Sun, 12 Nov 2006, 06:19 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 42nd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Doug Kalitta                          507 Melanie Troxel               
E3                   0.058  4.500 330.23     ****WINNER****  0.026  4.502 330.07
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Todd      ) 0.090  4.580 330.96      (M Lucas     ) 0.055  4.521 329.02
E1    (A Bradshaw  ) 0.047  4.482 331.77      (S Torrence  ) 0.074  4.553 323.66
 Qualified:             #1  4.452 328.22                        #4  4.485 329.83

3:05 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 73 degrees, relative humidity 34 percent, barometer 29.16 inches, adjusted altitude 2,024 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.

We are down to the final four and all Kalitta has to do to win the 2006 TF Championship is win this round. Troxel has lane choice and has been running almost as well as Kalitta.

Troxel gets a great .026 RT and powers through the first 330 feet to open up a bigger lead. The Red Car matches her performance from there, but can't catch and pass her.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Brandon Bernstein                       1 Tony Schumacher              
E3                   0.066  4.511 332.18     ****WINNER****  0.074  4.482 329.50
 Prior rounds:
E2    (L Dixon     ) 0.072  4.496 330.07      (R Fuller    ) 0.065  4.475 328.38
E1    (M Strasburg ) 0.078  4.508 330.15      (D Baca      ) 0.067  4.489 328.38
 Qualified:             #3  4.473 330.15                        #2  4.458 328.46

Schumacher has to win the race and set a new National Record better than 4.437 to get around Team Kalitta for the 2006 Championship. Bernstein is off the line first, but the Johnson power pull the US Army car ahead by the 330 foot lights. They keep the same margin to the finish line and Schumacher gets the close win. Tony Schumacher's incremental times: 60ft-0.865 sec., 330ft-2.147, 660ft-3.049/278.63mph, 1,000ft-3.816. About 12 feet! He will keep lane choice over Troxel in the final round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink