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Sun, 5 Sep 2010, 11:36 AM

Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

CLERMONT, Ind. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster 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: Brandon Pierce Runs 5.378/268.12, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.230/170.15, Was #24
Right Lane: Brandon Greco Runs 6.149/134.44, Now #23; Best prior run: 5.600/252.99, Was #22

10:25 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 66 degrees, relative humidity 48 percent, barometer 29.15 inches, adjusted altitude 1,830 feet, track temperature 79 degrees.
The battle of the Brandons went to Pierce, making a nice pass on his final qualifying run to bump into the field, putting Jared Dreher on the outside. Greco was actually quicker than Pierce through 330 feet, then his car started to fall off the pace and there was a POP from the engine, deploying the chutes automatically.

Now Dave Hirata is on the bump spot at 5.506.

Left Lane: Jerry Powell Runs 5.579/251.53, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.583/250.64, Was #22
Right Lane: Brandon Booher Runs 16.574/43.90, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.561/256.06, Was #19

Small improvement for Powell, not enough to get him in, while Booher rattled the tires and slowed. That's a career-best run for Powell, bot ET and speed, but it's not enough against this tough field.

Left Lane: Mark Taliaferro Runs 5.565/261.67, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.578/254.66, Was #21
Right Lane: Buddy Domingue Runs 5.372/245.94, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.549/246.48, Was #18

We are only a couple cars away from a record low bump time for 16 cars and these two certainly had the potential to change that. Domingue came through, bumping Hirata, but Taliaferro lost a lot of time in the first 330 feet and came up short.

Now Robin Samsel is on the bump spot at 5.487. The record low bump was a 5.376, at the Pomona finals last year and we are three cars away from that.

Left Lane: Brian Mans No Time, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.570/256.75, Was #19
Right Lane: Jared Dreher Runs 5.574/248.20, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.531/246.57, Was #16

Mans was pushed back after the burnout and Dreher failed to improve, so we won't have a record bump - but it's close and still a very quick field.

Left Lane: Robin Samsel Runs 5.429/261.12, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.487/257.68, Was #16
Right Lane: Dave Hirata Runs 15.859/72.65, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.506/257.28, Was #17

Nice run by Samsel to stay sixteenth. Hirata lost traction almost immediately and won't make the field.

Left Lane: Mike Kosky Runs 5.340/265.27, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.379/239.02, Was #15
Right Lane: Dave Heitzman Runs 5.381/267.22, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.373/261.22, Was #13

The remaining cars are already in the field, but we could see some more shuffling before the round is finished.
Weather conditions: air temperature 71 degrees, relative humidity 40 percent, barometer 29.16 inches, adjusted altitude 2,155 feet, track temperature 83 degrees.

Nice runs in both lanes, but Heitzman failed to improve and Kosky leapfrogged over him on the ladder. The top two cars are in the twenties, the next 13 are in the five-thirties, a tightly-bunched, very quick field.

Left Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.420/264.60, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.342/268.28, Was #10
Right Lane: Michael Manners Runs 15.408/64.07, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.369/269.51, Was #12

Manners went about five feet, then spun the tires hard, the car almost coming to a stop. Thacker failed to improve, but had no obvious problems.

Left Lane: Shawn Cowie Runs 5.302/262.59, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.326/268.87, Was #7
Right Lane: Darren Nicholson Runs 8.756/135.17, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.352/262.08, Was #11

Cowie's run was spectacular...he carried the front wheels almost to half track, then set them down smoothly. The numbers would have been a little better if he hadn't then "blown it up" past the 1,000-foot marker. Nothing on the track, but there was a big trail of white smoke. Meanwhile, Nicholson shook very hard and shut off.

Left Lane: Duane Shields Runs 5.327/270.54, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.310/265.69, Was #7
Right Lane: Ken Perry No Time, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.334/264.18, Was #8

Both cars were "trucking on down there, then Perry "blowed her up" at about 1,000 feet and he took out the finish line marker. Shields was already past the stripe when it happened, but failed to improve. From the number of Safety Safari trucks headed for the shutdown area, it appears we'll be down for awahile to clean up oil and engine parts.

Left Lane: Randy Meyer No Time, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.305/261.98, Was #5
Right Lane: Jim Whiteley No Time, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.309/266.37, Was #6

11:29 a.m. Well, that oildown means that the final two pairs of cars will have to wait until after the first Professional qualifying session to make their final qualifying pass...because live TV is covering the Pro Stock Motorcycle session and is slated to start at 11:30 a.m. It's 11:29 a.m. and the oildown cleanup was just completed. We'll post updated notes when the final two cars get to make their runs.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink