Saturday's Views from the Valley
Saturday, June 16, 2012
This unique sign in front of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce headquarters signifies Bristol’s claim as the birthplace of Country music. |
As has been the case for much of the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season, great weather attracted a huge gathering of fans, who filled the grandstands of the state-the-art Bristol Dragway facility. |
With the Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers in the role of the presenting sponsor of the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, one of the Tasca Ford Funny Cars, along with several Ford production vehicles, were on display for the benefit of the high performance-oriented race fans. |
(Above) Prior to Saturday’s third round of qualifying, Pro Stock racer Rodger Brogdon, who is one of the affiliated partners in the Hot Rods for Heroes charity organization that recognizes veterans and their families, posed with nine Gold Star fathers whose sons made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. (Below) Pictures of the nine fallen soldiers were attached to the dashboard of Brogdon’s car when he made his qualifying pass in Saturday’s first session, and Brogdon honored them properly with a solid 6.68 clocking. |
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Vincent Nobile ran the quickest time in Saturday’s first round of Pro Stock qualifying with a 6.659 to retain his No. 3 spot. This is the third time that Nobile has qualified third this year, having also done so in Charlotte and Houston. |
Among the major drag racing figures who joined with soldiers in the ceremonial cake cutting to celebrate the 237th birthday of the U.S. Army prior to the first Top Fuel qualifying session today were, from left, Top Fuel drivers Antron Brown and Tony Schumacher, NHRA’s Graham Light, and team owner Don Schumacher. |
After watching his teammate, Khalid alBalooshi, smoke the tires earlier in the third Top Fuel qualifying session, Shawn Langdon’s team was able to make the right adjustments and tune him to a 3.872 that ranked as the best run of the round. Langdon was unable to repeat it later, hazing the tires to close out his qualifying. |
Cruz Pedregon returned to competitive form today, pacing the first Funny Car session with a 4.128. He followed that up with a 4.14 on his final qualifying attempt. |
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After a strong opening day that included a 4.17 and a 4.16, Courtney Force stepped up in the Saturday’s first Funny Car session, posting a 4.131 that was the second-best run of that round. Force’s final attempt was waylaid by engine troubles. |
JR Carr, who has not raced in NHRA Pro Stock since 2004, made a successful return to the factory-hot-rod category by recording an impressive 6.692 in the final session to end up in the No. 9 position. |
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Tony Schumacher had the best Top Fuel car in qualifying, stringing together four 3.8s, including a 3.841 that was the best run of the final qualifier. Schumacher tallied a class leading 10 qualifying bonus points over the four sessions.
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After a challenging first run Friday, on which he did not register a time after his engine popped right at the hit, Bob Vandergriff Jr. rebounded nicely on his next three attempts. Vandergriff followed up a 3.85-Friday-night run with 3.87 and 3.88 runs today. His 3.873 was one of the top three runs of Top Fuel Q3. |
In the biggest surprise of qualifying across any class, the Morgan Lucas Racing duo of Morgan Lucas (pictured) and Brandon Bernstein both missed the Top Fuel field. Lucas and Bernstein have had very good cars this season. Lucas has two wins, and Bernstein was the runner-up at the last event, in Englishtown. |
After getting blanked in the qualifying bonus points department Friday, Ron Capps earned points in both of today’s Funny Car sessions. Capps was the quickest driver of the final session with a 4.12, adding three points to the one he earned earlier in the day as the third quickest of Q3. |
Tim Wilkerson began the day with the Diversified Yachts body on his Funny Car entry, but he was forced to swap bodies prior to the final qualifying session after a dropped cylinder on his first attempt pushed him to the centerline and into the timing cones at the stripe. That also left Wilk outside the field with no time entering the fourth session, but Wilk put up a clutch 4.131 that not only got him in but also earned him a qualifying bonus point as the third-quickest run of the session. |