Sat, 02 Mar 2013, 20:44 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By David Gerard

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Pacific Division, event at Firebird International Raceway 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: Megan McKernan Runs 5.489/269.67, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.623/267.59, Was #8
Right Lane: Scott Carroll Runs 5.822/240.77, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.684/233.72, Was #9

5:04 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 77 degrees, relative humidity 15 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude 2,767 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Megan McKernan is on the bump spot at 5.623 and Carroll is the only one that can bump her.

She takes of business and has to drive the car through the shake and spin to move up the ladder one spot.

Carroll's car is a little lazy off the line and chases her down the track. The engine gives up near the lights and he won't make the cut.

Megan McKernan's incremental times: 60ft-0.946 sec., 330ft-2.501, 660ft-3.683/214.86 mph, 1,000ft-4.657.
Scott Carroll's incremental times: 60ft-1.002 sec., 330ft-2.554, 660ft-3.817/197.08 mph, 1,000ft-4.890.

5:06 p.m. Time for dusting and cleaning on the top end.

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Left Lane: Chris Demke Runs 5.459/266.48, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.425/269.35, Was #6
Right Lane: Johnny Ahten Runs 11.175/81.12, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.526/252.95, Was #8

5:49 p.m. Well, that took a lot longer than expected!!

Demke's car leaves hard and looked to be on a good pass until right after the 330 lights, where the tires start to spin. He pumps the pedal and runs on down to near the lights, where there its a big puff of smoke from the engine.

Ahten's fueler leaves and then goes silent. He coast on down near the wall to stay on the bump spot.

Chris Demke's incremental times: 60ft-0.916 sec., 330ft-2.434, 660ft-3.622/211.79 mph, 1,000ft-4.615.

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Left Lane: Joey Severance Runs 5.474/264.23, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.402/263.10, Was #4
Right Lane: Duane Shields Runs 10.734/83.04, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.421/267.16, Was #5

Severance's car is strong off the line and makes a clean and straight pass to the finish Line. He has a big puff of "smoke" right in the lights too, so I'm guessing it's rice hull ash from the earlier clean up.

Shields tires are shaking and spinning right off the line.

Joey Severance's incremental times: 60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.432, 660ft-3.617/210.28 mph, 1,000ft-4.621.

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Left Lane: Ray Martin Runs 5.342/268.33, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.342/269.19, Was #3
Right Lane: Jim Whiteley Runs 5.293/271.90, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.264/272.94, Was #1

We get a terrific side by side pass to wrap qualifying for the weekend.

They have identical RT's and are just 0.002 apart at sixty feet. Whiteley's car starts a steady pull ahead going down the track to run close to his prior best.

Martin Runs his prior best again to the thousandths, but is just a tad slower. Nice!

Ray Martin's incremental times: 60ft-0.927 sec., 330ft-2.377, 660ft-3.521/215.51 mph, 1,000ft-4.503.
Jim Whiteley's incremental times: 60ft-0.925 sec., 330ft-2.368, 660ft-3.499/218.90 mph, 1,000ft-4.465.

6:00 p.m. Johnny Ahten is on the bump spot at 5.526. St. Arnaud doesn't make the session.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink