Sun, 26 Jun 2011, 11:44 AM Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

NORWALK, Ohio - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Fifth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Antron Brown                           22 Doug Kalitta                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.064  3.865 313.95                     0.077  4.377 231.28
 Qualified:             #9  3.907 287.78                        #8  3.895 309.98

Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 52 percent, barometer 29.06 inches, adjusted altitude 2,893 feet, track temperature 98 degrees.

Brown is 11 - 6 against Kalitta in prior events. Brown with the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win. Brown ran his quickest pass of the weekend. Kalitta started to lose traction around half track and that was the end of the weekend for Kalitta.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 3516 Terry McMillen                        421 Spencer Massey               
E1                   0.092 No Time           ****WINNER****  0.062  3.869 304.94
 Qualified:            #10  3.911 303.84                        #7  3.886 315.12

Massey is 1 - 0 against McMillen in prior events. Massey is out of the gate first and never trailed as he runs his quickest pass of the weekend for the win. McMillen started to lose traction and then the engine went away with a big fireball. The word from the top end is there is oil in McMillen's lane and he will be docked 10 points.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 5050 Scott Palmer                            5 Shawn Langdon                
E1                  -0.316  4.673 193.35     ****WINNER**** -0.072  9.747  78.34
 Qualified:            #13  4.329 226.01                        #4  3.859 313.66

This is the first time Palmer and Langdon have faced each other in eliminations. Palmer two stepped it and turned on the red light and then Langdon left and had problems right off the starting line and coasted on through the 1000 feet.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   44 David Grubnic                          34 Morgan Lucas                 
E1                   0.104  3.983 256.41     ****WINNER****  0.060  3.908 303.71
 Qualified:            #12  3.956 298.27                        #5  3.860 313.88

Lucas is 9 - 8 against Grubnic in prior events. Lucas is out of the gate first and never trailed for the win light. Grubnic is off the throttle early...Lucas appeared to drop a cylinder around half track. Lucas will have lane choice over teammate Langdon in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  394 Luigi Novelli                          99 Del Worsham                  
E1                   0.014  4.080 290.57     ****WINNER****  0.077  3.866 313.88
 Qualified:            #16  8.113  91.47                        #1  3.798 318.54

This is the first time Novelli and Worsham have faced each other in eliminations. Worsham is out of the gate first and never trailed for the win, he slowed from his qualifying time. Worsham will give up lane choice to Brown by 0.001 seconds. Novelli with a good pass, his best of the weekend in the losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  303 Pat Dakin                               2 Tony Schumacher              
E1                   0.115  4.999 151.58     ****WINNER****  0.099  3.894 312.28
 Qualified:            #15  7.655  80.04                        #2  3.848 316.30

Schumacher is 2 - 0 against Dakin in prior events. Schumacher with the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win. He slowed from his qualifying time and will give up lane choice to his teammate Massey in the next round. Dakin started to lose traction and was off the throttle by half track. Schumacher has now won 28 consecutive round one races. and is now 31 and 7 when he is qualified number two in round one.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  173 Ike Maier                               7 Brandon Bernstein            
E1                   0.158  4.017 288.21     ****WINNER****  0.107  3.884 313.37
 Qualified:            #14  4.389 188.15                        #3  3.857 315.71

This is the first time Maier and Bernstein have faced each other in eliminations. Bernstein with the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win. Maier was dropping cylinders early and then used up and engine on the top end with a quick flash of flame. The word from the top end is there is oil on the track from Maier and that will cost him 10 points.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   12 Bob Vandergriff                         1 Larry Dixon                  
E1                   0.129  6.058 112.65     ****WINNER****  0.084  3.866 311.63
 Qualified:            #11  3.945 275.00                        #6  3.877 306.12

Dixon is out of the gate first and never trailed for the win. Vandergriff started to lose traction just past the 330-foot mark and clicked it off. Dixon matched his teammate's E.T. and will have lane choice over Bernstein in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink