Local driver falls in semis

Monday, April 8, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

George Marnell lost in the Pro Stock semifinals for the second time in a row at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but this time the 51-year-old Las Vegas resident left the track with a smile on his face.

Marnell, who couldn't overcome a quick start by Darrell Alderman in one semifinal during Sunday's SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, walked out of his hometown track as the Pro Stock points leader for the third time in four races.

"It was a good weekend -- I can't complain about the weekend at all," Marnell said. "We made a hard charge for it and I came up just a little bit short."

Marnell, who ran a 7.028-second elapsed time to Alderman's 7.030, lost the race at the starting line; Alderman's reaction time was .435 seconds to Marnell's .468.

Alderman, who lost to Ron Krisher in the final, beat Marnell to the finish line by a mere 9 feet.

"The track is so hot and slick that I spun the tire pretty hard," Marnell said of his start. "It was a real close race; he just had a little bit more at the starting line than I did.

"We walk out of here the points leader, so how can you be upset about that? Obviously, we want to win every race we're in but that's not reality. We're a little bit disappointed that we didn't go to the final round but we went enough rounds to where we're leading the points race."

Marnell leads Jim Yates, who also lost in the semifinals, by 15 points after four races in the 23-race NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series.

"Obviously, (winning a championship) is everybody's goal out here," Marnell said. "I'm going to concentrate more on winning rounds -- one round after another, after another -- and if that can take us to the road to the championship, then that's great.

"It's pretty gratifying to walk out of here as the points leader, but it's a long way to the end."

Toliver's car made a sharp right turn just as he passed the starting tree and hit the wall nose-first, sending pieces of his Pontiac Firebird into a crowd of photographers.

Neither Toliver nor any photographers suffered any serious injuries.

"The oil line came loose ... there was no saving it," Toliver said. "What amazed me was how hard it hit the wall. The roll cage hit my head a little bit so I was a little dizzy when I got out, but I'm fine."

Shields was the No. 1 qualifier with the low elapsed time (5.492 seconds) and top speed (261.62 mph), but was denied the win when he lost to Darren Nicholson in the TAD semifinals. ...

Jon Capps of Las Vegas, the younger brother of Nitro Funny Car driver Ron Capps, advanced to the second round of eliminations in the Top Alcohol Funny Car category before losing to Bucky Austin.