Sun, 11 Apr 2010, 12:26 PM Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 3516 Terry McMillen                         44 David Grubnic                
E1                   0.080  4.077 262.08     ****WINNER****  0.079  3.871 318.92
 Qualified:             #8  3.891 313.73                        #9  3.916 312.71

10:59 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 73 degrees, relative humidity 65 percent, barometer 30.18 inches, adjusted altitude 1,367 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

This is the first time McMillen and Grubnic have faced each other in eliminations. Grubnic struggled a bit in qualifying, but his crew got the car sorted out for today and he was already leading before mcMillen's engine started pushing out the head gasket and flinging the blower belt high in the air.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  333 Shawn Langdon                         497 Troy Buff                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.055  5.325 196.47                     0.076 No Time      
 Qualified:             #7  3.860 314.24                       #10  3.936 293.28

Buff is 2 - 0 against Langdon in prior events. The last time they met in round one was at Norwalk last year.

Miller's car started spinning the tires, then popped the burst panel and the chutes came out. Then Langdon's car started smoking the tires and Langdon started smoking the tires and Langdon started pedaling, unaware that Buff was coasting to a stop. By the time his car slowly rolled past the finish line, the timing system was already reset.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  475 Steve Torrence                         34 Morgan Lucas                 
E1                   0.097  8.154  86.04     ****WINNER****  0.123  3.965 305.29
 Qualified:             #6  3.839 313.80                       #11  3.939 296.63

Torrence is 2 - 1 against Lucas in prior events, 1-0 in round one (at the Gatornationals this year).

Torrence was up in smoke and sideways before going 100 feet. He pedaled, spun again, got sideways again, and he shut it off. Meanwhile, no obvious problems for Lucas, running his best speed of the weekend.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Cory McClenathan                      317 T.J. Zizzo                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.085  3.878 315.05                     0.082  6.708  90.47
 Qualified:             #5  3.837 317.27                       #12  3.955 299.73

McClenathan is 2 - 0 against Zizzo in prior events, both times in round one.

They left together, but McClenathan was already pulling away before Zizzo lost traction about 150 feet out.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  744 Del Cox Jr                              2 Larry Dixon                  
E1                  -0.224  6.030 106.14     ****WINNER****  0.008  3.853 316.15
 Qualified:            #16  4.151 283.43                        #1  3.772 323.19

Dixon is 1 - 0 against Cox Jr. in prior events, their only prior meeting coming at the '09 Winternationals.

Cox took a shot at the tree and missed by a bunch, then went up in smoke. Good run by Dixon, the quickest of the round so far - giving him lane choice against Grubnic (who was second-quickest so far).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Antron Brown                            6 Spencer Massey               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.065  3.858 315.27                     0.078  4.176 235.64
 Qualified:             #2  3.777 318.09                       #15  4.147 295.08

Brown and Massey have each won 3 times against the other in prior events, Brown winning the only time they met in round one - but in fairness, those meetings came when Massey was in Don Prudhomme's car.

Brown beat Massey at Massey's game, leaving first, then ran away from him, Massey's car nosing over on the top end. Brown was slightly slower than Dixon, but easily earned lane choice against Langdon next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Schumacher                         5 Brandon Bernstein            
E1                   0.114  9.560  74.29     ****WINNER****  0.038  4.004 309.06
 Qualified:             #3  3.785 321.81                       #14  4.040 298.47

Schumacher is 26 - 10 against Bernstein in prior events, 4-1 in round one matchups. Schumacher has been tough this year, Bernstein has been struggling.

Can you say "upset" boys and girls? Bernstein nailed the tree and posted a stout 60-foot time enroute to an easy win, Schumacher up in smoke almost immediately. Bernstein's car ran out of steam on the top end and he lost lane choice to Lucas in round two - but he scored his third round win of the year.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   22 Doug Kalitta                          141 Bobby Lagana Jr.             
E1   ****WINNER****  0.113  4.209 298.67                     0.084  4.796 166.05
 Qualified:             #4  3.829 322.34                       #13  3.960 306.19

Kalitta is 2 - 0 against Lagana Jr. in prior events.

Lagana was away first and led early, but both cars started losing traction and Kalitta did a better job of regaining traction to take the win. He won't have lane choice against Cory Mac, however.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink