Sun, 03 Nov 2019, 17:25 PM Top Alcohol Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Alcohol Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 19th annual Dodge NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Sean Bellemeur                          2 Shane Westerfield            
E3   ****WINNER****  0.060  5.465 268.92                    -0.072  5.509 267.32
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Ruckman   ) 0.022  5.409 271.95      (B Hough     ) 0.050  5.454 268.60
E1    (R Turner    ) 0.052  5.442 269.83      (R Parker    ) 0.055  5.486 267.59
 Qualified:             #2  5.429 270.54                        #3  5.431 271.35

2:16 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 11 percent, barometer 27.84 inches, adjusted altitude 3,919 feet, track temperature 97 degrees.

Bellemeur is 8 - 0 against Westerfield in prior events.

Westerfield is a little too quick off of the line and goes red giving Bellemeur the win.

Bellemeur is going to his 25th career final round, the seventh this year.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Chris Marshall                       7735 Steve Gasparrelli            
E3                   0.108  5.921 184.19     ****WINNER****  0.124  5.641 237.63
 Prior rounds:
E2    (U Leanders  ) 0.069  5.450 267.00      (D Schneider ) 0.065  5.552 263.77
E1    (A Whiteley  ) 0.152  5.469 265.48      (K Hool      )       No Time      
 Qualified:            #12  5.595 262.95                        #9  5.573 263.15

Marshall is 1 - 0 against Gasparrelli in prior events.

Marshall gets out of the gate first and starts drifting to the left. He extends his lead to half track, then something goes wrong and the car noses over, not sure why. Gasparrelli goes around Marshall after half track, smoke starts coming from his exhaust, but he is able to hang on and take the win.

Steve Gasparrelli's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.028), 330 ft(-0.053), 660ft(-0.072), 1,000ft(0.024). MOV: 0.2644 seconds (approximately 71 feet).

Gasparrelli is going to his 25th career final round and his first this year.

Bellemeur will have lane choice over Gasparrelli in the final round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink