Sun, 26 Jun 2005, 03:47 PM Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

EDMONTON, Alb. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the 2005 Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series, Third Annual Western RV Rocky Mountain Nationals presented by TORCO Race Fuels:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 6959 Ken Kraus                               1 Rob Atchison                 
E1                         No Time           ****WINNER****  0.081  5.865 238.81
 Qualified:             #8  6.132 227.61                        #1  5.842 240.42

1:32 p.m. Kraus was unable to fire the car, so Atchison got a "freebie" to advance to the semifinals on a nice, smooth pass.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 6320 Trevor Lebsack                          2 Mark Thomas                  
E1                   0.263  7.302 142.55     ****WINNER****  0.057  5.968 235.84
 Qualified:             #6  6.112 232.23                        #3  5.967 232.71

The last time these two lined up in these lanes, Lebsack's car got away from him at half track and he went into Thomas' lane, creating a near-miss situation. Thomas left nothing to chance, taking a huge starting line advantage and making a nice run, pulling away at every incremental timer. Lebsack got into tire shake around 300 feet out and backed off.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Terry McMillen                        657 Thomas Carter                
E1                   0.072  6.101 213.13     ****WINNER****  0.170  5.941 236.80
 Qualified:             #5  6.056 232.35                        #4  6.006 234.57

McMillen nailed Carter to the tree, but his car let him down, falling way off the pace on the in the middle of the run and Carter reeled him in on the top end for the win. Thomas Carter's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.094), 330 ft(-0.054), 660ft(-0.020), 1,000ft(0.007). MOV: 0.0624 seconds (approximately 20 feet). Carter faces Atchison in the semifinals.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 6352 John Evanchuk                           4 Jim Sickles                  
E1                   0.052  6.094 228.54     ****WINNER****  0.051  5.823 241.84
 Qualified:             #7  6.122 229.63                        #2  5.920 239.02

These two left right together and that was bad news for Evanchuk because Sickles improved a tenth over his qualifying pace, making his quickest and fastest run of the year. Sickles will have lane choice when he faces Thomas in the semifinals.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink