Tue, 10 Feb 2009, 07:54 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 49th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   72 Doug Gordon                          7238 Bret Williamson              
E3   ****WINNER****  0.062  5.500 261.83                     0.091  9.111  87.15
 Prior rounds:
E2    (C Thompson  ) 0.057  5.511 261.88      (D Taylor    ) 0.085  5.662 250.69
E1    (J Payne     ) 0.058  5.636 255.43      (B Smith     ) 0.082 10.558  78.12
 Qualified:             #7  5.802 255.29                        #6  5.792 245.72

4:46 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 64 degrees, relative humidity 26 percent, barometer 29.02 inches, adjusted altitude 1,666 feet, track temperature 77 degrees.

Gordon drove through some nasty shake and actually improved over his prior round win over Thompson.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  457 Tony Bartone                         6843 Ken Webster                  
E3   ****WINNER****  0.055  5.609 256.02                     0.112  5.635 257.92
 Prior rounds:
E2    (F Manzo     ) 0.043  5.684 254.47      (B Thiel     ) 0.056  5.631 258.37
E1    (S Bellemeur ) 0.063  5.993 246.98      (R Konno     ) 0.087  5.638 257.19
 Qualified:             #9  5.837 244.78                        #4  5.719 254.90

Bartone staged the car very carefully and it paid off when the tree came down. Webster stayed right there but Bartone just had that little bit extra to pull away for the win. Gordon will have choice over Bartone in the final by about a tenth.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink