Sat, 21 Jun 2008, 05:12 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes - Interrupted Final Session |
By Larry Sullivan |
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car 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:
Left Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 6.062/34.55, Now #19; Best prior run: 9.197/91.63, Was #19
Right Lane: Scott Kalitta Runs 4.974/300.73, Now #13; Best prior run: 11.891/68.14, Was #20
4:21 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 89 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer 29.92 inches, adjusted altitude 2,524 feet, track temperature 129 degrees.
Bartone "blowed it up" earlier today and was down to one chance to qualify. Kalitta towed the chute last round, same situation. Mike Ashley is on the bump spot at 5.459.
This started off badly for Bartone and finished violently for Kalitta.
Bartone started losing traction, then dropped cylinders and shut it off.
Kalitta was on a good pass until there was a huge engine explosion as he neared the finish line. The explosion shredded the rear of the body, sending pieces high in the air. The car continued through the shutdown area at high speed, into the sand and through the net, still at high speed. We could not see what happened after that, but there was a big ball of flame well past the sand pit, near the trees at the far end of the property. Then came the long wait for information from the accident scene, bad or good.
5:04 p.m. Still no word on
Kalitta's condition. Race officials announced that it will take at least another hour to repair the damage at the top end of the
track and the remaining cars have headed back to the pits. We'll let you know when or if we get official word on Kalitta's condition
or if racing action is ready to resume.
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