Sun, 14 Nov 1999, 09:39 PM POMONA - Top Fuel Final, Round 4 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Top Fuel at the 35th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:

  
 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   4 Doug Kalitta        4.586 307.16  Q    3 Mike Dunn           4.580 311.70
   (T Mullins   ) 0.517  4.574 308.00  E1   (L Dixon     ) 0.476  4.651 299.53
   (J Amato     ) 0.499  4.561 303.64  E2   (J Head      ) 0.484  4.640 303.09
   (G Scelzi    ) 0.475  4.553 314.31  E3   (T Schumacher) 0.473  4.710 297.68
                  0.432  4.692 301.60  E4 *****WINNER***** 0.448  4.668 291.38

6:25 PM This is it, by some accounts the last drag race until the new millennium. But the 2000 Winternationals are only ten weeks away, so it's going to be a short Winter.

Dunn ends the year the way he started it, with a win for Team Mopar, Darrell Gwynn's team closing on a high note with a great drag race. Kalitta took a small holeshot and Dunn had just enough performance to overcome that edge to win by a margin of victory = 0.008 seconds (approximately 4 feet). These two were welded together all the way down the track, neither getting more than a few feet on the other anywhere during the run. Dunn had a one-point edge over Kalitta prior to this final round, so the driver who won here also finishes in fourth place in the Winston championship.