Sat, 20 Jul 2013, 19:50 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Dave Rowe

HEBRON, Ohio - Notes from final, round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, North Central Division, Buckeye Fuel Wars 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: Don Nolan No Time, Now #8; Best prior run: 7.263/132.37, Was #8
Right Lane: Mike Kosky Runs 15.669/42.67, Now #10; Best prior run: 12.674/61.64, Was #10

6:21 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 81 degrees, relative humidity 67 percent, barometer 28.89 inches, adjusted altitude 3,324 feet.

Kosky goes up in smoke as soon as he left the line, had to back off the throttle and will not make the show. Nolan developed an oil leak after his burnout and had to shut down without making a pass.

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Left Lane: Jared Dreher Runs 15.866/78.53, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.809/249.90, Was #7
Right Lane: Robin Samsel Runs 5.620/255.97, Now #5; Best prior run: 9.894/104.13, Was #9

Dreher goes up in smoke at the hit and has to give up on the run. Samsel makes a full pass and gets in the show in the fifth spot, bumping out Nolan.

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Left Lane: Dave Hirata Runs 9.831/102.89, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.772/247.47, Was #7
Right Lane: John Paul Gutierrez Runs 5.640/251.25, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.766/252.19, Was #6

Hirata has problems early, pedals once and gives up on the run. Gutierrez goes right down the groove with his quickest pass of the year but stays in the sixth spot.

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Left Lane: Marty Thacker Runs 5.571/257.97, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.598/258.17, Was #4
Right Lane: Ken Perry Runs 5.461/259.51, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.570/238.38, Was #3

Perry shakes the tires a little off the line, drifts to the left, but stays on the throttle and drives through the tire shake. He makes his quickest pass of the weekend and moves up to the second spot. Thacker makes a clean pass and improves but not enough to move up in the order.

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Left Lane: Brandon Booher Runs 5.429/266.21, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.436/264.13, Was #1
Right Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 5.381/264.03, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.485/258.07, Was #3

7:44 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 76 percent, barometer 28.89 inches, adjusted altitude 3,238 feet.

Booher and Reichert had completed their burnouts when we got a little bit of rain. They were shut down and went back to the pits to service their vehicles.

Reichert makes an impressive pass here. He moves a little to the left at the hit but stayed on the throttle all the way through the run to take the top spot. Booher improves slightly but drops to second as Reichert goes around him.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink