Fri, 3 Oct 2008, 04:50 PM Competition Eliminator Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

FONTANA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Competition Eliminator at the NHRA, Third annual NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, amount over/under index, and position in order following run, class and class index:

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Left Lane: Doug Lambeck Runs 8.506/156.48/-0.494, Now #1 D/SMA Index: 9.00
Right Lane: Dean Carter Runs 13.964/73.29/6.394, Now #2 B/ND Index: 7.57

1:16 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 81 degrees, relative humidity 37 percent, barometer 28.70 inches, adjusted altitude 3,082 feet, track temperature 108 degrees.

Carter has his hands full, as the wheely bar breaks at the hit. The front end goes way up and them crashes down. Carter gets the car back under control and just motors on down the track. Scary!

No drama for Lambeck and he runs close to five hundred under his index.

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Left Lane: Jim Cowan Runs 8.950/145.78/0.160, Now #2 I/AA Index: 8.79
Right Lane: Not on File Runs 6.834/206.10/-0.016, Now #4 F/EA Index: 6.85

Cowan waited until Maggio was at mid-track before leaving the line. Big MPH for the altered!.

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Left Lane: Randy Jones Runs 8.770/153.72/-0.370, Now #3 E/SM Index: 9.14
Right Lane: Tom Brown Runs 8.319/159.93/-0.511, Now #1 F/ED Index: 8.83

Jones' car makes a hard move towards the center line and he has to reel it back in. Tom Brown takes the little F/ED to the current top spot.

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Left Lane: Ross Wilson Runs 8.345/162.16/-0.515, Now #1 C/SMA Index: 8.86
Right Lane: Brian Moscini Runs 7.701/176.67/-0.319, Now #5 C/AA Index: 8.02

Wilson makes a nice clean pass to take over the #1 position on the ladder.

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Left Lane: Jon Rowley Runs 6.991/189.47/-0.469, Now #4 A/ND Index: 7.46
Right Lane: Steve Graham Runs 7.541/179.85/-0.439, Now #5 C/A Index: 7.98

Rowley makes a six second pass against the tough A/ND index. Graham slots in right behind him.

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Left Lane: Ed Sigmon Runs 8.950/117.29/-0.170, Now #8 C/SR Index: 9.12
Right Lane: Alan Ellis Runs 7.466/193.43/0.176, Now #10 A/AP Index: 7.29

Ellis continues to have problems at the launch with the high horsepower altered. Clean pass for Sigmon, but he won't be happy with the time.

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Left Lane: Tom Mettler Runs 7.510/180.40/-0.500, Now #3 PST Index: 8.01
Right Lane: Alan Freese Runs 7.594/178.59/-0.426, Now #7 C/AA Index: 8.02

Mettler takes his PST on a good pass into the current #3 spot. Freeze is a little off his usual pace.

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Left Lane: Skip Dunn Runs 7.335/184.35/-0.305, Now #11 B/AA Index: 7.64
Right Lane: Dan Fletcher Runs 8.172/167.34/-0.488, Now #5 C/EA Index: 8.66

No one is setting the world on fire in the first session. These two will qualify, as we don't have 32 cars.

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Left Lane: John Edwards Runs 7.487/180.43/-0.533, Now #1 C/AA Index: 8.02

...and we save the best for last. Edwards takes the little Neon on a clean pass into the #1 spot for the session.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink