane: Alan Freese Runs 7.861/171.47/-0.489, Now #23; C/AA Index: 8.35, Prior Best: 7.931/172.50/-0.419, Was #25
Right Lane: Doug Lambeck Runs 8.723/118.43/-0.367, Now #11; D/SMA Index: 9.09, Prior Best: 8.531/155.90/-0.559, Was #11

Freese was smoking the whole way down. Hope it wasn't oil. Lambeck loses a couple of tenths to his best of the day.

Left Lane: Alan Ellis Runs 6.834/194.35/-0.546, Now #16; A/AA Index: 7.38, Prior Best: 6.878/196.47/-0.502, Was #21
Right Lane: Tom Huggins Runs 7.148/189.12/-0.552, Now #3; B/A Index: 7.70, Prior Best: 7.056/193.79/-0.644, Was #3

Ellis goes .54 under and picks up five spots and just barely makes the top half. Huggins will stand on his earlier -.64 run.

Left Lane: Dave Barcelon Runs 8.466/154.07/-0.584, Now #7; G/A Index: 9.05, Prior Best: 8.433/157.89/-0.617, Was #7

Barcelon remains #7.

Left Lane: Jeff Lane Runs 11.339/75.67/2.749, Now #8; B/SR Index: 8.59, Prior Best: 7.985/160.08/-0.605, Was #8

Lane just about bought a section of wall about 150 feet off the starting line. Lifting was the only answer so he gets to play on Saturday with a shiny racecar.

Left Lane: Ken Justice Sr. Runs 7.211/187.36/-0.519, Now #17; B/AA Index: 7.73, Prior Best: 7.186/188.60/-0.544, Was #17

A bunch of singles here in the final session. Justice remains #17.

Left Lane: Tom Mettler Runs 14.609/55.63/6.539, Now #15; PST Index: 8.07, Prior Best: 7.522/179.88/-0.548, Was #15

Mettler launches with the front wheels up in the truck and then clicks it off at about 100 feet. That closes out the final session of qualifying for Comp.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink