Paul Romine Rockingham Report

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. - (April 10, 1999) Event top qualifier and two-time IHRA Top Fuel World Champion Paul Romine lost in round two today at the rain-delayed IHRA Holley Spring Nationals at Rockingham (N.C) Dragway.

Romine and the CARQUEST dragster, which qualified #1 for the event and won in round one against Jack Ostrander, gained a hole-shot start against Bruce Litton in round two, but lost traction immediately. Litton suffered mechanical difficulty at half-track, but coasted across the finish line first to take the win.

"That was ugly and I hate to lose that way, especially against Bruce because he's the points leader," Romine said. "As soon as I hit the throttle it was up in smoke. I tried to pedal it once, but (Bruce) was already at 800-feet. I would have never caught him no matter how many times I pedaled because I had no momentum. "

The next IHRA event for the CARQUEST team will be May 8 when final eliminations are completed of the Prolong Winter Nationals in Darlington, S.C. The next NHRA event for the CARQUEST team will be the Pennzoil Nationals, April 29 - May 2 in Richmond, Va.

ESPN2 will televise one hour of tape delayed coverage of the IHRA Holley Spring Nationals, Tuesday, June 9 at 2 p.m. The program will replay Tuesday, June 15 at 4 a.m.

FINAL ELIMINATIONS Round one (W)Paul Romine .516 4.970/285.62 Jack Ostrander .565 5.056/284.62

Round two (W)Bruce Litton .518 7.352/104.77 Paul Romine .472 12.922/65.52