Sun, 12 Oct 2003, 04:37 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 18th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   52 Cy Chesterman                           2 Steve Gasparrelli
E3                   0.003  5.646 254.74     ****WINNER****  0.032  5.604 255.17
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Payne     ) 0.060  5.605 254.81      (J Stidham   ) 0.056  5.610 252.03
E1    (E McDow     ) 0.016  5.685 253.44      (J Percoco   ) 0.046  5.676 253.09
 Qualified:             #2  5.656 256.62                        #3  5.673 255.02

Chesterman leaves first and hangs on until just before half-track, then Gasparrelli drives around for the win. Steve Gasparrelli's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.023), 330 ft(-0.003), 660ft(0.011), 1,000ft(0.011). MOV: 0.0134 seconds (approximately 5 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    8 Bob Newberry                          777 John Patton
E3   ****WINNER****  0.079  5.646 253.87                     0.067  5.714 251.04
 Prior rounds:
E2    (M Littlefiel) 0.086  5.640 253.66      (S Jones     ) 0.061  5.676 250.97
E1    (S Burck     ) 0.117  5.749 248.00      (T Bristow   ) 0.160  5.788 251.88
 Qualified:             #1  5.653 254.81                        #4  5.680 252.59

Patton leaves first, leads at the sixty-foot mark, then has severe tire shake. Newberry drives around at that point and takes the win. Gasparrelli will have lane choice in the finals.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink