Fri, 23 May 2003, 07:45 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Rick Green

TOPEKA, Kan. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car 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: Dale Brand Runs 5.718/237.96, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.250/243.15, Was #12
Right Lane: Kirk Williams Runs 5.846/249.16, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.822/248.84, Was #5

Williams drove through tire shake right off the starting line. Brand got out of the groove, but stayed with for the number two spot for now.

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Left Lane: Ron Morrison Runs 6.485/225.56, Now #10; Best prior run: 6.111/234.90, Was #10
Right Lane: Marc White Runs 5.663/252.28, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.730/251.44, Was #3

White launched hard and was straight down Broadway for the number one spot. Morrison was out of the groove, but stayed with it.

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Left Lane: Tate Branch Runs 5.701/251.25, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.791/248.29, Was #4
Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli Runs 8.373/106.19, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.683/254.38, Was #2

Branch with a nice looking pass to trade spots with Brand.

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Left Lane: Vern Moats Runs 5.779/248.07, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.885/246.53, Was #8
Right Lane: Bruce Carlson Runs 6.280/231.32, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.181/227.08, Was #12

Nice clean pass for Moats and Carlson had a lot of tire chatter right off the starting line.

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Left Lane: Kevin Richardson Runs 6.285/240.21, Now #14; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Ben Harper Runs 5.922/240.42, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.960/238.89, Was #9

Richardson with a lot of tire shake and got out of the groove, but keep his foot in it. Harper made a move in the right direction, but not enough to move up the ladder.

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Left Lane: Jackie Stidham Runs 7.368/127.81, Now #15; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Steve Griboski Runs 6.055/233.96, Now #10; Best prior run: 6.129/231.24, Was #11

Stidham had something go away right at half track and he coasted on through the 1320. Griboski with a move in the right direction.

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Left Lane: Cy Chesterman Runs 5.689/253.66, Now #4; Best prior run: 12.971/65.50, Was #16
Right Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.635/256.26, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.811/251.06, Was #6

This was the best drag race of the day in Alcohol Funny Car. Payne right into the number one spot and Chesterman into the top half of the field.

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Left Lane: Jason Rupert Runs 5.757/244.03, Now #7; Best prior run: 6.276/235.72, Was #14

Rupert with some tire shake right off the starting line and he made a quick move toward the centerline, but he stayed with it to get into the top half of the show.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink