Sun, 04 Nov 2012, 17:52 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 2 Eliminations

By David Gerard

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Pacific Division, Short Line Express Gambler Shootout at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   62 Ray Martin                            597 Greg Hunter                  
E2   ****WINNER****  0.056  6.676 119.00                    -0.166  5.559 242.54
 Prior rounds:
E1    (C Demke     ) 0.044  5.725 190.57      (S Frigo     ) 0.016  5.461 264.29
 Qualified:             #7  5.410 263.26                        #6  5.407 266.74

2:39 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 81 degrees, relative humidity 20 percent, barometer 28.00 inches, adjusted altitude 4,021 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.

This will be the blown alcohol side of the round.

Luck is good! Hunter misses the tree by a bunch to give an easy win to Martin. That's lucky, but then the blower goes bang about 330 feet out and he would have been a sitting duck. He gets a free ticket to the final round and is not likely to have lane choice!

Not so lucky for the blower pieces though...

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   73 Megan McKernan                       6067 Don St. Arnaud               
E2                   0.085  5.361 268.44     ****WINNER****  0.005  5.438 267.37
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Ahten     ) 0.125  5.394 267.27      (J Whiteley  ) 0.038  5.381 269.78
 Qualified:             #4  5.380 266.85                        #8  5.421 265.80

Now, the injected fuel dragster half of the round.

St. Arnaud blows down the tree with a great guess on the green at 0.005. McKernan has the power, but can't quite run him down before the lights.

We will have the number seven and number eight qualifiers in the final round, with St. Arnaud getting lane choice.

Don St. Arnaud's incremental margins: 60ft(0.052), 330 ft(0.020), 660ft(0.007), 1,000ft(0.004). MOV: 0.0036 seconds (approximately 17 inches).

Megan McKernan's incremental times: 60ft-0.952 sec., 330ft-2.444, 660ft-3.573/221.49 mph, 1,000ft-4.533.
Don St. Arnaud's incremental times: 60ft-0.980 sec., 330ft-2.504, 660ft-3.646/219.44 mph, 1,000ft-4.609.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink