Sun, 12 Nov 2000, 09:52 PM POMONA-2 - Federal-Mogul Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Federal-Mogul Funny Car at the 36th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   7 Rod Alexander       5.785 250.18  Q   11 Russ Parker         5.842 247.34
   (E Marx      ) 0.483  9.872  92.36  E1   (P Swayne    ) 0.413  5.846 226.47
   (L Miner     )       No Time        E2   (J Weaver    ) 0.534  5.786 246.71
                  0.456  7.095 134.56  E3 *****WINNER***** 0.459  5.793  24.07

5:54 PM Alexander was able to get the damage repaired and return, so Parker doesn't get a "walkover" into the finals. But there was a BANG and a flash of flame from under Alexander's car and he slowed, giving Parker an easy win and a trip to the finals. The Safety Safari rolls to clean up the left lane. With just an hour until the curfew, we didn't need the down time.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   4 Bucky Austin        5.746 248.84  Q    9 Steve Gasparrelli   5.815 238.26
   (J Bartoli   ) 0.523  5.720 249.35  E1   (J Payne     ) 0.453  5.741 252.95
   (D Gordon    ) 0.486  5.707 250.55  E2   (P Austin    ) 0.480  5.592 255.82
                  0.481  5.678 251.11  E3 *****WINNER***** 0.475  5.677 245.76

Wow! What a great drag race - it's a shame one of these cars had to lose. Gasparrelli took a 0.006 second edge at the starting line and at the finish line the margin of victory = 0.007 seconds (approximately 3 feet), the two cars welded together all the way down the track..