Fri, 3 Oct 2003, 04:49 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 19th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals 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:

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Left Lane: Darrel Cox Runs 6.899/131.42, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.936/234.49, Was #9
Right Lane: Bruce Mullins Runs 5.801/241.89, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.843/241.37, Was #8

3:59 PM - At the start of the third and final qualifying session, the air temperature was 57 degrees at 36 percent humidity. The barometer was 30.05 and falling under partly cloudy skies.

Mullins ran his career best speed, beating the speed he set in the second session this afternoon. He could have run faster today but his car started to smoke at the 1,000 foot mark. Cox never got up to speed.

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Left Lane: Scott Woodington Runs 5.889/235.51, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.997/238.43, Was #10
Right Lane: Dan Pomponio Runs 5.954/238.38, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.048/235.10, Was #11

Pomponio ran his career best ET in his first try today and he bettered it this time with another career best and his first trip into the fives. Woodington also had his best ET and his first run in the 5.80s. Both runs were clean and both were quick.

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Left Lane: Frank Manzo Runs 5.601/253.04, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.588/258.62, Was #1
Right Lane: Jim Sickles Runs 5.680/250.69, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.713/251.49, Was #3

Manzo did not get to the track in time to make a run in the first qualifying session this afternoon. If Manzo makes it to the finals this weekend, he'll clinch the TAFC championship. This time out, Manzo's car got a little loose but stayed with it to record a 5.601 second run. Sickles had his best run of the day but it was not enough to move him up in the order.

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Left Lane: Craig English Runs 5.894/244.96, Now #10; No Prior Run

This was English's first qualifying pass of the weekend. There are only 16 cars for the 16-field so it will be hard for him not to qualify. He drifted toward the center line, then straightened out to finish the run. He's in the middle of the field for now.

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Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 5.748/252.24, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.752/251.44, Was #5
Right Lane: Bob Newberry Runs 5.632/254.23, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.678/252.38, Was #2

This was a pair of clean runs but neither was quick enough to change positions in the qualifying order.

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Left Lane: Paul Gill Runs 5.690/253.18, Now #4; Best prior run: 6.049/247.16, Was #13

Gill had strong run that moved him up nine spots in the order, into the number four position. That means he'll face Dan Pomponio in the first round of eliminations instead of Todd Veney.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink