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Fri, 23 May 2003, 08:15 PM

Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan

TOPEKA, Kan. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster 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:

Left Lane: Mike Bowers Runs 5.494/245.94, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.486/246.66, Was #6
Right Lane: Todd Datweiler Runs 5.386/260.97, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.431/260.61, Was #2

6:27 PM Current weather conditions: 72 degrees, 67 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.06 inches, under partly cloudy skies.

Both drivers made nice, clean runs in the first round. Both made nice, clean runs here, Datweiler stepping up a bit, but staying in the second spot and Bowers losing a hundredth somewhere along the way. Apparently he lost more than a little elapsed time in the shutdown area, the Safety Safari rolling to do a cleanup before the next pair ran.

Left Lane: Chris Ricketts Runs 6.472/154.60, Now #18; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Ed Schmeeckle No Time, Now #24; No Prior Run

Neither driver got a time in the first round, Schmeeckle pushed away after the burnout and Ricketts a no-show. This time, Schmeeckle broke the throttle cable on the hit, rolling to a stop about 1,000 feet down the track, and Ricketts had something go BOOM at half track, the chutes out well before the finish line, a trail of oil following him through the shutdown area.

Left Lane: Darryl Hitchman Runs 5.755/235.72, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.885/152.64, Was #19
Right Lane: James Thompson Runs 5.580/257.63, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.604/257.14, Was #8

Hitchman had at least one dead cylinder on the left side of the engine, but he managed to get into the field anyway. Thompson made a nice-looking pass, right down the groove, staying eighth.

Left Lane: Larry Traugott Runs 5.726/247.38, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.674/250.00, Was #10
Right Lane: Gene Snow Runs 11.136/71.18, Now #21; Best prior run: 9.026/90.21, Was #21

Snow lost taction and dropped a bunch of cylinders at the hit. Clean run by Traugott.

Left Lane: Jeff Wilson Runs 5.494/255.77, Now #7; Best prior run: 11.300/103.67, Was #22
Right Lane: Duane Shields Runs 5.489/258.07, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.481/259.21, Was #5

Wilson was up in smoke in the first round, while Shields made a nice run. This time, both drivers made nice runs, right down the groove, Wilson jumping into the field in the top half.

Left Lane: Shelly Howard Runs 5.431/259.21, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.889/184.77, Was #16
Right Lane: Jeff Bohr Runs 5.574/253.90, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.781/247.84, Was #14

Both drivers had less-than-perfect runs in the first session. This time, both made good-looking runs, right down the groove, Howard moving off the bump spot and way up near the top of the field.

Left Lane: Alan Bradshaw Runs 5.385/261.42, Now #2; Best prior run: 8.504/91.74, Was #21
Right Lane: Tim Rudy Runs 5.663/236.84, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.960/221.96, Was #19

These two ran as a pair in the first round, both having problems. This time Rudy just dropped one cylinder while Bradshaw made a flawless run to move into contention.

Left Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 5.310/274.61, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.369/270.81, Was #1
Right Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.383/262.03, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.439/261.47, Was #5

Reichert held on to the top spot all the way through the round in his nitro burner, while Thacker has been among the best of the blown cars this season. It was a good show, Reichert improving his hold on the top spot while Thacker was right with him most of the way to move into second spot. Thacker was quicker over the first half of the run, Reichert taking over on the top half. Bill Reichert's incremental times: 60ft-0.961 sec., 330ft-2.452, 660ft-3.563/226.13mph, 1,000ft-4.501
Marty Thacker's incremental times: 60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.367, 660ft-3.528/210.73mph, 1,000ft-4.527.

Left Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 5.473/262.90, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.472/257.68, Was #6
Right Lane: Mitch Myers Runs 5.604/239.23, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.693/239.31, Was #16

Myers started strongly, but dropped a couple cylinders on the top half of the run. Lucas was strong all the way down the track.

Left Lane: Keith Stark Runs 5.348/268.12, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.928/249.26, Was #19
Right Lane: David Wells Runs 5.393/262.59, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.633/228.65, Was #14

Stark got it sorted out this time around, the car cleanly down the groove with all eight cylinders lit. Nice recovery by Wells also, a very strong run to move into the top half of the field. After two rounds, the bump is Tim Rudy's 5.663 and should be even lower after the last pair runs.

Left Lane: John Haley Runs 5.450/261.57, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.939/237.96, Was #20
Right Lane: Gary Cooper Runs 5.696/240.85, Now #19; Best prior run: 12.372/73.64, Was #23

Haley sorted his problems out and bumped Rudy, moving the bump time to Mitch Myers' 5.604.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink