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Thu, 11 Nov 1999, 08:42 PM

POMONA - Pro Stock Truck Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan

Field Tightens

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Pro Stock Truck at the 35th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Mark Whisnant Runs 9.512/101.51, Now #14; Best prior run: 7.678/176.60, Was #13
Right Lane: David Spitzer Runs 7.674/176.12, Now #13; Best prior run: 7.691/176.14, Was #15

4:59 PM Whisnant shook and gave it up. Good pass by Spitzer to move away from the bump spot.

Left Lane: Bart Price Runs 7.636/176.97, Now #4; Best prior run: 7.673/175.80, Was #12
Right Lane: Larry Kopp Runs 7.647/175.64, Now #7; Best prior run: 9.081/104.10, Was #28

Kopp gets into the field, scrambling the order.

Left Lane: Randy Daniels Runs 7.602/178.52, Now #3; Best prior run: 7.595/178.12, Was #3
Right Lane: Larry Seay Runs 7.695/176.24, Now #17; Best prior run: 7.708/175.37, Was #17

Left Lane: Kim Smith Runs 7.697/175.23, Now #18; Best prior run: 7.719/174.80, Was #19
Right Lane: Bob Panella Jr Runs 7.559/178.38, Now #1; Best prior run: 7.515/178.61, Was #1

Left Lane: Brad Jeter Runs 7.588/177.46, Now #2; Best prior run: 11.279/80.32, Was #29
Right Lane: Jose Maldonado Runs 8.431/119.49, Now #22; Best prior run: 7.728/174.53, Was #21

Jeter got it sorted out and moved to the top part of the field while Maldanado flirted with the centerline at mid track. The bump is now Whisnant's 7.678.

Left Lane: Brian Self Runs 7.592/178.00, Now #3; Best prior run: 17.914/46.26, Was #30
Right Lane: Jeff Lukovich Runs 7.776/174.64, Now #27; Best prior run: 7.778/173.58, Was #26

Self leaps from the outhouse to near the penthouse on a fine recovery. Now the bump is David Spitzer's 7.674.

Left Lane: Craig Eaton Runs 7.618/176.07, Now #6; Best prior run: 7.663/175.59, Was #12
Right Lane: Jerry Haas Runs 7.632/177.79, Now #7; Best prior run: 7.665/176.65, Was #14

The field tightens again with every pair ...

Left Lane: Don Smith Runs 7.672/177.32, Now #16; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Scott Tidwell Runs 11.459/78.63, Now #32; No Prior Run

Both drivers here had problems and didn't even get to run in the first session. Smith recovered to take over the bump spot, Tidwell gave it up early in the run with tire shake.

Left Lane: Mark Osborne Runs 7.553/178.54, Now #2; Best prior run: 7.670/177.23, Was #15
Right Lane: Scott Perin Runs 7.648/177.14, Now #11; Best prior run: 7.644/176.26, Was #10

Nice pass by Osborne, leaving Perin's good run in his wake.

Left Lane: John Coughlin Runs 7.593/176.84, Now #5; Best prior run: 7.660/175.84, Was #14
Right Lane: Bo Nickens Runs 7.741/174.55, Now #25; Best prior run: 7.756/174.14, Was #26

Left Lane: Greg Stanfield Runs 7.570/177.46, Now #3; Best prior run: 7.694/176.10, Was #20
Right Lane: Steve Johns Runs 7.595/178.31, Now #7; Best prior run: 7.595/178.31, Was #6

Stanfield posts a 1.059 60-foot time, the best we've seen so far and good enough to bump Smith and put Todd Patterson on the bubble at 7.663.

Left Lane: Lou Ficco Runs 7.688/175.96, Now #20; Best prior run: 7.765/174.75, Was #27
Right Lane: Todd Patterson Runs 7.720/175.41, Now #16; Best prior run: 7.663/175.07, Was #16

Patterson fails to improve and now will have to sweat it out for the rest of the session.

Left Lane: Roy Simmons Runs 7.681/175.57, Now #21; Best prior run: 7.748/174.91, Was #27
Right Lane: Dale Eaton Runs 7.666/175.59, Now #17; Best prior run: 7.688/175.21, Was #21

Eaton misses the field by 0.003 seconds...

Left Lane: Mike Coughlin Runs 7.645/176.47, Now #15; Best prior run: 7.654/176.53, Was #15
Right Lane: Ruben Celedon Runs 7.637/173.56, Now #13; Best prior run: 7.710/175.84, Was #25

Celedon bumps Patterson and puts Kopp on the bubble at 7.647.

Left Lane: Jeff Gracia Runs 7.706/175.34, Now #26; Best prior run: 7.889/174.80, Was #29
Right Lane: Chris DeSalvo No Time, Now #30; Best prior run: 7.907/171.36, Was #30

Gracia's truck took a very crooked path to the finish line. DeSalvo's truck was unable to stage and he was pushed away from the line, the floor jack coming into play once again so whatever broke disabled his drivetrain.

Left Lane: Darren Davis Runs 7.776/174.75, Now #29; Best prior run: 8.051/173.94, Was #31
Right Lane: John Lingenfelte Runs 7.605/178.07, Now #9; Best prior run: 7.637/177.53, Was #12

Final pair and no change in the bump spot, Kopp surviving until the third session, tomorrow.

The field is now a lot tighter, from Panella's 7.515 to Kopp's 7.647.