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Funny Car Qualifying
Photos by James Drew and Darr Hawthorne
The Goodguys Pomona Nitro Nationals held May 5-7 found 15 nitro floppers trying to make an elite 8-car field, so there was plenty of bumping, and every qualifying run at this event was serious business since nearly half of the cars and drivers who came to Pomona would be spectating on Sunday.
Jeff Gaynor's funny car (above) sported a nostalgic new paintjob influenced by "Diamond" Jim Annin's early '70s funny car. Mike Adams drove Gaynor's car into the 7th position in the quickest nostalgia nitro funny car field in Goodguys VRA history, posting a 6.244 elapsed time at 224.47 miles per hour.
 Driver Chris Krabill and tuner Donnie Couch. |
The oil-downs and delays that have plagued the class at past meets wasn’t an issue at Pomona as the tuners and crews are finding the combination that allows them go fast without killing their motors.
Nitro flopper qualifying was led by rookie Kris Krabill driving Gary Turner's Donnie Couch-tuned Plymouth Arrow. The Arrow tripped the beams in 6.026 seconds at 226.47 to take the No. 1 position, and then went on to win the event defeating Arizona’s Mike Savage in an all Mopar-bodied final. Couch also tuned Turner’s Arrow to that team’s first 5-second pass with a 5.980/234.37.
The first round of Sunday's eliminations brought a spectacular classic funny car wheelstand for Gaynor's Dodge-powered machine with Adams carrying the front wheels past the 100-foot mark on the Pomona Fairplex quarter mile in his match with John Powers's Firebird. 
| Funny Car Qualifying |
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| 1 | Chris Krabill | 1977 Arrow | 6.026/230.33 |
| 2 | Dan Horan Jr. | 1966 Mustang | 6.110/231.95 |
| 3 | John Powers | 1978 Trans Am | 6.125/225.30 |
| 4 | Dennis LaCharite | 6.162/237.50 | |
| 5 | Larry Pettit | 1977 Arrow | 6.189/231.87 |
| 6 | Jim Broome | 1970 Barracuda | 6.220/221.34 |
| 7 | Mike Adams | 1971 Challenger | 6.244/224.47 |
| 8 | Bob Godfrey | 1969 Camaro | 6.311/203.09 |
| Top Fuel Qualifying | |||||
| 1 | Brett Harris | Chrylser | 5.828 | 260.26* | |
| 2 | Brad Thompson | Donovan | 5.841 | 248.8 | |
| 3 | Sean Bellemeur | Chrylser | 5.849 | 254.57 | |
| 4 | Jason Richey | Donovan | 5.881 | 259.16 | |
| 5 | Denver Schutz | Rodeck/E | 5.914 | 244.16 | |
| 6 | Jim Murphy | Rodeck | 5.917 | 249.3 | |
| 7 | Mendy Fry | Chevrolet | 5.919 | 243.99 | |
| 8 | Adam Sorokin | Donovan | 5.958 | 250.83 | |
| 9 | Terry Cox | Hemi | 5.980 | 240.38 | |
| 10 | Rick McGee | Donovan | 5.982 | 246.48 | |
| 11 | Pete Kaiser | Donovan | 6.013 | 236.42 | |
| 12 | Rick White | Chrylser | 6.040 | 242.54 | |
| 13 | Brendan Murry | Arias | 6.054 | 240.29 | |
| 14 | Bill Dunlap | Donovan | 6.176 | 238.98 | |
| 15 | Shannon Stuart | Donovan | 6.180 | 213.3 | |
| 16 | Rick Rogers | Donovan | 6.464 | 229.86 | |
| Not Qualified | |||||
| 17 | Gary Ritter | 9.440 | 93.95 | ||
| * = National Speed Record | |||||
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