Sun, 28 Apr 2013, 11:57 AM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 26th annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  530 Alan Bradshaw                           4 Rich McPhillips              
E1                   0.060  7.959 165.97     ****WINNER****  0.078  6.007 256.41
 Qualified:             #8  5.765 259.66                        #7  5.551 257.92

10:35 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 60 percent, barometer 29.94 inches, adjusted altitude 2,074 feet, track temperature 95 degrees.

Track preparation took longer than expected, so Competition Eliminator has been bumped to the end of the day, after the Pro finals.

There are two supercharged cars in the Top Alcohol Dragster field and they are the top two qualifiers.

Neither car in this pair wanted to run. Bradshaw's car was very slow coming off the line and McPhillips backpedaled several times. Bradshaw tried to take advantage of McPhillips' problems, but Bradshaw's car did not react quickly enough to do so.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 4843 Monroe Guest                          206 Bill Evans                   
E1                         No Time           ****WINNER****  0.146  5.730 249.81
 Qualified:             #5  5.452 257.04                       #10  6.123 228.58

This is the first time Guest and Evans have faced each other in eliminations.

Guest's car did not fire and was pushed to the return road. Evans made his best run of the event, but it's still not up to his usual pace.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Duane Shields                         717 Aaron Olivarez               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.094  5.485 265.38                     0.034  6.043 231.24
 Qualified:             #9  5.827 236.38                        #6  5.483 266.32

Olivarez had a big starting line advantage and led for about 400 feet, but he dropped several cylinders at about that point and Shields drove past for the easy win with his best ET of the event and low ET of the round so far.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  477 Forrest Fair                         4111 Brandon Pierce               
E1                   0.051 16.044  68.78     ****WINNER****  0.043  7.624 153.68
 Qualified:             #4  5.444 254.90                       #11  7.090 131.82

This is Forrest Fair's fourth start in TAD and his first from the top half of the field. This is the first time Fair and Pierce have faced each other in eliminations.

Fair smoked the tires immediately. Pierce was running away with the race, then also spun the tires, near half track, and had to backpedal a couple times to straighten the car out. He had enough momentum to get to the stripe first by a large margin, but won't have lane choice against Evans in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  464 Buddy Domingue                        596 Randy Meyer                  
E1                   0.045  9.627 102.55     ****WINNER****  0.095  5.484 266.95
 Qualified:            #12  9.196 111.02                        #3  5.428 236.17

Another instant tire-smoker, this one by Domingue. He backpedaled, tried again, same result. Meanwhile, Meyer made a nice, smooth, clean run for the easy win and he will have lane choice against Shields in round two - by a thousandth.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  415 Lee Callaway                            2 Chris Demke                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.018  5.399 269.35                     0.073  5.422 268.60
 Qualified:            #13 10.250  76.44                        #2  5.362 266.06

It isn't the lane...after two consecutive tire-smokers in the left lane, Callaway went right down the groove with low ET of the round so far. Demke spotted Callaway a lot on the tree, never made any of it up after the first 60 feet.

Lee Callaway's incremental margins: 60ft(0.026), 330 ft(0.048), 660ft(0.065), 1,000ft(0.074). MOV: 0.0783 seconds (approximately 31 feet).

Callaway will have lane choice against McPhillips in round two.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  416 James Thompson                          1 Jim Whiteley                 
E1                   0.042  5.404 268.76     ****WINNER****  0.040  5.349 272.78
 Qualified:            #14 14.898  78.59                        #1  5.268 274.39

Jim Whiteley qualified #1 for the 16th time and the third already this year. His 16 top spots have him tied with Jay Payne and Duane Shields for 8th place on the all time TAD list. He has not won in his last four starts when he was the number one qualifier.

They were right together at the green and side-by-side all the way down the track, but Whiteley slowy extended his lead for the win and a bye to the semifinals.

Jim Whiteley's incremental margins: 60ft(0.004), 330 ft(0.063), 660ft(0.073), 1,000ft(0.061). MOV: 0.0577 seconds (approximately 23 feet).

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink