Sun, 29 Jun 2003, 07:59 PM Top Fuel Round 2 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

MADISON, Ill. - Results of round 2 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                   10 John Smith
E2   ****WINNER****  0.088  5.289 270.75                     0.086  5.624 253.71
 Prior rounds:
E1    (K Bernstein ) 0.052  4.933 294.24      (P Romine    ) 0.045  5.038 278.29
 Qualified:            #16  4.813 303.37                        #9  4.735 302.21

Rhonda and John have met each other three times this year, Rhonda is 2-1. They leave the line together and John drops a cylinder. He loses traction, pedals and starts mixing up cylinders. Rhonda breaks the tires loose at half-track, pedals and goes on for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  201 Scott Weis                              5 Cory McClenathan
E2   ****WINNER****  0.079  5.055 222.18                     0.107  6.281 177.30
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Head      ) 0.092  4.897 255.82      (M Smith     ) 0.100  4.870 286.50
 Qualified:            #12  4.750 306.12                        #4  4.664 307.65

It's another big upset, McClenethan smokes the tires about 200 feet out, pedals, but to na avail. Weis goes right down the groove and will face Hartman-Smith in the semi-finals against Weis, Weis with lane choice.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Doug Herbert                            4 Doug Kalitta
E2                   0.070  4.781 305.77     ****WINNER****  0.093  4.684 311.20
 Prior rounds:
E1    (D Baca      ) 0.040  4.954 293.73      (M Troxel    ) 0.072  4.790 299.80
 Qualified:             #7  4.696 313.37                        #2  4.631 307.30

A good drag race, both dragsters right down the groove, never missing a beat. Herbert gets the jump off the line and hangs on to the lead for the first sixty feet. Kalitta then drives around him and pulls away for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Darrell Russell                         1 Larry Dixon
E2   ****WINNER****  0.083  4.712 314.24                     0.070  4.738 311.70
 Prior rounds:
E1    (D Grubnic   ) 0.081  4.857 307.09      (T Schumacher) 0.057  4.681 320.89
 Qualified:             #6  4.689 316.82                        #3  4.657 314.31

Another great race, Dixon gets the hole-shot but Russell starts reeling him in. They are dead even at the 330 foot mark, then Russell pulls ahead. Russell will run Kalitta in the next round, Kalitta with lane choice. Darrell Russell's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.013), 330 ft(0.000), 660ft(0.002), 1,000ft(0.005). MOV: 0.0131 seconds (approximately 6 feet).

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink