Sun, 12 Jun 2005, 01:59 PM Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

GRAND BEND, Ont. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the 2005 Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series, Sixth annual Mopar Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Rob Atchison                            3 Terry McMillen               
E1                   0.086 11.215  71.07     ****WINNER****  0.059  6.108 230.80
 Qualified:             #1  5.844 238.98                        #8  6.089 230.02

1:33 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 84 degrees, relative humidity 71 percent, barometer 29.34 inches, adjusted altitude 2,753 feet, track temperature 114 degrees.

McMillen had the better light, but shook hard and had to pedal it. Atchison looked like he was enroute to an easy win, but about 200 feet out there was a BANG and the hood hatch went sailing into the air. McMillen finds himself on the other side of the luck equation this time because he is going to the semifinals. Meanwhile, Atchison will lose 15 points because there's oil in his lane.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  147 Frederick Tigges                      657 Thomas Carter                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.036  5.902 238.51                     0.123  5.982 235.76
 Qualified:             #2  5.887 240.08                        #7  5.990 236.30

1:50 p.m. Tigges' car took dead aim on the 330-foot timing reflectors and he swerved away at the last moment, but he stayed on the throttle and won with an elapsed time almost as quick as his qualifying run.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Chris Foster                          293 Larry Dobbs                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.030  5.983 236.01                     0.114  6.343 179.44
 Qualified:             #3  5.927 237.13                        #6  5.969 232.87

Foster nailed Dobbs to the tree and then Dobbs' engine started to go away, trailing smoke. Foster faces Tigges in the semifinals and Tigges will pick the lanes.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Jim Sickles                             2 Mark Thomas                  
E1   ****WINNER****  0.072  5.913 238.76                     0.073  5.931 238.43
 Qualified:             #4  5.929 239.40                        #5  5.943 239.48

tchison opend the door for Thomas to close the points gap and Sickles promptly slammed it shut. It was a close race all the way, starting with almost identical reaction times. Jim Sickles' incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.002), 330 ft(0.009), 660ft(0.013), 1,000ft(0.017). MOV: 0.0195 seconds (approximately 7 feet). Sickles will have lane choice against McMillen in the semifinals.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink