Sun, 12 Nov 2000, 06:48 PM POMONA-2 - Top Fuel Round 3 Eliminations

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Top Fuel 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
   2 Tony Schumacher     4.571 320.81  Q   14 Doug Herbert        4.732 313.51
   (M Smith     ) 0.514  4.606 317.27  E1   (D Kalitta   ) 0.515  4.918 294.69
   (A Cowin     ) 0.507  4.668 310.48  E2   (D Grubnic   ) 0.489  4.904 301.33
 *****WINNER***** 0.520  4.715 270.59  E3                  0.486  9.795 100.82

3:25 PM Just a point of interest for all the Tony Schumacher fans. He took over the second spot in the points with his win over Cowin in the prior round. Schumacher takes the win as Herbert begins smoking the tires around 300 feet from the launch. Tony worked hard for lane choice in the left lane but his attempt ended in a cloud of smoke and the call for the oil sweeper to take to the track. That was the first oil down for the Army team this season.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 Mike Dunn           4.522 325.69  Q    5 Gary Scelzi         4.617 311.77
   (B Baldwin   ) 0.524  4.566 316.82  E1   (K Bernstein ) 0.485  4.563 318.39
   (L Dixon     ) 0.504  4.582 315.64  E2   (M Troxel    ) 0.512  4.657 308.00
                  0.523  5.689 227.11  E3 *****WINNER***** 0.492  4.976 290.82

The cleanup is still going on for Schumacher as the next two contestants prepare to do battle. Scelzi and crew will need to find another tenth to be in this race if Dunn holds form for the weekend. Only once this weekend has the Yankee car been out of the 4.5's. The only run in the fifties for Big Red was in the first round when Scelzi ended Kenny Bernstein's season. Well, as it turns out, it was a pedaling contest. Both cars smoked the tires at the same instant but Scelzi recovered earlier and streaked away for the win. Gary has had more practice pedaling a smoking race car recently. The bad news for Scelzi is that he lost lane choice to Schumacher in the final round.