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2010 March Meet AA/FC Eliminations
(Paul Grant photos) Paul's Gallery is here Bob Snyder gallery is here.
Leah Pruett-LeDuc in Steve Plueger's "Plueger & Gyger" Ford Mustang took the 52nd Annual March Meet Crown at Auto Club Famoso Raceway last Monday after delays caused the semi final and final rounds to be carried over to Monday. It wasn't a cake walk for Pruett-LeDuc and Plueger as they struggled during both rounds of qualifying and limped into eliminations in the # 14 qualifying position with a well off the pace 6.387 @ 186.79 run Friday afternoon. On Saturday Pruett-LeDuc had the steering yoke come off in her hands at the hit, crossed over into the opposite lane and had the pass disqualified, but kept the car off the wall.
Then the sun came out Sunday for eliminations and things started turning around for Pruett-LeDuc. She defeated Jeff Bennett in the "Pure Heaven" Chevrolet Camaro with a 6.387 @ 186.79. Pruett-LeDuc then went on to dispatch Tim Boychuk in the "Troy Lee Designs" Pontiac Firebird with a 5.732 @ 243.50 and then Paul Romine in the "Man O' War" Ford Mustang in the third round with a another great run of 5.732 @ 243.50. With the semi final and final rounds being held over until Monday, Pruett-LeDuc's competitor in the semi final, Lee Paul Jennings in the "Code Red II" Chevrolet Camaro was unable to stay over the extra day due to business commitments, which gave Pruett-LeDuc a bye run into the finals. It turns out that was the best break she could have asked for as the "Plueger & Gyger" Mustang got crossed up and could only muster a 7.059 @ 171.42. Gary Densham in the "Teachers Pet" Chevrolet Camaro faced off against Josh Crawford in the "Blue Max" Ford Mustang. Densham received a single when Crawford was shut off on the line with a fuel leak. Densham clicked it off early to an 8.519 @ 91.82. Pruett-LeDuc defeated Gary Densham in the final round with another 5 second blast at 5.811 @ 242.65 to the trailing 5.986 @ 236.34 to take the coveted March Meet Crown. Earlier Rounds Rounds two and three Round 2 Eliminations at the 52nd Annual March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway kicked off with Paul Romine in the "Man O' War" Ford Mustang marching on to the third round as he defeated Mark Sanders in the "Mr. Explosive" Chevrolet Nova with a stout 5.882 @ 247.38 to the trailing 6.258 @ 193.63 of Sanders.
Tim Boychuk in the "Troy Lee Designs" Pontiac Firebird stepped on it hard and made his career best pass of 5.826 @ 240.70 to no avail as Leah Pruett-LeDuc in the "Plueger & Gyger" Ford Mustang snuffed out his dreams of a March Meet title with a 5.732 @ 243.50. In the upset of the weekend Josh Crawford in the "Blue Max" Ford Mustang punched Ron Capps ticket with a 6.093 @ 233.28 when Capps hazed the tires from about 300 feet on through the quartermile only carded a 6.545 @ 231.36. Lee Paul Jennings in the "Code Red II" Chevrolet Camaro took out the second NHRA shoe of the round and took the title of fastest NFC shoe from Pruett-LeDuc when he defeated Cruz Pedregon in the "Joe Pisano" Chevrolet Camaro with a stout 5.856 @ 251.53 to Pedregon's off the pace 6.494 @ 173.01. Gary Densham in the "Teachers Pet" Chevrolet Camaro carried on for the big show pilots with a very nice 5.934 @ 239.61 to defeat Dwayne Patton in the "High Voltage" Chevrolet Camaro who carded a 6.139 @ 229.00. Bob Godfrey in the "Burn N Money" Chevrolet Camaro must have the luck of the Irish as he received his second bye run of the day when Mike Savage in the "Candies & Hughes" Plymouth Barracuda broke on the burnout. Godfrey shut off early and coasted through the lights with a 7.752 @ 110.22. Mike Halstead in the "Nitro Stang" Ford Mustang ran a career best to defeat Todd Lesenko in the "Jolly Rogers" Chevrolet Camaro with a 5.929 @ 244.89 to Lesenko's 6.545 @ 174.21. In the final pairing of the round Ed Dougan in the "Fighting Irish" Chevrolet Camaro defeated John Hale in the "Mike Burkhart" Chevrolet Camaro with a major holeshot running a 6.050 @ 239.42 to the much quicker 5.969 @ 233.88 of Hale. In the third and final round of racing of the day Gary Densham in the "Teachers Pet" Chevrolet continued his march through the field as he defeated Ed Dougan in the "Fighting Irish" Chevrolet Camaro with a career best pass of 5.897 @ 240.44 as Dougan did the Texas two step and lit the red bulb. Leah Pruett-LeDuc in the "Plueger & Gyger" Ford Mustang strapped one on the Midwest Terror Paul Romine in the "Man O' War" Ford Mustang with a 5.737 @ 245.56 to the 5.849 @ 253.02 of Romine. The silver lining in Romine's cloud is that he became the fastest NFC in the class with his run bettering Lee Paul Jennings previous round mph by just over 1.5 mph. Not a bad trophy to take back to the Midwest. The wait was to be short to see if Lee Paul Jennings in the "Code Red II" Chevrolet Camaro could best Romine's 253 mph blast. Jennings easily handled Bob Godfrey in the "Burn N Money" Chevrolet Camaro with his career best elapsed time of 5.789 @ 211.96 to the 6.256 @ 212.26 of Godfrey. The mph wasn't there for Jennings as he stepped off the loud pedal early and had the chutes blossoming before the lights. In the final pair of the round Josh Crawford in the "Blue Max" Ford Mustang got a single to the semi finals when Mike Halstead in the "Nitro Stang" Ford Mustang couldn't make the call. Crawford broke the hides loose and coasted through with a 12.692 @ 63.78 mph. Due to time constraints, darkness, and conditions, the semi and final rounds were carried over to Monday morning. Unfortunately Lee Paul Jennings in the "Code Red II" Chevrolet Camaro and his team had commitments and were unable to stay over for the final two rounds on Monday. We now have 3 different nitro pilots in three different cars that
have surpassed the 250 mile per hour barrier. Leah Pruett-LeDuc was
the first in the "Heart Breaker" Ford Mustang with the power
plant and tuning prowess of Lee Jennings Sr., Lee Paul Jennings in
the "Code Red II" Chevrolet Camaro today, and the top dog
Paul Romine in the "Man O' War" Ford Mustang. We also saw
a lot of career best passes for many teams and of course the upset
of the weekend when #1 Qualifier and owner of the quickest pass in
NFC history Ron Capps in the "LA Hooker" Plymouth Arrow
was defeated in the second round. Round one Round 1 Eliminations From The 52nd Annual March Meet Ron Capps in the "LA Hooker" Plymouth Arrow led all qualifiers into final eliminations at the 52nd Annual March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway with a stellar 5.703 @ 247.18. The clouds and chance of rain departed overnight leaving a sunny Sunday allowing track conditions to improve greatly. Three Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car Teams would not be able to make the call for first round eliminations due to breakage. Brad Faria in the "Secret Weapon" Chevrolet Camaro, Mendy Fry in the "West Coast Funny Car Factory / Nitro Kitty" Dodge Charger, and Chris Bennett in "McCain's Bomb Squad" Plymouth Duster. The first race in round 1 eliminations started off with a bye run for Tim Boychuk in the "Troy Lee Designs" Pontiac Firebird as Brad Faria in the "Secret Weapon" Chevrolet Corvette was unable to make the call. Boychuk clicked it a bit early to a 6.062 @ 197.49 to move into round 2. Ed Dougan in the "Fighting Irish" Chevrolet Camaro defeated Kris Krabill in the "Pedaler" Plymouth Arrow with 6.164 @ 237.09 to the trailing Krabill with a 9.927 @ 79.83 after experiencing a mechanical malfunction during the run. Todd Lesenko in the "Jolly Rogers" Chevrolet Camaro defeated Sean Dale in the "Holy Toledo" Jeep with respectable 6.238 @ 230.00 to Dale's game 6.484 @ 221.29 which was the best pass for the Jeep this weekend. Paul Romine in the "Man O' War" Ford Mustang and Bob Godfrey in the "Burn N Money" Chevrolet Camaro lined up and ran together although both were on a by round pass. Romine clicked off and rolled through the top end while Godfrey did the same a little farther down the track. Both advanced to round 2. Josh Crawford in the "Blue Max" Ford Mustang was pumped up on this pass as he nailed the tree with a.035 reaction time on the way to defeating Jim Adolph in the "Blair Speed Shop" Chevrolet Camaro with a 6.128 @ 239.23 to Adolphs trailing 6.548 @ 162.45. Gary Densham in the "Teachers Pet" Chevrolet Camaro defeated Jack Harris in the "Nitro Thunder" Pontiac Firebird with the first 5 second pass of the round with a 5.957 @ 237.52 to the trailing Harris and his best pass of the weekend with a 6.048 @ 240.12. Dwayne Patton in the "High Voltage" Chevrolet Camaro was caught napping at the tree but had enough to drive around Dale Van Gundy in the "Quarter Pounder" Dodge Challenger with a 6.104 @ 228.25 to Van Gundy's 6.284 @ 225.62. Steve Plueger found the handle on the "Plueger & Gyger" Mustang as Leah Pruett-LeDuc laid down a great 5.876 @ 239.74 to defeat Jeff Bennett in the "Pure Heaven" Chevrolet Camaro who trailed with a 6.517 @ 209.01. Mike Savage in the "Candies & Hughes" Plymouth Barracuda singled for the win with a 6.016 @ 235.47 when Don Hudson in the "Pizza Haven" Mini Satellite failed to make the call. Dan Horan Jr. was caught napping hard at the tree as Cruz Pedregon got the holeshot win with a 6.216 @ 209.69 to the losing and quicker pass of Horan of 6.094 @ 220.48. Lee Paul Jennings in the "Code Red II" Chevrolet Camaro also got a single into round 2 when Nate Bugg in the "BDS" Chevrolet Monza broke on the burnout. Jennings had to pedal it and ended up running an off the pace 6.682 @ 243.70. Mike Halstead in the "Nitro Stang" Ford Mustang laid down his quickest pass of the event with a 5.985 @ 240.19 as he drove around Claude LaVoie in the "GTX" Mini Satellite who carded a 6.023 @ 235.17. In a last minute driver change, Mendy Fry strapped into Brian Thiel's Chevrolet Camaro for the first round matchup with Ron Capps. Capps easily prevailed when he ran the quickest pass in the Nitro Nostalgia Funny Car Class history with a 6.675 @ 247.79 to Fry's 6.418 @ 223.88. Mark Sanders in the "Mr. Expolosive" Chevrolet Nova defeated Roger Garten in the "War Horse" Ford Mustang in their competition debut with a 6.121 @ 238.79 to Garten's trailing 6.670 @ 207.46. John Hale in the "Mike Burkhart" Chevrolet Camaro easily defeated Jack Wright in the "Joker" Dodge Challenger with a career best elapsed time and mile per hour with a 5.932 @ 243.37 to an out of shape 13.776 @ 63.72 of Wright. Unoffically Ron Capps should have the new elapsed time record for the class as his early pass of 5.703 should easily back up the 5.675. Ron Capps is now the quickest pilot in the class, but the fastest is yet to be decided. Funny Car qualifying (COURTESY MARK KING NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR NEWS) Final qualifying for the 52nd Annual March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway turned into an afternoon affair after sprinkles halted action earlier in the day. The track was an evil bitch mistress again today with many not being able to find the handle on getting down the track under power. Todd Lesenko in the "Jolly Rogers" Chevrolet Camaro must have a subliminal message in his paint job that says "hit me" after Roger Garten in the "War Horse" Mustang swapped lanes right behind him in round 2 qualifying. Yesterday during round 1 qualifying Don Hudson in the "Pizza Haven" Mini Satellite traded paint with Lesenko on the top end after Hudson crossed over into Lesenko's lane. Despite the near miss, Lesenko was able to run a very nice 6.140 @ 237.02 to put himself into the show in the #9 qualifying position.
The only movement in qualifying came from the #4 qualifying position and down. Ron Capps in the "Plueger & Gyger" Ford Mustang kept his #1 Qualifying position while running the exact same elapsed time as Leah Pruett-LeDuc did at Pomona earlier this year with a mind blowing 5.703 @ 246.71.
Lee Paul Jennings in the "Code Red II" Chevrolet Camaro, Tim Boychuck in his "Troy Lee Designs" Pontiac Firebird, and John Hale in his "Mike Burkhart" Chevrolet Camaro were all able to retain their qualifying positions with their passes from yesterday's round 1 qualifying in the #2, 3, and 4 positions respectively. Gary Densham in his "Teachers Pet" Chevrolet Camaro ran his career best numbers in the class on the way to qualifying #5 with a 5.910 @ 236.03. Paul Romine in the "Man O' War" Ford Mustang claimed the
#6 qualifying postion with a 5.938 @ 220.42.
1 728 Ron Capps, Carlsbad CA, '70 Barracuda 5.703
246.71 246.71
TOP FUEL QUALIFYING 1 774 Jim Murphy, Santa Rosa CA, Thornhill-Rodeck
6.165 21.97 21.97 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 7407 Randy Eakins, Carson City NV, Sterling-Chrysler11.580
76.32 76.32
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