BUMP DROPS TO 4.111 IN PRO NITROUS

Tommy Mauney remained on the top of the qualifying ladder with a 4.046 and in fact the top four cars remained the same as the weather heated up a little for the second qualifying round but getting into the elite eight-car field even in the bottom half of the ladder became a serious issues as the bump went from Ken Regenthal’s 4.17 to a 4.111 that was turned in by Terry Housely and his ’41 Willys. Rod Houck, Dan Parker and Buzz Varner all went from DNQ status to in the field. Houck, Parker and Varner ran 4.102,4.104 and 4.110 to get into the field bumping out Greg Cowin, Rex Ledford and Keith Baker.

Still not in the program going into the last round included Sonny Tindal who ran a 4.09 in testing last night and Johnny Pilcher who has an ADRL win on his resume this year.

DOES A FEW INCHES MAKE THE DIFFERENCE?

With the new IHRA rule allowing the extender on the front-end of any car not making the minimum 45-inch overhang many racers have added metal extenders to get the maximum allowable overhang. Some racers have it and some don’t but with just a thousandth making the difference between making the field and not we may be seeing a few of these built between rounds or over night.

4.01 ISN’T QUICK ENOUGH TO MAKE THE PROGRAM

The Pro Extreme class got really quick going into the third round with Quain Stott’s 3.971/184.66 blast moving him up to second in the field and making him the forth car in the field to run a sub-four second lap. The Bump improved slightly from a 4.021 to a 4.015 but the real eye opener is that the rest of the field improved enough that the number nine car (Tommy Mauney) ran a 4.021 and the number 16 car Doug Palmer was setting at 4.044 which would make a very good Quick 8 field in most cases.  Bil Clanton, Mike Neal and Josh Hernandez joined Stott as three-second cars making up the top half of the field.

Rodney Rosenstiel bumped into the field with a stout 4.000 but the real news is that he did it driving his ’69 Opal GT making his the only “Sports Compact” in the program.

Other notable non-qualifiers including Tommy Mauney and John Lynam who ran a 186.51 on his non-qualifying pass of 4.035. Chip King didn’t show for the second round of qualifying!

We are starting the last round of qualifying! Jason Scruggs holds the track record with 3.907/189.10