Thu, 11 Feb 2010, 06:42 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Right Lane: Mike Austin Runs 5.592/255.82, Now #1

Weather conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 43 percent, barometer 29.01 inches, adjusted altitude 2,092 feet, track temperature 86 degrees.

Some wild TAFC passes, so this should be fun.

Brown is a No Show, so Austin will make a single pass. He gets to the finish line without any problems. Not likely to stay #1 for long, but a great place to start the weekend.

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Left Lane: Art Trautman Runs 5.725/231.12, Now #3
Right Lane: Larry Miersch Runs 5.379/255.43, Now #1

Two 'Fuelers to the line.

Miersch gets to the 1000ft lights with all of the holes firing, and then has a bunch go wet. He still has the power to run a great "thirty".

Trautman's car was a little lazy off the line and started to drop cylinders after mid-track.

Larry Miersch's incremental times: 60ft-0.930 sec., 330ft-2.419, 660ft-3.551/220.73 mph, 1,000ft-4.519.

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Left Lane: Del Cox Jr. Runs 14.643/67.68, Now #5
Right Lane: Ashley Bart Runs 5.537/228.89, Now #2

Cox had a great year in IHRA TF in 2009 and moves to TAD this weekend. The slicks are up in smoke at the green.

Bart's blown car has a nice 0.904 sixty foot time, but bangs the blower before the lights and slows. His early incrementals were better than Miersch's 5.37 pass!

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Left Lane: Mark Niver Runs 5.437/268.92, Now #2
Right Lane: Brittany Force Runs 11.025/80.51, Now #6

Niver has gone wild and actually has another color, besides black, on the Billet Bullet. A nice flame job was added over the winter. A strong pass and he takes the new #2 spot.

Brittany's car strikes the tires at the green and slows.

Mark Niver's incremental times: 60ft-0.947 sec., 330ft-2.472, 660ft-3.638/217.49 mph, 1,000ft-4.607.

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Left Lane: Courtney Force Runs 16.597/41.90, Now #9
Right Lane: Johnny Ahten Runs 5.679/222.99, Now #5

It's Courtney Force's turn this time and it's a repeat of Brittany's run.

Ahten gets a good pass to tune to and takes over the current #5 spot on the sixteen car ladder.

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Left Lane: Dale Carlson Runs 5.708/242.50, Now #6
Right Lane: Brandon Johnson Runs 10.317/106.58, Now #8

Carlson blower car vs. Johnson's fueler. Two division six hitters.

Johnson goes three feet and smokes the tires.

Carlson gets down the track in style and moves into the current top half of the field in the #6 spot.

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Left Lane: Joey Severance Runs 5.781/190.67, Now #8
Right Lane: Chris Demke Runs 6.578/140.77, Now #9

Two broken runs after strong leaves.

Demke's car has a 0.916 sixty foot time and then has the car pull steadily toward the center line. He finally has to give it up and dump.

Severance was right behind him and ran well until near the top end where the blower went BANG!

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Left Lane: Shawn Cowie No Time, Now #16
Right Lane: Jim Whiteley Runs 5.311/268.65, Now #1

Two of the best in the US are up next! #2 vs #4...

Cowie's new dragster has no reverse and the entire crew runs out to push him back behind the line. Whiteley waits patiently.

Looks like more problems getting it in to "GO" mode and he has to shut it off.

Whiteley patience pays off with a terrific looking pass right into the new top spot.

3:30 p.m. No bump stop yet...

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink