Sat, 18 Sep 2010, 02:52 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

CONCORD, N.C. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Third annual O'Reilly Auto Parts 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:

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Left Lane: Cassie Simonton Runs 5.684/255.05, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.840/242.36, Was #10
Right Lane: Thomas Carter Runs 5.719/243.37, Now #7; Best prior run: 7.286/101.53, Was #12

2:35 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 47 percent, barometer 29.46 inches, adjusted altitude 2,813 feet, track temperature 124 degrees.

The field is not full, so there is no bump spot.

Clean runs in both lanes, with career-best numbers for Simonton. Both moved several rungs up the ladder.

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Left Lane: John Bojec Runs 5.604/259.36, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.820/251.91, Was #11
Right Lane: Melinda Green-King Runs 5.811/248.16, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.855/250.18, Was #12

No visible problems for either driver and a career-best ET for Green-King. Bojec jumps all way up to the #2 spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Todd Veney Runs 5.634/254.57, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.721/254.81, Was #9
Right Lane: John Anderika Runs 5.674/252.14, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.740/250.04, Was #10

Two more trouble-free runs and two more substantial improvements. After all the problems the Top Alcohol Dragsters had during their final qualifying session, it's surprising that the Top Alcohol Funny Car session has been just the opposite.

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Left Lane: Brent Henry Runs 5.674/257.09, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.686/257.63, Was #9
Right Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 5.615/256.70, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.610/258.22, Was #3

The pattern continues, two more trouble-free runs, though Thompson did use up a little more of his lane than most in this session.

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Left Lane: Ken Webster Runs 7.857/100.10, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.682/252.80, Was #8
Right Lane: Frank Manzo Runs 7.575/190.65, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.579/260.36, Was #1

Last pair. Webster is a long way from home - Red Deer, AB is midway between Calgary and Edmonton.

After a surprisingly trouble-free session, the final pair both had problems with early tire shake and sour-sounding engines.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink