Sun, Nov 15, 05:43 PM POMONA - Federal-Mogul Dragster Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan TAD vs A/Fuel in Finals

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Federal-Mogul Dragster at the 34th annual NHRA Winston Finals:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   3 Rick Santos         5.492 255.68  Q   2 Mark Woods          5.484 248.13
   (M Troxel    ) 0.512  5.543 251.46 E1   (D Shields   ) 0.485  5.564 246.64
   (M Hentges   ) 0.470  5.588 252.31 E2   (C Bingham   ) 0.503  5.486 243.96
 *****WINNER***** 0.478  5.486 257.65 E3                  0.491  5.544 243.70

2:33 PM Santos needed to win here in order to have a blown alcohol car in the finals, the other three survivors being injected nitro machines. So he did just that, Woods dropping a cylinder to make it a little easier for the '98 Winston champ to advance to the final round by a car length.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   4 Shane Gay           5.503 250.97  Q   1 Rick Henkelman      5.411 260.49
   (M Strasburg ) 0.461  5.505 254.66 E1   (S Federlin  ) 0.505  5.437 253.80
   (S Faria     ) 0.454  5.431 259.66 E2   (J Payne     ) 0.482  5.535 250.06
                  0.482  5.490 255.10 E3 *****WINNER***** 0.492  5.453 256.11

This was a good drag race, the two injected nitro cars side-by-side all the way down the track, Gay with a slight starting line advantage and Henkelman running him down to win by about 10 feet, just 0.027 seconds. Henkelman will have lane choice against Santos in the final round.