Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Fri, 20 Jun 2008, 11:54 AM

Competition Eliminator Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Competition Eliminator at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed this round, amount over/under index this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time, speed & over/under Index, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Erich Bollman Runs 7.849/172.17/-0.511, Now #21; E/A Index: 8.36, Prior Best: 7.880/171.82/-0.480, Was #24
Right Lane: Bill Griffin Jr. Runs 8.220/159.16/-0.500, Now #9; C/EA Index: 8.72, Prior Best: 8.115/164.47/-0.605, Was #9

10:46 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 76 degrees, relative humidity 44 percent, barometer 29.93 inches, adjusted altitude 1,650 feet, track temperature 106 degrees.

Daniel Civiello is on the bump spot at 2.578 over. Nice imnprovement by Bollman, but it only nets him three spots in the order. Looked like Griffin slowed on the top end.

Left Lane: Elio Mannino Runs 7.405/182.60/-0.235, Now #31; B/AA Index: 7.64, Prior Best: 7.394/182.77/-0.246, Was #31
Right Lane: Mark Hopkins Runs 7.877/171.64/-0.483, Now #24; D/A Index: 8.36, Prior Best: 7.875/171.45/-0.485, Was #24

No help in either lane and Mannino stays perilously close to the bump spot.

Left Lane: Chip Ippolito Runs 7.790/173.76/-0.430, Now #27; PSTA Index: 8.22, Prior Best: 7.777/174.50/-0.443, Was #27
Right Lane: Carl Miller Runs 8.351/159.36/-0.329, Now #30; F/A Index: 8.68, Prior Best: 8.366/159.25/-0.314, Was #30

No changes.

Left Lane: Stephen Szupka Runs 8.626/122.19/-0.204, Now #10; F/ED Index: 8.83, Prior Best: 8.230/159.40/-0.600, Was #10
Right Lane: Pat Ross Runs 8.076/166.79/-0.604, Now #6; F/A Index: 8.68, Prior Best: 8.047/167.38/-0.633, Was #6

Szupka slowed before 1,000 feet. Nice pass by Ross, not quite as good as his earlier runs.

Left Lane: Doug Doll Jr. Runs 8.256/157.67/-0.574, Now #15; F/ED Index: 8.83, Prior Best: 8.302/157.72/-0.528, Was #19
Right Lane: Tom Ekroth Runs 7.567/179.68/-0.413, Now #28; C/A Index: 7.98, Prior Best: 7.546/179.42/-0.434, Was #28

Nice move by Doll to move into the top half of the field.

Left Lane: Joe Castaldo No Time, Now #35; B/AA Index: 7.64, No Prior Run
Right Lane: Don Eckel III Runs 6.970/191.54/-0.540, Now #17; C/D Index: 7.51, Prior Best: 6.958/192.25/-0.552, Was #17

Costaldo's car was unable to back up after the burnout and he drove out the other end without registering a qualifying run.

Left Lane: George Supinski Runs 8.244/164.57/-0.556, Now #14; C/SM Index: 8.80, Prior Best: 8.218/164.83/-0.582, Was #14
Right Lane: Charlie Greco Runs 7.750/151.60/-0.530, Now #5; D/AA Index: 8.28, Prior Best: 7.646/174.62/-0.634, Was #5

Left Lane: Leland Hewell No Time, Now #29; C/DA Index: 7.63, Prior Best: 7.301/183.89/-0.329, Was #29
Right Lane: Frank Affronti Runs 7.534/179.85/-0.486, Now #20; C/AA Index: 8.02, Prior Best: 7.505/179.42/-0.515, Was #20

Hewell broke on the burnout.

Left Lane: Keith Roberts Runs 9.224/143.26/-0.516, Now #19; I/SMA Index: 9.74, Prior Best: 9.203/143.43/-0.537, Was #19
Right Lane: David Strouse III Runs 7.122/193.18/-0.528, Now #20; B/A Index: 7.65, Prior Best: 14.375/50.72/6.725, Was #33

Strouse finally got the car down the track and bumped into the field on a nice run. Now Elio Mannino is on the bump spot at -0.246.

Left Lane: Ray Bamond Runs 8.360/162.37/-0.500, Now #25; C/SMA Index: 8.86, Prior Best: 8.384/161.57/-0.476, Was #26
Right Lane: Brian Darcy Runs 6.818/193.07/-0.682, Now #2; A/ND Index: 7.50, Prior Best: 6.821/193.27/-0.679, Was #2

Darcy made his third strong pass, but could not surpass Crimmins - second by 0.009 seconds.

Left Lane: Lonnie Johnson Runs 7.006/196.30/-0.634, Now #6; B/AA Index: 7.64, Prior Best: 7.071/194.83/-0.569, Was #16
Right Lane: Daniel Civiello Runs 11.304/126.15/2.874, Now #33; A/SM Index: 8.43, Prior Best: 11.008/127.68/2.578, Was #33

Civiello continues to have bogging problems and fails to improve. Johnson improved a ton, wnough to move well away from the middle of the field.

Left Lane: Tom Stalba Runs 8.360/162.18/-0.500, Now #26; C/SMA Index: 8.86, Prior Best: 8.398/159.36/-0.462, Was #27
Right Lane: John Frech Runs 8.158/161.85/-0.532, Now #20; F/D Index: 8.69, Prior Best: 8.186/161.29/-0.504, Was #24

Both improved, but stayed in the bottom half of the strong field.

Left Lane: John Caliendo Jr Runs 7.778/172.83/-0.502, Now #25; D/AA Index: 8.28, Prior Best: 7.770/173.43/-0.510, Was #24
Right Lane: Sal Biondo Runs 8.207/162.31/-0.583, Now #15; I/AA Index: 8.79, Prior Best: 16.749/46.86/7.959, Was #34

Biondo has had car problems in both Super Stock and Comp this weekend. Looks like he's got the Comp- car figured out, making a nice pass to bump Mannino and move into the top half of the field.

Left Lane: Arnie Martel Runs 8.123/142.32/-0.397, Now #3; B/SR Index: 8.52, Prior Best: 7.860/167.28/-0.660, Was #3
Right Lane: David Rampy Runs 7.274/180.86/-0.626, Now #8; A/EA Index: 7.90, Prior Best: 7.277/175.25/-0.623, Was #8

Martel's roadster made a big move to the right once again, this time skirting the centerline. Nice pass by Rampy, his best of the weekend.

Left Lane: Al Ackerman Runs 8.154/145.61/-0.536, Now #4; F/D Index: 8.69, Prior Best: 8.034/164.43/-0.656, Was #4
Right Lane: Gerry Russo Runs 8.322/145.03/-0.538, Now #14; C/SMA Index: 8.86, Prior Best: 8.277/163.33/-0.583, Was #14

Left Lane: Kennith Voight Runs 8.854/152.14/-0.526, Now #19; G/SM Index: 9.38, Prior Best: 8.838/151.97/-0.542, Was #19
Right Lane: Anthony Bertozzi Runs 7.886/158.48/-0.634, Now #7; B/SR Index: 8.52, Prior Best: 7.923/152.38/-0.597, Was #12

Bertozzi made his best run of the weekend, moving five rungs up the ladder.

Right Lane: Frank Aragona Runs 8.409/131.24/-0.481, Now #13; G/EA Index: 8.89, Prior Best: 8.294/155.51/-0.596, Was #13

Aragona lifted around the 1,000-foot marker.

Right Lane: Richard Schonberger Runs 8.200/162.72/-0.620, Now #10; I/A Index: 8.82, Prior Best: 8.211/162.59/-0.609, Was #10

Schonberger made his third good run of the weekend, the best of the three, stayed 10th.

That wraps up qualifying with Crimmins atop the list at -0.691 and Carl Miller is on the bump spot at -0.329.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink