The Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series fields began thinning Friday at the inaugural NHRA Great Lakes Nationals at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, with Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car completing opening-round eliminations and Top Sportsman working through its second round.
Starting sportsman eliminations is nothing unusual on Friday morning at NHRA events, but when one considers the morning also hosted the first qualifying session is where it gets interesting.
The scheduling move was because of impending rain forecast for Saturday.
Top Alcohol Dragster produced an upset immediately when No. 16 qualifier Cheyne Phillips knocked out No. 1 qualifier Shawn Cowie. Phillips left with a .003 reaction time and ran 5.240 at 276.24 mph, while Cowie slowed to a 6.025.
Corey Michalek used a nearly perfect .001 reaction time and a 5.387 at 268.02 mph to advance after Joey Severance fouled. Jared Dreher also advanced on a red light by Nick Spiegel, while Jeff Chatterson moved on when Anthony Troyer fouled.
Greg Hunter defeated Mitch Kalitta with a 5.274 at 274.06 mph after Kalitta rattled the tires and pedaled. Jackie Fricke, Jamie Noonan and John Paul Gutierrez also advanced.
Top Alcohol Funny Car completed its opening round with Sean Bellemeur, Shane Westerfield, Christopher Menapace and Phil Esz joining No. 1 qualifier Mick Steele in advancing.
Bellemeur had to work for his victory after Bruce Mullins cut a perfect .000 reaction time. Bellemeur chased him down with a 5.479 at 267.86 mph against Mullins’ 5.657 at 252.24.
Westerfield defeated Tony Bogolo with a 5.456 at 266.11 mph, while Menapace advanced when Jesse Clark lost traction. Esz used a .024 reaction time and his best run of the event, a 5.475 at 259.82 mph, to defeat Chris Foster. Steele advanced on a first-round bye with a 5.432 at 261.93 mph.
Top Sportsman is down to six cars following the second round.
Gerard Milette, Curt Fredrich, Ron Riegel, Michael Chitty, Patrick DeBottis and Bob Mandell III remain in competition.
Riegel will face Milette in the next round after Alex Miller broke out despite a perfect .000 reaction time. DeBottis earned his spot against Fredrich by beating Keith Castle by .008 seconds, approximately two feet.
Mandell had an even tighter race with Dean McIlvain. His .009 reaction time and 6.296 on a 6.26 dial gave him the victory by .004 seconds, approximately 14 inches, and advanced him to a matchup with Chitty.
Factory Stock Showdown will not finish its Great Lakes Nationals race in Michigan.
Rain stopped competition before Friday’s semifinals, leaving Raymond Nash, David Janac, David Davies II and Lee Hartman as the four remaining drivers. NHRA moved completion of the event to the Midwest Nationals, Oct. 2-4, at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis.
Hartman will face Nash in one semifinal, with Davies meeting Janac in the other.
The abbreviated Michigan portion still produced two class records.
Hartman qualified No. 1 with a record 7.558-second run, while Davies established the Factory Stock Showdown speed record at 185.72 mph.
The championship also took a turn when Alex Anderson defeated points leader Jonathan Allegrucci on a first-round holeshot.
Nash, one of Allegrucci’s closest pursuers, later eliminated U.S. Nationals winner Scott Libersher on another holeshot before the rain brought the race to a halt.
