DRO asked their resident statistician to go beyond the best et, mph and reaction times from the NHRA season. Jim Hawkins came up with what he found to be the best stats compiled by individual drivers. Next month he will report on the best stats by class and event.

Here is what I consider the best stat from the 2001 season. Maybe even in the last 12 years. Larry Dixon's 24-0 first round record. That is quite incredible. This hasn't been duplicated since John Force was 19-0 in 1996. Runner-up goes to Angelle Savoie's 14-0 first round records in 2001 and 2000!

Speaking of wins in a particular round, how about WJ in the final round? When he made it to the finals he always won. He was 6-0. John Force? Below .500. John appeared in the 4th round 13 times, his record was 6-7. Larry Dixon and Kenny Bernstein both won 66% of the time in the final round.

Who were the holeshot artists of 2001? Brad Jeter did some major leavin'. Brad won 53% or 10 of his elimination wins via a holeshot. Jeg didn't do too bad either, winning 11 rounds or 41%. George Marnell won 47% of his rounds leaving first and getting to the finish line first. The fuel classes usually don't have a lot of holeshot wins, but let's give a hand to Doug Kalitta (3-0) and Ron Capps (4-0) for there great driving.

Who got beat up on the tree? These guys will be working the practice tree over the Winter...KJ (2-10), Jim Yates (1-9), Ron Krisher (2-8) and Mark Osborne (4-7).

John Force is used to winning anywhere from 70% (in 1998) to 92% (in 1996) rounds of racing. This year John won 75% of his eliminations. This was held in check by Bazemore, Capps and Worsham all winning over 60% of their rounds. Also outstanding were Kenny Bernstein's 79.2% win percent and Larry Dixon's 76% win percent. Angelle Savoie's 85.4% streak was none too shabby as well as Antron Brown's 74.4% stat.

Another stat that I track is the average rounds a driver advances per event. Angelle had the best of the pros with a 3.4 average. How do you advance to .4 of a round, you may ask. What this stat means is that Angelle is nearly guaranteed to go to the third round of every event and then goes to the final in 4 of 10 events. John Force was the only Funny Car driver to average in the 3's. Honorable mention to Kenny Bernstein (3.2) and Larry Dixon (3.1). No driver in Pro Stock averaged over 2.3 round per event. This shows how close the racing and evenly matched Pro Stock was in 2001.

Qualifying stats...Here are a few highlights...Whit Bazemore number one qualifier 9 times...tops in all the pro classes. But, Whit had a 4.9 qualifying position average. It would have been higher, but he qualified in the bottom of the field 5 times. Worst being ETOWN at 14th. Hat's off to Antron Brown's 2.2 average and Angelle Savoie's 2.6 average. Each PSB driver had 6 number 1's. John Force was best in Funny Car with a 2.9 average and once again Kenny Bernstein, Larry Dixon and Mike Dunn were best in Top Fuel with 2.9, 3.0, and 3.8 respect averages. Another stat to prove that there was a fairley even playing field to Pro Stock was the best Average Qualifying position. Jim Yates was best with a 4.9. Nobody dominated the number one position...Mike Edwards owning the most at 5.

Finally, I'll leave you with a trivia question. Over the last 12 seasons, 1990 - 2001, Kenny Bernstein has qualified in 238 events, the most in Top Fuel. John Force 242, tops in Funny Car, and WJ, 241 events in Pro Stock. What pro driver in TF, FC, or PS is second in total events qualified, from 1990 to 2001 with 217 events? Email me before next month's article and you win a free copy of my DragStats software.

Have a Happy Holiday - Jim

Review more 2001 season ending stats, including stats for all NHRA qualifying drivers, Top 12, and National Events at Jim's DragStats web site:

http://home.att.net/~jhawkins/dragstats.htm

or email him with any questions at:

DragStats@att.net

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