Sun, 05 Oct 2014, 14:48 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Round 3 Eliminations

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 30th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  596 Randy Meyer                           765 Duane Shields                
E3                   0.065  5.953 204.82     ****WINNER****  0.088  5.268 273.39
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Veale     ) 0.073  5.271 272.94      (M Tedesco   ) 0.052  5.238 273.72
E1    (F Schuster  ) 0.101  5.228 270.05      (W Morris    ) 0.109  5.277 274.00
 Qualified:             #1  5.251 270.16                        #4  5.307 270.97

2:40 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 61 degrees, relative humidity 42 percent, barometer 29.28 inches, adjusted altitude 1,264 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.

Meyer was out of the gate first but smoked the rear tires at 330 feet. Shields had a clean run and pulled away to take the win and move on to the final round of eliminations.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Chris Demke                           117 Mike Lewis                   
E3   ****WINNER****  0.056  7.091  94.70                     0.074  9.756  91.14
 Prior rounds:
E2    (R McPhillips) 0.060  5.252 274.72      (R Bourke    ) 0.073  5.272 272.94
E1    (K Stalba    ) 0.063  5.217 277.94      (R St. Pierre) 0.171  5.381 263.82
 Qualified:             #2  5.281 273.39                        #3  5.284 272.39

Lewis launched and smoked the tires coming off the starting line. Demke shook the rear tires hard at mid track and the chutes came out. After that, the only question was whether or not the coasting Demke could get to the finish line before the coasting Lewis. Demke got the win but gave up lane choice to Shields in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink