FRIDAY POMONA QUALIFYING
SCHUMACHER, WORSHAM, LINE AND HINES LEAD QUALIFYING AT AUTO CLUB NHRA FINALS; Spectacular Worsham crash closes second day qualifying at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
Tony Schumacher led Top Fuel qualifying Friday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals.
Schumacher followed Thursday's 4.490-second pass
with a 4.506 to maintain the
No. 1 position in the provisional field at
Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona.
Del Worsham, Jason Line and Andrew Hines also were qualifying
leaders in their categories at the final of 23 races in the $50 million
NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series.
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FRIDAY QUALIFYING - SCHUMACHER, WORSHAM, LINE AND HINES LEAD QUALIFYING AT AUTO CLUB NHRA FINALS; Spectacular Worsham crash closes second day qualifying at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
Tony Schumacher led Top Fuel qualifying Friday at the Auto Club NHRA Finals.
Schumacher followed Thursday's 4.490-second pass
with a 4.506 to maintain the
No. 1 position in the provisional field at
Auto Club Raceway at
Pomona.
Del Worsham, Jason Line and Andrew Hines also were qualifying
leaders in their categories at the final of 23 races in the $50 million
NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Schumacher didn't run quicker on
Friday than his opening pass of 4.490 at 328.54 mph in his U.S. Army
dragster, but his 4.506 Friday afternoon
on a hot racetrack was impressive,
especially since fellow championship
contenders Doug Kalitta and Brandon
Bernstein's dragsters lost traction during their attempts. Bernstein is now
third with his 4.519 at 330.47
mph, while Kalitta fell to sixth with a 4.546
at 326.87 mph.
"Top Fuel running before Funny Car definitely hurt us
today because it
was warmer," Schumacher said. "Tomorrow night we'll make
that last pass
in the dark and we will try our best to set that
record."
Worsham retained the Funny Car lead with his previous pass of
4.712 seconds but was involved in a spectacular crash Friday. His
Checker
Schuck's Kragen Chevy Monte Carlo's engine exploded and the car went
out
of control and flipped into the sand traps at the end of the
track's shutdown area. He emerged from his car under his own power, but as
a
precaution he was transported to a local hospital for observation.
"I'm sore, but I'm more bummed than hurt," Worsham said. "It just
blew up down there and there was no way for me to get my hand to
the
parachute lever, so I was along for the ride. When it finally
stopped
tumbling, I just got out and walked away from it, already mad about
what had happened. Here we are, still the No. 1 qualifier and we're
running
great, and this has to happen. I know the team is already preparing
the
back-up car, so we'll just have to see how I feel."
Newly-crowned
Pro Stock champion Line raced past Thursday leader Greg Anderson with a run
of 6.667 seconds at 207.21 mph in his Summit Racing
Equipment Pontiac GTO.
"My job this weekend is to have fun and enjoy everything, at
least that's what I've told myself," Line said. "The championship has
been
decided and it's time to enjoy it. I have a lot of family and
friends
here and it's just turned into a big celebration. It's fun to be able
to race without the pressure we've been under."
Hines still has the
quickest Pro Stock Motorcycle on the property as he posted another 7.020 on
his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines
Harley-Davidson, this one at 190.27
mph, to maintain the provisional
pole at the midway point of
qualifying.
"One of our goals this weekend was to be as consistent as
possible in qualifying," Hines said. "We ran two 7.020s so far so you can't
get any
more consistent than that. We really want to earn as many points
as
possible in qualifying, both for the Full Throttle (pit crew
challenge award) and the championship."
Qualifying continues at 11
a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday.
* * *
Results Friday
after qualifying for the 42nd annualAutomobile Club of Southern California
NHRA Finals at Auto Club Racewayat Pomona, final of 23 events in the $50
million NHRA POWERade DragRacing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday
for Sunday's finaleliminations.
Top Fuel -- 1. Tony Schumacher, 4.490
seconds, 328.54 mph; 2. Rod
Fuller, 4.509, 327.19; 3. Brandon Bernstein,
4.519, 330.47; 4. David
Grubnic, 4.524, 323.97; 5. Doug Herbert, 4.535,
318.24; 6. Doug Kalitta,
4.546, 326.87; 7. Larry Dixon, 4.549, 327.90; 8.
Cory McClenathan,
4.559, 331.85; 9. Melanie Troxel, 4.559, 321.35; 10. J.R.
Todd, 4.565,
313.15; 11. Morgan Lucas, 4.567, 324.75; 12. Hillary Will,
4.574,
326.48; 13. Mike Strasburg, 4.578, 324.44; 14. David Baca,
4.583,
310.98; 15. Steve Torrence, 4.599, 318.92; 16. Bob Vandergriff,
4.610,
322.50.
Funny Car -- 1. Del Worsham, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.712,
309.56; 2. Robert
Hight, Ford Mustang, 4.724, 328.54; 3. Eric Medlen,
Mustang, 4.730,
318.69; 4. John Force, Mustang, 4.731, 323.74; 5. Tony
Pedregon, Monte
Carlo, 4.745, 323.35; 6. Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger, 4.755,
326.32; 7.
Mike Ashley, Charger, 4.762, 328.38; 8. Ron Capps, Charger,
4.769,
324.36; 9. Tommy Johnson Jr., Monte Carlo, 4.774, 325.14; 10.
Gary
Scelzi, Charger, 4.824, 322.58; 11. Bob Gilbertson, Dodge
Stratus,
4.838, 318.54; 12. Scott Kalitta, Toyota Solara, 4.843, 319.37; 13.
Gary
Densham, Monte Carlo, 4.845, 320.43; 14. Cruz Pedregon, Monte
Carlo,
4.860, 287.84; 15. Phil Burkart, Monte Carlo, 4.881, 315.12; 16.
Tony
Bartone, Monte Carlo, 4.895, 291.51.
Pro Stock -- 1. Jason Line,
Pontiac GTO, 6.667, 207.34; 2. Greg
Anderson, GTO, 6.677, 207.59; 3. Allen
Johnson, Dodge Stratus, 6.688,
207.27; 4. Dave Connolly, Chevy Cobalt, 6.701,
206.51; 5. V. Gaines,
Stratus, 6.705, 205.94; 6. Tom Martino, GTO, 6.707,
206.45; 7. Kurt
Johnson, Cobalt, 6.709, 206.23; 8. Jeg Coughlin, Cobalt,
6.714, 206.32;
9. Bob Panella, Stratus, 6.715, 206.67; 10. Greg Stanfield,
GTO, 6.717,
205.94; 11. Mike Edwards, GTO, 6.718, 207.30; 12. Tommy Brown,
GTO,
6.722, 206.45; 13. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.723, 206.76; 14.
Erica
Enders, Stratus, 6.725, 205.79; 15. Dave Northrop, Stratus,
6.727,
206.20; 16. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.730, 205.98.
Pro Stock
Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 7.020, 191.00;
2. Craig
Treble, Suzuki, 7.046, 190.35; 3. Angelle Sampey, Suzuki,
7.066, 188.07; 4.
Shawn Gann, Suzuki, 7.081, 188.28; 5. Chip Ellis,
Buell, 7.081, 183.10; 6.
Matt Guidera, Buell, 7.087, 185.59; 7. Michael
Phillips, Suzuki, 7.094,
190.11; 8. Ryan Schnitz, Buell, 7.099, 185.59;
9. Antron Brown, Suzuki,
7.106, 184.70; 10. GT Tonglet, Harley-Davidson,
7.107, 186.54; 11. Geno
Scali, Suzuki, 7.108, 188.78; 12. Steve Johnson,
Suzuki, 7.109, 187.08; 13.
Mike Berry, Suzuki, 7.118, 186.95; 14. Karen
Stoffer, Suzuki, 7.133, 184.47;
15. Tom Bradford, Buell, 7.142, 188.62;
16. Scott Lewis, Suzuki, 7.149,
181.01.