Delayed Torco Nats Underway in Virginia
Written by Sheila Scarborough · October 13, 2006
Schumacher, Hight and Anderson are provisional low qualfiers.
Drivers and teams shook off nerves and focus issues at the Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, as the second delayed race of the season finally got in gear this weekend.
NHRA.com Friday recap.
After a week’s rain delay, teams got back to NHRA business during qualifying rounds in cool weather. Top Fuel’s Tony Schumacher laid down a 4.512 at 313.37 mph in the first round (a track record ET,) holding off hot-running rookie J.R. Todd’s 4.534 at 313.68 mph.
“It’s a brand-new track for all of us, basically,” Schumacher said. “I can’t even remember running here. They’ve repaved it and it’s different then it was but we came out and went 4.51. Perfect. Tonight it’s 45 degrees and it wasn’t good for us. Alan was crystal clear — he said he was trying to get it to 290 mph by half-track because we didn’t know what it would do after that.
“The weather is supposed to be great tomorrow so I can’t see that 4.51 holding. We should be way quicker. We’ll be in the 4.40s for sure. You couldn’t ask for better air. Everyone is running great.”
John Force Racing is 1-2-3 in Funny Car qualifying, with Robert Hight’s 4.751 at 311.05 mph possibly giving him his eighth low qualifier position if it holds through Saturday. Eric Medlen and John Force hold the second and third qualifying positions. Ron Capps fell to a tire-smoking 10th.
“I’m just glad to be qualified after smoking the tires in Round 1,” Hight said. “Jimmy [Prock, crew chief] has never run a Funny Car here which really isn’t that big a deal but it does work on your mind when you’re coming into the night session and you’re not in the field.
“The thing is we had to stay aggressive with the tune-up because the track was good and the conditions were great. If we had tried to back it down it would have shook the tires. As usual, Jimmy came through with the perfect tune-up and it went right down through there.”
Much of the day’s excitement was in Pro Stock. Greg Anderson’s 6.598 at 208.49 mph set drag racing’s first 6.5 second pass in that class, a national ET record. If it holds, it may gain him a precious 20 points in the race against teammate Jason Line for the championship.
“It’s a lot of fun to race under conditions like this,” Anderson said. “Everyone in the pits is smiling because everyone just ran their personal bests. Whenever you do that, you’ve accomplished something and we’re all there.
“I really think today is just a warm-up for tomorrow. The track really needs a little heat in it and when we have that we’ll be even quicker. If we’re not, someone will definitely go around us. We need to be ready because we can’t let those bonus points go to another team.”
Jeg Coughlin returned to racing in fine form, qualifying seventh in a large field of thirty Pro Stock cars.
Top Fuel Standings After Two Qualifying Rounds
1. Tony Schumacher 4.512@ (ET) 313.37 (mph)
2. J.R. Todd 4.534 318.47
3. Rod Fuller 4.543 317.79
4. Doug Kalitta 4.549 313.73
5. Brandon Bernstein 4.552 317.57
6. Larry Dixon 4.557 314.75
7. Melanie Troxel 4.567 290.19
8. Cory McClenathan 4.569 321.73&
9. David Grubnic 4.581 310.91
10. Morgan Lucas 4.601 311.70
11. Hillary Will 4.634 307.72
12. Troy Buff 4.647 291.89
13. Steve Torrence 4.656 316.82
14. David Baca 4.672 305.70
15. Scott Weis 4.683 311.56
16. Clay Millican 4.721 297.02
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Doug Herbert 4.752 264.70
18. Bob Vandergriff 9.463 98.31
19. Bobby Lagana Jr. 10.619 74.40
@ = Track ET Record
& = Track Speed Record
Funny Car Standings After Two Qualifying Rounds
1. Robert Hight 4.751@ (ET) 311.05 (mph)
2. Eric Medlen 4.757 310.41
3. John Force 4.765 315.78&
4. Jim Head 4.784 307.09
5. Tommy Johnson Jr. 4.813 306.33
6. Jack Beckman 4.831 304.87
7. Mike Ashley 4.838 302.01
8. Gary Scelzi 4.844 302.08
9. Gary Densham 4.852 307.44
10. Ron Capps 4.867 302.21
11. Tim Wilkerson 4.885 303.30
12. Scott Kalitta 4.890 304.67
13. Tony Pedregon 4.923 296.70
14. Del Worsham 4.937 260.31
15. Tony Bartone 4.985 250.27
16. Frank Pedregon 5.039 264.80
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Cruz Pedregon 5.902 171.95
18. Phil Burkart 7.346 111.02
19. Paul Lee 10.992 73.65
@ = Track ET Record
& = Track Speed Record
Pro Stock Standings After Two Qualifying Rounds
1. Greg Anderson 6.598$ (ET) 208.94 (mph)
2. Jason Line 6.602 209.26
3. Greg Stanfield 6.605 208.49
4. Richie Stevens 6.605 207.75
5. Kurt Johnson 6.613 209.01^
6. Allen Johnson 6.614 207.46
7. Jeg Coughlin 6.618 208.49
8. Tom Martino 6.622 208.17
9. Larry Morgan 6.623 207.82
10. Erica Enders 6.630 207.75
11. Warren Johnson 6.638 207.40
12. Kenny Koretsky 6.641 208.26
13. Dave Connolly 6.643 207.46
14. V. Gaines 6.652 207.91
15. Max Naylor 6.652 207.18
16. Jim Yates 6.658 207.02
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Mark Pawuk 6.665 206.54
18. Ron Krisher 6.671 206.29
19. Tommy Lee 6.681 207.15
20. Rickie Smith 6.689 206.20
21. Dave Northrop 6.702 206.67
22. Barry Grant 6.713 206.48
23. Pat Herold 6.728 205.51
24. Tommy Brown 6.735 205.98
25. Tony Rizzo 6.735 202.97
26. Jerry Haas 6.819 201.07
27. John Mahoney 6.883 198.47
28. Steve Schmidt 8.667 103.67
29. Mike Edwards 13.471 58.41
30. Bob Benza 22.632 80.09
$ = National ET Record
^ = National Speed Record
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