Sat, 26 Jun 2010, 10:30 AM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By David Gerard

NORWALK, Ohio - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Fourth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals 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:

---

Right Lane: Dave Heitzman No Time, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.947/245.32, Was #15

9:59 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 59 percent, barometer 29.01 inches, adjusted altitude 3,087 feet, track temperature 98 degrees.

Field not filled, no bump spot. It's reported that Mike Kosky will sit out the final session.

Heitzman is sitting at the bottom of the latter and has to run better than a 5.767 to improve.

Not this time, as he is told to shut the engine off after the burnout, as the car is leaking stuff from just behind the starting line to about a hundred feet out or so. The starting line crew does their mop work and the Asphalt Zamboni goes up and down to finish the job.

---

Left Lane: Rich McPhillips Runs 5.652/232.55, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.767/234.98, Was #14
Right Lane: Brandon Greco Runs 13.680/54.45, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.708/249.21, Was #13

10:05 a.m. The call goes out to start the engines. An Injected Fuel and Blown Alcohol pairing come to the line.

Greco's car leaves hard and then goes silent. McPhillips keeps more cylinders running longer this time and picks up three spots on the ladder.

Rich McPhillips' incremental times: 60ft-0.951 sec., 330ft-2.498, 660ft-3.665/211.16 mph, 1,000ft-4.708.
Brandon Greco's incremental times: 60ft-0.926 sec., 330ft-3.212, 660ft-6.304/069.77 mph, 1,000ft-9.874.

---

Left Lane: Jerry Powell Runs 6.674/149.38, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.687/249.12, Was #13
Right Lane: Robin Samsel Runs 5.528/253.04, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.661/248.98, Was #12

Powell fires and falls back before half track, but Samsel's team did their homework overnight to give him the power to move five spots up the ladder into the top half of the field. Nice pass.

Jerry Powell's incremental times: 60ft-0.952 sec., 330ft-2.525, 660ft-3.852/172.34 mph, 1,000ft-5.257.
Robin Samsel's incremental times: 60ft-0.993 sec., 330ft-2.523, 660ft-3.673/217.18 mph, 1,000ft-4.659.

---

Left Lane: Brandon Booher Runs 5.472/255.43, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.550/249.76, Was #8
Right Lane: Dave Hirata Runs 5.601/253.52, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.599/253.66, Was #11

Nice looking side by side passes and Booher gets the best of it with a stronger pass into the new #5 spot.

Hirata plays bracket racer, running 0.002 to his prior best. He stay #11.

Brandon Booher's incremental times: 60ft-0.923 sec., 330ft-2.396, 660ft-3.576/208.78 mph, 1,000ft-4.597.
Dave Hirata's incremental times: 60ft-0.985 sec., 330ft-2.532, 660ft-3.714/211.23 mph, 1,000ft-4.723.

---

Left Lane: Arthur Gallant Runs 5.652/251.25, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.489/260.97, Was #6
Right Lane: Ken Perry Runs 5.410/262.39, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.551/258.96, Was #9

Perry thunders away from Gallant with a big improvement in all of his numbers into the new #2 spot.

That pushes Gallant back a spot, as he slows a little from yesterday.

Arthur Gallant's incremental times: 60ft-1.000 sec., 330ft-2.580, 660ft-3.771/210.67 mph, 1,000ft-4.776.
Ken Perry's incremental times: 60ft-0.917 sec., 330ft-2.398, 660ft-3.556/213.47 mph, 1,000ft-4.556.

---

Left Lane: Darren Nicholson Runs 5.371/259.66, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.466/260.86, Was #5
Right Lane: Brittany Force Runs 5.420/262.85, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.505/260.31, Was #8

Kosky loses his first round bye run, as Nicholson makes the run of the weekend into the new top spot. Sweet!

Force makes a big improvement too and moves four spots up into the current #4 spot. This would have been a great race in eliminations.

Darren Nicholson's incremental times: 60ft-0.919 sec., 330ft-2.358, 660ft-3.509/212.56 mph, 1,000ft-4.511.
Brittany Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.950 sec., 330ft-2.454, 660ft-3.598/218.72 mph, 1,000ft-4.573.

---

Left Lane: Courtney Force Runs 5.597/260.66, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.440/263.82, Was #5
Right Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 5.358/264.86, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.441/262.90, Was #6

Reichert has struggled this weekend and is only 0.001 behind Force, so far. It doesn't matter any more, as he thunders this time and runs past everyone to capture the number one position and the Bye Run in first round of eliminations this afternoon.

Force slows, as she has to pump the throttle off the line.

Courtney Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.966 sec., 330ft-2.555, 660ft-3.746/211.59 mph, 1,000ft-4.743.
Bill Reichert's incremental times: 60ft-0.962 sec., 330ft-2.447, 660ft-3.563/223.25 mph, 1,000ft-4.522.

10:24 a.m.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink