Sat, 25 May 2013, 18:02 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from final, round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, Northeast Division, event at Maple Grove 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: Matthew Gill Runs 5.969/231.32, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.381/185.10, Was #8

5:18 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 28 percent, barometer 29.41 inches, adjusted altitude 1,225 feet, track temperature 89 degrees.

Gill launched, shook the rear tires a bit, pedaled, drifted out of the groove, lifted off the throttle, straightened the car out and got back on the throttle to move into the number five spot for now. Todd Veney is on the bump spot at 6.340.

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Left Lane: Todd Veney Runs 5.611/257.53, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.340/244.16, Was #8
Right Lane: John Anderika Runs 13.088/101.56, Now #9; Best prior run: 12.041/76.69, Was #9

Anderika launched, pulled hard to the left, got very close to crossing the center line and clicked it off. He will not make the field. Veney had a clean run down the middle of his lane and moved up off the bump spot. The field is set now so everything from here on is for qualifying position only.

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Right Lane: Marie Ferriolo Runs 5.984/238.17, Now #8; Best prior run: 6.169/241.28, Was #8

Ferriolo had to pedal the car once at 330 feet. She was quicker than the first session but not quick enough to move up in the order.

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Left Lane: Dan Pomponio Runs 9.564/94.14, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.624/257.87, Was #4
Right Lane: John Headley Runs 8.503/73.86, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.970/226.58, Was #7

Pomponio spun the rear tires coming off the starting line and clicked it off. Headley had a pretty good run going but popped a blower at mid track. He left some fluids on the track.

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Right Lane: Frank Manzo Runs 11.073/83.93, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.497/262.23, Was #1

D.J. Cox could have run to try to take the top spot in the order but decided not to make a run in this session. Headley's car left some oil on the track when he ran in the previous pair, so Manzo waited about a half hour to make this run while crews cleaned the track even though it would have no effect on his spot in the qualifying order. When the time came to make the run, Manzo launched, had a 0.945 second 60-foot time and clicked it off right away.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink