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Sun, 18 Jul 2010, 02:58 PM

Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

SONOMA, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals:


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   44 David Grubnic                         475 Steve Torrence               
E1                   0.097  3.998 293.03     ****WINNER****  0.080  3.913 310.20
 Qualified:             #9  3.944 299.86                        #8  3.943 305.08

Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 60 percent, barometer 29.93 inches, adjusted altitude 1,250 feet, track temperature 104 degrees.

Torrence is 1 - 0 against Grubnic in prior events. Torrence is out of the gate first and never trailed for the win, he runs his quickest pass of the weekend. Grubnic dropped a cylinder around 400 feet...


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   34 Morgan Lucas                            1 Tony Schumacher              
E1                   0.064  4.002 306.26     ****WINNER****  0.079  3.883 317.19
 Qualified:            #10  3.966 294.88                        #7  3.926 305.98

Schumacher is 22 - 5 against Lucas in prior events. Lucas with the starting line advantage, but Schumacher has the difference made up by the time they go by the Christmas tree. Schumacher with his quickest pass of the weekend for the win light and ties Dixon for top speed of the event.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Brandon Bernstein                     497 Troy Buff                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.082  4.009 296.50                     0.098  4.059 289.07
 Qualified:             #6  3.912 307.23                       #11  3.981 259.81

Bernstein is 3 - 0 against Buff in prior events. Bernstein with the starting line advantage and dropped a cylinder right at the hit and never picked it up, but gets the win by 0.0667 seconds (approximately 28 feet). Buff also dropped a cylinder right off the starting line and then had a lot of engine smoke in the lights.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   72 Mike Strasburg                        552 Rod Fuller                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.111  3.982 307.44                     0.110  4.448 190.48
 Qualified:            #14  4.042 300.20                        #3  3.873 310.13

This is Fuller's 100th race and his first since Charlotte of last year. Fuller is 3 - 0 against Strasburg in prior events. They leave together and then Fuller boils the hydes and has the car side ways before he clicks it off. Strasburg with his quickest pass of the weekend for the win. Strasburg will have lane choice over Bernstein in round two.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  700 Steven Chrisman                         2 Larry Dixon                  
E1                   0.124  4.051 267.69     ****WINNER****  0.060  3.840 319.75
 Qualified:            #16  4.078 292.96                        #1  3.839 317.79

Dixon is 5 - 1 against Chrisman in prior events. Dixon with a big starting line advantage and then runs great pass, just a tick off his qualifying E.T. Dixon with the fastest pass of the weekend to set the track speed record. Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.838 sec., 330ft-2.163, 660ft-3.079/277.37 mph. Chrisman was mixing up cylinders on the top end, but still ran his quickest pass of the weekend in a losing effort.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 3516 Terry McMillen                          3 Antron Brown                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.102  4.285 240.85                     0.090  4.906 184.67
 Qualified:            #15  4.066 282.01                        #2  3.863 315.86

McMillen and Brown have each won 1 times against the other in prior events. Brown with the starting line advantage, but then smokes the tires by 250 feet and pedals it and is back up in smoke...McMillen was using up the engine on the top end, but held on for the win. McMillen will give up lane choice to Schumacher in the next round.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   12 Bob Vandergriff                         4 Cory McClenathan             
E1                   0.081  4.305 291.38     ****WINNER****  0.119  3.913 310.91
 Qualified:            #13  4.015 300.33                        #4  3.896 309.06

McClenathan is 16 - 7 against Vandergriff in prior events. Vandergriff is out of the gate first and then starts to haze the tires and pedals, but can't chase McClenathan down. McClenathan launched hard and kept it hooked up to run the third quickest pass of the round for the win light..


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  333 Shawn Langdon                          22 Doug Kalitta                 
E1                   0.069  3.941 306.95     ****WINNER****  0.077  3.883 317.94
 Qualified:            #12  3.987 288.64                        #5  3.899 309.49

Langdon is 4 - 2 against Kalitta in prior events. This is a good drag race with Langdon getting a slight starting line advantage, but they are even at 330 feet, and then it was Kalitta for the win. Doug Kalitta's MOV: 0.0503 seconds (approximately 23 feet). Kalitta tied Schumacher for the second quickest pass of the round and it is his quickest pass of the weekend. Doug Kalitta's incremental times: 60ft-0.863 sec., 330ft-2.188, 660ft-3.116/273.83 mph. He will have lane choice over McClenathan in the next round. Langdon runs his quickest pass of the weekend in a losing effort.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink