Sat, 11 Oct 2003, 03:23 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster 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
  391 Bill Reichert                         417 Karl Brounkowski
E1   ****WINNER****  0.077  5.387 268.17                     0.068 10.412  78.55
 Qualified:             #1  5.288 274.05                       #16  5.614 263.15

Current weather conditions: 80 degrees, 53 percent relative humidity, the barometer 29.93 inches, with a track temperature of 106 degrees.

Brounkowski was out of the gate first and then pushed out a head gasket and slowed. Reichert with nice clean pass.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Marty Thacker                          41 Lee Callaway
E1   ****WINNER****  0.048  5.410 265.48                     0.044  5.452 258.17
 Qualified:             #7  5.380 256.41                       #10  5.465 256.19

This was a good drag race.

Marty Thacker's MOV: 0.0386 seconds (approximately 15 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  200 Tony Bartone                           52 Ed Schmeeckle
E1   ****WINNER****  0.102  5.441 253.23                           No Time
 Qualified:             #4  5.342 272.14                       #13  5.516 254.09

Schmeeckle couldn't get the car to fire. Bartone with the freebie and it is nice clean pass.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   43 James Copeland II                      51 Alan Bradshaw
E1   ****WINNER****  0.078  5.496 258.76                     0.013  5.796 238.98
 Qualified:            #15  5.569 256.33                        #2  5.298 263.23

Bradshaw was out of the gate first and then was mixing up cylinder right from the start and Copeland take the win. Copeland used up an engine in the winning effort, and will give up lane choice to Thacker in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  551 Bruce Bowler                           47 Gene Snow
E1                   0.078  5.498 253.16     ****WINNER****  0.011  5.564 238.09
 Qualified:             #6  5.355 257.14                       #11  5.474 245.76

Snow with the starting line advantage the power to hold on for the hole shot win. Gene Snow's MOV: 0.0015 seconds (approximately 7 inches).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Steve Federlin                          9 David Wells
E1   ****WINNER****  0.031  5.542 255.68                     0.032  6.012 169.26
 Qualified:             #8  5.433 259.74                        #9  5.444 250.27

They left together and Wells has the lead until around 800 feet and then something went away and Federlin drove around for the win. He will give up lane choice to Reichert.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 7438 Morgan Lucas                          547 Chris Ricketts
E1   ****WINNER****  0.022  5.445 260.11                     0.120  6.025 239.55
 Qualified:             #3  5.335 260.04                       #14  5.550 249.72

Lucas is out of the gate first and never looked back for the win. He will have lane choice over Snow in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  416 James Thompson                        303 Todd Datweiler
E1                   0.124  5.526 256.70     ****WINNER****  0.033  5.414 258.62
 Qualified:            #12  5.492 259.51                        #5  5.344 259.06

Datweiler with a big starting line advantage and the win. He will have lane choice over Bartone in round two.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink