Sat, 7 Feb 2009, 06:50 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 49th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Del Cox Jr Runs 4.020/24.49, Now #1
Right Lane: Steve Farria Runs 4.854/252.61, Now #2

2:56 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 61 degrees, relative humidity 47 percent, barometer 28.72 inches, adjusted altitude 2,025 feet, track temperature 76 degrees. The dark cloud are starting to cover the skies again.

This will be the first official qualifying attempt for both drivers. They were licensed at the Vegas Test two weeks ago.

Lots of pumping! Cox leaves second, but is much quicker in 60 feet. He does a full "lift and stab" before the 330 foot lights and legs it on down the track.

Farria's car is way slow off the line with only a 1.010 sixty foot time and he has to feather the throttle several times going down the track.

"Career Best" for both drivers !

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Left Lane: Andy Carter Runs 4.020/24.50, Now #1
Right Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 4.091/307.79, Now #3

Great looking pass for Carter [BTW: Still no MPH in the left lane]. No chute for Carter, but he is able to get the car slowed without a problem.

Langdon had the better numbers through sixty feet, but had to slap the throttle before the 330.

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Left Lane: David Baca Runs 3.920/25.91, Now #1
Right Lane: Arley Langlo No Time, Now #6

Langlo's engine sounded like there was no throttle stop on the burn out and the engine zingged way up to past high "C" before there appeared to be a flash from the injector and the chute fell out. He backed completely over it before the starting line crew could get him stopped.

Great looking return pass for the Mach1/Global Services TF team. Straight and true to the finish line and Baca is our new #1 qualifier.

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Left Lane: Spencer Massey Runs 3.968/0.00, Now #2
Right Lane: Mike Strasburg Runs 3.980/305.01, Now #3

Two more ninety passes and Massey drifts over and gets very close to the finish line lights.

3:09 p.m. We have "Stuff" on the track in the right lane. No points or dollars for 2009.

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Left Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 3.748/0.00, Now #1
Right Lane: Urs Erbacher Runs 3.915/305.63, Now #2

Whoa!! Hartman runs over 0.165 seconds quicker than his prior career best on a great looking pass. Erbacher was right behind him and moves into the #2 with a career best MPH.

Looks like more oil in the right lane.

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Left Lane: Steven Chrisman Runs 4.000/0.00, Now #6
Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 5.142/144.84, Now #11

Clean pass end to end for Chrisman and he too runs a career best ET. Millican gets the clutch ahead of the tires and has to stab it a couple of times to settle it down.

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Left Lane: Troy Buff No Time, Now #14
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 4.548/270.81, Now #10

Looks like Miller's TF'er had a problem that couldn't be fixed and they had to shut him off on the line. Lucas had a reasonable 0.864 sixty foot time and then had to pedal down track.

Just past half track, the right side body panels from the front of the foot-well to behind the roll bar blew off and flew way up in the air. Looked like he dumped the Sunday L.A. Times out of the car.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.016/0.00, Now #8
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 3.866/317.42, Now #2

Kalitta got the advantage off the line and then started to push a head gasket before the 660 lights. He slows a bunch. Bernstein has the power and makes a clean pass into the new #2 spot on the ladder.

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Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 3.708/0.00, Now #1
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 3.851/313.66, Now #3

Say Hello to your new number one qualifier!! Brown improves on his career best ET by almost a tenth.

McClenathan makes up for his preseason testing problems with a quicker sixty foot and identical 330 foot times.

Antron Brown's incremental times: 60ft-0.841 sec., 330ft-2.158, 660ft-3.074/274.72 mph.
Cory McClenathan's incremental times: 60ft-0.838 sec., 330ft-2.158, 660ft-3.081/275.00 mph.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 6.326/0.00, Now #18
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.897/311.99, Now #5

No joy for the other half of the Al-Anabi Racing Team, as although Dixon was much quicker to sixty feet, the car spun the tires near the 330 lights. Schumacher's car was a little soft off the line with only a 0.866 sixty foot time, then runs strong the rest of the way down the track.

3:35 p.m. Brown stays #1 and Steve Farria is on the bump spot at 4.854.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink