Mon, 01 Sep 2014, 16:45 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Final, Round 4 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

BROWNSBURG, Ind. - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 60th annual Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Jay Payne                              39 Todd Robertson               
E4   ****WINNER****  0.073  5.705 241.45                     0.035  6.171 164.03
 Prior rounds:
E3    (J Lindberg  ) 0.039  5.645 260.97      (F Tigges    ) -0.007  5.798 248.61
E2    (M Doushgouni) 0.072  5.696 259.36      (T Bartone   ) 0.007  5.722 251.44
E1    (A Whiteley  ) 0.066  5.640 257.14      (J Lombardo J) 0.799  5.731 248.75
 Qualified:            #12  5.694 256.60                       #15  5.730 253.66

4:37 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 66 percent, barometer 28.94 inches, adjusted altitude 3,728 feet, track temperature 100 degrees.

Payne has 41 prior wins - 25 in TAFC, 16 in TAD. He won Indy in TAFC in 2010 and was the TAFC runner-up in 2001. This is Robertson's first career final round.

Robertson almost pulled off the upset, with a four hundredths advantage at the green and a five hundredths lead at the 660-foot mark. That's about where there was a puff of smoke from his headers followed by the burst panel letting go, deploying the chutes. Then Payne went by for the now-easy win.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink