Qualifying is Done, Place Your Bets
Written by Sheila Scarborough · October 28, 2006
Schumacher, Hight, Line and Gann take low qualifier poles in Las Vegas, Kalitta wins Top Fuel Budweiser Shootout.
The fun continues in Vegas, as all of Friday’s provisional low qualifiers held onto their poles except in Pro Stock Motorcycle, where Shawn Gann bumped Andrew Hines.
NHRA.com Saturday recap.
Tony Schumacher’s Top Fuel track record 4.445 held up, but he wasn’t able to set a national record during qualifying, although he certainly tried.
“I went as shallow as I could,” Schumacher said. “The conditions were perfect and the tune-up was there. We just didn’t get it done. Something happened and I saw that the burst panel was out so we’ll see what it was when we get back to the pit. Bottom line, we didn’t get it done. I’m glad this happened in qualifying rather than tomorrow. We got lucky there.
“It’s almost a must-win situation for us now, and we can’t just beat Doug in the finals either because that won’t be enough. We need to be able to make up a few rounds here at the minimum. I just haven’t gotten the breaks this year. Like John Force says, you gotta win all the races you’re supposed to and half the ones you’re not to win the championship and we haven’t done that this year.”
Brandon Bernstein qualified second and hot young rookie JR Todd is third.
Doug Kalitta has an extra $100,000 to blow at the casinos (well, maybe not) as he bested belt-tossing “Hot Rod” Fuller to take the Budweiser Shootout, a special event-within-a-race for the top eight qualifiers from the previous twelve months of racing.
“That ride back down the return road on the Budweiser Clydesdales is pretty special,” Kalitta said. “I guess the race was really close. We were two-thousandths apart at 1,000 foot and that’s nothing. I didn’t see him at all the whole run but I knew he was over there. I guess he pitched the belt so that worked out for us.”
Over in Funny Car, Robert Hight continued his strong performance for Team Force, with help from his tuner Jimmy Prock.
“Jimmy was swinging for a home run,” Hight said. “We couldn’t really believe we had a chance for a record here but it just set up perfectly and he went for it. I don’t want to get greedy but it would have been awesome to get those 20 bonus points. It sure would make it interesting in the championship chase.”
John Force stayed in second and Eric Medlen in third. “Fast Jack” Beckman was psyched to qualify fourth with a 4.720 at 330.39, his best performance since taking over the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Charger from Whit Bazemore.
“Those are milestone times,” said Beckman. “Going 325 is cool, but most people remember stuff in increments of 10, and 330 is a magic number because of the rev limiters on the cars. And the way they keep changing the rules to slow these cars down, you’re probably not going to see much more of that.
“Running a 330 puts you with an elite group of drivers (Beckman becomes only the 11th Funny Car driver to reach that mark), and it is amazing to do that in just my fourth race in a Funny Car. We went 269 to half-track, and it wasn’t too long ago that Don Garlits broke 270 in Gainesville [Florida at Gatornationals] in 1986, and that was just unheard of for the quarter-mile. We’re doing that in a Funny Car to half-track now,” he said.
If Pro Stock points leader Jason Line is clearing and dusting his mantel for a championship trophy, he’s not telling anyone yet. The Line Goat now holds records at both ends of The Strip, and this is his sixth pole of the season.
“Everything’s going as good as it could possibly go up to this point,” said Line, “with the exception of Greg [Anderson, teammate] being on the same side of the ladder as us. We always try to avoid that. I guess we could see him in the semi’s now if we both get that far so maybe the championship will go down to that.
“I see that we open against Warren [Johnson]. He’s the ultimate champion so I guess it’s fitting that we have him in Round 1. To be the champ you need to beat the champ and he’s the champ’s champ, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Allen Johnson is second and Dave Connolly is third.
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Shawn Gann is pleased with his unsponsored Suzuki’s runs this weekend; a 7.090 at 188.12 mph set a track record for elapsed time. This is his first low qualifier award since St. Louis in 2003.
“This new stuff I got is so bad,” Gann said. “I’ve always made my own motors but now I’m making twice as much of the stuff inside so the quality control I have is way better than when I was buying that stuff.
“We call this motor ‘Hell Boy’ and it’s a hitter. I got one more named ‘Heidi Fleiss’ that’s even better on the dyno so we’re going to be making some runs now.”
Andrew Hines qualified second and Angelle Sampey is third.
Will we get to see “Heidi Fleiss” strut her stuff on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday? Put on your three-foot-high feather headdress and spangles to find out.
Top Fuel Positions After Qualifying
1. Tony Schumacher 4.445@ (ET) 333.08 (mph)
2. Brandon Bernstein 4.522 331.61
3. J.R. Todd 4.526 320.89
4. Hillary Will 4.527 327.11
5. Doug Kalitta 4.530 329.18
6. Cory McClenathan 4.536 329.10
7. Melanie Troxel 4.558 329.42
8. Doug Herbert 4.564 324.28
9. David Grubnic 4.570 327.19
10. Rod Fuller 4.571 327.66
11. Steve Torrence 4.583 326.56
12. Bob Vandergriff 4.583 325.37
13. Alan Bradshaw 4.584 326.24
14. Larry Dixon 4.587 329.42
15. David Baca 4.597 322.42
16. Mike Strasburg 4.628 326.56
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Morgan Lucas 4.632 296.70
18. Joe Hartley 4.633 327.82
19. Clay Millican 4.689 311.05
20. Scott Palmer 4.831 247.29
21. Steven Chrisman 4.919 297.88
22. Rob Passey 10.246 81.67
@ = Track ET Record
Funny Car Positions After Qualifying
1. Robert Hight 4.677 (ET) 333.08 (mph)
2. John Force 4.711 329.34
3. Eric Medlen 4.712 323.43
4. Jack Beckman 4.720 330.39
5. Mike Ashley 4.725 331.36
6. Scott Kalitta 4.726 325.69
7. Tommy Johnson Jr. 4.739 323.97
8. Tony Pedregon 4.742 320.97
9. Gary Scelzi 4.746 328.30
10. Phil Burkart 4.750 326.00
11. Ron Capps 4.761 325.30
12. Del Worsham 4.794 301.33
13. Gary Densham 4.806 323.04
14. Bob Gilbertson 4.809 322.19
15. Jim Head 4.816 325.30
16. Tony Bartone 4.848 315.71
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Tim Wilkerson 4.868 309.42
18. Cruz Pedregon 4.895 306.95
19. Bob Bode 4.954 304.94
20. John Lawson 5.258 217.07
21. Peter Russo 5.445 250.04
22. Frank Pedregon 6.099 149.45
23. Stephen Neese 6.279 218.69
24. Grant Downing 6.889 122.11
Pro Stock Positions After Qualifying
1. Jason Line 6.705@ (ET) 204.94& (mph)
2. Allen Johnson 6.726 204.01
3. Dave Connolly 6.727 204.20
4. Greg Anderson 6.730 204.88
5. Tommy Lee 6.732 204.17
6. Tom Martino 6.744 204.26
7. Greg Stanfield 6.745 204.32
8. Jeg Coughlin 6.747 203.83
9. Kurt Johnson 6.748 204.17
10. Larry Morgan 6.748 204.05
11. Ron Krisher 6.752 203.28
12. Kenny Koretsky 6.753 203.95
13. Mike Edwards 6.756 204.51
14. Bob Panella 6.759 203.98
15. Richie Stevens 6.761 203.80
16. Warren Johnson 6.769 203.09
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Dave Northrop 6.773 203.46
18. Jim Yates 6.775 202.64
19. V. Gaines 6.778 203.77
20. Ben Watson 6.780 201.16
21. Erica Enders 6.792 202.79
22. Tommy Brown 6.799 202.88
23. Max Naylor 6.812 202.39
24. Matt Hartford 6.816 202.48
25. Tony Rizzo 6.848 201.25
26. Jose Maldonado 6.852 200.95
27. Pete Carbery 6.887 200.41
@ = Track ET Record
Pro Stock Motorcycle Positions After Qualifying
1. Shawn Gann 7.090@ (ET) 188.12 (mph)
2. Andrew Hines 7.102 187.13
3. Angelle Sampey 7.107 187.23
4. Matt Smith 7.107 185.69
5. Matt Guidera 7.113 184.67
6. Craig Treble 7.117 189.23
7. Antron Brown 7.130 185.43
8. Chip Ellis 7.132 183.27
9. GT Tonglet 7.137 185.03
10. Steve Johnson 7.147 186.36
11. Ryan Schnitz 7.147 185.74
12. Geno Scali 7.151 188.10
13. Chris Rivas 7.152 184.85
14. Karen Stoffer 7.156 185.92
15. Tom Bradford 7.161 187.70
16. Marco Andreano 7.166 184.50
——— Not Qualified ———
17. Michael Phillips 7.169 188.02
18. Scott Lewis 7.196 184.85
19. Mike Berry 7.228 183.24
20. Freddie Camarena 7.234 184.07
21. Connie Cohen 7.365 180.26
22. Clarence Markham 7.388 181.35
@ = Track ET Record
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