Sun, 10 Oct 1999, 08:50 PM MEMPHIS - Federal-Mogul Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Federal-Mogul Funny Car at the 12th annual AutoZone Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

  
 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Frank Manzo         5.768 251.20  Q        Bye
   (T Carlisle  ) 0.446  5.811 248.61  E1
 *****WINNER***** 0.456  5.705 252.38  E2

7:32 PM Manzo elects to get his bye run out of the way early in the round so he won't have to rush his turnaround. Don't know what Manzo's reaction time was, the CompuLink monitor was in the wrong mode and flipped to displaying the full field qualifying results as soon as he crossed the finish line.

  
 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   7 Chuck Cheeseman     5.980 247.29  Q    8 Steve Harker        6.270 249.07
   (V Moats     ) 0.492  5.764 246.17  E1   (M White     ) 0.496  5.928 242.50
                  0.532  5.827 243.90  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.421  5.832 248.71

Harker wins this one on a holeshot - and Cheeseman stays out of Harker's lane as an added bonus. The margin of victory = 0.106 seconds (approximately 38 feet). Harker will get a bye run in the semifinals.

  
 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 Todd Paton          5.731 248.71  Q    6 Todd Simpson        5.946 242.15
                  0.386 11.601  64.22  E1   (R Fleming   ) 0.458  5.978 224.85
 *****WINNER***** 0.496  5.873 247.07  E2                  0.464 18.544 132.61

Simpson tried the burnout, but the car didn't spin the tires and the crew appeared concerned when he only went a few feet. But the car staged anyway, then went just a few feet under power and coasted the rest of the way. Too bad, because Paton was vulnerable, his car chattering and skating around until he pedaled it and tamed it down. Manzo will ahve lane choice against Paton in the semifinals.