Sun, 04 Oct 2020, 12:42 PM Top Fuel Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

MADISON, Ill. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, ninth annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  777 Leah Pruett                           303 Pat Dakin                    
E1   ****WINNER****  0.037  3.676 328.38                     0.057 11.817  70.73
 Qualified:             #9  4.310 249.07                        #8  4.087 300.66

Weather conditions: air temperature 53 degrees, relative humidity 68 percent, barometer 30.25 inches, track temperature 75 degrees.

Pruett is 5 - 1 against Dakin in prior events.

Pruett with a great light and the win. she runs the quickest pass of the event.

Dakin is up in smoke right at the hit.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  304 Todd Paton                             21 Terry McMillen               
E1                   0.123 13.707  54.81     ****WINNER****  0.076  3.777 325.53
 Qualified:            #15  8.822  81.37                        #2  3.715 319.45

This is the first time Paton and McMillen have faced each other in eliminations.

Paton is driving the Worsham Top Fueler.

This is the second time that Terry McMillen has qualified No.2.

McMillen with the starting line advantage and never trailed as Paton is up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  394 Luigi Novelli                         317 T.J. Zizzo                   
E1                   0.097  4.206 231.16     ****WINNER****  0.117  3.757 325.92
 Qualified:            #13  6.303  89.81                        #4  3.755 327.74

This (No.4) is the best starting spot for T.J. Zizzo.

Luigi Novelli's first NHRA race was in 1972. T.J. Zizzo was born in 1975.

This is the first time Novelli and Zizzo have faced each other in eliminations.

Novelli with the starting line advantage, but zizzo had the difference made up by the time they went by the Christmas tree and never trailed from there on for the win.

Novelli is drifting out of the groove and getting real close to the centerline, he keeps it in his lane.

Zizzo is skating around on the top end and he is close to the centerline, he keeps it in his lane until past the finish line. He crosses the center line between 1000 feet and 1320 so this will cost him five points.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  123 Antron Brown                         1211 Justin Ashley                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.053  3.733 328.06                     0.032  4.060 224.92
 Qualified:             #3  3.720 326.95                       #14  6.503 123.41

Antron Brown is 26 - 5 in Top Fuel in round 1 when starting from the No.3 spot.

Brown and Ashley have each won 1 times against the other in prior events.

Ashley with a great light and then starts to mix up cylinders and then pitched the blower belt.

Brown is straight down the groove for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  448 Kebin Kinsley                         356 Tony Schumacher              
E1                   0.094  7.943  82.24     ****WINNER****  0.098  3.754 316.67
 Qualified:            #16  8.869  61.82                        #1  3.680 332.92

This is the first No. 1 spot for Tony Schumacher since Virginia in 2018. He has qualified No. 1 88 times now and has gone on to win the race 25 times.

Kinsley with a slight starting line and is real loose and out of the groove, close to the wall before he clicked it off.

Schumacher is on a great pass and then just past half track, he has body panels on the left side of the car fly off. He still gets the win.

He will give up lane choice to Pruett in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  333 Shawn Langdon                           2 Doug Kalitta                 
E1                   0.092  9.260  77.20     ****WINNER****  0.024  3.731 328.22
 Qualified:            #12  5.993 271.35                        #5  3.913 325.22

Shawn Langdon is 5 - 3 against Doug Kalitta in round one.

Langdon is 21 - 11 against Kalitta in prior events.

Kalitta with a great light and never trailed as Langdon is up in smoke right at the hit.

Kalitta kept it hooked up and hitting on all eight all the way down the track for the win.

He will have lane choice over Zizzo in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  323 Chris Karamesines                       5 Billy Torrence               
E1                   0.393  4.745 158.00     ****WINNER****  0.088  3.738 322.81
 Qualified:            #10  4.701 158.41                        #7  4.022 322.50

This is the first time Karamesines and Torrence have faced each other in eliminations.

Torrence with the starting line advantage and is straight down the groove with a good looking pass.

Torrence will have lane choice over McMillen in the next round.

Karamesines starts to lose traction around half track and clicks it off.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  386 Kyle Wurtzel                            1 Steve Torrence               
E1                   0.100  3.787 321.65     ****WINNER****  0.077  3.687 329.50
 Qualified:            #11  5.274 132.30                        #6  3.924 327.82

This (No.11) is the best starting spot for Kyle Wurtzel in his 25 race career.

Torrence is 3 - 0 against Wurtzel in prior events.

Torrence with the starting line advantage and then he runs the second quickest pass of race day and third quickest pass of the event for the win.

Wurtzel with a great looking pass, he runs his career quickest and fastest pass in the losing effort.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink

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