Sat, 03 Oct 2015, 14:47 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Rick Green

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 31st annual NHRA Keystone Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Smax Smith Runs 9.210/69.14, Now #2
Right Lane: Dom Lagana Runs 8.880/79.25, Now #1

Weather conditions: air temperature 56 degrees, relative humidity 71 percent, barometer 29.63 inches, adjusted altitude 674 feet, track temperature 60 degrees.

Smith making his NHRA debut...in 2003 Smax won the FIA championship in top fuel in his rookie year. Both cars with a tire shake right at the hit and both cars clicked them off.

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Right Lane: Terry McMillen No Time, Now #3

McMillen was pushed back so the jet could make a couple quick passes as it was spritzing. Karamesines was scheduled to race aside McMillen and he is a no show. McMillen was on a good looking pass until the car started drifting out of the groove and collected the top end cones.

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Left Lane: Leah Pritchett Runs 3.787/320.74, Now #1
Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 4.454/177.98, Now #2

Pritchett launched hard and keep it hooked up to make a great looking pass. Leah Pritchett's incremental times: 60ft-0.853 sec., 330ft-2.158, 660ft-3.039/288.21 mph. Millican was right there with her until around half track when his engine went silent.

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Left Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 14.639/58.79, Now #5
Right Lane: Dave Connolly Runs 15.477/53.23, Now #6

Both cars instantly spun the tires as soon as they hit the throttle and both cars clicked them off and coasted on through the end of the track.

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Left Lane: Steve Torrence Runs 8.814/71.90, Now #4
Right Lane: Richie Crampton Runs 7.995/80.39, Now #3

Torrence spun the tires right off the starting line line and clicked it off. Crampton spun the tires right at the hit and pedaled it, but lost traction again and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 8.092/99.81, Now #4
Right Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 11.443/79.41, Now #8

Kalitta lost traction right off the starting line and clicked it off. Todd spun the tires right at the hit and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Brittany Force Runs 3.725/331.53, Now #1
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 8.855/77.27, Now #7

Force launched hard and got it to hook up and was straight down the groove with her career quickest and fastest pass to go to the number one spot. Brittany Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.832 sec., 330ft-2.119, 660ft-2.997/291.51 mph. Dixon started to lose traction early and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 7.776/77.15, Now #4
Right Lane: Antron Brown Runs 11.541/103.52, Now #12

Schumacher starts to spin the tires early and clicks it off. Brown spins the tires right at the hit and clicked it off.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink