Fri, 2 May 2008, 07:00 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dan Bennett

MADISON, Ill. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel 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: Luigi Novelli Runs 13.217/83.84, Now #2
Right Lane: Troy Buff Runs 11.801/85.55, Now #1

4:45 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 76 degrees, relative humidity 53 percent, barometer 29.07 inches, adjusted altitude 2,794 feet, track temperature 104 degrees.

We've just had a very nice ceremony during the unveiling of the Darrell Russell tribute car and it's time to race.

This one didn't last long, as Luigi billowed smoke immediately and Buff only made it 100 feet or so.

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Left Lane: Alan Bradshaw Runs 6.808/113.91, Now #1
Right Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 9.277/88.24, Now #2

Another pair, same thing. These guys got a couple hundred of feet. But hey, don't worry about this track. We saw from the funny cars that there's plenty there.

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Left Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 10.894/80.99, Now #4
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 8.651/98.33, Now #2

And another pair.

Morgan looked like he might make it but the car moved out of the groove towards the center line and he lifted at 250 feet.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 10.003/81.95, Now #4
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 10.249/84.79, Now #5

Grubnic was a one-man wrecking crew last night during the dirt race at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City. There was a line in "Days of Thunder" that fit the situation perfectly other than there wasn't a pace car.

The very good Friday crowd checks out his local sponsor, which is the St. Louis Carpenter Union. In times like these, grab eyeballs where you can.

It's almost like all of the crew chiefs are using the same setup even though all the cars are very different. Guess what happened. And then guess where on the track. Hey, you're right!

If we get a crew chief up here who isn't going for the throat in the first hundred feet, somebody's going to go really quick.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.874/288.64, Now #1
Right Lane: Hillary Will Runs 5.599/165.07, Now #2

OK, now we're getting closer.

Will was on a decent leave and the car made it to almost half track before it started to lose traction.

Herbert had more problems early, but the wily pro slapped the pedal just past 100 feet and managed to go right down the lane.

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Left Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 4.566/323.04, Now #1
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.585/323.81, Now #2

OK, now that's how it's supposed to be done!

On both sides, it was easy to watch the slicks spool up to speed. No, they didn't blast into smoke but just quickly accelerated.

That was about as nice a pair as you would want to see as both cars were side by side all the way down.

Rob Flynn puts the big Cat car at the top of the list.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.583/321.42, Now #2
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 5.442/171.05, Now #5

This was another great pair until half track when Dixon's car spits out the supercharger belt.

Cory slots into the second spot, but there's some big guns waiting to pull into the water.

After a few minutes, the trucks roll for a cleanup in the shutdown area, and it's McClenathan's lane. The Fram car had two freebies, so other than the lost time there's no harm done.

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Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 5.996/144.33, Now #7
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 6.902/112.17, Now #9

5:21 p.m. and we're good to go.

OK, drag racing fans, who's going to run what in this pair? In one lane the we have the amazing skills of Alan Johnson. That Beard guy is on the other side, and he's made a pass or two.

What a disappointment! Both cars left hard but boiled the tires side by side at the 330 clocks.

Rod Fuller and the Caterpillar car leads the pack with Vandergriff's Big Brown UPS car holding down the fort on the bump.

That's it for the first session. Comp is ready, and Pro Stock goes after them.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink