Fri, 2 May 2008, 04:12 PM Pro Modified Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dan Bennett

MADISON, Ill. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Pro Modified at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 12th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Castrol listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Alex Hossler Runs 24.593/27.08, Now #2
Right Lane: Dan Saitz Runs 6.634/218.09, Now #1

Here's the first pair for the really high horsepower cars this weekend. The track has only seen direct sunlight for less than 30 minutes, so it should be ready to go.

Hossler leaves and steps off the throttle by 300 feet due to tire spin. Saitz waits a couple of seconds and then drops the hammer on his almost totally silent twin-turbo Ford.

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Left Lane: Raymond Vettel Runs 13.466/79.80, Now #3
Right Lane: Tommy Gray Runs 6.571/220.12, Now #1

Way different approach on these two cars. The Cuda has tall, wide quarter panels while the late model GTO is pretty tiny in that area.

Once again, the left lane doesn't provide what the crew was looking for and Vettel skates a couple of hundred feet before lifting.

Gray did a little better, but had to pedal at least once as the car tried to head for the center line. It looks like there might be a significant bump in the right lane down around 5 or 600 feet.

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Left Lane: Mike Knowles Runs 16.184/59.29, Now #5
Right Lane: Brad Personett Runs 6.437/219.94, Now #1

It's a replay. Knowles blows the tires off, while Personett gets a bit further downtrack. The Corvette seemed to start bouncing until Brad feathered once to get it to settle down.

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Left Lane: Tim Tindle Runs 6.856/153.09, Now #4
Right Lane: Shelly Payne Runs 8.411/154.51, Now #5

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Left Lane: Taylor Lastor Runs 16.806/39.31, Now #9
Right Lane: Rick Stivers Runs 11.974/66.39, Now #6

Good thing we've got some great drivers in this class.

Lastor hit the tires so hard that I saw daylight under one rear as the car rocked to one side.

Not to be outdone, Stiver's car got to 300 feet before it went completely sideways. Rick corrected, only to make a nasty looking swerve back to the wall. He caught that, but the car then headed to the center line. He cranked the wheel back to the right, which put the car up on two wheels briefly.

We were all watching intently, but with all those gyrations Stivers closed in on the coasting Lastor. Taylor jammed on the binders as Stivers came over into his lane. Geeze, a guy can't even coast to the finish line any more.

Seriously, both driver did an excellent job of keeping their car away from each other and the walls. Nobody hit anything, and looking back on it that was pretty amazing.

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Left Lane: Harold Laird Runs 7.683/143.12, Now #5
Right Lane: Steve Engel Runs 12.816/73.62, Now #8

Both cars overestimated the starting line.

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Left Lane: Scott Ray Runs 15.281/68.28, Now #11
Right Lane: Joshua Hernandez Runs 6.046/235.19, Now #1

Ray blows the tires off, while Hernandez shows why he's the reigning champ. It wasn't the prettiest, straightest run I've ever seen but it sure got the job done.

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Left Lane: Mike Ashley Runs 6.146/235.10, Now #3
Right Lane: Kirk Kuhns Runs 6.050/234.78, Now #2

This pair was fun to watch. Ashley was a bit conservative off the line, so he went down the track just fine in that tricky left lane.

Kuhns lays down one of the best looking passes so far today.

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Left Lane: Roger Burgess Runs 6.101/236.92, Now #3
Right Lane: John Russo Runs 8.301/113.56, Now #10

Either the crew chiefs have figured things out, or the green track is gaining the rubber it needs.

Burgess goes pretty much straight down the lane into the 3rd position.

Russo is pretty aggressive. He's quivering the tires hard on the leave, and they quickly deteriorate into shake. He lifts at 400 feet.

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Left Lane: Danny Rowe Runs 12.431/77.49, Now #14
Right Lane: Jay Payne Runs 6.107/236.80, Now #4

Rowe blows the tires off, Payne makes a decent hit.

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Left Lane: Raymond Commisso Runs 9.658/94.15, Now #14
Right Lane: Eddie Ware Runs 6.114/234.98, Now #5

Commisso looked like he was going to be able to lay down a good pass, but the car started hammering the tires and driving towards the wall.

Ware got a good run to work from.

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Left Lane: Tony Pontieri Runs 6.086/236.05, Now #3
Right Lane: Joe Baker Runs 6.204/229.55, Now #8

Good passes on both sides.

We end the session with Hernandez on top, three cars in the 6.0s, and Commisso on the bump at a non-representative 9.658

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink