Sat, 05 Oct 2013, 14:08 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 29th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals 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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Right Lane: DJ Cox Jr. Runs 5.765/252.28, Now #10; No Prior Run

1:41 p.m. - Cox did not have a qualifying time yesterday. This time, he was about to make it into the number 10 spot for now with a clean ride down the track.

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Left Lane: Duane Beers Runs 5.832/240.29, Now #14; Best prior run: 7.832/95.24, Was #16
Right Lane: Chris Foster No Time, Now #17; Best prior run: 13.032/64.11, Was #17

Foster was not able to get his car started so he was not able to make his last attempt to get into the field. Beers had a clean run and moved up two spots in the order.

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Left Lane: John Headley No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 6.281/209.14, Was #16
Right Lane: John Fiorini Runs 6.293/208.46, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.195/203.95, Was #15

Headley did his burnout and the chutes popped out. He shut the car down, got out and watched from the other side of the wall. Fiorini took his car down the groove but sounded as if he had a problem shifting along the way.

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Right Lane: Marie Ferriolo Runs 6.023/178.47, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.817/248.02, Was #13

Ferriolo had a clean run but did not improve her place in the order.

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Left Lane: Dan Pomponio Runs 5.690/255.10, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.753/254.76, Was #9
Right Lane: Matt Gill Runs 5.749/251.44, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.804/248.61, Was #12

Pom;ponio and Gill each moved up in the order on the strength of good drives down the quarter mile.

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Right Lane: Fred Tigges Runs 5.689/255.19, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.733/252.38, Was #8

Tigges had his best pass of the weekend so far to move up two spots in the order.

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Left Lane: Paul Noakes Runs 5.624/257.73, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.723/256.99, Was #8
Right Lane: Todd Veney Runs 5.687/253.33, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.659/254.38, Was #5

Noakes took his car straight down the groove to move up six spots and into the number two spot in the order. Veney had a run that looked good but he got pushed down a spot when Noakes leapfrogged him.

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Left Lane: John Anderika Runs 5.728/255.73, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.648/255.15, Was #4
Right Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 8.110/123.29, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.651/260.06, Was #5

Ferro had some tire shake for the first 200 feet or so but tried to drive through it before finally backing off the throttle. Anderika stayed where he was in the order.

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Left Lane: Andy Bohl Runs 5.652/256.50, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.630/256.89, Was #3
Right Lane: Frank Manzo Runs 5.571/260.11, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.537/261.27, Was #1

Both drivers took their cars straight down their lanes but neither was quick enough to move up in the order. Of course, Manzo was already in the number one spot so he would not have moved up no matter how quick he was. That's it for TAFC qualifying. The first round of eliminations will be later today, after the final pro qualifying session.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink