Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals photo blog
Saturday, September 15, 2012
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Beautiful weather is again on tap today for the second day of racing at the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries. The drivers of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series again kicked off the day's activities, this time starting the process of whittling down the fields in the first few rounds of eliminations. The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series classes will take to the track at 12:15 p.m. for the third qualifying session. The fields will be set after this afternoon's final qualifying session, which begins at 2:45 p.m. |
| Younger fans looking for some fun and other things to do to fill the time can visit the POWERade Play Zone set up just behind the main pitside grandstands near the staging lanes. |
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Among the drivers who enter today's qualifying sessions not in the field and needing to make a strong run is defending Pro Stock event champion Kurt Johnson, who finished yesterday 15th with a 6.622. Jeg Coughlin Jr.'s 6.607 was the final time that transferred into today. Also entering today with no time are Shane Gray, V. Gaines, Frank Gugliotta, Lewis Worden, and John Gaydosh. |
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After sitting out yesterday, local racer Bob Gilbertson will attempt to qualify for the Funny Car field today. Gilbertson's last appearance at an NHRA Full Throttle race was this event last year. |
| The back and forth for best run between the Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson team continued in Pro Stock Motorcycle Q3 when Eddie Krawiec, who was quickest of the first session but watched as teammate Andrew Hines paced the second one, posted the best time of the round, a 6.873. Hector Arana Jr. (6.884) and Andrew Hines (6.893) also earned bonus points in the session. |
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Matt Smith is having a solid first outing with new sponsor Viper Motorcycle, ranking fifth in Pro Stock Motorcycle just behind the Harleys and "the Hectors." Teammate Michael Ray is also doing well, sitting sixth in the order. |
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Pro Stock Q3 belonged to the Dodges. No. 1 qualifier Vincent Nobile (left) made the best run of the round, 6.563, and his quasi-teammate Allen Johnson (below) was a thousandth behind him to earn two qualifying bonus points. Jason Line was third quickest with a 6.567. |
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Indy Pro Stock champion Dave Connolly is having another good outing. He is qualified in the top half, and his 6.582 was the fourth-quickest time of the third qualifying round. |
While his teammate, Shawn Langdon, retained the No. 1 spot on the strength of his run last night, Khalid alBalooshi was the leader in the third Top Fuel qualifying session with a 3.841. |
| There was a tie for the second-best run of Top Fuel's third session; Morgan Lucas (pictured) and Spencer Massey both posted 3.859s, but Lucas had the better speed, 321.35 to 318.84, to get the two bonus points. |
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Funny Car points leader Ron Capps added another three points to his total by posting an impressive 4.096 in the Saturday-morning session. Capps' run was nearly three-hundredths quicker than the rest of the field that round. |
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Jeff Arend is quietly putting together a solid outing. He posted a 4.128 that ranked as the second-best run of the third Funny Car session, and it improved on his previous passes of 4.13 and 4.14. |
| Courtney Force entered the day not in the field, but she corrected that in a hurry when she powered her Traxxas Funny Car to a 4.134, which has her No. 11 in the field entering the final session. |
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After the Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle team paced the first three Pro Stock Motorcycle sessions, Hector Arana Sr. was able to better them on the final run, posting a 6.904. |
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Andrew Hines again collected some bonus points in the final Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying round, posting a second-best 6.917 that brought his bonus total to seven, second only to teammate Eddie Krawiec's eight. Hines will get the most regular qualifying points because his 6.851 from Friday night held for the No. 1 spot. |
| The final Pro Stock qualifying session was a good-news, bad-news situation for Jason Line. On the positive side of things, Line paced the round with a 6.582 to tally three additional points, but in the pair in front of him, his teammate, Greg Anderson, seriously wounded an engine, meaning Line and the rest of his crew have a fair amount of work ahead of them before the first round tomorrow. |
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Erica Enders appears to have a car that can contend tomorrow. She's sixth in the Pro Stock order thanks to a 6.566 yesterday, and she had one of the quickest runs the final session, a 6.594 that was just a thousandth below the third-quickest time of the round. |
| Third-session Top Fuel leaders Khalid alBalooshi and Morgan Lucas were again the best of the final round, only in reverse; Lucas was quickest with a 3.833, and alBalooshi was second at 3.838. Brandon Bernstein (pictured) was third quickest with a 3.839. |
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After struggling on their first three attempts, the Dote Racing team was able to get everything together in Top Fuel Q4, clocking a 3.886 to place new driver Larry Dixon 11th in the order. |
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Legend Chris "the Greek" Karamesines will be part of Top Fuel after his 3.981 held up for the 16th spot. Karamesines will square off with Shawn Langdon, who earned his second straight pole with his 3.807 from Friday night. |
| Jack Beckman fired the final shot of Funny Car qualifying with a best-of-the-final-session 4.082 that improved slightly on his 4.084 from Friday night. Beckman enters race day from the No. 2 spot. |
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Cruz Pedregon has been near the top of the performance charts in Funny Car all weekend, including in the final session when his 4.098 ranked second. Pedregon finished in the fifth position and will face brother Tony in round one. |
The Pedregon family feud isn't the only instance of relatives racing in round one of Funny Car. It will also be father vs. daughter after Courtney Force ran a 4.109 on her final attempt to move up to sixth and secure a first-round match with dad John. |
After a their two body-launching runs in Indy last weekend, Todd Lesenko and his new-look Eco-Absorb team rebounded nicely during today's qualifying, getting into the field when they posted a 4.280 in the final Funny Car session. |