QUALIFYING

1 Courtney Force, Yorba Linda CA, McKinney   	       5.302     273.66
2 Kimmelyn Buff Pesz, The Woodlands TX, McK  	5.312     271.24
3*Chris Demke, Sunland CA, Uyehara                    	5.314     264.55
4 Michael Manners, Willis TX, Spitzer                     	5.339     271.24
5* Chase Copeland, Ft. Worth TX, Monden-TFX        5.349     268.65
6*Dan Kracht, Gretna NE, Dragster-BAE                     5.351     261.83
7 David Brounkowski, Cypress TX, Uyehara             5.358     265.27
8 Duane Shields, Boulder City NV, Hadman               5.369     265.69
9 Arthur Gallant, Boxboro MA,                                       5.378     263.51
10 Bill Reichert, Owosso MI, Bowen-Reich                5.422     272.56
11*Justin Davis, Murrieta CA, CNE-BAE                      5.464     260.51
12 Shayne Lawson, Broken Arrow OK, Monden       5.565     249.76
13 Del Cox Jr., Downey CA, Hadman-TFX                   5.576     273.11
14 Brandon Lewis, Broken Arrow OK, Monden        5.614     248.20
15 Brittany Force, Yorba Linda CA, McKinney           5.637     245.36
16 Bill Evans, Miramar FL, Spitzer-BAE                       5.639     269.03
Low ET     David Brounkowski 5.236 seconds
Top Speed   Michael Manners 276.01 MPH

(Joe McHugh photo)

Top Alcohol Funny Car

As usual there weren’t as many of the alky-burning floppers trying to qualify for the 16-car field but those cars and teams that were on hand were all quality cars.

Despite the quality of the field, the combination of unbelievably great “air” and a tricky track surface at Houston led to a qualified field of 16 cars recording ET’s from leader Steve Harker’s mid-5.50 pass to the seven-second bump held by Houston racer Ro Yale.

It should be noted that the TAFC cars got only two attempts to qualify and that could account for the wide difference in ET’s between the number one qualifier and the 16th qualifier.

Among the surprise non-qualifiers was Tony Bartone, who's returning to an alky flopper this season after racing a fuel coupe. In two attempts he couldn't get away from the dreaded tire shake.

It would appear that the track (at least for a period of time) became a one-lane track as in the first two rounds of eliminations all but one of the winners chose the right lane. The one racer who mastered the left lane early on was Steve Harker, who ran the table on the field racing in the left lane. He used that lane to set Top Speed and Low ET and won the Wally for the class, all while racing in the “suspect” left lane.