O'Reilly Fall Nationals
Dallas
(Oct. 10-13)
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17th Annual |
| Friday |
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are first-day leaders in Dallas |
The Texas Motorplex lived up to its reputation as one of the quickest and fastest racetracks on the NHRA tour Friday as the 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec opened with two rounds of professional qualifying action.
The most stunning passes came from the nitro ranks with retiring legend Kenny Bernstein thrilling the crowd with a 4.61 at 322 mph, which led Top Fuel. In Funny Car, the winner of the last three events, Tony Pedregon, remained the car to beat with a thundering 4.78-second pass. His boss John Force, who Pedregon trails by just 18 points in the championship chase, is a distant 10th on the ladder.
Normally, the Day 1 leader in Pro Stock, which this weekend is Ron Krisher (6.85 at 201 mph), is pretty safe after Friday's solo night session. But this race may be the exception to the rule as an Artic front bears down on Texas with an expected arrival of Saturday afternoon. Even sop, Krisher's class-leading streak of 67 consecutive races in which he's qualified looks safe.
Bernstein rebounded from an aborted first pass to jump from out of the field to the No. 1 slot in Round 2. His 4.612 at 322.69 mph in the Budweiser dragster was conservative, but it got the job done as the rest of the field either struggled with the conditions or overpowered the track.
 Kenny Bernstein
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"In all honesty I never would have thought that would hold," Bernstein said. "Especially with all those other cars behind us. But it did and we're all happy and surprised. Tim said he was going to be conservative because we wanted to make sure we were in today so we didn't have to go for it tomorrow in the heat. He did what we had to do and we didn't go for the jugular.
"Maybe it's because of our connection to Dallas and the people here or the fact [local distributor] Ben E. Keith has been with us from the start, I don't know, but this race is becoming emotional for me. I've had so many fans tell me they came out just to see us and I even had one guy tell me he used to watch us in Amarillo, Texas, in the '60s. I told him he was an old codger like me. It's a special time. Plus, Larry Dixon and that group left the door open just a taste in Chicago so our blood is still pumping."
Fellow Texan Darrell Russell led the first session and finished second after a steady 4.612 at 322.69 mph in Joe Amato's Bilstein Engine Flush dragster. Tony Schumacher of the U.S. Army team followed Bernstein's lead and saved his best pass for the second round, moving up to third with a 4.621 at 326.67 mph.
O'Reilly racer Scott Palmer anchored the top 16 with a 4.924 at 253.44 mph. Chicago winner Doug Kalitta and legend "Big Daddy" Don Garlits are the more notable names on the list of drivers who have yet to qualify. Top Fuel results
Pedregon can't escape the questions regarding his streaking program and his ever-narrowing deficit to Force in the POWERade Funny Car rankings and his performance on the racetrack continues to add fuel to the fire. During Friday's evening session, only two cars registered 4.7-second passes and Pedregon's Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang was the quickest, hitting the timing traps in 4.789 seconds at 323.50 mph.
 Tony Pedregon
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"This is the original supertrack and it showed it again today," Pedregon said. "The car that's on the pole is the one that took the best advantage of the conditions. This was a typical session at this track where every pair up there kept raising the performance bar. The conditions were just right and the cars were all moving. We saw what the guys in front of us were doing and John [Medlen, crew chief] must have come back to make adjustments three or four times.
"I know everyone's talking about me and John but today is just one day. You can never discount what his car is capable of doing and with this cold front coming he could fly right past us tomorrow. It's one thing to catch him in the points and another thing completely to pass him. We won't change what we've been doing because it seems to be working. I know we're not waiting for the championship to come to us. We're staying aggressive and going after it."
Bruce Sarver used the fastest Funny Car run of his career to place Alan Johnson's White Cap Toyota Celica in the No. 2 spot. His best pass showed a 4.798 at 320.30 mph. Matco's Whit Bazemore followed with a 4.817 at 322.92 mph.
Force's best pass in his Castrol GTX Ford was a 10th-best 4.957 at 299.80 mph. Meanwhile, Dean Skuza owns the bump in the Mopar Parts Stratus after a 7.215 at 117.69 mph. Funny Car results
Krisher cruised through the cool night session to a class-leading 6.850 at 201.88 mph in his Eagle One Chevrolet Cavalier. Coming off a runner-up finish in Chicago, Krisher is in line for his eighth low qualifier honor of the season.
 Ron Krisher
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"There was .02 of a second more in the track tonight then there was earlier today and there was at least that much left in our car even after our second run," Krisher said. "I guess I'm old because I told the guys when I was backing up that they were going to have to help me tonight. I just couldn't see the groove. The car ended up going left and I tried to get it back in there but I think I went right over the groove. The lighting just threw me off. Even so, what a great job they did preparing the racetrack because we still ran a really nice number.
"My qualifying streak means a lot to me and it looks like it's safe, even if this cold front hits before the final session tomorrow. It's important for us to keep that going and it's also very important to do well in these last three races. I think we should get to the finals of all three of them. We should probably even win some of 'em."
New points leader Jeg Coughlin powered to the No. 2 slot in the Jeg's Mail Order Chevrolet Cavalier. Fellow championship hopefuls Warren Johnson (No. 3 at 6.855), Jim Yates (No. 5 at 6.865), and Greg Anderson (No. 7 at 6.870) all finished the day in the top half of the qualifying field.
ACDelco pro Kurt Johnson reached a top speed of 202.47 mph during a sixth-best 6.866-second pass to set a Texas Motorplex speed record.
Steve Schmidt made the top 16 an all 6.8-second affair with his 6.891 at 200.26 mph, which placed him on the bump. Mark Whisnant, Troy Coughlin, Darrell Alderman, and Allen Johnson lead the 20 drivers who have yet to qualify.
Pro Stock results
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