Sat, 9 Oct 2004, 02:31 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 20th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals 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:

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Left Lane: David Ray Runs 5.685/252.10, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.809/245.40, Was #6
Right Lane: Frank Schuster Runs 7.576/120.36, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.991/239.19, Was #12

2:03 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 62 degrees, relative humidity 85 percent, barometer 29.57 inches, adjusted altitude 841 feet, track temperature 70 degrees.

Schuster got out of the groove and got very close to the wall at mid track. Ray had a good pass and moved up two spots in the order.

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Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 5.782/226.16, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.725/251.39, Was #6
Right Lane: Mickey Ferro Runs 5.765/245.00, Now #7; Best prior run: 6.399/173.65, Was #16

Lee got loose at mid track, got out of the groove and came close to going over the center line. Ferro took his car right down the middle of his lane and moved up nine spots in the order.

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Left Lane: Billy Gibson Runs 6.032/192.06, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.850/247.34, Was #9
Right Lane: Paul Gill Runs 5.648/256.45, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.671/253.04, Was #2

Gibson got about 900 feet down the track when a flash came out the back end of his car and he pulled the chutes. Gill had his quickest pass of the weekend but did not change his place in the order.

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Left Lane: Todd Veney Runs 5.827/247.38, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.928/245.27, Was #12
Right Lane: Chris Brown Runs 7.350/135.50, Now #17; Best prior run: 10.847/64.20, Was #17

Veney drifted to the right and out of the groove but he got it back and finished quickly enough to move up three spots in the order. Brown shook the tires when he launched, then drifted right toward the wall. He backed off the throttle and will not make the field.

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Left Lane: Bobby Martin Runs 5.849/244.96, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.904/229.70, Was #11
Right Lane: Craig English Runs 5.938/241.32, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.923/240.34, Was #12

English spun the tires when he launched, then drifted right and out of the groove. He got back into the middle of his lane to finish this pass but did not improve his spot in the order. Martin had his quickest pass of the three qualifying sessions and moved up one spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Dan Pomponio Runs 5.881/242.98, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.255/233.48, Was #16

Pomponio got out of the groove but stayed with it for his career-best ET. He moved up four spots in the qualifying order.

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Left Lane: Jeff McCulloch Runs 6.687/152.00, Now #15; Best prior run: 6.095/236.34, Was #15

McCulloch drifted out of the groove toward the wall. He started to get the car back into the middle of the lane but then shut it down at mid track.

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Left Lane: Bob Newberry Runs 9.135/93.87, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.678/251.81, Was #3
Right Lane: Frank Manzo Runs 5.580/258.76, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.588/256.21, Was #1

In addition to being their final qualifying attempts, this was also the Top Alcohol Funny Car final round of eliminations from the NHRA Northeast Division points race at Englishtown, NJ. That race was delayed back in August because of the track's curfew.

Newberry launched and shook the tires. He tried to drive through it but got out of the groove and was headed toward the center line, so he shut it down. Manzo had his quickest pass of the weekend so far and is also the number one qualifier.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink