Sat, 24 May 2003, 02:41 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Larry Sullivan

TOPEKA, Kan. - Notes from round 3 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: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.887/284.39, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.114/200.32, Was #15
Right Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 8.766/91.55, Now #16; Best prior run: 9.091/91.01, Was #16

1:14 PM Current weather conditions: 70 degrees, 84 percent relative humidity, the barometer 29.93 inches under overcast skies.

Kalitta's car started smoking the tires before half track and he pedaled successfully to get in the field. Hartley suddenly lost traction at half track, getting severely sideways.

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Left Lane: David Baca Runs 6.879/113.43, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.585/317.42, Was #3
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.577/315.56, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.670/313.07, Was #9

Baca got out about 300 feet, started to rattle the tires, and lifted. Nice run by Cory Mac, the car straight and true to move him way up in the field.

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Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 4.687/311.92, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.970/282.90, Was #15

David Grubnic was slated to run beside Hartman-Smith, but apparently skipped this session, safely 10th in the field. Rhonda made a nice run, the car straight down the groove with no tire smoke.

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Left Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 4.596/322.19, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.652/309.06, Was #9
Right Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.939/285.47, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.884/286.62, Was #14

Nice pass by Russell, right down the dark part of the lane. Troxel smoked the tires about 200 feet out, pedaled, and finished the run.

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Left Lane: Paul Romine Runs 4.846/245.67, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.629/318.17, Was #8
Right Lane: John Smith Runs 4.664/281.25, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.664/281.25, Was #10

Both cars were on pretty good-looking runs, but there were puffs of raw fuel from the headers in both lanes, the engines silent as they crossed the finish line.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.866/238.93, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.624/323.81, Was #7
Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.602/315.05, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.615/314.97, Was #6

Schumacher's car also lost fire well before the finish line after dropping a cylinder early in the run. Good, clean, straight run by herbert, improving both ET and speed.

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Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.545/327.03, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.563/326.56, Was #2
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.588/324.67, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.509/327.11, Was #1

Last pair, and it's the Larry and Kenny show once again. After last night's runs, Bernstein got out of his car scowling because Dixon pulled away from him - so nothing's changed since last year's memorable duels between these two, even during qualifying. This time, KB got the win light and improved his elapsed time from last night, but Dixon stayed #1 based on last night's great nighttime run.
Kenny Bernstein's incremental times: 60ft-0.853 sec., 330ft-2.159, 660ft-3.082/272.23mph, 1,000ft-3.866
Larry Dixon's incremental times: 60ft-0.853 sec., 330ft-2.177, 660ft-3.118/268.17mph, 1,000ft-3.907.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink