Fri, 7 Oct 2011, 06:38 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

NOBLE, Okla. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, South Central Division, event at Thunder Valley Raceway Park listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Steve Griboski Runs 6.020/232.31, Now #2
Right Lane: Vern Moats Runs 5.812/250.76, Now #1

5:11 p.m. Griboski made one other appearance this year, at the Denver Lucas Oil race.

Good, clean runs for both to open their weekend.

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Left Lane: Ron Morrison Runs 7.959/198.36, Now #4
Right Lane: Billy Davis Runs 6.320/205.15, Now #3

Morrison spun the tires hard and feathered the throttle a couple times before he finally got the tires hooked up, about 300 feet out. Davis had a good launch, but was flirting with the wall on the top end and lifted.

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Left Lane: Steve Burck Runs 5.965/242.84, Now #2

Mark Billington was slated to run in the right lane in this pair, but sent word to the tower just before the session that they would not be able to make the run.

Burck's car made a hard move toward the centerline at the top of first gear, then trailed a lot of "death smoke" when he lifted at ths stripe. There is oil in the shutdown area, so it was more than just piston smoke.

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Left Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.828/248.61, Now #2
Right Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 5.847/248.68, Now #3

Two guys from Oregon face off in Oklahoma. Both made good opening runs, Hough's car fishtailing slightly about 200 feet out.

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Left Lane: Kirk Williams Runs 5.867/246.37, Now #5
Right Lane: Roger Bateman Runs 5.802/251.25, Now #1

There are ten cars on the property, nine making runs in this first session.

Williams used a win here to clinch the Division 5 championship last year.

Williams was away first, but his car was noticeably looser than Bateman's in the middle of the run and he ended up in the bottom half of the field, Bateman taking the top spot away from Moats.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink