Sat, 25 Jun 2011, 10:42 AM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Dave Rowe

NORWALK, Ohio - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Fifth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Ray Drew Runs 5.981/252.05, Now #1
Right Lane: Fred Tigges Runs 6.026/245.27, Now #2

10:18 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 70 degrees, relative humidity 66 percent, barometer 28.91 inches, adjusted altitude 2,463 feet, track temperature 81 degrees.

Drew got out of the groove early, pedaled once, then went on through with a decent pass.

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Left Lane: Brian Harvanek Runs 11.869/92.95, Now #4
Right Lane: Dan Pomponio Runs 5.750/252.14, Now #1

Harvanek goes up in smoke early and has to give up on the run. Pomponio started drifting to the right late in the run, then barely scrapes the wall just past the finish line.

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Left Lane: Lou Sgro Runs 6.136/242.41, Now #5
Right Lane: Tony Bogolo Runs 5.792/240.42, Now #2

Sgro shakes the tires off the line, pedals once, then starts drifting to the right. He gets close to the center line around half track but is able to hang on and keep the car in his lane. Bogolo makes a decent pass to get in the second spot for now.

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Left Lane: John Anderika Runs 6.058/244.16, Now #6
Right Lane: Paul Noakes Runs 5.900/242.67, Now #3

Anderika shakes the tires early and has to pedal to get the slicks to settle down. Noakes makes a clean pass and gets in the third spot for now.

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Left Lane: Fred Hagen Runs 5.671/257.73, Now #1
Right Lane: Lance Van Hauen Runs 6.982/148.94, Now #9

Van Hauen has traction problems and drifts to the right. He pedals, gets the car back in the groove, then backs off the throttle late in the run. Hagen goes right down the groove with the quickest pass of the round so far to take the pole for now.

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Left Lane: Cassie Simonton Runs 6.029/250.04, Now #7
Right Lane: Brent Henry Runs 6.388/204.39, Now #10

Simonton shakes the tires hard off the line and has to pedal about 100 feet out. Henry gets about 100 feet out, starts shaking the tires and has to pedal.

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Left Lane: Chris Foster Runs 7.222/128.68, Now #13
Right Lane: John Bojec Runs 5.663/253.95, Now #1

Foster gets about 500 feet out and the car noses over, not sure why. Bojec makes the quickest pass of the round so far and takes the top spot.

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Left Lane: Thomas Carter Runs 5.718/256.84, Now #3
Right Lane: Alexis De Joria No Time, Now #16

DeJoria's crew tries to crank the engine and the chutes pop out so she cannot make a pass. Carter shakes the tires early, drifts to the left and has to pedal to get the car under control. The car makes a little move to the right when he gets back on the throttle but is able to keep it under control for a decent pass.

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Left Lane: Todd Veney Runs 5.700/256.36, Now #3
Right Lane: Kris Hool Runs 5.880/254.18, Now #7

A good side-by-side, both right down the groove with decent passes.

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Left Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 5.704/255.48, Now #5
Right Lane: Frank Manzo Runs 5.549/262.69, Now #1

Manzo goes right down the groove and makes a great pass to take the top spot by over a tenth. Ferro makes a decent pass but was falling behind Manzo all the way through the run.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink