Sat, 24 May 2003, 07:43 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

TOPEKA, Kan. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 15th annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals presented by Castrol GTX listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Chris Karamesines Runs 5.212/213.74, Now #16; Best prior run: 28.000/0.00, Was #17

4:29 PM Current weather conditions: 75 degrees, 70 percent relative humidity, the barometer 29.86 inches under partly cloudy skies.

Karamesines had all kinds of problems on his first two tries, then didn't show for the third session. Here he got off to a soft start, losing the blower belt as he neared the 1,000-foot marker, with enough momentum to coast across and into the field.

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Left Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 5.520/173.05, Now #17; Best prior run: 8.766/91.55, Was #17
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.600/319.60, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.887/284.39, Was #15

Hartley was the only driver with a shot at bumping Karamesines. he left much harder than "The Greek," 0.860 60-foot time to Karamesines' 0.928, but Hartley lost the blower belt closer to half track and lost enough momentum to end up on the outside. Meanwhile, Kalitta finally got things sorted out and made a full, though conservative, pass (for him) to move into the top half of the field.

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Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 13.233/62.56, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.884/286.62, Was #15
Right Lane: Scott Palmer Runs 4.932/237.42, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.883/287.90, Was #14

troxel lost traction almost immediately. Palmer made a good run to the 1,000-foot marker, where the header flames went out.

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Left Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 4.719/307.37, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.687/311.92, Was #13
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.692/314.02, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.678/315.78, Was #12

Two clean runs, both slightly slower than their best runs this weekend.

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Left Lane: John Smith Runs 4.653/316.08, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.664/281.25, Was #11
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.665/319.29, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.624/323.81, Was #8

Two more race day setups, Smith improving slightly over his earlier run today, staying 11th.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.645/318.47, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.602/315.05, Was #7
Right Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 4.777/253.33, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.596/322.19, Was #5

Herbert did not improve, but his four runs have been between 4.688 and 4.602, not a bad set of runs to go into eliminations with. Russell was quicker than Herbert early, but the engine went away on the top end, mixing the cylinders up, and then the header flames went out.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.626/308.64, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.577/315.56, Was #3
Right Lane: David Baca Runs 7.360/110.65, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.585/317.42, Was #4

Cory Mac made three good runs in four attempts, with two good runs today, while Baca was zero-for-two today, smoking the tires before reaching the 330-foot marker on this run.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon No Time, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.509/327.11, Was #1
Right Lane: Kenny Bernstein No Time, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.545/327.03, Was #2

Last pair, Larry and Kenny round three. If they meet again tomorrow, it will be in the final round since they will finish qualifying 1-2 regardless of what happens on this run. And just as they pulled up to stage the cars, a light rain started to freckle the launch pad, starter Rick Stewart signaling them to shut the engines down. Then there was lightning in the area, so the timing system had to be shut down. 4:48 PM

6:35 PM We are minutes away from starting back up again and have just been informed that neither of the beer cars will return to make a fourth qualifying run, so the Top Fuel field is set for Sunday's eliminations.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink