I don't think any word describes the 2014 Carolina Nationals better than CRAZY! The combination of probable weather delays, Pro Stock cars skating all over their lanes - and one deciding to fly before going through the top end lights on his lid to win his elimination race, a disintegrating race track surface and final eliminations separated by six days and over 1,000 miles was absolutely insane.
In the case of Vieri Gaines, his crew logged almost 2400 miles between E1 and E2 rounds as they had to take the what-was-left-of-it wreck of his Pro Stock Dart back to the Denver area, put together his old Pro Stock Avenger and get it to Dallas and through tech in time for the start of the Texas FallNationals/Carolina Nationals eliminations in less than five days.
Following are the final results from the Carolina Nationals. I'm posting them before the re-showing of qualifying from Dallas because today would be really nuts for me if I waited until later to post these results, watch the NASCAR race and post the results of that "Pick 'Em" game, and then watch the NHRA Texas FallNationals television coverage and post the results. Unfortunately, I have a few other things to get done today too. So don't look at the updated game standings from the Carolina Nationals yet if you didn't stay up through the middle of the night - thanks ESPN2 - and want to watch the re-showing later today.
Congratulations to 'memike' (FABO) and 'ocdart' for being the top point getters for the Carolina Nationals with an outstanding point total of 178.5 each! They both picked the eventual class winners in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle and their Funny Car and Pro Stock picks went all the way to the finals before losing. They both also picked up ET bonus points in Funny Car and Pro Stock Motorcycle and Speed bonus points in Funny Car.
'67cudafb' (FABO) and 'Gpuller' (FBBO) finished in the runner-up position, each finishing with 149.0 points.
Great picking all!
Here's where the bonus points were if you picked the right drivers:
Top Fuel
E.T. - Khalid alBalooshi, 3.780 during Round 1 of eliminations
Speed - Doug Kalitta, 324.36 during Round 1 of eliminations
Funny Car
E.T. - John Force, 4.058 during Round 1 of eliminations
Speed - John Force, 315.49 during Round 1 of eliminations
Pro Stock
E.T. - Erica Enders-Stevens, 6.568 during qualifying
Speed - Erica Enders-Stevens, 210.37 during qualifying
Pro Stock Motorcycle
E.T. - Eddie Krawiec, 6.849 during qualifying
Speed - Hector Arana Jr., 195.48 during qualifying
Here are the game point standings following completion of the 19th event, and the first race of the Countdown for the 2014 season:
2146.5 - ocdart (FABO) +1 place in the standings
2128.5 - memike (FABO) +2
2109.0 - Gpuller (FBBO) no change
2084.5 - socaldart (FABO) -3
2060.0 - alsant (FBBO) +3
2058.5 - 67cudafb (FABO) +5
2057.5 - Duster79 (FABO) -2
2054.0 - 6pk2goDemon (FABO) -2
2023.0 - bvt69dart (FABO) -2
2009.0 - bad440 (FABO) -1
1992.5 - Budnicks (FBBO) -1
1990.5 - johnnycuda (FABO) +4
1989.0 - Hemiroid (FABO) -1
1984.5 - bobtile (FBBO) -1
1978.5 - 71dartswinger (FABO) -1
1973.5- YoungGun74 (FABO) +6
1958.0 - StarGazer (FABO) -2
1952.5 - Back in Time (FABO) -1
1950.0 - super-bee_ski (FBBO) -1
1936.0 - IEduster (FABO) +1
1935.5 - 64BEL (FBBO) +4
1930.0 - tqfastfisch (FABO) -3
1919.0 - OldmanRick (FABO) no change
1915.0 - Jacob Delling -4
1853.5 - DustedOff (FABO) -1
I will post another updated points list after the completion of the television coverage of the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals later tonight.
