Thu, 06 Feb 2020, 17:19 PM Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 60th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Right Lane: Nick Childers Runs 7.037/114.22, Now #1

1:38 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 65 degrees, relative humidity 29 percent, barometer 28.93 inches, adjusted altitude 1,875 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

Childers's dragster is a little lazy off the line and he is coasting early.

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Left Lane: Jerry Kumre No Time, Now #3
Right Lane: Mike Austin Runs 6.074/228.54, Now #1

Austin is away and pulling hard. He has to do a quick pedal slap and drives on to the finish line.

Kumre's fueler just sits in the lights at the green. After Austin is long gone, he motors slowly on down the track.

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Right Lane: James Stevens Runs 5.470/263.67, Now #1

Much better!

Steven's leaves hard and powers right on down the track for our first five second run.

He gets all of it with a career best speed and a near best ET!

James Stevens' incremental times: 60ft-0.930 sec., 330ft-2.428, 660ft-3.609/209.75 mph, 1,000ft-4.618.

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Left Lane: Ron Anderson Runs 10.353/83.53, Now #5
Right Lane: Johnny Ahten Runs 5.369/264.70, Now #1

Two fuelers this time!

Anderson's car makes a move towards the wall after the 60 foot lights and he is quickly off the pedal.

Ahten makes a strong pass to set a mark for the rest of the field.

Johnny Ahten's incremental times: 60ft-0.953 sec., 330ft-2.440, 660ft-3.564/221.56 mph, 1,000ft-4.530.

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Left Lane: Casey Grisel Runs 6.536/161.69, Now #5
Right Lane: Chris Demke Runs 5.289/269.35, Now #1

Grisel just misses the green and then is on and off the loud pedal going down the track.

Demke powers right off the line and runs clean to the finish line for the latest top spot.

Chris Demke's incremental times: 60ft-0.922 sec., 330ft-2.357, 660ft-3.487/217.18 mph, 1,000ft-4.463.

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Left Lane: Joey Severance Runs 5.269/236.13, Now #2
Right Lane: Garrett Bateman Runs 5.251/276.01, Now #1

Great looking pair of runs from start to finish.

THey leave within 0.002 of each other and run side by side all the way down the track to take over the top two spots.

Joey Severance's incremental times: 60ft-0.881 sec., 330ft-2.301, 660ft-3.416/222.00 mph, 1,000ft-4.377.
Garrett Bateman's incremental times: 60ft-0.919 sec., 330ft-2.392, 660ft-3.503/225.97 mph, 1,000ft-4.442.

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Left Lane: Duane Shields Runs 9.760/120.10, Now #10
Right Lane: Shawn Cowie Runs 5.181/280.08, Now #1

Shields is up in smoke before the 60 foot lights and coasting.

Cowie Saves the best to last to run low ET and Top Speed of session one. Nice!

Shawn Cowie's incremental times: 60ft-0.917 sec., 330ft-2.337, 660ft-3.438/224.70 mph, 1,000ft-4.379.

2:01 p.m. Field not filled, no bump spot.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink