Stanton Bruce Litton Report

Bruce Litton Drops Tough First Round Encounter Opposite Lampus

STANTON, MI.-- If there was a race that veteran Top Fuel race Bruce Litton did not want to lose was his first round match against points nemesis Don Lampus. Thus was the unfortunate case at the IHRA CARQUEST Northern Nationals in Stanton, Mi., when the aforementioned happened. Litton was upbeat, despite giving up a crucial battle in the IHRA Top Fuel points chase.

"We struggled this weekend," confided Litton. "We did alright, although Lampus will have the chance to come around us. We'll regroup and come back stronger next time. I have a good supporting cast that allows me to make a statement like that with authority."

Litton was conservative in his first session and still managed some top-end tire smoke. He pedaled the Indiana-based, Top Fueler to a 5.238/264.03 to end the first session as the eighth quickest entry. The final session offered improvement, but Litton had cause to be uneasy. The pair of fuelers before him oiled down the track and after a lengthy delay, he catapulted his digger down a lukewarm track. He managed a 5.090/287.78 to end up on the bubble.

The points leader was paired against Don Lampus in the first round of eliminations. Both dragsters launched hard with Litton being the quicker of the two by .058, but at the 1,000-foot mark, Litton's mount began to smoke the tires and slowed to a 5.198/246.48. Lampus went on to post the victory. It marked the first time that Litton had lost in the first round during the 1999 season.

Litton plans to continue his championship conquest at the IHRA MOPAR PARTS World Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio., August 26 - 29. 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.