Sat, 6 Oct 2007, 02:04 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2 |
By Larry Sullivan |
DINWIDDIE, Va. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Second annual Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:
Left Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 5.180/278.52, Now #12; Best prior run: 11.762/75.39, Was #17
Right Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.818/316.23, Now #3; Best prior run: 11.972/72.50, Was #18
1:28 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 77 degrees, relative humidity 74 percent, barometer 29.94 inches, adjusted altitude 1,508 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.
Jack Beckman is on the bump spot at 10.973.
With 18 cars here and 16 spots in the field, a couple of teams will be disappointed at the end of the day. However, Scelzi needs to qualify well and go rounds to keep his championship hopes alive because he's sixth (actually fifth with John Force out of competition) in the Countdown points.
Scelzi was losing ground even before his header flames got very ragged and orange on the top end, but he got in for now.
Bernstein made a pretty good run and moved way up in the field. That bumped Jack Beckman and Jim Head, both of them also Countdown
drivers.
Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.881/309.98, Now #7; Best prior run: 10.973/75.74, Was #18
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.862/309.91, Now #5; Best prior run: 10.133/84.54, Was #16
Arend inherited the soft bump spot after the double-bump by the first pair. Beckman sits third in the points, but is not safely in the Countdown to One and he needed a good run here.
Both drivers made good runs, Beckman getting in easily and Arend
moving way off the bump spot. That bumped Tim Wilkerson and Ron Capps is now on the bump spot at 8.727.
Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 5.035/270.54, Now #13; Best prior run: 10.955/66.36, Was #18
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 5.238/220.30, Now #16; Best prior run: 8.727/92.93, Was #16
Capps inherited fourth place with Force's no-show here, but also needs to qualify well and go rounds to stay in contention. Head is in the eight-car Countdown, but is a distant eighth and has no chance of making the cut after this race.
Both
cars struggled , Capps with a brief flash of fire when the engine appeared to let go around 1,000 feet and Head well off the pace
all the way. From the top end we hear that it was just a fuel line coming off, but Capps is vulnerable, on the bump spot with two
cars left to run, either capable of bumping him out of the field.
Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.890/302.08, Now #8; Best prior run: 8.742/90.69, Was #18
Right Lane: Scott Kalitta Runs 10.329/83.66, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.174/212.59, Was #14
Here's one of the those with a shot at knocking the early-season championship favorite from the final Countdown, Wilkerson easily capable of running the number.Kalitta's car was smoking the tires early and he coasted through.
Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.931/299.73, Now #10; Best prior run: 8.521/108.77, Was #18
Right Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 11.204/96.64, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.980/298.27, Was #10
That put Gary Scelzi is on the bump spot at 5.180 and Densham was easily capable of bumping him.
No sooner said than
down, Densham made a full pass and the two DSR teammates are on the outside, looking in. Gilbertson was up in smoke early and
coasted through.
Left Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 4.859/305.70, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.018/253.66, Was #14
Right Lane: Mike Ashley Runs 4.797/315.19, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.905/258.42, Was #9
Ashley is the driver in the best position to profit if both DSR cars have trouble, sitting seventh in the points coming in, but only 15 points out of fourth.
Both cars made strong runs, Ashley with obvious problems on the top end, but way too late in
the run to hurt his numbers much.
Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.902/296.96, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.011/264.70, Was #14
Right Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 11.470/79.74, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.877/303.78, Was #8
Bartone launched, started smoking the tires, and shut it off. Pedregon was on a pretty good run, but the car started to nose over on the top end and the chutes were out early. Even so, he improved enough to move up three rungs on the ladder.
Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.837/312.86, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.008/245.45, Was #14
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.878/311.41, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.858/311.20, Was #5
Decent runs in both lanes, points-leader Pedregon leapfrogging over Worsham in the order.
Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 9.998/85.19, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.790/312.06, Was #1
Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.814/300.00, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.790/307.58, Was #2
TJ lost traction about 200 feet out. Hight made a good run, but did not improve and Johnson stayed atop the qualifying list.
With one qualifying session left, two of the the drivers trying to get into the top four are the only two currently outside
the field and the third, beckman, appears solidly qualified, in tenth place.
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