Mopar Elimination Notes -- Texas

Alderman Drives to Round Two
Osborne Red Lights in Round One 

ENNIS, Texas. (Oct. 21, 2001) - Darrell Alderman piloted his Hemi-powered
Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T to the second round of eliminations during
today's O'Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

After outdueling Hurley Blakeney in round one with a 6.949-second elapsed
time at 200.17 mph, Alderman fell to Tom Hammonds, who posted a 6.908-second
pass at 200.31 mph to a 6.925-second elapsed time at 199.86 mph.

"It was a pretty good run," Alderman said. "I rattled the tires a little
bit, but it seemed to get on through pretty well. We just got behind a
little in qualifying and it bit us on race day."

The red light flickered in the right lane, ending Mark Osborne's day
prematurely. The Mopar Parts Dodge Neon R/T driver fell to Hammonds, who
posted a 6.883-second elapsed time at 200.40 mph.

"I just cut it too close on that last one," Osborne said. "I knew I had to
cut a perfect light to win that race and I just missed it. We wouldn't have
won even if I had cut a .400."

Patterson Nipped at Top End

Todd Patterson and the Dodge Motorsports Dakota R/T fell in the first round
of competition to Mike Coughlin. It was an extremely close race, as Coughlin
clocked a 7.470-second elapsed time to Patterson's 7.478-second pass. It was
Patterson's best pass of the weekend.

"We just keep getting the consolation prize," Patterson said. "If we would
have done our job in qualifying, we wouldn't have been in this position. We
just met the wrong person in the wrong round."

Skuza Falls to Densham

Gary Densham outran the Mopar Parts Dodge R/T Nitro Funny Car of Dean Skuza
in the first round of eliminations. Densham posted a solid 4.803-second
elapsed time at 324.32 mph to Skuza's 4.905/313.58 combination.
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Mopar Elimination Notes
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"We really fell off that time," said Skuza, who had qualified with a
4.81-second lap. "We have this new blower and its been helping us a lot. I
think the new body might of helped us on that run. We'll have the new
Stratus body soon."