Sun, 24 Oct 1999, 05:12 PM DALLAS - Federal-Mogul Dragster Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 3 eliminations in Federal-Mogul Dragster at the 14th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

  
 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   9 Bill Reichert       5.645 243.96  Q   12 Lee Callaway        5.677 238.34
   (T Buff      ) 0.427  5.697 245.90  E1   (B Bybee     ) 0.495  5.814 231.71
   (J Thompson  ) 0.504  5.264 250.69  E2   (B Ratliff   ) 0.625  5.765 237.96
 *****WINNER***** 0.471  5.690 247.25  E3                  0.437  6.084 170.87

3:56 PM Callaway slapped a huge holeshot on Reichert, but his engine let go in a flash of flame at half track and Reichert stormed by for an easy win. The fireball was so big that the flames were sucked forward, into the cockpit, but Callaway was not injured - the NHRA safety requirements do their job once again.

  
 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   6 Melanie Troxel      5.591 218.18  Q    2 Rick Santos         5.463 257.21
   (C Friesen   ) 0.561  5.445 257.95  E1   (J Meyer     ) 0.451  5.729 247.45
   (K Stark     ) 0.477  5.362 265.95  E2   (R Wendland  ) 0.438  5.432 259.21
                  0.510  5.513 253.52  E3 *****WINNER***** 0.433  5.489 258.39

Melanie had both ET and speed records pending on this run, but her engine dropped a cylinder in the middle of the run and Santos drove through tire shake for another win, making it two blown alcohol cars in the final round.