Fri, 13 Jun 2003, 07:35 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

HEBRON, Ohio - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 39th annual Pontiac Excitement Nationals presented by Summit Racing listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

---

Right Lane: Don Garlits No Time, Now #1

6:52 PM Current weather conditions: 73 degrees, 78 percent relative humidity, the barometer 29.95 inches, under overcast skies.

Swamp Rat 34 made the burnout and Garlits was unable to get the car into reverse. The track crew started to push the car back to the line, but the chute popped out and he had to shut it off.

---

Left Lane: Chris Karamesines Runs 5.960/153.42, Now #2
Right Lane: Josh Starcher Runs 4.768/300.60, Now #1

Karamesines participated in the very first race here, 39 years ago. Karamesines dropped a couple cylinders on the right side and the unbalanced force pushed him toward the centerline, so he shut it down. Great run by eighteen-year-old Starcher, his best elapsed time ever, right down the groove.

---

Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.615/322.73, Now #1
Right Lane: Bruce Litton Runs 4.897/251.63, Now #3

Nice pass by Bernstein, a very safe, very smooth effort. Litton lost a lot of ground to Bernstein in the first half of the track and the header flames went out early, clocked at 255.68 mph at half track.

---

Left Lane: Scott Weis Runs 4.848/274.22, Now #3
Right Lane: Paul Romine Runs 4.916/263.67, Now #5

Weis did a nice job of pedaling about 200 feet out to save the run. Romine was right with Weis to half track, then started falling back.

---

Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.579/317.42, Now #1
Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 5.507/243.77, Now #7

Head made a very nice opening pass, just missing the years-old track elapsed time record of 4.572. Hartman-Smith gave it a game try, pedaling successfully the first time the car started smoking the tires, but losing the battle at half track.

---

Left Lane: David Baca Runs 4.712/310.98, Now #3
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 6.576/124.25, Now #10

After watching Head run, Alan Johnson moved over to Schumacher's lane to get Schumacher under way. Schumacher had a pretty good run going, but was falling further behind Head's pace at every timer until the header flames went out at half track. Baca made a good run, right down the groove with no sign of engine problems.

---

Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 5.284/240.17, Now #9
Right Lane: John Smith Runs 5.204/208.62, Now #8

Both drivers rattled the tires, Herbert about 100 feet out and Smith about 200 feet out. both pedaled, neither was particularly successful.

---

Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 5.656/156.53, Now #12
Right Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 4.730/318.62, Now #4

Russell's car sports the high-downforce body for the first run here at Columbus, perhaps an attempt to overcome the track's top-end traction limitations. Perhaps it worked, the car getting cleanly down the right lane with a good speed. Cory Mac was ahead of Russell early, then started losing ground and he clicked it off before half track.

---

Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.662/316.30, Now #3
Right Lane: Larry Dixon No Time, Now #18

Dixon made the burnout, backed up, and then shut the car off, the reason not obvious. Kalitta's car, sporting a nice red, white, and blue paint job honoring the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight, lost a little early in the run, then came on strong at the finish.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink