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Fri, 2 May 2008, 07:40 PM

Pro Stock Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Dan Bennett

MADISON, Ill. - Notes from round 2 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 this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Todd Hoerner Runs 6.708/206.16, Now #8; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Jim Cunningham Runs 7.851/127.82, Now #25; Best prior run: 6.865/200.86, Was #24

Hoerner's previous pass (which was actually good for the 8th spot) was tossed out as he did not cross the scales.

Hey, how about that? Hoerner goes right back into that 8th spot.

Cunningham got everybody's attention, and not just because he's the only Mustang in NHRA Pro Stock. The car led a bit left at the hit, but Jim brought it back to the center. As he grabbed 4th gear, the car moved to the right again. He ended up just a few inches off the right side wall but managed not to scrape any paint.

Left Lane: Steve Spiess No Time, Now #26; Best prior run: 11.249/87.48, Was #26
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 6.733/203.68, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.783/203.37, Was #23

Spiess makes his burnout but doesn't back up. His crew runs to the car and pushed it off to the side so he won't get a pass this session.

Gray's pass looked really good and I was surprised that a better ET didn't come up.

Left Lane: Lamar Swindoll Jr Runs 10.060/90.62, Now #24; Best prior run: 6.849/202.48, Was #24
Right Lane: Max Naylor Runs 6.704/203.37, Now #6; Best prior run: 6.766/201.94, Was #23

Weather conditions: air temperature 75 degrees, relative humidity 26 percent, barometer 29.09 inches, adjusted altitude 2,399 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Both cars moved left off the line, but Naylor was able to get his ride back into the groove and put up a time like we're used to seeing from him. He blasts to the 6th position.

Swindoll got close to the left side wall and wisely lifted.

Left Lane: Rickie Jones Runs 6.738/205.41, Now #21; Best prior run: 6.756/204.35, Was #23
Right Lane: Steve Schmidt Runs 6.665/206.64, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.741/205.41, Was #22

Rickie Jones shows us the skills of a long-time driver, but he's just started. The Stratus makes a nasty move off the line and surges both left and then right. The Kid impressed me when he brought the car back into the groove and put it across the finish line at over 205 mph.

But the real spotlight belongs to Schmidt. He lays down the quickest pass of the weekend, and not by just a little bit! He's our new #1.

Left Lane: Kenny Koretsky Runs 6.711/205.07, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.739/203.80, Was #22
Right Lane: John Nobile Runs 6.742/203.83, Now #23; Best prior run: 6.740/205.44, Was #23

This one was way different. Koretsky used up a lot of track going to the 660, but Nobile was very scary as he was doing some serious sambas on the top end.

Left Lane: Larry Morgan Runs 6.800/204.98, Now #21; Best prior run: 6.736/204.05, Was #21
Right Lane: Matt Hartford Runs 6.693/205.51, Now #6; Best prior run: 6.736/204.76, Was #20

Left Lane: V. Gaines Runs 6.679/205.66, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.735/204.57, Was #20
Right Lane: Greg Stanfield Runs 6.657/206.99, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.728/204.29, Was #17

Just like Virginia a couple of years ago, the independent racer shows us you don't need a million dollar budget. Stanfield takes over the top spot.

Gaines has a very stout pass.

V. Gaines' incremental times: 60ft-0.984 sec., 330ft-2.783, 660ft-4.286/163.69mph, 1,000ft-5.583
Greg Stanfield's incremental times: 60ft-0.991 sec., 330ft-2.779, 660ft-4.276/164.55mph, 1,000ft-5.567

Left Lane: Justin Humphreys Runs 6.668/207.24, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.729/204.66, Was #19
Right Lane: Tom Hammonds Runs 6.704/204.94, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.724/204.66, Was #17

Two passes with not much to comment on. Humphreys goes way up in the order and Hammonds is in for now.

Max Naylor is on the bump spot at 6.704.

Left Lane: Jim Yates Runs 6.698/204.54, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.726/203.98, Was #19
Right Lane: Jeg Coughlin Runs 6.648/205.85, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.717/204.70, Was #17

Yates takes a close look at the left wall but gets it back in the groove.

Jeggie not only sets a new track record, he moves it into another zip code. He's holding almost a hundredth over the #2 car.

He's telling us on the top end that we haven't seen anything yet. With the weather reports, some of the crews are predicting that they can pick up five hundredths.

Left Lane: Greg Anderson Runs 6.646/206.83, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.718/205.76, Was #19
Right Lane: Dave Connolly Runs 6.655/207.24, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.707/205.04, Was #16

Anderson shows us that anyone wanting the championship is going to have to deal with him as he takes over the track record and the number one spot.

He's also saying that it's going to be fantasyland tomorrow.

Left Lane: Ron Krisher Runs 6.673/206.89, Now #8; Best prior run: 6.700/205.54, Was #14
Right Lane: Mike Edwards Runs 6.657/206.67, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.705/205.22, Was #17

Both runs looked decent, though Edwards had to drive around a bit on the front half. Both teams are going to be studying what they need to do for tomorrow.

WJ is now on the bump, and only by speed.

Left Lane: Jason Line Runs 9.247/100.45, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.692/205.69, Was #13
Right Lane: Warren Johnson Runs 6.779/206.99, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.692/207.30, Was #12

Lots of excitement here but not the performance anyone was looking for.

Line's rpms went up and stayed there for a long time.

WJ drove 500 feet on the way to the 330 clocks. WJ stays in but Line is out in 13th.

Left Lane: Allen Johnson Runs 6.656/207.37, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.691/206.48, Was #11
Right Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.648/207.15, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.691/206.95, Was #10

We end the session with a great drag race as both cars go well into the program.

AJ scores one for the Mopar gang as he cards the fast MPH for the event.

Greg Anderson stays on top with WJ on the bump.

That's it for today with the Pro Stockers, but don't miss tomorrow's action for anything. If the predictions are true, we could be nudging record performances.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink