Sat, 22 Oct 2011, 09:04 PM Nostalgia Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By David Gerard

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Nostalgia Funny Car at the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series, 20th annual California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by the Automobile Club of Southern California:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  117 Jon Capps                             496 John Hale                    
E1                   0.127  5.921 243.28     ****WINNER****  0.089  5.915 238.01
 Qualified:             #4  5.804 248.48                       #13  5.866 243.06

5:01 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 88 degrees, relative humidity 345 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude 3,307 feet, track temperature 110 degrees.

The cream of the crop will contest round one. A huge NFC field comes down to the top sixteen.

Big upset, as Hale gets away first and leads Capps to the finish line with a better ET too. Both cars run clean, but slow from their prior best.

John Hale's incremental margins: 60ft(0.047), 330 ft(0.061), 660ft(0.055), 1,000ft(0.055). MOV: 0.0444 seconds (approximately 16 feet).

Jon Capps' incremental times: 60ft-1.028 sec., 330ft-2.646, 660ft-3.910/195.28 mph, 1,000ft-4.998.
John Hale's incremental times: 60ft-1.019 sec., 330ft-2.623, 660ft-3.893/199.82 mph, 1,000ft-4.981.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  718 Mike Halstead                         256 Dwayne Patton                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.112  5.843 244.34                     0.269  9.778  93.29
 Qualified:             #5  5.808 253.28                       #12  5.863 241.84

Very short burnout for Patton and then the car shakes, spins, and smokes right at the green.

Halstead was ready anyway and makes a strong pass right on down the track for the easy win. He will keep lane choice in round two over Hale.

Mike Halstead's incremental times: 60ft-1.013 sec., 330ft-2.612, 660ft-3.857/197.51 mph, 1,000ft-4.931.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  732 Kris Krabill                          792 Roger Garten                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.107  5.749 248.71                     0.165  5.874 239.10
 Qualified:             #2  5.721 250.83                       #15  5.886 241.67

A great old drag race with Garten carding another career best. Krabill wasn't having any though and is away first and runs close to his qualifying times to take a big win.

Kris Krabill's incremental margins: 60ft(0.070), 330 ft(0.095), 660ft(0.118), 1,000ft(0.151). MOV: 0.1832 seconds (approximately 64 feet).

Kris Krabill's incremental times: 60ft-0.975 sec., 330ft-2.535, 660ft-3.780/198.23 mph, 1,000ft-4.846.
Roger Garten's incremental times: 60ft-0.987 sec., 330ft-2.572, 660ft-3.840/192.58 mph, 1,000ft-4.939.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  766 Jason Rupert                          168 Steve Nichols                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.141  5.774 248.20                     0.115  5.951 237.30
 Qualified:             #3  5.758 251.34                       #14  5.882 235.39

Rupert only had one qualifying pass and he makes the most of it with an even better pass and an easy win.

Nichols gets a starting line advantage, but can't match the pace.

Jason Rupert's incremental margins: 60ft(0.017), 330 ft(0.025), 660ft(0.065), 1,000ft(0.107). MOV: 0.1517 seconds (approximately 53 feet).

Jason Rupert's incremental times: 60ft-1.002 sec., 330ft-2.594, 660ft-3.835/200.00 mph, 1,000ft-4.886.
Steve Nichols' incremental times: 60ft-1.045 sec., 330ft-2.645, 660ft-3.926/192.96 mph, 1,000ft-5.019.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  700 Steve Densham                         482 Ronny Young                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.130  5.907 234.49                     0.148  5.932 236.71
 Qualified:            #11  5.858 237.88                        #6  5.822 247.61

These two cars used to race each other regularly in the Ol' Days at OCIR and other historic dragstrips,

Advantage Densham off the line and a good clean pass. Young was slowly catching him, but ran out of race track first.

Rupert will have lane choice in the next round tomorrow.

Steve Densham's incremental margins: 60ft(0.100), 330 ft(0.076), 660ft(0.055), 1,000ft(0.052). MOV: 0.0433 seconds (approximately 15 feet).

Steve Densham's incremental times: 60ft-0.978 sec., 330ft-2.574, 660ft-3.857/192.99 mph, 1,000ft-4.959.
Ronny Young's incremental times: 60ft-1.060 sec., 330ft-2.632, 660ft-3.894/194.86 mph, 1,000ft-4.993.

5:17 p.m. A quick time out for some oil in Young's lane

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   28 Ron Capps                             724 James Day                    
E1                   0.076  6.374 184.83     ****WINNER****  0.083  5.822 243.59
 Qualified:             #8  5.840 240.64                        #9  5.846 234.13

5:46 p.m. That was a bigger one than I thought and took a long time to clean up.

Capps is away first and then has the car make a big move near the 330 lights. He slaps the throttle and straightens the Arrow back out and chases Day down the track, but to no avail.

Day wasn't waiting around and runs better than he qualified for the big win.

James Day's incremental margins: 60ft(0.017), 330 ft(0.257), 660ft(0.282), 1,000ft(0.333). MOV: 0.5453 seconds (more than 100 feet).

Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-1.004 sec., 330ft-2.838, 660ft-4.125/194.16 mph, 1,000ft-5.247.
James Day's incremental times: 60ft-0.980 sec., 330ft-2.574, 660ft-3.836/196.16 mph, 1,000ft-4.907.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  520 Dennis La Charite                    3111 Chad Head                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.159  5.864 249.86                     0.107 No Time      
 Qualified:             #7  5.837 231.48                       #10  5.848 250.83

Well, that was weird! Head gets a small head start and the car just shutters and stops on the track at the 330 lights.

La Charite is long gone and runs close to his qualifying time, but with a big time improvement in MPH. He gives up lane choice to Krabill in round 2.

Dennis La Charite's incremental times: 60ft-1.047 sec., 330ft-2.663, 660ft-3.907/198.35 mph, 1,000ft-4.969.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 6143 Mark Hentges                          394 Mike Lewis                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.110  5.830 247.38                     0.073  6.781 145.20
 Qualified:            #16  5.886 241.20                       #18  5.908 242.63

Last pair and Romine is a no show. Mike Lewis will come in as an alternate. Their qualifying times were close to each other.

Lewis gets a big starting line advantage and is starting to pull steadily ahead until just before mid-track, where the Camaro drifts over towards the wall and he has to stroke the throttle.

Mark Hentges' incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.038), 330 ft(-0.051), 660ft(0.051), 1,000ft(0.375). MOV: 0.9141 seconds (more than 100 feet).

Mark Hentges' incremental times: 60ft-1.011 sec., 330ft-2.631, 660ft-3.870/200.11 mph, 1,000ft-4.927.
Mike Lewis' incremental times: 60ft-1.010 sec., 330ft-2.617, 660ft-3.958/174.96 mph, 1,000ft-5.339.

5:55 p.m. Hentges will face Day in the next round, but gives up lane choice by 0.008.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink