Sun, 19 Sep 2010, 06:42 PM Top Fuel Final, Round 4 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

CONCORD, N.C. - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Third annual O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Larry Dixon                            22 Doug Kalitta                 
E4   ****WINNER****  0.078  3.858 316.60                     0.061  3.901 309.20
 Prior rounds:
E3    (C McClenatha) 0.106  4.050 252.99      (B Bernstein ) 0.069  3.948 313.66
E2    (T Schumacher) 0.076  4.813 283.91      (A Brown     ) 0.075  4.442 246.17
E1    (D Grubnic   ) 0.070  3.840 318.17      (B Vandergrif) 0.085  3.905 311.92
 Qualified:             #4  3.846 315.93                        #7  3.879 316.08

6:32 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 87 degrees, relative humidity 38 percent, barometer 29.36 inches, adjusted altitude 3,168 feet, track temperature 112 degrees.

Dixon is 33 - 26 against Kalitta in prior events and 8 - 4 against Kalitta in prior final rounds. He comes in with a perfect record in final rounds this season, ten wins in ten finals. Kalitta has been in five finals this year, with one win. Dixon will leave with the Countdown to One points lead regardless of how this comes out.

Kalitta did his job and kept Dixon honest, but they were dead-even at 60 feet, then Dixon steadily pulled ahead for a record 11 wins in 11 final round and he is now 85 points ahead of Cory McClenathan in the Countdown to One championship chase.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink