Fri, 24 Sep 2010, 06:40 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from round 2 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 this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

---

Left Lane: Billy Davis Runs 5.935/243.55, Now #12; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Steve Burck Runs 5.851/241.32, Now #11; No Prior Run

5:13 p.m. Davis and Burck both had problems in round one and were not able to make a pass.

Davis makes a nice pass here, right down the groove with a career best ET to move into the 12th spot. Burck makes a clean run and gets in the 11th spot.

---

Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.748/252.47, Now #6; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Lance Van Hauen Runs 6.005/238.51, Now #14; Best prior run: 6.993/235.31, Was #15

Payne had problems getting the engine to start in the first round and did not make a pass. He makes a clean run here and gets in the show in the sixth spot. Van Hauen makes his best pass so far and moves up a notch to the 14th spot.

---

Left Lane: Thomas Carter Runs 5.704/252.95, Now #6; Best prior run: 6.061/232.35, Was #15
Right Lane: Paul Gill Runs 5.690/252.47, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.138/202.09, Was #16

Gill was moving around all the way through the run but stays on the throttle and gets off the bump into the fifth spot. Carter run was a little straighter than Gills but not quite as quick.

---

Right Lane: Bryan Brown Runs 5.835/243.63, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.832/245.40, Was #13

Brown makes another nice pass, just a little short of his earlier career best pass.

---

Left Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 5.735/252.95, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.794/252.33, Was #10
Right Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 5.758/252.28, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.811/251.34, Was #12

---

Left Lane: Chris Foster No Time, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.793/249.81, Was #11
Right Lane: Keeter Ray Runs 5.799/249.12, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.744/250.46, Was #8

Foster gets about 100 feet out and bangs the blower sending the burst panel into the air. Ray makes another decent run and stays in the 8th spot.

---

Left Lane: Steve Harker Runs 5.687/252.43, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.681/255.19, Was #4
Right Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 5.657/245.94, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.675/253.90, Was #3

A good side-by-side here, both cars going right down the groove. Ferro improves and moves up a notch to the second spot, Harker stays in fourth.

---

Left Lane: Alexis De Joria Runs 5.631/258.17, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.674/259.21, Was #3
Right Lane: Tony Bartone No Time, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.586/259.06, Was #1

Bartone has problems after the burnout and clicks it off. Not much to critique on De Joria's run, going right down the groove with the quickest pass of the session to move into the second spot.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink