Sat, 7 Oct 2000, 02:16 PM MEMPHIS - Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Larry Sullivan

MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel at the 13th annual AutoZone Nationals presented by Pennzoil 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: Clay Millican No Time, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.413/166.64, Was #13
Right Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 5.343/174.48, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.666/298.27, Was #5

12:06 PM Millican's first-session oildown was his first of the year, having made 35 clean passes in IHRA competition so far this year (the pass was his first in NHRA Top Fuel competition). Here something broke on the launch, the car coasting to a stop at half track. Kalitta was off to a good start, a 0.832 60-foot time (that's very quick), but he started to spin the tires at half track and the header flames went out.

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Left Lane: Bruce Litton Runs 4.954/243.37, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.071/227.34, Was #12
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.604/311.85, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.641/307.79, Was #3

Litton barely made the call, rushing to the head of the line to run in his assigned spot, opposite Scelzi. He got the front wheels way up in the air and shook the tires on the launch, forced to backpedal it to regain traction, then ate an engine at the 1,000-foot marker. Meanwhile, "Big Red" made a nice-looking pass, right down the groove.

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Left Lane: Don Lampus Runs 4.672/298.54, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.730/295.40, Was #8
Right Lane: Luigi Novelli Runs 5.936/144.30, Now #14; Best prior run: 9.733/89.89, Was #17

Novelli was right with Lampus to half track, then something broke and Novelli slowed sharply. raw fuel spewing from the pipes. Lampus was on a good pass to about 1,000 feet, then the engine once again started eating itself, lots of white smoke from the pipes.

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Left Lane: Bob Vandergriff Runs 4.654/301.87, Now #6; Best prior run: 17.378/37.25, Was #18
Right Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.617/317.34, Now #3; Best prior run: 8.309/84.96, Was #16

Two good runs here, Vandergriff's car actually on a better run than Troxel's until it pushed out a head gasket just past half track - and he still managed to complete the run with a good ET. Melanie had a picture-perfect run.

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Left Lane: Joe Amato Runs 4.592/306.67, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.645/308.21, Was #5
Right Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 5.583/166.21, Now #16; Best prior run: 6.236/134.03, Was #17

Herbert exploded the engine just before half track with a big ball of flame, but the containment devices did their trick and their was no oil on the track. Amato made a great run, clean and smooth, to take over the top spot on the ladder.

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Left Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 10.567/70.78, Now #18; Best prior run: 9.629/89.82, Was #18
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 4.619/310.63, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.735/296.86, Was #11

Hartman-Smith's car went into a big power wheelie on the launch and she had to lift to keep it from going into a blowover, banging the front wheels down hard. Meanwhile, Cory Mac made a picture-perfect run, straight and smooth and clean and all that good stuff.

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Right Lane: Paul Romine No Time, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.747/301.67, Was #12

Romine launched, something broke, and there was a bunch of raw fuel from the headers. He slowly drove the car down the track, raw fuel from the headers showing that the engine was still running, the timing system timing out before he reached the finish line.

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Left Lane: Kenny Bernstein Runs 4.707/300.73, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.694/302.62, Was #10
Right Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.701/305.70, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.695/307.09, Was #11

Beer wars, round three, goes to Miller Lite, both cars falling off form a bit instead of stepping up. Good drag race, Dixon getting to the finish line 0.022 seconds ahead of Bernstein.

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Left Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 4.552/318.17, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.593/315.19, Was #2
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.709/306.26, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.633/311.49, Was #6

Schumacher said during his post-qualifying interview last night that his team deliberately lines him up a couple feet out of the groove to avoid the bald spots that develop on the launch pad during a race, relying on his driving skills to get the car over into the groove in the first 100 feet. He did that very nicely here, rewriting the track ET record with the third-quickest run since the NHRA adopted the 90-percent nitromethane fuel limit. Grubnic made a good run, but it was eclipsed by Schumacher's great run.