Sun, 23 May 2010, 01:36 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 2 Eliminations

By Dan Bennett

TOPEKA, Kan. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 22nd annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
        Bye                                 777 Mark Niver                   
E2                                            ****WINNER****  0.088  5.353 260.86
 Prior rounds:
E1                                           (C Copeland  ) 0.059  5.455 262.13
 Qualified:                                                       #1  5.274 271.30

12:22 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 84 degrees, relative humidity 66 percent, barometer 28.68 inches, adjusted altitude 4,071 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

This is the first time in NHRA competition that Niver has ever received a bye. He makes the most of it, running a clean pass and gaining data for next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  744 Courtney Force                        498 Kristen Wootton              
E2   ****WINNER****  0.059  5.527 259.36                     0.080  5.639 255.73
 Prior rounds:
E1    (R Putz      ) 0.102  5.522 256.21      (R Meyer     ) 0.066  5.448 252.76
 Qualified:             #3  5.320 264.96                        #6  5.428 255.92

Wooten's car is blubbering big time and barely cleans out enough for her to get a short burnout.

Force wins this one, but all eyes are on Wooten. She just pulled off one of the best driving job I've seen in a long time. The car hiked the front tires and made a fairly decisive turn towards the centerline. She slapped the throttle to get the tires back down and then expertly jerked the car back to the center of the lane.

It still wanted to move around and I heard at least one more pedal job. Though she went across the line in the center of the lane, all those heroics killed enough ET that Force took the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  745 Brittany Force                          2 Jim Whiteley                 
E2   ****WINNER****  0.080  5.628 253.47                     0.106  9.855  82.88
 Prior rounds:
E1    (C Demke     ) 0.090  5.715 243.06      (C Perkins   ) 0.025  5.493 255.53
 Qualified:            #11  5.553 255.29                        #5  5.404 261.17

Whitely's hammering the tires at the hit and never gets them to settle back down into reality. Force is long gone and takes an easy win. Niver will have lane choice over Brittany next time up.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 Michael Manners                         3 Duane Shields                
E2                   0.031  5.440 265.22     ****WINNER****  0.045  5.339 268.17
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Odom      ) 0.036  5.534 260.71      (M Wahle     ) 0.043  5.519 261.88
 Qualified:             #7  5.461 259.16                        #2  5.281 267.22

Shields runs low ET of the round and will face Courtney Force next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink