Drag Racing Online - Race Results

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However, Bazemore's violation was minuscule compared to Dixon's. The Gainesville winner appeared to have a lock on Top Fuel after going 4.593 (best of eliminations) and 4.609 (second best of eliminations) in the first two rounds. With those two runs behind him, Dixon had a .337 bulb against eventual winner Doug Kalitta in the semifinals.

As a result, it's doubtful that the second generation driver celebrated his ascension to No. 1 in points ahead of Mike Dunn.

OFF THE TRACK NEWS
Melanie Troxel, who last year was driving Top Fuel dragsters, may soon find herself talking about them instead. Troxel was interviewed at Bristol about the possibility of taking over television responsibilities from another former Top Fuel driver, Shelley Anderson, who is pregnant and soon will be unable to handle her normal pit reporter duties.

Troxel also confirmed that she and Tommy Johnson Jr. are an item. Now if she could just get a ride.

BERNSTEIN NUMBER ONE QUALIFIER, SETS ELAPSED TIME AND SPEED TRACK RECORDS AT BRISTOL

Kenny Bernstein looked like he was headed for another weekend of domination as he grabbed his second number one qualifying spot this year. The Budweiser King turned an elapsed time of 4.574 seconds at a speed of 319.07 mph, capturing both ends of the track record.

On race day, however, gremlins showed up to plague the team nearly every round. With a bit of luck on his side, Bernstein won the first round against Steve Smith (5.180/216.16 vs. 6.326/34.06), sacrificing an engine in the process. In the second round against Bruce Litton, the Bud King looked like it might be back on track clocking 4.681/303.30 to Litton's 4.851/260.41.

Bernstein advanced to the semifinals to face Tony Schumacher. The Bud King was up in smoke quickly, while Schumacher ran into tire smoking problems a bit further down the racetrack and was able to take the round win.

"It's very hard to recover from an early rash of tire smoke," said Bernstein. "When it happens at half track or later, you can very often pedal the car and get through it. In that regard, Schumacher had enough of an advantage to be able to get to the win light before us. (note by Susie Arnold)

CROSS-MARKETING MAY BE THE KEY

Biggest crowd of the weekend at Bristol Dragway was that on Saturday when, with a race ticket, you could pay an additional $5 and get a seat for the Alan Jackson and Leann Womack concert Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

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