Thompson Top Qualifier in Las Vegas

Thompson Top Qualifier in Las Vegas

After a tough first round loss at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals one
week prior, Clint Thompson and the Cascade Auto Group team rebounded
nicely at the final Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event of the season,
also held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Thompson, qualified on the pole with a sizzling 5.62 at 255 MPH to
lead a tough eight car field that read like the who’s who of top
alcohol funny car racing. Over fifteen entries from across the country
were in attendance trying to qualify. Just getting in the show an
accomplishment as a lot of good teams didn’t qualify.

As the top seed, Thompson took on the number eight qualifier, Steve
Gasparrelli. Thompson had a little bit of revenge on his mind after
losing to Gasparrelli earlier in the season in Seattle. At the hit,
both cars were out of the gate just about the same time with
Gasparrelli having a slight edge with an .045 reaction time to
Thompson’s very close 0.048. But that was as much of a lead as
Gasparrelli would get as he got out of shape and had to lift.
Meanwhile, Thompson was long gone as he exactly matched his 5.62
qualifying time and MPH for the win.

Next, it was on to the semifinals where Thompson met Mickey Ferro.
This time it was Thompson out first with an 0.029 reaction time to
Ferro’s 0.032. Both cars ran straight down Broadway but at the stripe
it was Ferro by a tenth as he stopped the clocks with a 5.60 at 257
MPH to Thompson’s 5.70 at 255 MPH. Thompson explained why the car
slowed down "my car went into violent tire shake about 100 feet out, I
drove thru it but slowed down because of it" Thompson said.

Thompson Looks for top ten finish in Pomona

Thompson has a good chance to end up in the top ten for the first time
in his long career by passing Steve Gasparelli in the first round in
Las Vegas. Thompson is currently ninth behind Brian Hough in the NHRA
Top Alcohol Funny Car standings. Gasparelli is out of races to claim
so a good outing this weekend in Pomona could put Thompson as low as
eighth place in the final point standings.