Mon, 4 Sep 2000, 04:10 PM INDY - Federal-Mogul Dragster Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

CLERMONT, Ind. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Federal-Mogul Dragster at the 46th annual U.S. Nationals:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Jay Meyer           5.553 253.75  Q    6 Shelly Howard       5.641 253.14
   (G Roberts   ) 0.502  5.580 251.67  E1   (S Bowen     ) 0.471  5.659 251.11
   (S Federlin  ) 0.505  5.523 252.61  E2   (G Ormsby    ) 0.455  5.619 250.46
 *****WINNER***** 0.444  5.498 255.10  E3                  0.443  5.604 250.64

3:01 PM Howard needed a holeshot to have a chance against Meyer, who has been consistently about a tenth quicker all weekend. She didn't get it because Meyer left her no room on the tree, then ran away and hid by a tenth of a second, the margin of victory = 0.105 seconds (approximately 39 feet).

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   4 Dave Hirata         5.633 255.00  Q    1 Rick Santos         5.527 256.94
   (R Bayne     ) 0.503  5.525 261.12  E1   (B Reichert  ) 0.444  5.453 257.73
   (R Lindert   ) 0.603  5.461 263.72  E2   (D Nicholson ) 0.437  5.463 256.99
 *****WINNER***** 0.467  5.384 267.16  E3                  0.423  5.434 258.81

This is a great matchup, the best of the blower cars against the best of the nitro burners. The race was all you'd expect, the outcome a bit of a surprise, Santos drilling the tree and Hirata resetting the track record on an extremely quick, extremely fast run. Margin of victory = 0.006 seconds (approximately 2 feet). Hirata has lane choice against Meyer in the final round.