Sun, 31 Oct 2004, 04:29 PM Top Fuel Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 2 eliminations in Top Fuel at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Fourth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  319 Scott Kalitta                         743 Morgan Lucas
E2                   0.058  4.544 329.18     ****WINNER****  0.020  4.538 324.59
 Prior rounds:
E1    (S Weis      ) 0.086  4.611 324.59      (L Dixon     ) 0.079  4.573 320.58
 Qualified:             #1  4.491 333.00                        #9  4.579 317.79

Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 37 percent, barometer 27.92 inches, adjusted altitude 3,196 feet, track temperature 88 degrees.

Lucas with a great light and his quickest pass of the weekend to take the win by almost a car length. Kalitta with a great looking pass, but will be going home.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Cory McClenathan                      835 Andrew Cowin
E2                   0.077  8.889  81.34     ****WINNER****  0.083  4.607 309.56
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Smith     ) 0.088  4.625 320.43      (D Baca      ) 0.073  4.694 296.24
 Qualified:             #5  4.543 325.14                       #13  4.640 315.27

McClenathan strikes the tires around 150 feet and just blistered the hides. Cowin with his quickest pass of the weekend and he will move on to the semifinals to face Lucas. Cowin will give up lane choice to Lucas.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Tony Schumacher                        10 Rhonda Hartman-Smith
E2                   0.102  5.582 175.30     ****WINNER****  0.103  4.678 313.88
 Prior rounds:
E1    (B Kalivoda  ) 0.100  4.581 322.19      (D Grubnic   ) 0.078  4.669 316.82
 Qualified:             #6  4.543 323.43                       #14  4.670 318.39

They leave the line together and then Schumacher started to lose traction and he pedals it one time. When he got back on the throttle he dropped a bunch of cylinders and that was the end of his weekend. Hartman-smith with a nice pass until the engine let go with a big fireball right in the lights. Hartman-Smith will use up one of her freebies here.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Doug Kalitta                            9 Doug Herbert
E2   ****WINNER****  0.048  4.559 329.75                     0.066  4.637 298.34
 Prior rounds:
E1    (G Ormsby Jr ) 0.077  4.563 328.14      (B Bernstein ) 0.080  4.658 319.07
 Qualified:             #2  4.499 330.47                       #10  4.607 310.63

Kalitta is out of the gate first and never looked back to take the win. He will have lane choice over Hartman-Smith in semifinal.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink