Fri, 31 Oct 2008, 06:58 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Rick Green

LAS VEGAS - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Right Lane: Arley Langlo Runs 7.139/89.02, Now #1

Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 29 percent, barometer 28.09 inches, adjusted altitude 3,883 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Langlo gets out of the groove and clicks it off early.

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Right Lane: Terry McMillen Runs 3.918/307.86, Now #1

McMillen making his second appearance on the NHRA tour this year. He has real nice looking pass.

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Left Lane: Tim Boychuk Runs 4.076/240.77, Now #2
Right Lane: Mike Strasburg Runs 7.206/49.34, Now #4

Strasburg loses traction right off the starting line and clicks it off. Boychuk is mixing up cylinders early and then the engine lets go with a big fireball. Apparently we have oil on the track as the Safety Safari crew rolls.

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Left Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 4.089/294.43, Now #3
Right Lane: Urs Erbacher Runs 9.411/79.47, Now #6

Urs is up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Steven Chrisman Runs 4.435/267.11, Now #5
Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 3.889/315.42, Now #1

Millican with a real nice looking pass...Clay Millican's incremental times: 60ft-0.869 sec., 330ft-2.207, 660ft-3.124/277.72 mph. Chrisman labored off the starting line.

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Left Lane: Troy Buff Runs 8.344/74.93, Now #8
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 8.772/80.29, Now #9

Vandergriff smoked the tires as soon as he hit the throttle. Buff launched and it lifted the front end and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 4.329/211.36, Now #6
Right Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 3.968/301.81, Now #3

Lucas started to haze the tires and clicked it off. Todd as he said got it from A to B, but that was it.

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Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 7.114/88.37, Now #9
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 5.146/138.29, Now #8

Grubnic started to haze the tires around 330 feet and clicked it off. Kalitta's engine went silent around half track.

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Left Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 3.939/303.64, Now #4
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 3.916/311.20, Now #2

This was a good looking side-by-side drag race. A couple good passes for these guys to start the weekend. Rod Fuller's incremental times: 60ft-0.862 sec., 330ft-2.206, 660ft-3.144/268.60 mph.
Brandon Bernstein's incremental times: 60ft-0.868 sec., 330ft-2.208, 660ft-3.137/273.27 mph.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert No Time, Now #19
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 3.905/311.20, Now #2

Herbert with problems on the burnout and drives it on through. Dixon with a real nice pass to start the weekend, into the number two spot. Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.881 sec., 330ft-2.211, 660ft-3.130/274.89 mph.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 6.955/89.61, Now #13
Right Lane: Antron Brown Runs 3.985/300.40, Now #7

McClenathan started to lose traction early and clicked it off. Brown started to haze the tires and then mixing up the cylinders. It appears he might of used up an engine as the Safety Safari is rolling.

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Left Lane: Hillary Will Runs 6.827/84.64, Now #14
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.847/317.19, Now #1

Will lost traction right off the starting line and clicked it off. Schumacher launched hard and blasted on through for the number one spot. Schumacher with a big top end speed, the fifth fastest of the 1000-foot era. He goes to the number one spot. Tony Schumacher's incremental times: 60ft-0.858 sec., 330ft-2.169, 660ft-3.084/277.72 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink