Sun, 29 Jun 2003, 09:17 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

MADISON, Ill. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Seventh annual Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 Rhonda Hartman-Smith                  201 Scott Weis
E3                   0.097  4.888 303.91     ****WINNER****  0.065  4.744 309.06
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Smith     ) 0.088  5.289 270.75      (C Mc Clenath) 0.079  5.055 222.18
E1    (K Bernstein ) 0.052  4.933 294.24      (J Head      ) 0.092  4.897 255.82
 Qualified:            #16  4.813 303.37                       #12  4.750 306.12

8:07 PM Current weather conditions: 86 degrees, 39 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.09 inches, with a track temperature of 100 degrees.

The winner of this race will be going to their first ever final round. Weis gets the hole-shot and starts pulling away. He goes right down the groove and takes the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Darrell Russell                         4 Doug Kalitta
E3                  -0.069  4.713 312.06     ****WINNER****  0.065  4.748 301.54
 Prior rounds:
E2    (L Dixon Jr  ) 0.083  4.712 314.24      (D Herbert   ) 0.093  4.684 311.20
E1    (D Grubnic   ) 0.081  4.857 307.09      (M Troxel    ) 0.072  4.790 299.80
 Qualified:             #6  4.689 316.82                        #2  4.631 307.30

Russell leaves too soon and and throws away a great pass. Kalitta goes to the finals against Weis, Weis with lane choice.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink