Drag
Empire Nationals Bruce Litton Report
Bruce Litton Scores Fourth Final Round Appearance In 1999, Posts Runner-up at IHRA CARQUEST Empire Nationals LEICESTER, NY.-- Bruce Litton once said that he'd rather be on top of the points standings at the completion of the season than at the ...
Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Bruce Litton Scores Fourth Final Round Appearance In 1999, Posts Runner-up at IHRA CARQUEST Empire Nationals
LEICESTER, NY.-- Bruce Litton once said that he'd rather be on top of the points standings at the completion of the season than at the start. Evidently, he prefers to lead the chase all the way through. The Indianapolis, In.,-based, trailer dealer maintained his points lead by finishing runner-up at the IHRA CARQUEST Empire Nationals in Leicester, NY to Don Lampus.
"We don't mind running Don," explained Litton, in a post-race interview. "He's a good clean racer that wants to win as much as we do. The Top Fuel division here in the IHRA is very competitive and we are thrilled to be leading this point. The battles between Don and I are just beginning. We have already run him four times this season and we're tied at two apiece."
Litton made his championship intentions known during the first qualifying session. While several of the more prominent teams had problems getting their machines in tune to the excellent racing surface at New York International Raceway Park, he had no such problems and stormed to the early lead in qualifying with a 4.807/300.13. This elapsed time stood as a track record. The final session created somewhat of a bit of controversy. When the Top Fuel driver in the other lane had problems and couldn't fire his car. Litton proceeded with his burnout. The other driver got his car fired as Litton had backed up and squeaked across the line with a burnout. IHRA officials instructed the driver to abandon the run as he went on forward to the first turn-off. Litton's car had generated too much heat in the engine and crewchief Richard Hartman made the decision to shut-off. Litton declined another run and as a result of his failure to improve, slipped to the third position. He matched up against Luigi Novelli in the first round of competition.
The points leader quickly disposed of the tire-smoking Novelli with a 5.023/288.83. He then improved during the semi-finals with a 4.993/284.56 that was more than a surprising Bobby Lagana, Jr. could handle.
In the final round, Litton was slow to react and that was enough of an edge for Lampus to post an insurmountable lead. Lampus took the win-light with a 4.794/298.87. The Moser Engineering-sponsored fueler secured the runner-up spot with a 4.934/282.95.
Litton plans to continue his championship conquest at the IHRA CARQUEST Northern Nationals in Stanton, MI., July 31 - August 2. Litton, along with each Top Fuel contestant, will be afforded two qualifying runs during the course of the event and the quickest eight entries will compete in final eliminations on Sunday. This event will be televised on ESPN2 with the dates TBA in an upcoming issue of Drag Review.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article CHAMPCAR/CART: Elkhart Lake Tony Kaanan Race Notes
Next article JCTC: Tom Coronel Race Report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Bruce Litton
Brown 'slams' the field near St. Louis
NHRA
NHRA
Brown 'slams' the field near St. Louis
Brown, Beckman, Enders and Krawiec take wins in St. Louis
NHRA
NHRA
Brown, Beckman, Enders and Krawiec take wins in St. Louis
Antron Brown takes top fuel pole at Gateway
NHRA
NHRA
Antron Brown takes top fuel pole at Gateway
Latest news
Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
51 min
Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”
Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
1 h
Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP
How to watch NASCAR at Talladega II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
1 h
How to watch NASCAR at Talladega II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
Peterson Racing addresses online abuse after parting ways with Austin Green
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Talladega II
2 h
Peterson Racing addresses online abuse after parting ways with Austin Green
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe