Sun, 7 Oct 2007, 11:36 AM Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations |
By Dan Bennett |
DINWIDDIE, Va. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Second annual Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals:
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 10 Hillary Will 11 Doug Herbert E1 0.086 4.693 298.47 ****WINNER**** 0.088 4.658 306.40 Qualified: #9 4.601 308.50 #8 4.591 306.0511:02 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 56 percent, barometer 29.85 inches, adjusted altitude 1,986 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.
This is Hillary's 44th start in a row and she holds a 3-1 advantage when racing Herbert. Dougzilla is making his 308th start and his 19th from the eighth slot.
We have a cloudless sky, bright sun, and expected temperatures in the 90s in an Indian Summer kind of race.
Both cars leave together but Herbert
just has a better tune up and cruises away from Hillary for the win.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 1301 Doug Foley 5 Rod Fuller E1 ****WINNER**** 0.073 4.603 323.43 0.095 4.634 320.89 Qualified: #10 4.605 316.30 #7 4.591 321.50Fuller is 2-1 against Foley, who is making his 18th start.
From the first pair, it looks like the track is fine for racing but we may not see any 40s or even 50s today.
Again, lane choice
takes the right lane. But in what could be considered an upset Foley leads wire to wire and
punches out the previous points leader.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
6 David Grubnic 2 Doug Kalitta
E1 0.102 4.632 309.06 ****WINNER**** 0.059 4.599 322.50
Qualified: #6 4.587 314.02 #11 4.619 314.83
The track crew is taking a quick look at the track but they give the thumbs up and we fire the
next pair.Grubnic has lane choice and lines up in the left lane. Surprisingly, I didn't see the cars change places as they rolled into the water so he appears to have decided on that lane before seeing the two previous pairs.
With Fuller's loss, Vandergriff can pass him if the UPS car goes
to the finals.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 12 Bob Vandergriff 3 Brandon Bernstein E1 0.069 6.874 122.11 ****WINNER**** 0.015 4.595 324.12 Qualified: #15 4.645 316.08 #2 4.549 321.58Bernstein holds a huge 6-0 advantage over Vandergriff which looms even larger with the importance of this pairing.
This is a massive race in view of championship chances. Vandergriff should be happy since he controls his own destiny. He HAS to take out the Bud car.
And it's lights out for the UPS car. The car starts to shake at 200 feet and a pedal job lifted the front end and then smoked the rear slicks.
Brandon was ready for the race and cuts an amazing light for
a Top Fuel car.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 743 Morgan Lucas 1 Tony Schumacher E1 ****WINNER**** 0.065 4.575 322.65 0.098 4.622 311.63 Qualified: #16 4.646 307.51 #1 4.524 321.27Schumacher is in the top spot for the 45th time in his career, and the 10th time so far in 2007. The last time he won from the #1 spot was Indy this year. Lucas is making his 67th start and holds a 2-13 record against the Sarge - who is the racer that Morgan has lost to the most in his young career.
Now, THAT was a stunning upset. Lucas leaves on the Army car and is never behind at any point in the race. He wins going away, by almost 40 feet.
With Schumacher's loss,
it gives an opportunity for Bernstein to make a big move in the standings. Fuller is now ahead of
Tony due to his round wins being greater and breaking a tie in the points.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 255 Clay Millican 91 Larry Dixon E1 0.054 4.776 318.84 ****WINNER**** 0.009 4.683 301.13 Qualified: #14 4.634 314.83 #3 4.570 317.42Dixon has qualified in the third spot 38 times, the most of any of the sixteen positions. He's 7-5 when racing Millican. Clay is making his 70th NHRA start and comes into this race after a big win on the IHRA side at Budds Creek while running 4.576 at 325.85
Dixon makes everyone shudder when they see his reaction time - that's so close to a red light in a fueler that it's crazy.
Millican's run looks almost exactly like Vandergriff's, with a loss of traction early and
a pedal job settling the car down but hurting performance enough to lose the race.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
4 Melanie Troxel 73 Whit Bazemore
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.093 4.569 327.59 0.093 4.632 314.75
Qualified: #13 4.633 323.58 #4 4.574 321.42
This is Bazemore's 332nd Pro start and he won the race the only other time he faced Troxel.
Melanie comes into this round with a career record of 83-76.Melanie has the same problems as Vandergriff and Millican but this time the difference is that she's able to drive through the shake and the car recovers. Bazemore hazed his tires for a short time just past half track but loses to Troxel's quick ET of the round.
In a race of surprising driver performances, the driver were
exactly equal on their reaction times.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
9 Cory McClenathan 8 J.R. Todd
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.090 4.618 314.97 0.069 8.040 104.91
Qualified: #12 4.629 312.35 #5 4.577 311.49
J.R. has never been defeated by Cory as his record is 2-0. This might be the day for that to
change though, as Cory has had great success here at VMP. His five wins here are the most
McClenathan has recorded at any locaation, and the last one here came just last year. Cory has
another milestone on the verge, as he currently has 399 round wins.Todd smokes the tires the same place as Bazemore, but his car doesn't recover at all. Cory goes straight to the finish line and wins by a bunch.
Late season factoid: Only three of the eight championship-qualified cars made it past first round.
Next round, it's Kalitta with lane choice over Dixon, Troxel over Cory,
Lucas over Herbert, and Bernstein over Foley.
Ready to take your order at 1-800-230-3030 | Customer Service 1-800-517-1035