Fri, 3 Oct 2003, 01:59 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster 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: Ken Winward Runs 5.680/250.78, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.580/240.42, Was #9
Right Lane: Daniel Mercier Runs 5.809/253.18, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.477/260.97, Was #5

1:03 PM - At the start of the session, the air temperature was 57 degrees, humidity 37 percent and the barometric pressure was 20.14 and falling under a clear sky.

Mercier had a good start but his car had a bit of a stumble at around 330 feet. Winward had a clean looking run.

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Left Lane: Karen Benkovich Runs 6.776/134.48, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.574/246.35, Was #8
Right Lane: Bruce Horner Runs 5.523/255.39, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.973/184.17, Was #14

Benkovich had a clean run going but the tires started to smoke slightly at mid track and she backed off the run. Horner had a strong run that gave him his career best ET and speed, beating the time and speed he had here last year.

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Left Lane: David De Angelis Runs 5.483/251.81, Now #6; Best prior run: 11.949/64.28, Was #20
Right Lane: Steven Cantrell No Time, Now #19; Best prior run: 7.713/110.81, Was #18

Cantrell drifted left and crossed the center line, taking out the 1,000 foot cone. DeAngelis had a clean run that was the quickest ET of his career. His previous best was 5.575 seconds, at the 2002 Super Nationals.

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Left Lane: Michael Gunderson Runs 5.362/269.67, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.232/280.54, Was #1
Right Lane: Mike Kosky Runs 5.625/210.67, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.722/134.35, Was #18

Gunderson ran 280.54 miles per hour here three weeks ago. To back that up and set a national speed record, he has to run at least 277.73 miles per hour. He had a sluggish start, dropped some cylinders and started to haze the tires at mid track but still had a good ET. Kosky's run looked okay -- with just a little bit of tire shake -- and his ET was just okay as well.

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Left Lane: Rich McPhillips Runs 5.345/256.50, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.551/259.06, Was #8
Right Lane: Cliff Bozzelli Runs 6.846/131.51, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.996/247.75, Was #17

McPhillips started to make his burnout, but the engine sputtered. He back up and tried again but the engine just did not sound right while he staged. But sound doesn't matter and he let loose with a great run and snagged his career best ET. Bozelli's run looked okay but was not quick enough to make the field. He'll have one more chance in a couple of hours.

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Left Lane: Arthur Gallant Runs 5.558/247.57, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.565/240.38, Was #9
Right Lane: Mark Albert Runs 5.520/252.14, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.627/224.17, Was #14

Gallant has run a limited schedule this year. He tried twice to do a burnout but was not able to spin the tires either time. But like McPhillips before him, none of that seemed to matter as he had a pretty good run. Albert had a clean run going until his car started to smoke just before the 1,000 foot mark. Even with the smoke, Albert still managed to record the quickest ET of his career, beating his old best by one hundredth of a second.

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Left Lane: Sheila Tafur Runs 5.571/232.59, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.698/235.19, Was #16
Right Lane: Douglas Foley Runs 5.561/254.28, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.692/194.27, Was #15

Tafur drifted toward the center line and had to fight to keep from crossing over. She did what she had to do, but road the line most of the way down the track. She moved up four spots in the order. Foley also moved up four spots with a strong run. This was Tafur's career best ET, beating her previous best of 5.614 seconds at the Northeast Division points race here this year.

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Left Lane: Bruce Insinger Runs 5.749/238.64, Now #17; No Prior Run

Insinger broke during the only qualifying session three weeks ago and was not in the field. He completed a run this time but was not quick enough to break into the field.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink