Sat, 28 Oct 2000, 04:52 PM HOUSTON-2 - Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Larry Sullivan

BAYTOWN, Texas - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 4th annual Matco Tools SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions 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: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.655/313.22, Now #7; Best prior run: 8.606/86.06, Was #17
Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 4.728/307.02, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.105/219.19, Was #15

4:06 PM Kalitta needed to better Mark Kinsella's 5.233 to get into the field. He did a lot more than the minimum needed on a nice pass, the car arched nicely and pulling hard all the way through the lights. Hartman-Smith also snapped her string of poor passes with a "full pull," the car under power all the way through the lights, to move one spot further away from the bump spot. Now the bump time is Bill Walsh's 4.791. And Kinsella just pulled out of line, so the field is set, it's just a matter of who runs whom.

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Right Lane: Bill Walsh Runs 4.730/307.79, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.791/307.79, Was #16

Walsh moved off the final rung of the ladder with a good-looking run, the team still sorting out the backup car.

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Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.657/309.84, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.697/306.26, Was #11
Right Lane: Joe Amato Runs 8.918/96.11, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.702/303.30, Was #13

Amato lost traction after 200 feet or so, but Dixon made a nice-looking run, just a trace of tire smoke on the top end of the run.

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Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.663/315.86, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.696/315.19, Was #11
Right Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.760/284.51, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.699/314.97, Was #12

This was a good side-by-side show to about 1,000 feet, then Bernstein's Bud King dragster started hazing the tires and slowed.

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Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.686/319.98, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.684/318.32, Was #11
Right Lane: Andrew Cowin Runs 4.719/286.68, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.683/316.38, Was #10

These two were side-by-side past half track, then there was a flash of flame from Cowin's engine bay and the car slowed. The cleanup was very quick, appearing to be mostly pieces of debris.

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Left Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 10.336/95.95, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.589/311.85, Was #4
Right Lane: David Grubnic No Time, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.641/317.12, Was #5

These two made their burnouts and were preparing to stage, then starter Rick Stewart signaled Grubnic to shut it off, the rear main seal on the engine leaking a puddle of oil on the launch pad. On a single, Scelzi lost traction almost instantly, apparently trying to run a low 50 to regain the #1 spot on the ladder.

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Left Lane: Don Lampus Runs 4.584/321.19, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.580/320.36, Was #3

Prior to the run, Lampus said (in a video clip) that he wanted to run a mid-sixty on this run to get ready for tomorrow's first round. He over-achieved a bunch, almost matching his career-best ET and resetting his career-best speed. The run looked almost flawless, the only visible problem a tendency for the car to move around a bit in the middle of the run.

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Left Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 10.656/73.39, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.540/321.35, Was #2
Right Lane: Mike Dunn Runs 10.742/89.19, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.530/322.34, Was #1

Both lost traction early, Cory Mac getting to the finish line first because he blipped the throttle once before shutting it down.

That's it, Lampus runs low ET of the final qualifying session and Dunn will race Bobby Baldwin in round 1 tomorrow.