Sun, 1 Apr 2007, 06:52 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 20th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 David Grubnic                         524 Joe Hartley                  
E3                   0.080  4.661 307.72     ****WINNER****  0.108  4.623 316.15
 Prior rounds:
E2    (B Bernstein ) 0.077  4.918 296.83      (W Bazemore  ) 0.081  4.894 253.18
E1    (M Lucas     ) 0.074  4.620 317.42      (H Will      ) 0.059  4.820 246.57
 Qualified:            #13  4.650 309.91                        #9  4.631 312.42

5:38 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 73 degrees, relative humidity 67 percent, barometer 29.93 inches, adjusted altitude 1,247 feet, track temperature 102 degrees.

These two have faced each other just once before today, Grubnic getting the win. However, Hartley had lane choice this time around.

Grubnic left first and looked like a sure winner, but his car ran out of steam over on the top end and Hartley drove by for the win. Joe Hartley's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.054), 330 ft(-0.039), 660ft(-0.016), 1,000ft(0.000). MOV: 0.0102 seconds (approximately 5 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   91 Larry Dixon                             8 J.R. Todd                    
E3                   0.053  4.914 245.54     ****WINNER****  0.065  4.638 300.40
 Prior rounds:
E2    (B Litton    ) 0.057  4.620 311.92      (M Troxel    ) 0.065  4.642 314.24
E1    (D Kalitta   ) 0.048  4.626 309.06      (C Millican  ) 0.048  4.597 307.58
 Qualified:             #6  4.597 313.44                        #7  4.618 311.77

Dixon left rst, but Todd drove by early in the run and led the rest of the way. Both cars lost engines on the top end and, for the first time today, the Safety Safari is going to clean up an oildown (and on live TV, to boot).

In his family's first-ever trip to a Top Fuel final round, Joe Hartley will have lane choice against Todd.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink