Fri, 20 Jun 2008, 09:56 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #2 |
By Jim Samuel |
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals 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:
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.539/318.84, Now #1; Best prior run: 7.464/96.27, Was #14
8:46 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 53 percent, barometer 29.90 inches, adjusted altitude 1,660 feet, track temperature 93 degrees.
The temperature has been going down steadily over the past hour or so and it has turned into a very pleasant evening outside....pleasant for the spectators and great weather for the Top Fuel Dragsters.
This was a nice run. Grubnic took his car straight down the groove with flames coming out of
every cylinder the whole way down the track. He's in the number one spot for now but given these
conditions, that probably will not hold up very long.
Left Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 4.565/315.19, Now #3; Best prior run: 12.766/74.52, Was #15
Right Lane: Doug Foley Runs 4.532/327.43, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.711/266.58, Was #12
Foley was on the bump spot when he staged, with a time of 4.711 seconds. Foley had a nice launch and took his car straight down the groove. As he got near the finish line, his car started to trail smoke and he got off the throttle. The car continued to smoke, then fire began to appear from underneath the engine. As Foley's car traveled through the shutdown area, the chutes never came out. The car went into the sand trap at the end of the track with the engine still on fire. The front end of the car slid under the nets at the end of the shutdown area and the car did not come to a stop until the engine got caught on the nets. Members of the Safety Safari got to Foley's car quickly and moved the net out of the way so that Foley could get out of his burning car. The flames were quickly extinguished and Foley was walking around. With all that happened on this run, Foley managed to record the lowest ET and fastest speed so far this weekend.
With everything going on in the right lane, it was easy to miss a strong, clean run by Vandergriff that allowed him to move up 12 spots in the qualifying order.
Foley's car left oil on the track so we are in a hold for a while for track cleanup.
Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 9.011/86.12, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.242/255.97, Was #15
Right Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 9.355/88.64, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.678/301.33, Was #12
9:08 p.m. - There wasn't as much oil on the track from Foley's car as it first appeared, so the cleanup only took about 10 minutes.
Both cars launched and both smoked the tires from about 100 feet to 330 feet, when both drivers
shut their cars down.
Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 5.675/153.93, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.000/215.62, Was #14
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.542/325.92, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.635/316.01, Was #10
Dixon made it to mid track when he clicked it off. McClenethan had a nice run and moved up seven spots in the order.
Left Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 4.601/320.74, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.690/311.99, Was #13
Right Lane: Antron Brown Runs 4.502/326.24, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.628/319.37, Was #10
Brown took over the number one spot for now with a very nice run down the track. He took it straight down the groove with flames from all cylinders for the entire trip down the track. Lucas also have a clean run for the entire quarter mile and that let him move up five spots in the order.
Left Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 4.551/328.46, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.638/317.27, Was #12
Right Lane: Hillary Will Runs 4.584/323.12, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.614/319.60, Was #10
Another pair of nice runs moved Fuller up seven spots and Will up one spot. As soon as they finished their runs, two of the light poles on the left side of the track went out and there was an audible sound of circuit breakers tripping. After a few seconds, all the lights on the left side of the track went dark.
Left Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.525/323.27, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.619/320.20, Was #12
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 8.581/97.68, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.609/319.14, Was #11
After a 25-minute delay caused by the lighting power, it became clear that the lights on the left side of the track could not be repaired this evening. There was only 15 minutes left before the 10:00 pm curfew, so the four drivers who had not yet run in the second session where given the choice to run under the existing light or stay with their first session times.
Bernstein and Kalitta both wanted to run. Kalitta launched and smoked the tires to about 330
feet when he clicked it off. Bernstein took his car down the quarter mile to move into the
number two spot for now. At the end of his run, the header flames turned green for a
flash.
Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 7.441/107.19, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.582/320.36, Was #9
Steve Torrence was slated to run in the right lane but his team decided not to make a qualifying attempt in this session. Schumacher got out to about 100 feet, started smoking the tires and shut it down. The second session of Top Fuel qualifying ended with Antron Brown in the top spot in the order and Doug Kalitta in the number 12 position.
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