The latest update as of November 17, 2024
11:15 AM UPDATE
Two pairs of Top Fuel cars have gone down the track, and in the second pair, Jasmine Salinas dynamited the blower at the conclusion of her winning run (on a holeshot) against Shawn Reed. That necessitated a quick cleanup.... BUT.... while that was underway, a small plane missed the runway at the adjacent municipal airport and crashed in an area at the end of the shutdown area of the track. So far, there's no further word(s) from the announcers on the subject, but everything is hold for now.
Waiting patiently at the head of the staging lanes is the third pair of the opening round of eliminations, Justin Ashley and Antron Brown. To say that it's a major matchup would be a gross understatement. It's literally all or nothing for Brown, as a loss would eliminate him from championship contention, and seriously hurt Shawn Langdon's chances. Below him in the standings, Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence would be in serious danger of falling out of the chase, while Brittany Force would be in even deeper trouble.
More news as soon as the incident at the end of the track is dealt with and racing resumes. The time now is 11:24 am PST.
Here's the photos from yesterday's final qualifying sessions for Top Fuel and Funny Car. We'll post more of yesterday's action shots when we get them. Probably tomorrow.
TOP FUEL - Qualifying Session #3 (FINAL)
After losing one and a half sessions to rain on Friday, the majority of the dragster teams had just two chances to make what was shaping up to be a tough field. After the early session on Saturday, the bump spot was a rather weak 4.121, but the top 15 cars were in at 3.818 or better. Sitting on the outside, and facing their last chance to make the field were championship contenders Shawn Langdon and Clay Millican.
(LEFT) The session opened with #18 on the qualifying list, Clay Millican, facing a do or die scenario. Millican came through with a great 3.700 - 331.36 to jump all the way up to #6 on the ladder. Running alongside him was Shawn Langdon (not shown) who really turned up the wick with a new low e.t. of the event at 3.653 - 331.45 to vault all the way to the #1 spot. In the process, they bumped out Ron August and Scott Palmer, and put Krista Baldwin on the bubble with her 3.818 best.
(RIGHT) Facing a tough task to get back into the field, Scott Palmer put down a good effort, but came up short with a 3.858 - 301.47 coming up on the scoreboard. His earlier best of 3.818 was equalled Baldwin's e.t. but was 20 mph slower, leaving him one spot out of the field. The other non-qualifier, Ron August, didn't show for the final qualifying session and finished in the #18 spot.
(LEFT) With the no-show by Ron August and Scott Palmer's failure to better her e.t., Krista Baldwin wasn't feeling any pressure to improve, but she put down a solid, and slightly better 3.801 - 302.28 to close out the ladder. She was on pace to run in the 3.70's but started to move out of the groove and was forced to shut off early.
(RIGHT) Making quite a splash in his Top Fuel debut, Gary Pritchett, in a Scrappers Racing team car, was already solidly qualified with a 3.750, and nearly matched that number with a 3.769 - 319.67 pass. Running a tribute wrap to his late Godmother, Carol 'Bunny' Burkett, Pritchett was having a dream weekend.
(LEFT) Continuing her rookie season in North America, Finland's Ida Zetterstrom put down another consistent pass, this time ringing up a 3.755 - 325.37, just a few ticks slower than her #14 qualifying 3.738 in the first session on Friday.
(RIGHT) Looking to finish up his "rookie" season in style, Tony Stewart made a big move up the ladder, from #13 to the top half of the field and the #6 spot. He blasted out a 3.694 - 333.91 to move up and show the potential of the "Direct Connection" dragster.
(LEFT) Needing a good qualifying spot to give himself a chance to catch the points leader (Justin Ashley), Antron Brown desperately wanted to move up from the #12 position on the ladder. He launched hard, but ran into trouble right away and shut off to an 8-second clocking, putting his goal of winning the championship further out of reach.
(RIGHT) Already well qualified in the #6 spot with a strong 3.690, Brittany Force pushed everyone back a notch with a new low e.t. and top speed of the event, at 3.643 - 336.65 to show that the David Grubnic-tuned "Monster" car was ready to rock.
Closing out qualifying with a bang was outgoing world champion Doug Kalitta, as he pounded out a great 3.650 - 334.98 to move up three spots to #3 on the ladder. With the entire top half of the field in the 3.60's, eliminations were certain to be very competitive, and aside from Baldwin's 3.801 bump spot, the rest of the field was closely bunched together with barely a tenth of a second separating them.
FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #3 (FINAL)
With 19 cars in the pits, and a bump spot of just 5.413, held down by Jason Rupert, the final session promised some bumping and more than a few tense moments. Even though there were 13 cars already in the 3-second zone, there was a good chance for an all 3-second field at the end of the session. On the other end of the spectrum, the top three qualifiers were all holding 3.82 timeslips, lead by three time world champion Ron Capps.
(LEFT) First out of the staging lanes, and needing a good run to get into Sunday's eliminations,
(RIGHT) While Dave Richards (near lane) was out in front at this point, he was already shut off and coasting to a 13-second e.t., while Alex Miladinovich, in the far lane, who was also off the throttle, stopped the timers with a 7-second timeslip. Needless to say, neither driver qualified, with Richards ending up in the #19 spot, while the "Hot 4 Teacher" entry claimed the 18th spot on the list.
(LEFT) When he staged for his final qualifying pass, Jeff Diehl was on the bump spot with a previous best of 4.544, but he upped that considerably, with a great 3.980 - 286.32 flashing up on the scoreboard. If he hadn't shut off early, the e.t. could have been a few hundredths quicker.
(RIGHT) Running on a solo as scheduled running mate Steven Densham remained in the pits, Terry Haddock wanted to join the 3-second "club" but just missed the mark. His earlier 4.041 had him in the #15 spot, and while he didn't better that number, he laid down a consistent 4.058 - 310.13 to show that he was ready for eliminations.
(LEFT) Last year's world champion, Matt Hagan wanted to finish the season on a high note, and moved in that direction, jumping up the ladder from #9 to #4 with his best pass of the weekend (so far) 3.838 - 331.94 to grab lane choice for the first round tomorrow.
(RIGHT) Hoping to turn things around after four consecutive first round exits, Alexis DeJoria hadn't made it to the finish line under power in the first two sessions, but got closer in the final go-round, stopping the clocks with an improved 3.890 - 308.43 that moved her up one notch from #12 to #11 in the final qualifying order.
(LEFT) With a new look to the car, and new sponsorship, Paul Lee wanted to followup his runnerup finish at the previous race (Las Vegas) with another strong showing to close out the season. He was in the #7 spot in the field with a best of 3.875, but slipped just a little here with a still very good 3.907 - 327.19 pass.
(RIGHT) After dominating the season with eight wins in 11 final round appearances, Austin Prock wanted to regain the #1 qualifying session from Ron Capps, and he did it with the quickest e.t. of his short Funny Car career. The result was a 3.804 - 334.57 to take the top spot for the 15th time (in 20 races)this season, a record for the class.
(LEFT) Already in the top half of the field with a best of 3.870 - 336.40, the Jim Head-owned and tuned car, driven by
(RIGHT) Running in the final pairing of qualifying, Jack Beckman wanted to overtake his John Force Racing teammate and grab the top spot in the field. It wasn't to be though as he started smoking the tires shortly after this photo was taken, and he remained in the #3 spot with a very good 3.828 to his credit from the first session.
POSTSCRIPT - A random technical inspection of Buddy Hull's car following the qualifying session revealed an infraction concerning the angle of the exhaust headers. That led to a disqualifaction of the run, and reinstated Jason Rupert as the #16 qualifier.
CompetitionPlus.com wrote a short article about the situation, with quotes from Mr. Hull about the NHRA's tech department procedures and equipment. You can read it at the bottom of the About the Buddy Hull Q4 Disqualification article.
PS: It was actually the Q3 session as there wasn't a fourth session due to Friday's rain.