Winston Finals: Top Fuel Notes & Quotes Friday, November 13, 1998

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Top Fuel Notes & Quotes
Friday, November 13, 1998
This page will be updated throughout the evening
All reports courtesy of the racing teams

Eddie Hill (Pennzoil), No. 4 qualifier, 4.633, 304.15:
Hill helped bring the crowd out of their seats with a spectacular side-by-side lap against back-to-back Top Fuel champion Gary Scelzi. The early-evening fireworks saw Hill card a 4.633-second pass at 304.15 mph next to Scelzi's stunning 4.548-second lap at 323.85 mph.

"We would have looked great if it wasn't for that smart aleck in the other lane," Hill said with a laugh. "We did stay with him for a good long while and that's saying a lot when you consider how incredibly fast Gary has been running every week.

"Now we're safely in the show (in fourth place) and we can really concentrate on making a serious run at the Big Bud Shootout title. We're gonna let it all hang out. Dan (Olson, crew chief) is setting the car up for maximum performance and we'll just see what happens. I like where we're sitting right now."

Hill will open the Shootout against Mike Dunn, who will have lane choice over Hill. The two men have split their previous two head-to-head races this year.

Mike Dunn (Mopar), No. 5 qualifier, 4.637, 310.77:
"Not the prettiest of runs, but we'll take them. We hurt a motor on both runs pretty good. Our first qualifying run was worse than the numbers showed. We drove through the clutch on the Mopar dragster and dropped a few cylinders. We tried to go out and run a low 4.60 thinking if we nailed the combination, it would run a 4.59. We just mixed them (cylinders) up a bit down track. My second qualifying pass was a crazy ride. The car left great and carried the front end about 200-feet. Everything felt fine until I got to the 1000-foot marker and then things got interesting. When I finally clicked it, the brakes didn't react like they were suppose to and the car just didn't have enough room to slow down. I wanted to save the car so I just ran it into the sand. We'll just clean the tires off and get ready for the big race tomorrow."

Kenny Bernstein (Bud King), No. 6 qualifier, 4.650, 313.80:
The King of Speed launched from the starting line and made his second clean pass of the weekend, a 4.650 at 313.80 mph. Despite improving on his elapsed time, he remains in the No. 6 position.

"We have to step in up and improve on our time," said Bernstein. "We need to be able to run in the 4.50's and hopefully get ourselves in a position to run up front. I have to give my Bud crew a tip of the hat for all their hard work this week. It was our second complete pass so far and we feel good about that. Tomorrow is our big day in the "Big Bud Shootout" With $100,000 up for grabs it would be nice to take our sponsor's money and that's exactly what we plan to do. Stay tuned it could be exciting."

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