Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Fri, 11 Oct 2002, 02:37 PM

Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster 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, and position in order following run:

Left Lane: David Wells Runs 5.574/256.99, Now #1
Right Lane: Mike Bowers No Time, Now #2

12:40 PM It's 64 degrees, 70 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.15 and steady, under overcast skies. The "clearing" promised in the weather forecasts for the past two days finally appears to be headed this way, with patches of blue sky west of the Motorplex. The track temperature is 85 degrees.

Bowers left before the tree was activated, shook hard, then shut it down. Wells was a little soft at the start, with a 1.009 60-foot time, then picked the pace up nicely.

Left Lane: Erica Walsh-Credeur Runs 5.654/245.49, Now #3
Right Lane: James Copeland II Runs 5.608/256.84, Now #2

Two fairly good runs, neither car shaking severely.

Left Lane: Larry Traugott Runs 5.618/252.88, Now #3
Right Lane: Rick Santos Runs 10.576/71.67, Now #5

Santos' return got off to a bad start, Santos shaking and slowing early in the run. Traugott made a good pass, right down the groove.

Left Lane: Arthur Gallant Runs 5.335/260.56, Now #1
Right Lane: Mitch Myers Runs 5.510/252.88, Now #2

These two came a long way to get here, Gallant from Massachusetts and Myers from Oregon. With the 2002 title securely in his pocket, Gallant is here to take a shot at the fabled Motorplex cement racing surface. His first shot was a good one, no dropped cylinders, the car straight and smooth. Nice run by Myers, too, but not in the same league as Gallant's.

Left Lane: Brandon Johnson Runs 8.652/94.27, Now #8
Right Lane: Lee Callaway Runs 5.521/257.51, Now #3

The "clearing" is now overhead at the Motorplex - it's only two days late getting here. New Division Four champ Callaway made a nice opening pass, hard and straight. Johnson smoked the tires and shut it down.

Left Lane: Shelly Howard Runs 5.458/260.49, Now #2
Right Lane: Gary Ormsby Jr Runs 7.939/100.27, Now #9

The quickest car in the country on what should be the quickest track, under almost ideal conditions...Ormsby shook and then smoked the tires, blazing them for a couple hundred feet before he lifted. Meanwhile, Howard's blown car made a very pretty run down the left lane, smooth and straight with no visible shake.

Left Lane: Mark Niver Runs 5.512/244.69, Now #4
Right Lane: Ed Schmeeckle Runs 5.684/251.04, Now #10

Schmeeckle, fresh off his win at Noble last weekend, could not keep up with Niver's smooth pass after driving through some shake early in the run.

Left Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 7.493/125.01, Now #11
Right Lane: Chris Ricketts Runs 8.286/89.23, Now #13

Both cars left hard, Reichert with a 0.950 and Ricketts a 0.938, then both shook and smoked the tires.

Left Lane: Gene Snow Runs 5.550/246.84, Now #6
Right Lane: Bruce Bowler Runs 5.662/254.66, Now #11

Gene Snow had a great weekend at Noble - until the second round of eliminations, anyway. He posted several A/Fuel career-best runs at that event. He made another good run here, the headers clean. Bowler dropped a cylinder early in the run and never picked it back up.

Left Lane: Jeff Hamelink Runs 11.902/79.65, Now #19
Right Lane: James Gascoyne Runs 5.671/241.28, Now #12

Hamelink shook hard and lifted. Gascoyne shook, pedaled, then continued.

Left Lane: Larry Becktold Runs 6.449/227.15, Now #15
Right Lane: Todd Datweiler Runs 5.456/254.81, Now #2

Becktold's car was slow off the line, with a 1.130 60-foot time, and never did pick the pace up. Good run for Datweiler, no dropped cylinders, right down the groove.

Left Lane: Jason Cannon Runs 5.485/258.02, Now #4
Right Lane: David Christy No Time, Now #23

Christy left way before the tree was activated - while Cannon was still stagig, so startr Rick Stewart held Cannon up until Christy cleared the top end. Then Cannon made a very good run, continuing the good performance he showed last weekend, at darlington.

Left Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 5.627/257.65, Now #13
Right Lane: Alan Bradshaw Runs 5.581/254.09, Now #10

Bartone debuted his brand-new car here, the car still unpainted. The new car stumbled a bit, but went right down the groove. Good run by Bradshaw, also right down the groove.

Left Lane: Troy Buff Runs 5.681/234.13, Now #17
Right Lane: James Thompson Runs 5.709/251.04, Now #19

Last pair. Both cars were slow off the mark, then looked good to half track. That's where Buff's engine started going away, leaving a trail of smoke and oil behind it. Thompson also struggled on the top end, but showed no signs of mechanical problems.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink