Saturday's View From Vegas II
Saturday, October 29, 2011
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| Saturday morning was a good time for autograph hunting at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Big O Tires display (above) was the site of a long line of fans eager to get autographs from NHRA Legends Tom "the Mongoose" McEwen and Don "the Snake" Prudhomme (right), who are the event's grand marshals. Meanwhile in the pits, drivers like Alexis DeJoria (below left) and Antron Brown (below right) were mixing with fans, signing autographs, and posing for photographs. |
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[11 a.m.] The final qualifying session for the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series set the field for final eliminations, which begin later today. Championship points leader Khalid Balooshi (above) is qualified just No. 9, and his closest pursuer, Danny Rowe, is fifth. Brad Personett took the No. 1 spot away from Leah Pruett in the final session with a 5.848. (Left) Mike Knowles' Vegas-appropriate paint scheme didn't help him beat the odds; he finished two spots outside the field with his supercharged Blown Money entry. |
[11:30 a.m.] Hector Arana Jr. grabbed the No. 1 spot in the third Pro Stock Motorcycle session with a 6.879 on his Lucas Oil Buell. Arana failed to qualify for the first race of the season and won only four rounds in the first eight national events. In the Countdown, he's qualified No. 1 three times, won two races, and reached the finals in another. He leads the class with six No. 1 qualifiers — including the last three — and has won from the No. 1 slot twice. By earning three points for the best run of the round, Arana carved a point off of leader Eddie Krawiec's edge; Krawiec, whose 6.894 was the second best of the session, leads Arana now by just 13 points, or less than a round of racing. Both riders also broke the incoming track record of 6.909 held by Hector Arana Sr. |
[11:50 a.m.] Mike Edwards broke his own 6.623 Pro Stock track record with a 6.594 at 208.81 that also earned him the track speed record and the No. 1 qualifying spot with one session left. Jason Line earned two more bonus points with the session's second-best pass, a 6.630, that was matched by Allen Johnson; Line's superior speed, 208.49 to 208.33, earned him the extra point over A.J. Line's points lead is now 194 over teammate Greg Anderson, who was unable to make his run after his crew discovered a broken wheelie bar after the burnout. |
[1 p.m.] "Hot Rod" Fuller, participating in his last race this season, had the third Top Fuel session's third-best run, a 3.854, that moved his C&J Energy Services/DiGiorno/Yas Marina dragster to fourth. Brandon Bernstein (3.833) remained atop the field. Del Worsham, who had the round's best time (3.839), is second, and Spencer Massey, second quick of the round at 3.849, is third. Points leader Antron Brown is yet to gain any qualifying bonus points and has seen his lead shrink to 20 over Larry Dixon and 21 over Massey. Worsham is 45 points back. |
The pride of Paducah, Ky., Keith Murt is on the Top Fuel bubble with a 3.920, ahead of a flock of more experienced drivers, including T.J. Zizzo, Chris Karamesines, Terry McMillen, and Morgan Lucas. |
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Ashley Force Hood is in the house, proudly showing off her 2-month-old son, Jacob John, who's on hand to provide a little good luck for his grandpa, John Force, and JFR drivers Robert Hight and Mike Neff.
The Force team has nine wins in Vegas: three by John Force (fall 2002 and 2010, and spring 2010), three by Hight (spring 2007, fall 2009, and spring 2011), two by Tony Pedregon (spring and fall of 2003), and one by Gary Densham (spring 2002). |
[1:55 p.m.] Johnny Gray (above) blasted his Service Central/Big O Tires Dodge Funny Car to a 4.118, the best run of the third session, which moved him to the No. 4 spot. Mike Neff (below) ran a 4.129 for the round's third-best time; the one bonus point he earned is important because it brought him to just 19 points — less than a round of racing — behind co-points leaders Jack Beckman and Matt Hagan, who earned no bonus points this session. |
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| [3 p.m.] Countdown Pro Stock Motorcycle championship players Michael Phillips (above) and Karen Stoffer (right) both failed to make the starting field. The weekend was especially frustrating for Stoffer, who lives in Minden, Nev., just 420 miles northwest of Las Vegas. She lost her best engine Friday then had to abort her first run today with hard tire spin and stopped just 60 feet into her pass. On her final pass, she ran just well enough to be on the bubble but was bumped out of the show. It's her first DNQ of the season. |
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Veteran rider Joe DeSantis fell off his Suzuki at the top end after a 7.19 pass in the final Pro Stock Motorcycle session. He was transported to University Medical center for further evaluation. |
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[3:15 p.m.] Hector Arana Jr. had the best run of the final Pro Stock Motorcycle session with a 6.892 to earn three more bonus points and pull to within nine points of leader Eddie Krawiec. He already was the No. 1 qualifier based on his earlier 6.879.
"This gives us a lot of confidence," he said. "The bike is on a rail and consistent."
His father, Hector Sr., had the round's next-best pass, a 6.896, for the No. 3 spot behind Krawiec's earlier 6.894.
Andrew Hines had the round's third-best pass, a 6.902, good for the No. 4 spot. |
It's another packed house at The Strip today as fans enjoy great fall weather and hot on-track action. |
[3:35 p.m.] If a picture is worth a thousand words, this is it when Jason Line leaves teammate Greg Anderson far behind. By earning 10 of a possible 12 qualifying session points, Line has moved to 199 points in front of Anderson heading into eliminations. A late-round finish Sunday by Line or an early exit by Anderson will seal Line's second championship. Line's 6.628 was the second-best run of the final session behind No. 1 qualifier Mike Edwards' 6.620, a pass on which he also upped his track speed record from 208.81 to 208.84. |
Marysville, Wash., racer Mark Wolfe made the Pro Stock field in his impressive Pro debut with a 6.657. |
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[3:50 p.m.] T.J. Zizzo (above) powered his Peak Motor Oil Top Fueler into the field in the final session with a 3.879. (Left) After forfeiting a career-best 3.899 Friday after it wasn't among the day's top 12 runs, former Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Ron August Jr. bounced back with a 3.892 in the final session to put his Liquid MPG Fuel Additive dragster in the Top Fuel field for the fourth time in his 10-race career. |
[4:40 p.m.] Del Worsham (above) drove the Al-Anabi Top Fueler to the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel with a dramatic 3.796 pass in the final session, just shy of the 3.781 track record held by Tony Schumacher. Worsham got the three session bonus points, and Spencer Massey earned two (with a 3.824), which moved Massey past Larry Dixon and into second place in the standings. Bob Vandergriff Jr. (below) had the round's the third-best time, a 3.838. |
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[4:55 p.m.] Facing his first DNQ since the fall Charlotte event in 2008, world champ John Force powered his Castrol GTX Mustang into the Funny Car field with a 4.118 blast. More famously, when Force failed to qualify for the spring Vegas event in 2007, it ended his 395 record-setting streak of consecutive starts on the NHRA circuit that dated to the start of the 1988 season. Force swept both Las Vegas races a year ago. |
Del Worsham's weekend got even sweeter when he watched his dad, Chuck, right, tune Todd Lesenko, left, into the Funny Car field. The Jolly Rogers car that Lesenko is driving was the Worshams' 2008 chassis. |
[5:05 p.m.] Ron Capps, who failed to qualify in Phoenix, went from zero to hero with a 4.080 in the final Funny Car session to grab the No. 1 spot early in qualifying. “We had a new front half on our car in Phoenix, and it never really responded to Tim’s [Richards, crew chief] inputs; something that can happen with a new car,” explained Capps. “We took advantage of our early exit in Phoenix to come here and test last Monday. We pulled out the new car, slapped in a new motor, and, in the heat of the day, went down the hot track twice at 4.21 and 4.15.” |
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| Johnny Gray's great Las Vegas weekend took a sour turn when he kaboomed his Service Central Dodge in the final qualifying session, sending the body soaring skyward and turning his Funny Car into a convertible |
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With his first-round victory, Khalid Balooshi locked up the 2011 NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series championship. |