NHRA"S qualifying sheet shows Dave in the number one spot   

Good morning from rain soaked Pomona . It's early monday Morning and the wet weather continues . NHRA has us scheduled to run 4th class out at 10am. Looks highly unlikely to me but we'll have to wait and see. It's 10am ,they just called us up for round two and as soon as they run the first pair of stock it starts to rain . Back to the trailer we go . Fast forward to 2pm and the call goes out for super comp to the lanes . The weather is looking pretty good , maybe we can get this done . This is second round so from here on out lane choice is decided by the flip of a coin. . Lane choice is said to be unimportant unless , you don't have it. As crew chief I almost always have a lane I prefer . This weekend it's the right lane . There are different reasons to like one lane over the other . The main reason is how consistent the car has been off the starting line during the runs you made so far . At this particular race we had a problem with tire spin in the left lane just a few feet after launch on one of our qualifying passes. Now on NHRA's behalf I'll say at national events , track condition is not usually a problem except when the weather has been  either to hot , to cold , or to wet . This weekend we had the cold and the wet thing going so track conditions were constantly changing and were definitely not optimal . You may also pick one lane over the other if your driver can see better in one of the lanes . Where that comes into play would be at the top end when your looking for the other car so you can lift off the throttle before the finish line , if you have him covered. Now I know your saying to yourself why would you lift during a race . Here's the reason and I'll try my best to explain it. Since the lanes are timed with there own timers it's possible to run 8.90 seconds a lose . Since the timers don't start till the car moves both cars could run 8.90 and the one who leaves the line first or has the better reaction time would cross the finish line first . Now back to the reason why you would lift before the finish line . If you leave the line first you would have the advantage at the other end so you would lift to keep from breaking out ( breaking out , going faster than they allowed time for your class )in this case 8.90 seconds . Drives in door cars prefer the right lane for two reasons ,first it's easier to see the Christmas tree because in the left lane you have to look around the huge hood scoop that most of the cars have , Also it's easier when your looking for the other car at the top end you can look right out your window instead of trying to see through the roll bars and out the passenger side window .Ok now that I cleared that up ( ha ha ) back to second round . The other driver flips the coin I call heads and we get the right lane . They do there burnouts ,line them up and away they go . Dave gives up a little on the starting line but makes up by running 8.919 to other guys 8.934 . With the other drivers reaction time figured in Dave sneaks around him by a scant .0027 seconds or about 6 inches at the stripe. Back to the trailer for a quick refuel and battery charge and about 30 minutes we're back in the lanes for round three . Another coin toss and again I call heads and again we head to the right lane ,so good so far  Burnouts complete they line up and just that fast we're done as Dave  (trying to improve on his reaction time from last round ) leaves to early and gets the big red light. Overall a good weekend . We learned a lot , qualified number one and went a few rounds . Not great , not bad . Next blog should be Friday that's our next qualifying day for race number two. Thanks for playing Kenny Speed