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Fri, 14 Nov 2008, 08:54 PM

Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car 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: John Patton Runs 5.823/249.95, Now #22; Best prior run: 8.055/108.54, Was #27
Right Lane: Bret Williamson Runs 13.511/67.97, Now #29; Best prior run: 10.099/80.54, Was #29

4:36 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 30 percent, barometer 28.85 inches, adjusted altitude 3,275 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

Here comes the final session for the Alky Funny Cars. At the beginning of the session it's Harker at #1 and Moats on the bump. Williamson rattles the tires hard off the line and coasts on through. Patton gets a better hit but still falls far short of making the show.

Left Lane: Brian Smith Runs 6.230/180.21, Now #26; Best prior run: 5.925/240.47, Was #25
Right Lane: Roger Bateman Runs 5.604/253.23, Now #3; Best prior run: 8.506/90.28, Was #28

Bateman makes a huge move at he goes from #28 all the way to #3. What a last ditch effort for he and his team. Smith had the car drive him to the center line and he had to tiptoe all the way to the finish.

Left Lane: Keeter Ray Runs 5.753/224.55, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.892/219.54, Was #24
Right Lane: Bernie Harrington Runs 6.205/167.82, Now #28; Best prior run: 6.663/136.29, Was #28

Harrington appeared to lose an engine after half track and now the only question is how much the diaper managed to keep off the track. I'm guessing we're about to find out. Ray makes the final shot count as he moves into the show at #15. The darn diapers seem to work pretty well. In no time the word goes out to 'Fire the next pair'!

Left Lane: Daniel Oliver Runs 5.660/253.23, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.819/249.53, Was #23
Right Lane: Russ Parker Runs 5.930/247.66, Now #27; Best prior run: 5.948/247.20, Was #27

All the trials the Goodwin team has been through this weekend pay off here in the final session as Oliver guides the Funny Car into the show at #6. Parker has less luck as all he can muster is a time that leaves him as #27 in a sixteen car field.

Left Lane: DJ Cox Jr. Runs 5.664/256.89, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.802/248.43, Was #20
Right Lane: Dennis Taylor Runs 5.739/230.33, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.922/241.63, Was #23

The best news for Taylor is that he makes the field. The bad? He's on the bump. Cox does even more as he goes from way outside the field to the top half on his final ditch effort.

Left Lane: Marty Nothstein Runs 5.647/252.71, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.797/251.77, Was #22
Right Lane: Ron August Jr Runs 5.695/253.99, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.801/251.58, Was #24

Well, this field is well on it's way to being totally scrambled! Nothstein and August find a way in...by going quick! Remember I said that Taylor was on the bump? Well now he's #18 and Bellemeur and Kinsley are out as well and O'Bannon is now on the bubble.

Left Lane: Steve Burck Runs 6.000/246.12, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.745/252.19, Was #19
Right Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 5.651/259.26, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.800/251.20, Was #24

Ferro bumps his way in but Burck will miss out on the eliminations portion of the party.

Left Lane: Kebin Kinsley Runs 5.715/256.06, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.734/254.62, Was #18
Right Lane: Vern Moats Runs 5.712/252.90, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.771/250.32, Was #24

This field has really tightened up and now both Kinsley and Moats improve but they will not run in eliminations either.

Left Lane: Sean Bellemeur Runs 5.692/253.18, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.705/252.99, Was #17
Right Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 7.351/132.58, Now #24; Best prior run: 5.769/253.37, Was #24

Bellemeur is the next driver to bump his way back into the field but Thompson falls far short of the 5.699 bump spot held by De Joria.

Left Lane: Don Hudson Runs 5.791/251.95, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.695/252.57, Was #15
Right Lane: Hank Coolidge Runs 6.105/180.52, Now #23; Best prior run: 5.759/244.25, Was #23

Coolidge really must have leaned on this one hard. Big boom, a wall of smoke, and every piece of equipment that cleans up oil is converging on the right lane. A genuine four bagger I believe! Oh, and he fails to qualify...ouch. In the middle of all of this, and almost unnoticed, Hudson runs quick enough to make the field. He's in at #15.

Left Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 9.141/97.73, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.671/254.23, Was #10
Right Lane: Sean O'Bannon Runs 10.244/83.64, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.703/255.00, Was #17

Now it's 25 minutes later and we finally get the fire 'em up call. O'Bannon was in the top half at the beginning of this session but now finds himself outside the show. Both get really loose right off the line but it's O'Bannon that pays the bigger price as he will not get to play in eliminations. Gasparrelli remains #10.

Left Lane: Brian Hough Runs 8.785/97.29, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.638/257.58, Was #5
Right Lane: Alexis De Joria Runs 5.669/250.97, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.699/251.49, Was #16

Hough was all over the left lane early in the run and decided his #5 starting spot was good enough. De Joria simply is having the best weekend of her career so far. She resets her career best ET by a good amount and is safely in the show.

Left Lane: Mick Snyder Runs 5.565/258.86, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.618/255.82, Was #4
Right Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 5.664/255.05, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.686/257.43, Was #12

I believe everyone would like to begin this session over, right now! Conditions must be perfect for these folks as Snyder moves Harker down to #2 with his career best ET and speed. Nice pass! Gordon was a tenth behind but still moves up two positions.

Left Lane: Jay Payne No Time, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.585/258.17, Was #3
Right Lane: Steve Harker Runs 5.556/252.57, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.569/249.63, Was #2

This time it was Harker's turn to move Snyder back down the list. Harker goes back to #1 and moves Snyder to #2. Payne lost the run when he wound up crossing the center of the track, luckily behind Harker and not next to him. That concludes a very long final session of final alky qualifying.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink