Fri, 24 Sep 2010, 02:40 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 25th annual O'Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Bryan Brown Runs 5.832/245.40, Now #0
Right Lane: Billy Davis No Time, Now #0

1:21 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 87 degrees, relative humidity 58 percent, barometer 29.53 inches, adjusted altitude 3,247 feet, track temperature 128 degrees.

Davis had problems and did not make a pass.

Brown goes right down the groove and makes the best pass of his young career.

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Left Lane: Keeter Ray Runs 5.744/250.46, Now #1
Right Lane: Kris Hool Runs 5.806/246.48, Now #2

A couple of decent passes here, both right down the groove. Hool makes his quickest pass of the year to get in the second spot for now, Ray takes the early pole.

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Left Lane: Steve Burck No Time, Now #6
Right Lane: Thomas Carter Runs 6.061/232.35, Now #4

Burck has problems and did not make a pass. Carter's engine sounded sluggish all the way through the run.

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Left Lane: Lance Van Hauen Runs 6.993/235.31, Now #6
Right Lane: Alexis De Joria Runs 5.674/259.21, Now #1

Van Hauen goes up in smoke right off the line, backs off the throttle, then gets back on it about 200 feet out. De Joria makes a clean pass and takes the top spot for now.

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Left Lane: Paul Gill Runs 6.138/202.09, Now #7
Right Lane: Chris Foster Runs 5.793/249.81, Now #3

Gill gets out of the groove early, drifts to the right, then has to pedal one time to get the car back in the groove. Foster makes a clean run and gets in the third spot for now.

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Left Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.811/251.34, Now #6
Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.794/252.33, Now #4

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Left Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 5.586/259.06, Now #1
Right Lane: Steve Harker Runs 5.681/255.19, Now #3

Bartone makes an impressive run and takes the top spot for now. Harker makes a decent pass and gets in the third spot for now.

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Left Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 5.675/253.90, Now #3
Right Lane: Jay Payne No Time, Now #16

Payne has trouble getting the engine started and Ferro gets the single. Ferro goes right down Broadway and makes a decent pass to end this session of qualifying.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink