Sun, 7 Oct 2007, 02:44 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Dan Bennett

DINWIDDIE, Va. - Results of round 3 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
    4 Melanie Troxel                         11 Doug Herbert                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.055  4.646 316.82                     0.086  5.848 155.10
 Prior rounds:
E2    (C McClenatha) 0.085  4.629 319.52      (M Lucas     ) 0.107  4.625 314.68
E1    (W Bazemore  ) 0.093  4.569 327.59      (H Will      ) 0.088  4.658 306.40
 Qualified:            #13  4.633 323.58                        #8  4.591 306.05

Herbert's tires wisp a few times on the front half and Melanie goes to the finals. It's a crowd favorite from what I can see from here.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1301 Doug Foley                              2 Doug Kalitta                 
E3                   0.102  6.951 154.21     ****WINNER****  0.057  6.360 260.66
 Prior rounds:
E2    (B Bernstein ) 0.106  4.603 318.99      (L Dixon     ) 0.060  4.647 314.39
E1    (R Fuller    ) 0.073  4.603 323.43      (D Grubnic   ) 0.059  4.599 322.50
 Qualified:            #10  4.605 316.30                       #11  4.619 314.83

Kalitta smokes his tires at the hit but Foley is coasting very early. Kalitta pedals at least four (maybe 5) times and manages to sneak by and go to his first final round of the year.

From the top end, Doug says it was a lot like his sprint car days.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink