Sun, 16 Nov 2008, 06:14 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 3 Eliminations

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   73 Cody Perkins                            4 Jim Whiteley                 
E3                   0.009  5.390 260.97     ****WINNER****  0.031  5.326 269.08
 Prior rounds:
E2    (D Cox Jr    ) 0.026  5.388 263.36      (M Niver     ) 0.050  5.324 269.19
E1    (B Force     ) 0.061  5.357 264.49      (M Thacker   ) 0.058  5.358 269.46
 Qualified:             #6  5.388 261.98                       #10  5.408 265.74

2:58 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 81 degrees, relative humidity 16 percent, barometer 28.92 inches, adjusted altitude 2,937 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Two blown dragsters to the line. Perkins' car is sporting a unique "T" type nose wing. Perkins gets a remarkable 0.009 RT and runs hard and in front until near the 1000-ft. lights. Big power and MPH on the top end pushes Whiteley past him for the 3/4 car length win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Duane Shields                           1 Bill Reichert                
E3                   0.081  6.095 245.00     ****WINNER****  0.072  5.165 282.66
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Severance ) 0.050  5.331 269.73      (S Cowie     ) 0.091  5.249 279.79
E1    (B Lewis     ) 0.037  5.374 269.03      (B Mirizio   ) 0.083  5.263 273.72
 Qualified:             #5  5.374 269.40                        #1  5.257 271.19

Two fuelers this time. Shields is too greedy at the launch and goes up in smoke instantly. Reichert wasn't going to make it easy with a better RT and huge ET's and MPH to reset his season's best elapsed time and a new career best speed. The ET is the quicest of this year and he cards the second fastest speed ever.

3:06 p.m. Obviously, he will have lane choice over Whiteley in the final round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink