Fri, 30 Apr 2010, 06:50 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dan Bennett

MADISON, Ill. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 14th annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Luigi Novelli Runs 4.156/288.70, Now #1
Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 7.465/93.11, Now #2

5:13 p.m. Haddock shakes the tires and gets the car rocking from side to side. Luigi makes a pretty decent pass and we get a good start on the Top Fuel session.

I spoke too soon. We have a clean up starting way down track in the left lane at the last turnoff.

5:17 p.m.

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Left Lane: Pat Dakin Runs 4.643/233.03, Now #2
Right Lane: Chris Karamesines Runs 6.784/88.97, Now #3

5:23 p.m. and we're firing the cars.

Both cars lose traction a couple hundred of feet out, but only Dakin manages to recover in any significant way.

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Left Lane: Troy Buff Runs 10.926/77.92, Now #6
Right Lane: Terry McMillen Runs 8.668/74.70, Now #5

Short fuse in both lanes. Buff boils the tires on the first rotation, while McMillen makes it just a few feet further.

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Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 6.750/90.06, Now #3

A couple of hundred feet and there's smoke. Luigi's still in the top spot with his 4.156

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Left Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 3.903/307.09, Now #1
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 3.918/307.30, Now #2

That's more like it! We get a full pull on each side.

Brandon Bernstein's incremental times: 60ft-0.861 sec., 330ft-2.196, 660ft-3.119/272.45 mph.
Morgan Lucas' incremental times: 60ft-0.854 sec., 330ft-2.199, 660ft-3.134/270.75 mph.

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Left Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 6.729/89.88, Now #6
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 3.829/318.62, Now #1

That was a major pass for Schumacher. I saw one slight wiggle but the run was otherwise totally efficient in going from Point A to Point B.

Langdon's car was slowing by halftrack, reason unknown.

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Left Lane: Antron Brown Runs 7.157/88.55, Now #10
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 3.939/304.53, Now #4

Brown's car was very aggressive and it was apparent that the tires were going out of control. Kalitta dropped a few cylinders but got the car to the finish line and all the way to the 4th position.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 5.475/121.27, Now #8
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.927/148.41, Now #7

In a pair where everyone expected to see the standards set, not much happens. Dixon's car flashed flames on the right while Cory's car was nosing over; both made it barely to half track.

That's it for the first fuel session. Apparently the Dixon ride sprung a major leak since I can see at least three scrubbers working on the top end of the track.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink