Sun, 07 Apr 2013, 17:51 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Bob Orme

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 14th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   10 Shane Westerfield                      78 Doug Gordon                  
E3   ****WINNER****  0.042  5.691 253.52                     0.082  6.056 186.64
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Ruckman   ) 0.047  5.650 255.34      (J Lombardo J) 0.052  5.700 250.69
E1    (K Hool      ) 0.034  5.674 253.90      (J Payne     ) 0.028  5.705 252.28
 Qualified:             #6  5.666 255.48                       #10  5.694 254.14

2:38 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 85 degrees, relative humidity 16 percent, barometer 27.63 inches, adjusted altitude 4,724 feet, track temperature 122 degrees.

It sounded like Gordon banged the blower at about 1000 feet.

Shane Westerfield's incremental times: 60ft-0.982 sec., 330ft-2.542, 660ft-3.762/203.19 mph, 1,000ft-4.804.
Doug Gordon's incremental times: 60ft-0.990 sec., 330ft-2.572, 660ft-3.811/199.23 mph, 1,000ft-4.929.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Tony Bartone                         6180 Jirka Kaplan                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.306  5.746 258.81                     0.009  6.789 242.15
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Rupert    ) 0.047  5.641 259.61      (A Whiteley  ) 0.010  5.671 254.04
E1    (H Wernhart  ) 0.096  5.653 257.63      (B Hough     ) 0.039  5.676 251.91
 Qualified:             #1  5.589 261.47                        #4  5.658 253.66

Kaplan was up in smoke almost immediately. He pedaled through it but Bartone was long gone by then. Westerfield will have lane choice in the final round.

Tony Bartone's incremental times: 60ft-1.036 sec., 330ft-2.624, 660ft-3.842/204.57 mph, 1,000ft-4.875.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink