Sun, 22 Jun 2008, 03:14 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 39th annual Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1117 John Anderika                         125 Eric Lourie                  
E1                   0.014  6.019 232.47     ****WINNER****  0.049  5.754 244.16
 Qualified:             #9  5.757 247.79                        #8  5.723 250.41

2:39 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 85 degrees, relative humidity 49 percent, barometer 29.85 inches, adjusted altitude 2,518 feet, track temperature 121 degrees.

Lourie won here in '01, defeating Frank Manzo in the second round at that event. That pairing could happen again this year.

Anderika did his job on the tree, but had to pedal it with early tire shake and Lourie went by and pulled away for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  147 Fred Tigges                           118 DJ Cox Jr.                   
E1                         No Time           ****WINNER****  0.071  5.726 249.39
 Qualified:            #10  5.796 249.49                        #7  5.707 249.72

Tigges crew thrashed to get him fired and ready to stage, then he shut it off and was pushed away and Cox got a freebie. Nice pass, almost matching his qualifying pace on a much hotter track.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1617 Lou Sgro                                6 Mickey Ferro                 
E1                   0.073 10.710  78.83     ****WINNER****  0.069  5.593 258.62
 Qualified:            #11  5.819 251.49                        #6  5.688 227.04

Mea culpa. Sgro did not purchase a turnkey setup from Manzo, my mistake. The chassis came from Manzo, but the engines came from the Tasca family. He does his own tuneups and chassis setup, with occasional assistance from the Manzo team. He qualified here with career-best numbers.

Sgro overpowered the launch pad, smoking the tires hard, and Ferro was uncontested on a very strong run, his best of the weekend by almost a tenth, the third driver in the five-fifties this weekend.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1320 Wayne Morris                           17 Paul Gill                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.065  5.846 243.77                     0.123  5.947 248.39
 Qualified:            #12  5.830 244.12                        #5  5.661 252.24

Gill was runner-up here in '05. Gill outqualified Morris by a bunch, but only had one good run and Morris was very consistent on both his passes.

Consistent outdoes hot-and-cold, Gill battling tire shake and a very loose race car while Morris split the difference between his two qualifying run to take the upset win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   23 Keeter Ray                           1383 Dan Roman                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.110  5.739 251.67                    -0.126  5.710 245.32
 Qualified:            #13  5.838 248.84                        #4  5.660 255.97

Roman qualified with career-best numbers, Ray struggled and wasn't close to his career best.

Roman threw it away at the start, Ray ran a tenth better than he qualified, and Roman didn't see the win light in Ray's lane, running it out the back door in a big cloud of death smoke. Looks like the track is dry and Ray will have lane choice against Morris.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  296 Bunny Burkett                         308 Marc White                   
E1                   0.195  6.045 238.01     ****WINNER****  0.119  5.711 252.19
 Qualified:            #14  5.904 240.89                        #3  5.654 250.51

White is piloting a new Murph McKinney chassis. Burkett is the only woman to win in Top Alcohol Funny Car and a long-time match racer, making a burnout almost to the finish line.

Both drivers were late, but White was the quicker of the two at the tree and then ran away. He faces Ferro in the quarterfinals, Ferro has lane choice.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  189 John Headley                           33 Marty Nothstein              
E1                   0.108  5.872 221.16     ****WINNER****  0.051  5.607 259.26
 Qualified:            #15  6.178 173.94                        #2  5.566 261.72

Nothstein qualified with career-best numbers.

Headley ran a career-best elapsed time, but it wasn't enough to overcome Nothstein's great reaction time and very good run. Nothstein will have lane choice against Cox in the quarterfinals.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  124 Scott McNiece                           1 Frank Manzo                  
E1                   0.118  5.891 247.11     ****WINNER****  0.309  5.589 260.01
 Qualified:            #16  6.577 232.23                        #1  5.532 263.87

Manzo is facing his 186th different national event opponent here and has done well at the E-Town national event, with nine wins and six runners-up.

Manzo gave up two tenths at the tree and chased McNiece all the way to half track before taking the lead. McNiece ran a career-best ET and speed, but it wasn't enough, even with a two-tenths head start. Manzo will have lane choice against Lourie in round two, but Lourie has a 2-1 mark against Manzo in prior events - one of the few with a winning record.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink