Sat, 3 May 2003, 12:49 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan

COMMERCE, Ga. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac 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: Scott Weis Runs 4.834/303.57, Now #10; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Mike Smith Runs 4.664/314.83, Now #4; No Prior Run

12:12 PM Both these drivers sat out yesterday's first session. Smith made a very nice pass, wheels-up on the launch and solidly down the groove and into the field. After getting bumped in the final session at Bristol, it looks like they made sure this one was good enough to stick. Weis started strongly, but he fell off the pace almost immediately and that time amy not be good enough to stay in the field.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.612/321.35, Now #2; Best prior run: 9.073/92.81, Was #20
Right Lane: Paul Romine Runs 6.793/118.15, Now #19; Best prior run: 8.236/106.51, Was #19

Romine was strong early in the run, right with Kalitta to 330 feet, but then he started smoking the tires and gave up on the run. Kalitta made a nice, safe, clean run to get solidly in the show, so he should be able to take a shot at the #1 spot later today.

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Left Lane: Scott Palmer Runs 5.032/227.19, Now #17; Best prior run: 6.350/142.88, Was #18
Right Lane: Don Lampus Runs 4.631/312.35, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.906/120.69, Was #20

Palmer was losing ground early in the run and trailed smoke on the top end, slowing from a half-track 250.27 speed. Very nice run by Lampus, the "Carrier Boyz" team finding a tuneup that kept the rear tires stuck down firmly all the way down the track.

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Left Lane: Clay Millican Runs 4.641/312.64, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.455/176.44, Was #19
Right Lane: David Baca Runs 4.614/306.88, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.107/208.46, Was #18

Both drivers smoked the tires at half track in these same lanes yesterday, looks like both teams made appropriate clutch tuning changes for this session because there was no tire smoke in either lane today, just two nice-looking runs.

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Left Lane: Josh Starcher No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.873/294.88, Was #15
Right Lane: John Smith Runs 4.671/287.90, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.016/246.84, Was #18

Starcher's car fired, hiccupped, then started backfiring and belching flames from the front of the engine, so they quickly shut it down. Smith made a clean run to get in the field, but he lost the blower belt as he approached the lights, losing some elapsed time and a lot of speed.

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Left Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 6.503/126.67, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.805/295.40, Was #14
Right Lane: Don Garlits Runs 12.207/83.24, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.943/271.19, Was #18

Garlits "boiled the hides" at the hit. Hartman-Smith, already in, started smoking the tires about 300 feet out, pedaled once, then gave it up.

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Left Lane: Chris Vandergriff Runs 4.701/306.95, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.801/288.46, Was #13
Right Lane: Luigi Novelli Runs 4.950/295.27, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.895/270.59, Was #17

Interesting pairing here, Novelli a driver from "the glory years," and Vandergriff in his first-ever race in Top Fuel. Vandergriff made a nice run, his quickest elapsed time ever and first official 300 mph speed. Novelli's car lost a tenth of a second to Vandergriff in the first 330 feet, appearing down on power.

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Left Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.505/327.98, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.670/316.23, Was #10
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.553/326.48, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.742/316.30, Was #13

Tony Schumacher is racing with a heavy heart this weekend, his NASCAR teammate Jerry Nadeu in critical condition after crashing during final practice at Richmond yesterday. Nadeu and Schumacher visited U.S. Army troops in Afghanistan earlier this year and both drivers were moved by the experience.

WWE wrestler Goldberg was at the starting line with the Budweiser team for these runs and he got a great show, Bernstein with a career-best and Schumacher with the best seat in the house to watch it from. Bernstein took the track elapsed time record away from his father and the track speed record away from Schumacher with this stunning run.

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Left Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 12.838/80.19, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.644/316.52, Was #9
Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.720/308.28, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.665/295.53, Was #11

Russell's team wants to get a better baseline on their car with the conventional body before doing any more testing with the wide body. Russell was up in smoke almost immediately here, so it may be a while before we see the new aerodynamics package again. Herbert made a full pass, but lost ground from yesterday.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.569/324.83, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.607/318.32, Was #3
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.573/323.35, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.644/322.50, Was #8

These two came into this round #1 and #2, but Bernstein and Schumacher took over those spots two pairs ago. These two gave it a shot, but both were mixing cylinders up on the top end and came up just short of the top two rungs of the ladder.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink