- Race Coverage
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- Thursday
Okay, all the speculation is over, the season kicked off at Pomona Raceway for the 47th annual NHRA Winternationals. The morning started cold and foggy -- staying overcast for the entire day -- but after the first round of Thursday Top Fuel qualifying it’s clear that pre-season testing has paid off for most of the nitro players.
With three dragsters in the 4.49’s, led by Brandon Bernstein’s 4.494 at 331.61 mph, the early qualifiers look to tighten up the field in the next three rounds. In a post-qualifying interview Brandon predicted some possible 4.3’s here at Pomona this weekend.
Hot Rod Fuller sits third with his 4.497 at 329.43 mph without the monostrut he tested in Phoenix a few weeks ago. While Fuller says SFI set a spec (49.1 for Top Fuel rear wing assemblies), NHRA will not allow usage of the monostrut until Gainesville.
Tony Schumacher and his Alan Johnson-tuned US Army-sponsored dragster grabbed a provisional 4th slot in early qualifying, running 4.502 at 324.20 mph with a lot more to come if the conditions remain cool.
Larry Dixon and Snake Racing made their SkyTel sponsorship official and now sits 5th with a 4.504 pass on day #1.
