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Sat, 4 Sep 2010, 05:16 PM

Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Dave Gerard

CLERMONT, Ind. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil 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:

Left Lane: Pat Dakin Runs 3.976/284.93, Now #13; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Luigi Novelli No Time, Now #19; No Prior Run

4:08 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 32 percent, barometer 29.04 inches, adjusted altitude 2,452 feet, track temperature 111 degrees.

Bruce Litton is on the bump spot at 3.953.

Novelli has problems backing up again and drives on down the track.

Dakin gets away well and is making a nice looking pass until near the 660 lights, where the engine starts to push a head gasket. He loses some power, but still gets into the field for now in the #13 spot.

Pat Dakin's incremental times: 60ft-0.866 sec., 330ft-2.192, 660ft-3.147/260.61 mph.

Left Lane: Troy Buff Runs 4.049/233.08, Now #15; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 9.874/79.93, Now #19; Best prior run: 9.307/79.34, Was #18

Bruce Litton is on the bump spot at 3.953.

Vandergriff smokes the tires hard again at the hit and coasts on down.

Buff gets to make a pass this time and just bumps into the field for now. There's a little smoke off the engine in the lights.

Left Lane: Bruce Litton Runs 3.989/256.70, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.953/304.25, Was #12
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 3.857/313.73, Now #6; Best prior run: 6.438/99.80, Was #18

Litton makes another clean pass, but its not good enough, as Dixon gets a full pull this time. It's good enough to move into the current top half of the field in the current #6 position.

Bruce Litton's incremental times: 60ft-0.861 sec., 330ft-2.209, 660ft-3.139/272.01 mph.
Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.855 sec., 330ft-2.182, 660ft-3.091/279.32 mph.

Right Lane: Terry McMillen Runs 9.279/84.59, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.423/96.63, Was #18

Chris Karamesines is on the bump spot at 3.927.

McMillien repeats his first round, with the tires smoking hard right after the sixty foot lights.

Left Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 3.888/311.92, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.888/311.70, Was #10
Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 4.092/285.29, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.625/169.38, Was #17

The world's fastest bracket car! Lucas matches last night's ET to the thousandths and improves his MPH by 0.220.

Haddock improves a bunch, but stays #17.

Morgan Lucas' incremental times: 60ft-0.872 sec., 330ft-2.189, 660ft-3.113/273.94 mph.
Terry Haddock's incremental times: 60ft-0.896 sec., 330ft-2.266, 660ft-3.252/254.57 mph.

Left Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 3.877/312.57, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.865/313.58, Was #8
Right Lane: Rod Fuller Runs 5.482/116.27, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.026/289.14, Was #15

No improvements, but they run identical sixty foot numbers.

Bernstein runs close to his prior best, but Fuller's car slows early after the 330 lights for no apparent reason.

Brandon Bernstein's incremental times: 60ft-0.850 sec., 330ft-2.174, 660ft-3.102/274.16 mph.
Rod Fuller's incremental times: 60ft-0.850 sec., 330ft-2.195, 660ft-3.653/143.47 mph.

Left Lane: T.J. Zizzo Runs 3.951/296.37, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.864/311.56, Was #7
Right Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 4.097/221.42, Now #11; Best prior run: 3.914/292.96, Was #11

Langdon gets away first, as usual, and leads Zizzo most of the way down the track. The engine gets unhappy near the top end and Zizzo flies on by. Neither car improves.

T.J. Zizzo's incremental times: 60ft-0.873 sec., 330ft-2.201, 660ft-3.145/265.27 mph.
Shawn Langdon's incremental times: 60ft-0.857 sec., 330ft-2.182, 660ft-3.126/258.12 mph.

4:33 p.m. The Safety Safari is rolling towards the top end to do some cleaning and dusting.

Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 3.861/316.15, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.842/316.52, Was #4
Right Lane: Steve Torrence Runs 3.866/313.22, Now #9; Best prior run: 3.882/312.13, Was #9

4:45 p.m. The call goes out to start the engines.

Three eight sixes are cheap! Both cars run within 0.005 of each other on a strong side by side to the finish line!

Nice!

Doug Kalitta's incremental times: 60ft-0.856 sec., 330ft-2.174, 660ft-3.094/276.41 mph.
Steve Torrence's incremental times: 60ft-0.852 sec., 330ft-2.171, 660ft-3.091/274.05 mph.

Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 7.751/74.92, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.823/314.97, Was #3
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.548/165.72, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.844/321.35, Was #5

A little too much shake and both cars click it early.

Schumacher had a strong 0.836 sixty foot and looked to be on his way, but he clicks it right after the 330 lights.

Grubnic had problems early and coasted on down.

Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 3.826/322.58, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.789/319.98, Was #1
Right Lane: Antron Brown Runs 3.858/316.01, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.808/319.22, Was #2

Two great looking side by side passes to end the round. This would have made a great final round for Monday.

Brown was away first and was just a little slower than McClenathan all the way down the track.

CoryMac runs the quickest pass of the session and resets the track MPH record on a picture perfect pass for the conditions.

Cory McClenathan's incremental times: 60ft-0.842 sec., 330ft-2.164, 660ft-3.073/280.37 mph.
Antron Brown's incremental times: 60ft-0.852 sec., 330ft-2.179, 660ft-3.096/277.32 mph.

4:58 p.m. Chris Karamesines is on the bump spot at 3.927.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink