It’s a beautiful Sunday here in Pomona as the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing season gets underway with final eliminations. It may be early in the season, but as as the professional teams have found, every point counts and racers in all three categories are aiming to kick the 2011 campaign off with a bang. Keep it tuned here to DRAGZINE as we bring you all of the days events live.
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Round One Eliminations
Top Fuel
Morgan Lucas experienced some familiar engine trouble on the top end as he defeated a tire-smoking Brandon Bernstein to advance into round two. Teammate Shawn Langdon used an off-pace 4.01 to best a slowing T.J. Zizzo. Del Worsham recorded his first round win in Top Fuel in nearly two decades by besting veteran Bob Vandergriff with an impressive 3.803 at 322.11.
Tony Schumacher used a stout 3.782 at a booming 327.03 MPH – the fastest lap in the 1000′ era – to advance over Troy Buff, and teammate Antron Brown was right behind with a great 3.790 at 325.37 to send Mike Strasburg packing.
Funny Car
Jim Head edged out Bob Bode in a great drag race, 4.21 to 4.26 as Bode blew it up near the finish line, depositing oil in the shutdown area as a small fire ensued. Mike Neff recorded his first round win since the season bookend in 2009, defeating Tim Wilkerson by a 41.145 301.47 to 4.381 count.
Brothers Cruz and Tony Pedregon certainly had no intentions of facing off in the first round of the opening race of the year, but thats just how the cards fell on this particular day. In a tire smoking affair, Cruz pulled out the win to advance with a 4.573 to Tony’s valiant 4.86 effort.
Robert Hight will match up with boss John Force in round two after advancing over fellow Ford runner Bob Tasca, 4.121 at 305.84 to 4.21 303.37. Force will earn lane choice with his quicker 4.11.
In a pairing of DSR teammates, Ron Capps and the NAPA machine bested Jack Beckman with a game 4.134 at 306 as Beckman struggled on the top end, slowing to just a 5.35.
Pro Stock
Jason Line hammered out the quickest run of the weekend thus far in a defeat of V. Gaines’ Dodge, 6.538 at 211.89. Greg Stanfield continued where he left off last season, advancing with a stout 6.566 to easily advance over rookie Buddy Perkinsons’ slowing 7.66.
Top qualifier Erica Enders, in her first race back under the Cagnazzi umbrella, advanced to round two with a great 6.545 at a booming 212.43 MPH – the second fast run in history – defeat of Richard Freeman’s slowing 8.08. Greg Anderson made a nice run of his own with a 6.540 at 211.86 to end Shane Gray’s weekend early, and Larry Morgan’s red light handed a round two ticket to Kurt Johnson and his 6.58 at 210.77 effort.
Eliminations Round Two
Top Fuel
Del Worsham, the lone remaining Al-Anabi car, moves into a semifinal matchup with Morgan Lucas on the heels of a 3.801 322.11 defeat of Spencer Massey, who hazed the tires and slowed to just a 4.10 at 229. Meanwhile, Shawn Langdon upset the Schumacher juggernaut, running a 3.841 at 309.66, while Schumacher struck the tires in the other lane and could only watch as Langdon sailed into the semfinals.
Funny Car
DSR teammates Ron Capps and Matt Hagan both earned their way into the semifinals; Capps besting Cruz Pedregon 4.11 to a slowing 5.22, while Hagan edged Jeff Arend in a good drag race, 4.106 to a 4.16. It’s a Force and Schumacher battle in the semfinals.
Pro Stock
Erica Enders’ great weekend came to an untimely end in the first pair out, her Chevy Cobalt breaking on the burnout and unable to back up to the starting line. Her car was pushed over along the wall and Ronnie Humphrey took his break solo into the semifinals. To add insult to injury for Erica, Humphrey rattled the tires just past the christmas tree and he coasted on through to a 12-second lap.
Jason Line made the semifinals a Summit Racing 3-for-4 affair as he defeated Vincent Nobile’s Dodge, 6.53 to a 6.55. Line and Anderson will square off in the next round. Meanwhile, Greg Stanfield used an .016 bulb and a 6.561 at 210 MPH to punch his way into the semi’s where he’ll face Humphrey.
Semifinal Eliminations
It’ll be an all Lucas Oil final round in Top Fuel, as Morgan Lucas bested Del Worsham to join his teammate in the final. Lucas and Worsham both damaged a lot of parts and the race was on to see who could coast across the finish line first. With that, Langdon will choose his lane for all the marbles.
Funny Car
Pro Stock
Final Round Eliminations
Pro Stock
Funny Car
Top Fuel