Sun, 18 May 2003, 03:17 PM Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 34th annual K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Pep Boys:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  337 Paul Romine                             4 Doug Kalitta
E3                   0.043  4.617 310.13     ****WINNER****  0.064  4.481 328.62
 Prior rounds:
E2    (D Baca      ) 0.072  5.133 226.58      (D Russell   ) 0.058  4.544 321.50
E1    (D Herbert   ) 0.053  4.646 294.95      (R Pustari   ) 0.081  4.526 330.63
 Qualified:            #12  4.729 301.87                        #1  4.511 327.59

3:06 PM Same weather, and that suits Connie Kalitta just fine! What a run, the MAC Tools dragster right down the groove for an easy win, even though Romine left first and ran a career-best elapsed time. Kalitta improved his career-best mark by a thousandth and put the Raceway Park track record into the forties. Doug Kalitta's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.018), 330 ft(0.003), 660ft(0.043), 1,000ft(0.078). MOV: 0.1154 seconds (approximately 52 feet). Doug Kalitta's incremental times: 60ft-0.844 sec., 330ft-2.131, 660ft-3.035/278.29mph, 1,000ft-3.806.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Larry Dixon                           888 Jim Head
E3   ****WINNER****  0.085  4.559 316.38                     0.074  4.777 268.60
 Prior rounds:
E2    (C Millican  ) 0.021  4.537 327.74      (J Smith     ) 0.091  4.544 320.05
E1    (C Mc Clenath) 0.036 11.726  78.95      (L Novelli   ) 0.092  4.898 303.71
 Qualified:             #7  4.580 326.95                        #3  4.545 324.12

Head left very hard, the front wheels going over the top of the 60-foot timing beam, then charged down the lane while Head started hazing the tires and dropping cylinders. Larry Dixon's MOV: 0.2071 seconds (approximately 82 feet), but he won't have lane choice in the final round against Kalitta.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink