Sun, 05 Oct 2014, 12:48 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green

MOHNTON, Pa. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 30th annual NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 Todd Veney                             15 DJ Cox Jr.                   
E2                   0.032  6.717 123.81     ****WINNER****  0.043  5.629 256.21
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Bartone   ) 0.072  5.744 260.56      (M Gill      ) 0.023  5.607 256.70
 Qualified:            #14  5.838 199.73                       #11  5.713 250.32

Weather conditions: air temperature 58 degrees, relative humidity 44 percent, barometer 29.32 inches, adjusted altitude 1,016 feet, track temperature 83 degrees.

Veney is 1 - 0 against Cox Jr. in prior events. Veney with the starting line advantage, but then started drifting out of the groove and over by the wall before he clicked it off and had the chutes out early. Cox with a real good pass, his second quickest of the event for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  806 Steve Harker                          799 Sean Bellemeur               
E2   ****WINNER****  0.493  5.554 265.38                     0.063  7.097 139.69
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Fiorini   ) 0.031  5.483 264.29      (M Ferriolo  ) 0.095  5.780 257.24
 Qualified:             #1  5.510 263.77                        #8  5.648 256.21

Harker is 1 - 0 against Bellemeur in prior events. Bellemeur with a huge starting line advantage and then the car went silent around half track. It appeared Harker was rolling as the light turned green and then blasted down the quarter mile to chase Bellemeur down and take the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  500 Dale Brand                             68 Clint Thompson               
E2   ****WINNER****  0.026  5.533 262.69                     0.082  5.526 261.98
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Bogolo    ) 0.026  5.530 261.78      (T Scott     ) 0.071  5.747 260.01
 Qualified:             #4  5.590 261.47                        #5  5.600 254.95

This is the first time Brand and Thompson have faced each other in eliminations. Brand with the starting line advantage and never trailed for the hole shot win. Dale Brand's MOV: 0.0497 seconds (approximately 19 feet). Brand will have lane choice over Harker in the semifinal. Thompson with a great pass and career best E.T. in the losing effort.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 John Lombardo Jr.                     377 Paul Noakes                  
E2   ****WINNER****  0.113  5.455 267.80                     0.046 10.076  84.83
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Robertson ) 0.086  5.568 263.62      (D Pomponio  ) 0.021  5.728 256.16
 Qualified:             #2  5.533 263.31                       #10  5.681 255.92

Lombardo Jr. is 1 - 0 against Noakes in prior events. Noakes with the starting line advantage and then has a lot of tire shake and pedals it, but can't get it to hook up and clicks it off. Lombardo launched hard and keep it hooked up to run his career quickest and fastest pass for the win. John Lombardo Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.960 sec., 330ft-2.464, 660ft-3.628/213.27 mph, 1,000ft-4.617. Lombardo Jr. with the quickest and fastest pass of the event for the win. He will have lane choice over Cox Jr in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink