Fri, 14 Nov 2008, 07:40 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Final Session |
By David Gerard |
POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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:
Left Lane: Cody Perkins Runs 5.388/261.98, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.052/175.37, Was #22
Right Lane: Michael Manners Runs 5.745/257.58, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.860/251.86, Was #21
Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer 28.85 inches, adjusted altitude 3,275 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.
Randy Eakins is on the bump spot at 5.492.
Last chance to qualify for 2008!Nice pass for perkins into the top eight with
a 0.916 sixty foot time. Manners picks a little ET, but just doesn't have the combination for
Pomona. He moves down to the #22 SPOT.
Left Lane: Mike Austin Runs 5.614/254.23, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.577/257.24, Was #20
Right Lane: Larry Miersch Runs 5.501/253.52, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.602/246.03, Was #21
Bobby Mirizio is on the bump spot at 5.471. Miersch picks up almost a dime, but can't crack the bump spot. Austin made a full pull and was a little slower.
Left Lane: Brandon Johnson Runs 5.749/246.66, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.568/257.48, Was #20
Right Lane: Justin Davis No Time, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.500/261.42, Was #18
Davis' engine briefly fired and then quit. He is out of the car, so his weekend is over. Johnson has at least one cylinder out before the 330 lights and continues to lose them down track.
Left Lane: Randy Eakins Runs 5.565/250.46, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.492/250.69, Was #17
Right Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.389/264.60, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.443/258.52, Was #13
Looks like Davis' dragster wasn't house broken. The cleaner is out behind the burnout box dusting and cleaning.
4:03 p.m. ...and we are back to qualifying. No joy for Eakins
in the fueler. He runs close to his prior MPH, but can't even match his ET's. Thacker gets
everything working together and takes a 0.914 sixty-foot time all the way up to the top half of the
field in #6.
Left Lane: Bobby Mirizio Runs 9.585/76.10, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.471/263.10, Was #16
Right Lane: Del Cox Jr. Runs 5.795/242.76, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.433/266.85, Was #13
Mirizio has massive tire shake and moves back and forth on the track before shutting off. Cox's car struggles on the low end and he doesn't improve.
Left Lane: Mark Niver Runs 6.045/176.21, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.459/264.65, Was #15
Right Lane: Joey Severance Runs 5.426/264.55, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.424/264.08, Was #12
Niver's car drives towards the guard rail and the pipes go wet before the top end. Severance in the blown car almost repeats his prior best to stay #12.
Left Lane: Duane Shields Runs 5.374/269.40, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.457/271.24, Was #14
Right Lane: Shawn Cowie Runs 5.392/265.74, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.418/263.36, Was #11
Much better! Both cars make strong passes with Cowie just missing the top half of the field by 0.4 MPH! Shields keep the tire hooked up this time and powers into the current #5 spot with all cylinders firing.
Left Lane: Brandon Lewis Runs 5.447/263.31, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.416/249.03, Was #12
Right Lane: Brittany Force Runs 5.531/259.46, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.416/265.80, Was #11
Full pulls,but neither car can improve. They will stay #12 and #11 for now.
Left Lane: Jim Whiteley Runs 17.313/38.87, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.408/265.74, Was #10
Right Lane: Chris Demke Runs 5.404/226.13, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.340/261.88, Was #4
A brief delay while some "Stuff" is cleaned up near the last turnout.
4:21 p.m. Well, that was ugly. Whiteley fired and fell back with tire smoke. Demke was "on a pass" with a great 0.904 sixty-foot time and quick incrementals to past mid-track. Looks like it got expensive from that point on with a Boomer and what appeared to be a rear tire carcass fling high into the air and over the right guard rail. The car goes on down and safely stops.
Chris Demke's
incremental times: 60ft-0.904 sec., 330ft-2.345, 660ft-3.494/214.59 mph, 1,000ft-4.486
Left Lane: Kimmelyn Buff Pesz Runs 5.429/258.02, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.392/266.16, Was #8
Right Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 5.257/271.19, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.340/273.55, Was #3
4:30 p.m. Reichert shows his Championship form and powers into the new #1 spot with style. Pesz makes another clean pass to almost repeat on her prior best.
Right Lane: Courtney Force Runs 6.006/249.63, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.282/263.62, Was #3
Ahten decided to save the parts and won't run in the last session. Force should have too, as the engine sounds terrible from start to finish. She will stay #3.
4:33 p.m. Reichert is
#1 with a 5.257 and Bobby Mirizio is on the bump spot at 5.471.
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