Sat, 17 Sep 2005, 04:59 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 21st annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

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Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 5.144/229.24, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.044/229.55, Was #19
Right Lane: Jack Wyatt Runs 6.067/156.21, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.062/285.59, Was #20

4:15 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 49 percent, barometer 29.81 inches, adjusted altitude 1,685 feet, track temperature 105 degrees.

At the start of this session, Cruz Pedregon was on the bubble with a bump time of 4.927 seconds. Neither of these two drivers were in the field. Wyatt's car got loose at mid track and he backed off the throttle. Lee got to 1,000 feet when he started smoking the rear tires.

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Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.904/313.95, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.943/315.93, Was #18
Right Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 8.893/106.81, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.865/288.58, Was #14

Gilbertson launched, shook the tires, pedaled it and shook the rear tires again. He'll stay where he was in the qualifying order. Head had his quickest run of the weekend and is on the bubble now. He just pushed Cruz Pedregon out of the field.

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Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.887/312.21, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.929/303.30, Was #18
Right Lane: Mike Ashley Runs 4.938/275.51, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.864/318.39, Was #13

Head's time in the field didn't last long as Densham had his best run of the weekend to bump Head from the field and take over the bump spot. Ashley clicked it off a little bit early and will stay where he was in the order.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.958/304.25, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.927/312.13, Was #18
Right Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 4.913/278.75, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.852/310.48, Was #12

Pedregon got bumped from the field a couple of pairs ago. He needed to beat the bump time of 4.887 seconds to get back in. He did not get the run he needed after his car started to trail smoke at 1,000 feet. Burkart was not as quick as he was in the third session and will say where he was in the order.

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.998/302.35, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.887/313.58, Was #15
Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.822/314.17, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.836/317.94, Was #10

Hight moved up three spots in the order with this run. Wilkerson's run looked okay but was not as quick as his second session ET.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.824/316.23, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.850/314.61, Was #11
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.832/313.51, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.829/317.94, Was #9

Capps had his quickest trip of the weekend to move up three spots in the order. That pushed Worsham down one spot. Worsham's car appeared to have some fire in the shutdown area, but was quickly put out by the safety crew at the end of the track.

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Left Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 4.926/310.63, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.834/316.90, Was #11
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.860/316.90, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.804/322.11, Was #5

A pair of nice looking runs but neither driver improved his spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Eric Medlen Runs 4.787/317.12, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.827/314.24, Was #9
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.833/319.52, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.801/318.84, Was #4

Medlen had a nice run down the middle of his lane to move up to the number two spot in the order for now. Pedregon's pass looked okay but was not as quick as yesterday and he got pushed down one spot.

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Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 7.888/98.07, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.813/320.13, Was #7
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 7.117/125.00, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.800/298.60, Was #4

These two left the line together and were side-by-side at 330 feet, when they both started shaking and smoking their rear tires. They'll both stay where they were in the qualifying order.

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Left Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.769/323.58, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.766/322.11, Was #1
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 10.190/84.38, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.794/324.59, Was #3

Johnson smoked the tires at 330 feet and shut it down. Scelzi had another good run that was just a couple thousands of a second off his quickest ET of the weekend. He'll start eliminations at the top of the order.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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