Alderman Drives to Round Two

Osborne Red Lights in Round One

ENNIS, Texas. (Oct. 21, 2001) - Darrell Alderman piloted his Hemi-powered Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T to the second round of eliminations during today's O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

After outdueling Hurley Blakeney in round one with a 6.949-second elapsed time at 200.17 mph, Alderman fell to Tom Hammonds, who posted a 6.908-second pass at 200.31 mph to a 6.925-second elapsed time at 199.86 mph.

"It was a pretty good run," Alderman said. "I rattled the tires a little bit, but it seemed to get on through pretty well. We just got behind a little in qualifying and it bit us on race day."

The red light flickered in the right lane, ending Mark Osborne's day prematurely. The Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T driver fell to Hammonds, who posted a 6.883-second elapsed time at 200.40 mph.

"I just cut it too close on that last one," Osborne said. "I knew I had to cut a perfect light to win that race and I just missed it. We wouldn't have won even if I had cut a .400."

Patterson Nipped at Top End

Todd Patterson and the Dodge Motorsports Dakota R/T fell in the first round of competition to Mike Coughlin. It was an extremely close race, as Coughlin clocked a 7.470-second elapsed time to Patterson's 7.478-second pass. It was Patterson's best pass of the weekend.

"We just keep getting the consolation prize," Patterson said. "If we would have done our job in qualifying, we wouldn't have been in this position. We just met the wrong person in the wrong round."

Skuza Falls to Densham

Gary Densham outran the Mopar Parts Dodge R/T Nitro Funny Car of Dean Skuza in the first round of eliminations. Densham posted a solid 4.803-second elapsed time at 324.32 mph to Skuza's 4.905/313.58 combination.

"We really fell off that time," said Skuza, who had qualified with a 4.81-second lap. "We have this new blower and its been helping us a lot. I think the new body might of helped us on that run. We'll have the new Stratus body soon."

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