Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Sat, 13 Nov 2004, 04:13 PM

Top Fuel Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Top Fuel 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:

Right Lane: John Smith Runs 4.726/306.60, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.615/308.99, Was #12

12:10 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 67 degrees, relative humidity 57 percent, barometer 28.89 inches, adjusted altitude 2,034 feet, track temperature 84 degrees.

Scott Palmer is on the bump at the beginning of the session with his 4.801 ET. Smith leaves hard and runs clean to the lights, but will not improve.

Left Lane: Scott Weis Runs 4.665/307.58, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.600/321.12, Was #11
Right Lane: Steven Chrisman Runs 10.339/71.72, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.009/262.08, Was #20

Weis' new Lobster-Gram sponsorship seems to have impacted his engine, as drawn butter cloud's the backend of the dragster near the lights. The Safety Safari is out dusting and cleaning the right lane, so it's going to be expensive. Chrisman had problems off the line and just coasted on down the track.

Left Lane: Doug Kalitta Runs 4.525/323.50, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.472/328.62, Was #1
Right Lane: Chris Karamesines Runs 4.751/304.39, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.809/301.74, Was #17

12:21 p.m. Just a brief delay for cleanup. Two historic names come to the line. Kalitta makes a clean pass and will not improve on his prior times. Karamesines car slowed visibly at mid-track and then lost the blower belt near the lights. However, he will move into this strong field and put Mitch King on the bump with his 4.794 ET.

Left Lane: Larry Dixon Runs 4.534/326.16, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.598/320.43, Was #10
Right Lane: Andrew Cowin Runs 4.640/314.97, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.232/135.25, Was #22

Cowin has struggled this weekend with much better performance at the last Las Vegas race. Two good passes and Dixon will edge into the current top half of the field. Cowin makes a good safe pass that may keep him qualified.

Left Lane: Joe Hartley Runs 10.684/83.38, Now #23; Best prior run: 7.220/114.32, Was #23
Right Lane: Cory McClenathan Runs 5.576/223.80, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.432/201.13, Was #22

McClenathan's problems continue as he is up in smoke around the 330 lights. He stays with it and drives in a cloud of smoke to the finish line. Pieces are flying into the air as he motors through the lights. Hartley smokes the tires at the hit and clicks it off early.

Left Lane: Scott Palmer Runs 4.765/301.40, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.801/305.29, Was #18
Right Lane: Mike Strasburg Runs 12.661/71.77, Now #20; Best prior run: 4.867/290.07, Was #20

Strasburg has instant smoke at the hit. Palmer improves with a nice pass, but will not make the show on this pass.

Left Lane: Doug Herbert Runs 4.606/314.46, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.856/225.41, Was #19
Right Lane: Rhonda Hartman-Smith Runs 4.602/320.43, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.664/298.47, Was #14

Great side by side pass and the Greek is out of the field. With virtually identical reaction times the two cars were welded together from start to finish. This would have been a great race for tomorrow. Ormsby's 4.714 is the new bump spot.

Left Lane: Mitch King Runs 5.681/166.72, Now #19; Best prior run: 4.794/297.02, Was #19
Right Lane: Morgan Lucas Runs 5.164/187.81, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.566/320.66, Was #9

King has a huge fire off the engine after the 60 foot lights and continues to blaze on down the track past the lights. The Safety Safari has to douse the still burning engine after the finish line. This run should make the qualifying "low lights" for tonight's ESPN show. In the other lane, Lucas has really good numbers up to mid-track and slows.

Left Lane: Gary Ormsby Jr Runs 4.662/288.21, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.714/278.06, Was #16
Right Lane: Clay Millican Runs 7.672/96.38, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.521/322.04, Was #5

12:53 p.m. Millican reported earlier that they had found some problems with the MPH after last nights qualifying pass and were confident that they would improve today. While the mess is being cleaned up in the left lane, his crew is working hard on the rear-end of the dragster in the startup area. They are swarming over the back of the 104 Plus dragster with bottles of lube and lots of rags. One crew member is up underneath the differential working hard.

After all of the work, Millican's car is up in smoke before the 330 foot lights. Ormsby is looking to get the brilliant yellow Menard's dragster off the bump. He leaves well and would have improved even more, but the pipes went wet near the 1000foot lights. Blower belt?? He moves the bump to 4.662.

Left Lane: Brady Kalivoda Runs 4.635/320.81, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.594/316.30, Was #10
Right Lane: David Grubnic Runs 4.522/327.90, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.529/330.31, Was #7

Grubnic sneaks up the ladder with a nice clean run into the current #6 spot. Kalivoda slows slightly from his prior runs and will stay #10 for now.

Left Lane: David Baca Runs 6.725/114.78, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.487/327.43, Was #3
Right Lane: Brandon Bernstein Runs 4.522/331.77, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.526/322.81, Was #7

BIG MPH for Bernstein and he moves up the ladder with a run right down Broadway. Baca was right with him until about the 330 light, where the tire smoke rolls in.

Left Lane: Scott Kalitta Runs 4.574/327.19, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.509/322.34, Was #4
Right Lane: Tony Schumacher Runs 9.036/80.44, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.485/327.11, Was #2

Lat pair of the session. Schumacher's .832 sixty foot is just too strong for the track and the tires start to smoke before the 330 lights. Kalitta keeps the car stuck to the track and can't improve on his earlier ET's. Good MPH though!

1:04 p.m.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink