Sat, 05 May 2012, 00:33 AM Schedule Change Due To Delays

By Larry Sullivan

BATON ROUGE, La. - An accident in the second pair of Top Dragster cars, attempting to qualify for tomorrow's eliminations, shut the track down for almost 50 minutes to clean up oil.

The driver was not injured, but track conditions deteriorated in the cooling evening air.

When qualifying resumed, almost every car lost traction, some getting very sideways. In drag racing parlance, "we lost the track" during the extended down time.

Race officials suspended the qualifying session and the track crew went to work to try to rectify the situation.

Once the track "wakes up," the second round of Nitro Jam competition will finish the already long evening. Those cars have wider tires and more downforce than the Top Dragster and Top Sportsman cars and should be able to safely negotiate the tricky racing surface.