Mon, 7 Jul 2008, 12:18 PM Nitro Funny Car Final, Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

EDMONTON, Alb. - Results of final, round 3 eliminations in Torco Nitro Funny Car at the 2008 Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series, CARS RV & Marine & Motorsports Rocky Mountain Nationals presented by TORCO Racing Fuels:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2814 Matt Hagan                            728 Grant Downing                
E3   ****WINNER****  0.137  NT      NS                       0.136 No Time      
 Prior rounds:
E2    (S MACKLYN   ) 0.117  6.671 144.64      (D CREASY JR ) 0.117  5.367 219.40
E1    (J DIEHL     ) 0.128  5.208 238.22      (J DUCHENE   ) 0.110  5.529 277.20
 Qualified:             #4  5.750 259.51                        #7  6.445 148.90

10:42 p.m. (Sunday) Hagan posted his first win in Nitro Funny Car at Rockingham, in just his second race in the category since switching from Pro Modified. Downing made it to the finals in this, his first IHRA event and wanted to match Hagan's win record. But first it will have to stop raining. The sky looks great, but there is a light sprinkle coming from somewhere. 10:47 p.m. The sprinkles turned to rain and we are done for tonight.

10:01 a.m. (Monday) Weather conditions: air temperature 67 degrees, relative humidity 52 percent, barometer 27.51 inches, adjusted altitude 3,937 feet, track temperature 82 degrees.

This was bizarre! They left together, then Hagan had a supercharger explosion about 100 feet out. The body flipped off backward, sliding down the track upside down as Hagan's naked chassis slowly coasted down the track, the chutes out, not making it to the finish line. Meanwhile, Downing's car kept drifting left and took out the 1,000-foot timing reflector, DQ'ing his run, making Hagan the winner. However, Hagan's engine explosion oiled the lane and he will be penalized $500 and 25 points - a net loss of five points for the winning run.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink