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Fri, 12 Nov 2004, 04:55 PM

Top Alcohol Dragster Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Top Alcohol Dragster at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 40th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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:

Left Lane: Kent Nuckols Runs 5.591/251.91, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.992/247.11, Was #14
Right Lane: Johnny Ahten Runs 5.632/245.32, Now #13; No Prior Run

12:37 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 58 percent, barometer 28.88 inches, adjusted altitude 2,030 feet, track temperature 95 degrees.

A lot of the dragster had traction problems in the first session yesterday. We start the session with a blown and injected pair. Ahten is way first and starts to drop cylinders on the top end. Nuckols runs weel, but something flies off the car at mid-track and sail over and hits the opposite guardrail. Swearingen is on the bump with a 6.474 ET.

Left Lane: Darryl Hitchman Runs 5.436/254.57, Now #7; Best prior run: 12.160/82.30, Was #20
Right Lane: Ben Harper Runs 14.585/74.94, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.406/266.37, Was #5

Harper is up in smoke at the hit and coasts on down the track. Hitchman has his act together today and makes a clean and straight pass into the current top half of the field.

Left Lane: Duane Shields Runs 5.272/264.34, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.499/256.16, Was #8
Right Lane: Larry Miersch Runs 5.667/232.03, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.767/212.16, Was #16

Two fuelers this time. Shields makes a big move up the ladder with a nice pass. Miersch leaves well, but starts to drop cylinder before mid-track and will lose a spot. The bump is now Will with her 5.691 ET.

Left Lane: John Haley No Time, Now #20; Best prior run: 11.759/57.59, Was #20
Right Lane: Gene Snow Runs 9.941/82.26, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.292/263.36, Was #4

Haley has problems staging and just sits on the line at the green. He shuts down the engine and the crew pushes the car back behind the line. Snow has his own problems with a good .923 sixty foot time and then the engine went sour and he clicked it off too.

Left Lane: Marshall Topping Runs 6.212/203.43, Now #17; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 5.331/268.38, Now #1; Best prior run: 5.254/272.28, Was #1

Topping finally get the racer down the track, but won't make the field in this session. Lucas has a clean pass, but slows from yesterday to stay in the top spot for now. He is the quickest of the session so far.

Left Lane: Bill Reichert Runs 10.978/77.90, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.332/272.17, Was #5
Right Lane: Hillary Will Runs 5.583/252.43, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.691/253.09, Was #16

Will has a wild looking VERY RED tow vehicle that looks like a new Dodge Magnum converted into a panel delivery. She needs to get off the bump and she does so in style by improving over a tenth. Reichert tries to turn the earth and is up in smoke at the green. The new bump is Miersch's 5.667.

Left Lane: Chris Demke Runs 5.417/260.86, Now #8; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Steve Federlin Runs 5.494/258.96, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.508/259.01, Was #9

Demke finds himself in an unusual position with no time to date. He makes up for it big time with a great looking pass into the current top half of the field. Federlin improves from his time yesterday, but will move down a spot on the ladder. Ahten takes over the bump with his 5.632 ET.

Left Lane: Danny Valadez Runs 20.787/33.92, Now #21; Best prior run: 10.776/81.99, Was #21
Right Lane: Dennis Swearingen Runs 18.239/39.94, Now #19; Best prior run: 6.474/146.13, Was #19

Both cars stumble off the line and click off their engines before the 330 lights. It looks like it may have been expensive, as we are down for a while as there is extensive clean up in Swearingen's lane from just before mid-track to past the lights. In an unusual move, the drivers are getting out of their cars while they clean the track.

Left Lane: David Wells Runs 5.414/258.22, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.526/260.97, Was #11
Right Lane: Don Hudson Runs 5.586/251.95, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.558/248.48, Was #12

1:32 p.m. and we are back after a long delay. It worth the wait with two good passes.Wells gets the better deal with a big improvement into the current top half of the field. Hudson has a good run, but doesn't improve over his times from yesterday.

Left Lane: Randy Meyer Runs 5.317/259.91, Now #6; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Mitch Myers Runs 5.279/273.94, Now #4; Best prior run: 10.175/77.74, Was #20

Both cars struggled yesterday and must have done their homework last night. They leave almost together and run side by side to the finish line and into the top half of the field for now. Will is now on the bump again with a 5.583 ET.

Left Lane: Dave Hirata Runs 5.423/266.64, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.581/251.67, Was #15
Right Lane: Robert Perkins Runs 13.148/60.85, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.413/259.26, Was #9

Perkins has a lot of shake off the line, moves around the lane, and finally clicks it off. Hirata leaves hard and runs clean to make a big improvement in his qualifying position.

Right Lane: Ashley Force Runs 5.424/267.32, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.260/270.86, Was #2

Force will be the last car of the session and struggles to card a five forty in the Mattel fueler.

1:44 p.m.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink