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Fri, 2 May 2008, 05:04 PM

Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dan Bennett

MADISON, Ill. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Pro Stock 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:

Left Lane: Steve Schmidt Runs 6.741/205.41, Now #1
Right Lane: Steve Spiess Runs 11.249/87.48, Now #2

3:29 p.m.

Weather conditions: air temperature 75 degrees, relative humidity 60 percent, barometer 29.07 inches, adjusted altitude 2,720 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

This day is 180 degrees from what we expected. The rain is long gone, but surprisingly enough so are the clouds. The track has been in direct sunshine for about 30 minutes.

In earlier classes, the left lane starting line was a problem. Let's see if the Pro Stock guys get it figured out.

Nice pass for Schmidt. The car left hard with a 1.008 sixty and went straight down the track.

It sounded like Spiess knocked the clutch out on the burnout; when he tried to leave the line there was lots of black dust, the engine revved, and the car didn't much go anywhere.

Left Lane: Jim Cunningham Runs 6.865/200.86, Now #1
Right Lane: Lamar Swindoll Jr Runs 6.849/202.48, Now #2

Cunningham pulls to the left lane, to the delight of Ford fans everywhere.

Both cars left OK but not super. Swindoll's car wagged a bit on the way to the 330 clocks.

Left Lane: Dave Connolly Runs 6.707/205.04, Now #1
Right Lane: Todd Hoerner Runs 6.715/205.72, Now #2

David Nickens puts Hoerner on the line exactly where he wants him.

Nice passes, both sides! These cars go to the top of the class, but there are a bunch more to come.

Dave Connolly's incremental times: 60ft-1.000 sec., 330ft-2.801, 660ft-4.310/163.29mph, 1,000ft-5.610

Todd Hoerner's incremental times: 60ft-1.007 sec., 330ft-2.813, 660ft-4.320/163.49mph, 1,000ft-5.620

Left Lane: John Nobile Runs 6.740/205.44, Now #4
Right Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 6.736/204.05, Now #3

Connolly is being interviewed on the top end and isn't real happy with his run as he says he was expecting a 6.60 something.

Here's a pair of old friends pairing up.

Nobile's car moves over towards the wall at the hit but never moves completely out of the groove.

Left Lane: Tom Hammonds Runs 6.724/204.66, Now #3
Right Lane: Rickie Jones Runs 6.756/204.35, Now #7

Nothing special to report as both cars go right down the track. Rickie left a long S-shaped path on the way to half track.

I understand that there was some serious work being done on this new surface earlier this week -- as in major grinding.

Left Lane: Max Naylor Runs 6.766/201.94, Now #9
Right Lane: Kenny Koretsky Runs 6.739/203.80, Now #5

Koretsky cards one of the best short times yet, but doesn't transition for a strong front half charge.

Max Naylor's incremental times: 60ft-1.008 sec., 330ft-2.822, 660ft-4.339/162.24mph, 1,000ft-5.651

Kenny Koretsky's incremental times: 60ft-0.994 sec., 330ft-2.807, 660ft-4.324/162.29mph, 1,000ft-5.634

Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 6.783/203.37, Now #11
Right Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.726/203.98, Now #4

Connolly's 6.70 is looking stronger and stronger.

Left Lane: Matt Hartford Runs 6.736/204.76, Now #6
Right Lane: Ron Krisher Runs 6.700/205.54, Now #1

Krisher keeps his strong performances going. Nice passes on either side, and Ron probably has a bit left since he had to drive the Cobalt around a bit to keep it going to the finish line.

Naylor is on the bump.

Ron Krisher's incremental times: 60ft-0.995 sec., 330ft-2.804, 660ft-4.309/163.61mph, 1,000ft-5.606

Left Lane: Greg Stanfield Runs 6.728/204.29, Now #6
Right Lane: Justin Humphreys Runs 6.729/204.66, Now #7

This pair looked faster than the times that came up.

Humphreys car puffed a bit of white smoke just past half track but it didn't seem to affect the performance.

Left Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.692/207.30, Now #1
Right Lane: V. Gaines Runs 6.735/204.57, Now #9

This was a good drag race, actually a great one if you're a WJ fan.

It sure looked like the old days when WJ owned the class. The cars were pretty much together until about 900 feet when the GXP simply drove away from the Hemi.

Gaines' doors did stay connected to the car, but check out the difference in mph!

Left Lane: Mike Edwards Runs 6.705/205.22, Now #4
Right Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.691/206.48, Now #1

OK, so maybe AJ's somehow tied into my keyboard and saw what I just typed about the Pontiac nailing the Mopar.

He settles THAT argument for a while as he goes to the top of the list, even if it is only a thou.

Hartford's on the bump with a 6.736

Mike Edwards' incremental times: 60ft-0.993 sec., 330ft-2.798, 660ft-4.307/163.35mph, 1,000ft-5.608

Allen Johnson's incremental times: 60ft-0.995 sec., 330ft-2.800, 660ft-4.304/163.69mph, 1,000ft-5.600

Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.691/206.95, Now #1
Right Lane: Greg Anderson Runs 6.718/205.76, Now #8

Like Mel Brooks said, "It's good to be King!" but right now we're not sure who gets to claim the title.

KJ runs strong all the way to #1 and for one more week GA doesn't look like himself in qualifying.

Left Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 6.717/204.70, Now #9
Right Lane: Jason Line Runs 6.692/205.69, Now #4

And in something of an anti-climax the two cars everybody figured would set the pace -- don't.

Nothing to complain about in either lane, but the numbers just didn't come up.

It ought to get really good tonight as the cool day will certainly get cooler. We already have the top four cars within one thousandth of a second and I betcha it gets better. Come on back and see!

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink