Sun, 4 May 2003, 04:21 PM Top Fuel Final, Round 4 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

COMMERCE, Ga. - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Darrell Russell                         1 Larry Dixon
E4                   0.064  9.884 107.52     ****WINNER****  0.045  4.569 323.89
 Prior rounds:
E3    (D Baca      ) 0.068  4.650 318.17      (C Millican  ) 0.058  4.570 322.50
E2    (T Schumacher) 0.079  4.640 318.62      (J Smith     ) 0.110  4.562 327.98
E1    (D Herbert   ) 0.073  4.597 320.13      (M Smith     ) 0.049  4.650 310.20
 Qualified:            #10  4.644 316.52                        #5  4.573 323.35

4:06 PM Current weather conditions: 81 degrees, 41 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.04 inches, with a track temperature of 123 degrees under sunny skies.

Dixon came into this round with a performance edge in prior rounds, a 9-2 advantage over Russell overall, and a 3-1 edge in final rounds. It was over quickly, Russell up in smoke right off the starting line. Dixon's car started mixing the cylinders up on the top end and trailed smoke through the lights, but by then he was safely home and the apparent engine problems didn't slow him down much at all. This is Dixon's 28th career win in 51 final round appearances and moves him back into the points lead over Brandon Bernstein.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink