Sat, 12 Oct 2002, 05:49 PM Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec 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:

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Left Lane: Bill Ancona Runs 5.280/221.18, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.394/254.02, Was #20

4:10 PM It's 79 degrees, 57 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.08 and falling, with a the track temperature of 99 degrees under sunny skies.

Ancona's car labored down the track, then the dreaded red-brown cloud of partially-burned nitromethane started trailing the car, followed by a trail of oil. We'll be down for a bit while the Safety Safari cleans up both lanes - he moved over to the right lane before he stopped.

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Left Lane: Mitch King Runs 10.845/82.73, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.860/262.23, Was #17
Right Lane: John Smith Runs 4.720/314.79, Now #12; Best prior run: 6.467/136.03, Was #21

Amazing what a few minutes of sunshine will do - the track temperature is now 108 degrees. King went up in smoke immediately. Smith, with wife Rhonda jumping up and down in glee at the starting line, sailed right down the groove and safely into the field. That bumped his older brother, Mike Smith, from the field.

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Left Lane: Mike Smith Runs 4.793/311.20, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.842/307.37, Was #17
Right Lane: Don Garlits Runs 6.990/116.83, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.332/199.73, Was #21

Brother Mike, not to be outdone, got right back in with a nice run of his own, bumping Scott Palmer from the field. Meanwhile, Garlits lost his second blower belt of the day. He was right with Smith to 330 feet, then the belt sailed through the air.

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Left Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.693/318.80, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.662/316.45, Was #10
Right Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 4.889/310.55, Now #19; Best prior run: 4.992/312.17, Was #19

Hartley needed to better Scott Weis' 4.798 to get in. He made a good effort, hiking the front wheels on the launch, but the car laid down in the middle of the run. Nice run by Grubnic, with three runs between 4.726 and 4.662 after an opening round tire-smoker.

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Left Lane: Clay Millican Runs 4.632/313.04, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.634/314.57, Was #8
Right Lane: Scott Weis Runs 4.942/251.95, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.798/269.05, Was #16

No more bumping. Nice run by Millican, staying eighth. Weis fell behind early and shut off well before the finish line.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 10.807/80.22, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.621/326.67, Was #7
Right Lane: Jim Head Runs 8.087/95.77, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.750/295.17, Was #14

Tire smoke in both lanes, Head getting a bit further down the track before losing traction.

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Left Lane: Darrell Russell Runs 4.659/317.23, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.615/320.97, Was #6
Right Lane: Jim Cavalieri Runs 4.721/306.64, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.730/307.37, Was #13

Russell ran his third "sixty" of the weekend, another straight, smooth pass with no sign of any problems. After two busted runs, Cavalieri came back to the form he showed right out of the box Friday and stepped up a few thousandths.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 11.774/75.50, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.611/324.20, Was #4
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.625/323.74, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.669/325.73, Was #11

Dixon hiked the front wheels up at the launch and then lost traction. No problems for Kalitta, the car leaving hard and running right down the groove - and into the top half of the field. If nothing changes, he'll face Millican tomorrow.

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Left Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 7.854/99.97, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.608/318.24, Was #3
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 10.845/79.54, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.651/314.46, Was #10

Tire shake and smoke, followed by silence.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 6.367/128.71, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.595/308.32, Was #2
Right Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 11.638/74.68, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.612/322.69, Was #5

Last pair, Andrew Cowin's team skipping this session. Bernstein hazed the tires about 200 feet out, Herbert about 300. So we finish with a whimper, the field shuffled around a bit in the middle, but no changes at the top.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink