The weather played a large role in the action once again as rain shortened
qualifying sessions at the NHRA season ending Auto Club of Southern
California Finals and forced the Bud Shootout final round to be postponed
until next year.
BUD SHOOTOUT
Kenny Bernstein, who has had a frustrating year in the Bud King dragster,
scored big in the first round of the Shootout defeating the Larry Dixon-driven
Miller Lite dragster. Bernstein clocked a winning 4.744/295.46 to Dixon's
4.769/292/08. Because of a stringent curfew, it was impossible to run
the final two rounds of the Bud Shootout. It will be completed at the
2001 season opener in February.
TOP FUEL
Scelzi Repeats
The
Top Fuel final pitted number one Gary Scelzi against number two Tony
Schumacher. Last year Schumacher stole the show, but this time Scelzi
held his ground, turning a 4.547/319.75 to the Sarge's 4.676/310.27.
The win topped off an almost perfect year for Scelzi giving him his
tenth win of the season, the Winston World Championship, and another
year with that number 1 on the side of his dragster.
Yankee Team Progresses
Mike
Dunn, driver for the Gwynn/Steinbrenner/Yankee dragster summed up their
season saying, "Each race we competed in, we went one round further
than before. Each round win for us was another opportunity to gain valuable
information that we can use in the off-season as we prepare for the
2001 season. I think we made a statement. We've made 13 runs in national
event races and the Yankee dragster now holds the three quickest runs
under the 90-percent nitromethane rule. It's a credit to Ken (Veney)
and Todd (Smith) and the entire crew who have worked their butts off
trying to get us in this position."
The team was low qualifier at the event at 4.522/325.69.
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