Sat, 13 Feb 2010, 06:14 PM Nostalgia Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Nostalgia Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Leah Pruett Runs 5.974/228.85, Now #1
Right Lane: Mike Savage Runs 6.410/167.32, Now #2

2:24 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 31 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude 2,623 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.

Back to the good old days of FC that you could identify by sight!

Both cars are away without a problem and have similar incrementals until after half track, where Savage's Candies and Hughes 71 Barracuda slows. Look like a lot of engine damage too, as the track crew has rolled the trucks to near the finish line.

Pruett, in the Plueger and Gyger 72 Mustang, was second off the line, but makes near a full pull without noticeable damage. Nice!

Leah Pruett's incremental times: 60ft-0.992 sec., 330ft-2.575, 660ft-3.864/185.54 mph, 1,000ft-5.000.
Mike Savage's incremental times: 60ft-1.005 sec., 330ft-2.619, 660ft-3.934/184.72 mph, 1,000ft-5.149.

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Left Lane: Ed Schwartz Runs 6.281/237.25, Now #2
Right Lane: Jeff Utterback Runs 11.770/99.93, Now #4

2:53 p.m. ...and we are back to the past revisited! That took a while. I didn't know and early motor could hold that much oil!

Schwartz is driving the "topless" Beach City 69 Corvette and gets it through the lights with a ton of clutch dust. It's reportedly a recent career best for the car.

The Paisano and Matsabura 74 Vega zings the RPM's at the hit with major tire spin. Utterback motors it on down the track.

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Left Lane: Ed Dougan Runs 8.314/91.27, Now #4
Right Lane: Twig Zeigler Runs 9.115/106.04, Now #5

Both cars fire and fall back right after the 330 lights.

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Left Lane: Jon Capps Runs 6.736/207.27, Now #4
Right Lane: Josh Crawford No Time, Now #8

Jon Capp's is in the 72 Camaro repop of Jungle Jim Liberman and Crawford is piloting the Blue Max 69 Mustang.

The Max's engine started, sounded OK, and then was shut off by the crew. I couldn't tell why.

Capps' FC has a little smoke out from underneath the car right off the starting line and makes a relatively clean and smooth run to the 1320 lights [like Real Race Cars ]...

Jon Capps' incremental times: 60ft-1.164 sec., 330ft-2.996, 660ft-4.438/170.75 mph, 1,000ft-5.668.

3:05 p.m. There are a bunch of "Cackle Cars" lined up along the outside of the left guard rail for later this afternoon. TAFC Round One is up next.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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