Sat, 14 Nov 2009, 06:10 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 45th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   43 Steve Burck                          710D Alexis De Joria              
E1                   0.073  5.672 228.96     ****WINNER****  0.039  5.677 256.89
 Qualified:            #11  5.665 249.21                       #17  5.744 255.43

2:06 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 39 percent, barometer 28.84 inches, adjusted altitude 2,400 feet, track temperature 86 degrees.

DeJoria is in as an alternate, for Ken Webster, who took a rough ride into the catch net yesterday. He is okay, but his car took a beating.

DeJoria scores a holeshot victory here, the two cars just a few thousandths apart in performance today. Alexis De Joria's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.015), 330 ft(-0.044), 660ft(-0.040), 1,000ft(-0.024). MOV: 0.0299 seconds (approximately 10 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Brian Hough                           717 Brian Thiel                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.021  5.624 255.39                     0.020  5.706 247.11
 Qualified:             #8  5.642 255.29                        #9  5.644 252.52

Hough also went into "the beach" in the first qualifying session yesterday, but stopped short of the net and his crew had the sand cleaned out of the car in time for the final qualifying session late in the afternoon. By the luck of the ladder, these two teammates ended up paired for the first round.

Both drivers had outstanding lights, but Hough took the early lead and extended it on the top end. Brian Hough's incremental margins: 60ft(0.010), 330 ft(0.007), 660ft(0.005), 1,000ft(0.049). MOV: 0.0816 seconds (approximately 30 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  457 Tony Bartone                         7976 Keeter Ray                   
E1                   0.005  7.486 132.23     ****WINNER****  0.162  5.691 255.00
 Qualified:             #7  5.632 255.82                       #10  5.654 253.99

Bartone had a psychic light and Ray was late, but Bartone's car went into almost immediate tire shake, smoking the tires and skating around, while Ray's went right down the groove for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  735 John Lombardo Jr.                      72 Doug Gordon                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.054  5.590 257.28                     0.076  5.588 258.57
 Qualified:             #5  5.619 256.60                       #12  5.670 256.06

Lombardo left first and did a good job of driving a loose race car to take the holeshot win. He actually had the quicker car for the first half of the track, but Gordon was closing the gap on the top half. John Lombardo Jr.'s MOV: 0.0206 seconds (approximately 8 feet). His dad ran a 5.88 to win nitro Funny Car here "back in the day" (1983) and low ET of the meet for nitro floppers back then was a 5.74.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  779 Daniel Oliver                         551 Vern Moats                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.086  5.658 255.39                     0.135 10.474  68.09
 Qualified:             #3  5.588 257.04                       #14  5.697 253.09

Oliver had the better light and Moats shut off after about 400 feet. Oliver will have lane choice against DeJoria in the quarters.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 7735 Steve Gasparrelli                       9 Mickey Ferro                 
E1                   0.064 No Time           ****WINNER****  0.069  5.593 257.92
 Qualified:            #15  5.735 257.24                        #2  5.570 258.62

This turned ugly at the green, something apparently breaking on Gasparrelli's car. The car made an immediate, hard right turn, with what appeared to be fluid under the right rear tire. The car barely missed the Christmas tree, then rolled on its side and rolled into the opposite wall, facing the starting line. The car hit the wall with the underside of the chassis and the car's momentum almost flipped it over the wall. The impact unlatched the body and the throttle hung wide open as the car bounced along the top of the wall. The car then fell back on the track and spun back to the centerline about 200 foot from the starting line before coming to a stop, the engine screaming for a few seconds after that.

After some anxious moments, Gasparrelli came out of the car and was walked over to the ambulance for a checkout.

The ESPN cameras captured the entire sequence in super-slow-motion, so you will probably see it several times on the TV shows this weekend.

Fortunately, Gasparrelli's wild ride took place in relatively slow motion and Ferro was way down the track before Gasparrelli's car crossed into his lane. He will have lane choice against Ray in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 4657 Thomas Carter                          10 Sean O'Bannon                
E1                   0.057  6.758 151.26     ****WINNER****  0.104  5.607 258.91
 Qualified:            #16  5.744 257.28                        #1  5.562 257.28

During the cleanup, O'Bannon decided to swap lanes, putting Carter in the just-cleaned left lane.

Carter's car started going to the left right from the start and he lifted just in time to avoid contact with the wall. O'Bannon went right down the groove and will have lane choice against Hough in round two.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink