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Fri, 13 Nov 2015, 18:16 PM

Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 51st annual Auto Club NHRA Finals 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:

Right Lane: Kris Hool Runs 5.593/260.61, Now #11; No Prior Run

2:38 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 21 percent, barometer 28.83 inches, adjusted altitude 2,832 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Micky Ferro is number one at 5.457 and Chris Marshall is on the bump spot at 6.893.

Hool keeps the car staged this time and puts a number on the board that should keep him qualified.

Kris Hool's incremental times: 60ft-0.952 sec., 330ft-2.497, 660ft-3.703/205.72 mph, 1,000ft-4.727.

Left Lane: Ulf Leanders Runs 5.877/252.10, Now #15; Best prior run: 10.587/75.64, Was #20
Right Lane: Robert Turner Runs 6.503/199.14, Now #18; Best prior run: 19.657/39.90, Was #21

Leanders' Monte Carlos has some shake off the line and the car starts a steady pull towards the wall. He jerks the wheels back into the center of the lane and finishes the pass. That will get him in the field for now.

Turner gets to the finish line and improves three spots.

Ulf Leanders' incremental times: 60ft-0.987 sec., 330ft-2.617, 660ft-3.870/192.58 mph, 1,000ft-4.975.
Robert Turner's incremental times: 60ft-1.012 sec., 330ft-2.649, 660ft-4.097/163.35 mph, 1,000ft-5.405.

Left Lane: Chris Marshall Runs 5.618/254.28, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.893/155.90, Was #19
Right Lane: Chip Beverett Runs 5.678/258.02, Now #15; Best prior run: 10.266/110.18, Was #21

Todd Veney is on the bump spot at 5.976.

Both cars get to the finish line under power this time and Marshall runs a career best speed and matches his best ET to move into the number 12 position.

Beverett runs his careen best too, but just gets into the field.

Chris Marshall's incremental times: 60ft-0.960 sec., 330ft-2.484, 660ft-3.698/203.71 mph, 1,000ft-4.735.
Chip Beverett's incremental times: 60ft-0.975 sec., 330ft-2.552, 660ft-3.770/203.68 mph, 1,000ft-4.805.

Left Lane: Todd Veney Runs 5.689/252.28, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.976/202.09, Was #18
Right Lane: Shane Westerfield Runs 11.114/78.62, Now #21; Best prior run: 9.691/89.58, Was #21

Steve Gasparrelli is on the bump spot at 5.768.

Westerfield is in shake problems right off the line. He pumps and gets sideways and lifts.

Venery gets to the finishline under power to just bump into the field,

Todd Veney's incremental times: 60ft-0.961 sec., 330ft-2.513, 660ft-3.748/199.73 mph, 1,000ft-4.799.

Left Lane: Hannes Wernhart Runs 5.865/255.39, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.677/255.58, Was #14
Right Lane: Greg Hunter Runs 5.950/237.21, Now #19; Best prior run: 6.048/205.44, Was #19

Wernhart's car drives towards the centerline and he has to work to get it back into the groove. It costs him.

Hunter gets further down the track on this pass, but will stay #19.

Left Lane: Sean Bellemeur Runs 5.597/258.37, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.589/259.46, Was #10
Right Lane: Steve Gasparrelli No Time, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.768/210.11, Was #17

Gasparrelli's car drives right towards the center line at the green and drives over the 660 reflectors to DQ the pass.

No drama for Bellemeur, but the car slows a tad.

Sean Bellemeur's incremental times: 60ft-0.954 sec., 330ft-2.497, 660ft-3.701/205.94 mph, 1,000ft-4.727.

Left Lane: Terry Ruckman Runs 5.569/255.00, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.582/260.81, Was #9
Right Lane: Nick Januik Runs 11.815/76.47, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.640/235.80, Was #13

Januik shake hard off the line and lifts.

Ruckman runs a career best ET, but still will stay in the #9 spot.

Terry Ruckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.950 sec., 330ft-2.485, 660ft-3.682/207.21 mph, 1,000ft-4.701.

Left Lane: Jay Payne Runs 5.626/264.18, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.557/261.62, Was #8
Right Lane: Brian Hough Runs 5.547/265.33, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.539/263.46, Was #7

Both cars run side by side after identical RT's. They make strong passes, but don't improve.

Jay Payne's incremental times: 60ft-0.954 sec., 330ft-2.533, 660ft-3.752/204.70 mph, 1,000ft-4.772.
Brian Hough's incremental times: 60ft-0.974 sec., 330ft-2.500, 660ft-3.688/209.01 mph, 1,000ft-4.696.

Left Lane: John Lombardo Jr. Runs 9.986/86.53, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.493/273.22, Was #4
Right Lane: Clint Thompson Runs 13.091/75.18, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.518/264.86, Was #6

Lombardo is still two round behind in the Championship hunt and would like to get a great qualifying time for early round matchups.

Neither car gets to the 330 lights under power. Thompson smokes the tires first and then Lombardo right after that.

Left Lane: Jonnie Lindberg Runs 5.461/268.81, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.473/266.32, Was #3
Right Lane: Doug Gordon Runs 9.669/91.35, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.510/265.74, Was #5

Lindberg has a super narrow one point advantage over Whiteley in the Championship.

First the good news: Lindberg makes another strong pass and finds the tune up to move up to the new #2 spot. Now the bad news: The chutes don't fully deploy and the Monte Carlo is off into the kitty litter. Doesn't look like any serious damage.

Gordon shake and spins right off the line and lifts.

Jonnie Lindberg's incremental times: 60ft-0.956 sec., 330ft-2.467, 660ft-3.635/213.13 mph, 1,000ft-4.623.

Left Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 8.492/103.85, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.457/271.19, Was #1
Right Lane: Annie Whiteley Runs 9.992/87.25, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.463/266.48, Was #3

Just a short delay and we are back to qualifying the final pair.

We end the session with both cars shaking and spinning the tires early. Whiteley banged the blower, so there will lots of work tonight before Q3.

3:11 p.m. Mickey Ferro is number one at 5.457 and Todd Veney is on the bump spot at 5.689.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink