Sun, 10 Oct 1999, 10:21 PM MEMPHIS - Federal-Mogul Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Results of round 3 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    1 Todd Paton          5.731 248.71
   (T Carlisle  ) 0.446  5.811 248.61  E1                  0.386 11.601  64.22
                  0.456  5.705 252.38  E2   (T Simpson   ) 0.496  5.873 247.07
 *****WINNER***** 0.434  5.717 251.91  E3                  0.427  5.752 249.39

9:10 PM A nine-car ladder is the only ladder where the #1 and #2 qualifiers meet before the final round and that's because the #3 qualifier gets the third bye run. The race lived up to expectations, Paton with a small starting line advantage and Manzo making up the deficit to win by a margin of victory = 0.028 seconds (approximately 10 feet).

  
 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   8 Steve Harker        6.270 249.07  Q        Bye
   (M White     ) 0.496  5.928 242.50  E1
   (C Cheeseman ) 0.421  5.832 248.71  E2
 *****WINNER***** 0.563 13.790  63.09  E3

Harker used the bye run to check his clutch setting, saving the expensive parts for the final round, where Manzo will have lane choice.