Sun, 17 Nov 2019, 18:12 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 55th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2814 Matt Hagan                              2 Robert Hight                 
E3                   0.079  4.015 326.95     ****WINNER****  0.041  3.977 324.59
 Prior rounds:
E2    (R Capps     ) 0.067  4.005 323.04      (S Langdon   ) 0.090  3.976 324.75
E1    (J Lindberg  ) 0.078  4.114 275.11      (J Force     ) 0.078  3.945 327.82
 Qualified:             #1  3.872 333.58                        #5  3.895 330.55

3:02 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 87 degrees, relative humidity 16 percent, barometer 28.82 inches, adjusted altitude 3,445 feet, track temperature 110 degrees.

Hagan is 18 - 15 against Hight in prior events. It is make or break for both drivers here!

It's is all Hight from start to finish to end the Championship hopes of a strong Hagan.

Hight gets the starting line advantage and pulls steadily ahead to take the win. He scores all of the numbers except speed.

Hagan makes his 600th round of eliminations on a sprong pass, but will have to wait for 2020 now.

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.884 sec., 330ft-2.298, 660ft-3.259/272.23 mph.
Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.890 sec., 330ft-2.283, 660ft-3.223/274.94 mph.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  256 Blake Alexander                         7 Jack Beckman                 
E3                   0.088  4.020 308.85     ****WINNER****  0.067  3.956 320.28
 Prior rounds:
E2    (S Densham   ) 0.084  4.157 279.27      (J Todd      ) 0.077  3.958 324.20
E1    (B Tasca III ) 0.064  3.981 318.69      (J Hale      ) 0.082  3.946 321.65
 Qualified:            #11  3.998 317.19                        #2  3.876 332.43

Alexander and Beckman have each won 2 times against the other in prior events.

Beckman is away first and pulls ahead to the finish line. Alexander was starting to catch him, but the engine got unhappy after the 660 lights.

Beckman will have lane choice over Hight in the final round later.

Jack Beckman's incremental margins: 60ft(0.057), 330 ft(0.092), 660ft(0.082). MOV: 0.0857 seconds (approximately 39 feet).

Blake Alexander's incremental times: 60ft-0.905 sec., 330ft-2.327, 660ft-3.258/279.09 mph.
Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.869 sec., 330ft-2.256, 660ft-3.197/275.84 mph.

3:09 p.m.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink