Jackie Fricke from Flemington NJ is currently #9 in the ex John Finke A/FD with a 5.503
Photos by Phil Hutchison Story by Phil Hutchison and NHRA Communications
It was supposed to be warm and sunny but cool and windy conditions prevailed at Day 2 of the 12th annual Big O Tires NHRA Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas. I had plenty of shorts and T shirts packed but ended up wearing long pants and a jacket at the temperatures never got out of the 60’s. I thought Vegas was always warm!
In Super Comp Stefan Kondalay from British Colombia keeps his National Title aspirations alive with a first round win. Hoping to keep Kondalay’s points total in check is NED’s Al Kenny. Al still has next week’s Lucas Divisional to add to his points but so does Stefan Kondalay and Stefan also has two National events to claim to try and catch Kenny in a battle of Canadian drivers
Al Kenny is out of National Event points but can do his best to block Stefan from going too far in eliminations. Al won his first round battle as his competition left too soon lighting the big red one.
Troy Coughlin Jr (center) hopes to help the in laws (?) out in Super Comp keeping Stefan’s points to a minimum
Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car qualifying round two was rescheduled to Saturday morning after numerous delays during Friday’s qualifying. Qualifying round three will be Saturday afternoon and round one of eliminations will be moved to Sunday morning.
Former NED champ John Finke from Selkirk NY put his A/FD in the #7 spot with a 5.475 in his new dragster
Competition Eliminator also got hit with a reschudeling change as their final shot was moved to Saturday morning with the first round scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Annie Whitely leads the Top Alcohol Funny Car field with a 5.571. Kris Hool (far lane) is #12 with a 5.883
Alcohol Funny Car was led by Annie Whiteley from Grand Junction CO. Annie put her ’10 Mustang in the #1 spot with a 5.571 @ 259.36 MPH.
Leading Top Alcohol Dragster was the A/FD of Garrett Bateman out of Albany OR. Bateman paced the field during the first round of qualifying with a 5.297 @262.18 MPH
Mike Neff during Friday’s second session of qualifying
Mike Neff raced to the qualifying lead in Funny Car with a top performance Friday at the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Neff powered his Ford Mustang to a leading performance of 4.070 seconds at 313.73 mph to hold off Cruz Pedregon for the top spot. Pedregon was second with a 4.084 at 308.21 in a Toyota Camry.
“To be qualified heading into tomorrow, that’s exciting,” Neff said. “It’s supposed to warm up, and now tomorrow will just be getting ready for Sunday, which will maybe be even warmer yet.”
Tommy Johnson Jr is currently sitting on the outside looking in with his Charger
Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were qualifying leaders at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.
Schumacher is in the #1 spot in Top Fuel going into Saturday’s qualifying
Schumacher paced the Top Fuel class with a run of 3.773 at 323.66 in his dragster. If his time holds through Saturday’s two qualifying sessions (11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.) it will be his fourth No.1 qualifying position of the season.
Johnson is #1 in the NHRA Full Throttle points and #1 in qualifying in Pro Stock
Johnson, who has earned 10 No. 1 qualifying positions this season, led Pro Stock with a performance of 6.618 at 207.85 in a Dodge Avenger. He has a total of 28 top qualifying positions in his career.
Don Walsh’s potent Mustang
Don Walsh raced to the No. 1 position after two rounds of qualifying in the NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by ProCare Rx portion of the 12th annual Big O Tires NHRA Nationals.
Walsh led the field with a top performance of 5.841 seconds at 253.85 mph in his Ford Mustang. If his time stands, this would be his fourth consecutive No.1 qualifying position of the season. He has a total of three No.1′s on the season.
Troy Coughlin #8 in Pro Mod with his ’13 Corvette @ 5.989
