Sat, 10 Apr 2010, 04:58 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Right Lane: Del Cox Jr Runs 4.151/283.43, Now #13; No Prior Run

3:27 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 58 percent, barometer 30.16 inches, adjusted altitude 975 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

Cox and Mitch King teammate Spencer Massey did not make a run yesterday. Both have been running in the IHRA Nitro Jam series, but this is their first NHRA outing this season

Cox had a dead cylinder or two, but had no other obvious problems.

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Left Lane: Spencer Massey Runs 4.147/295.08, Now #14; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Bobby Lagana Jr. Runs 3.960/306.19, Now #12; No Prior Run

Side-by-side most of the way, Lagana with the quicker car today.

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Left Lane: T.J. Zizzo Runs 7.471/85.51, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.982/277.72, Was #13
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.040/298.47, Now #14; No Prior Run

Zizzo lost traction about 200 feet out. Bernstein made a full pass, the car on a good pace early, but was off the pace on the top end.

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Left Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 8.574/84.80, Now #11; Best prior run: 3.939/296.63, Was #11
Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 4.698/186.95, Now #17; No Prior Run

Haddock's finish line problems yesterday were not serious - a head gasket and a rear-end failure, the latter leaving a small amount of "stuff" on the track.

Haddock's car started losing power around half track and he lifted. Lucas lost traction about 200 feet out.

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Left Lane: Troy Buff Runs 7.167/119.94, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.936/293.28, Was #10
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 3.837/317.27, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.856/318.54, Was #6

Buff started rsttling the tires about 200 feet out. Cory Mac made a pretty run, the third-best run of the weekend.

Cory McClenathan's incremental times: 60ft-0.858 sec., 330ft-2.161, 660ft-3.071/278.86 mph.

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Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 5.773/108.39, Now #9; Best prior run: 3.916/312.71, Was #9
Right Lane: Terry McMillen Runs 3.914/311.20, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.891/313.73, Was #8

Kalitta was up in smoke before the 330-foot marker, but McMillan made a nice, full pass with no visible problems.

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Left Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 3.895/310.77, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.860/314.24, Was #7
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 5.486/123.27, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.847/318.17, Was #5

Same scenario, but flip the lanes. Langdon made a full pass with no visible problems in the left lane, Kalitta lost traction about 200 feet out.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.818/320.43, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.848/318.99, Was #6
Right Lane: Steve Torrence Runs 3.852/311.63, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.839/313.80, Was #4

Two nice runs ... Schumacher makes the quickest and fastest run of the session and Torrence shows that his solid run yesterday was no fluke with the third-quickest so far.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 3.841/313.51, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.808/320.74, Was #2
Right Lane: Antron Brown Runs 3.794/321.96, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.803/317.64, Was #1

Two m ore nice runs, but Brown's was the nicest - the fourth-fastest ever at 1,000 feet and the quickest of the weekend. That gives him the three point bonus, Schumacher gets two and Cory Mac gets one. That's a season-best ET and a career-best speed for Brown.

Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.860 sec., 330ft-2.163, 660ft-3.074/278.86 mph.
Antron Brown's incremental times: 60ft-0.848 sec., 330ft-2.148, 660ft-3.041/284.45 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink