Sun, 28 Sep 2008, 02:40 PM Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 21st annual O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Jack Beckman                         7701 Mike Neff                    
E2                   0.067  8.158  84.21     ****WINNER****  0.078  4.186 289.51
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Pedregon  ) 0.070  4.173 292.39      (J Arend     ) 0.078  4.171 297.22
 Qualified:             #5  4.113 291.89                        #4  4.113 297.42

1:12 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 85 degrees, relative humidity 40 percent, barometer 29.80 inches, adjusted altitude 2,499 feet, track temperature 111 degrees.

Another big race, Beckman is 27 points behind Wilkerson in the points, Neff would like to knock him off to help Hight.

Beckman hits the throttle and goes up in smoke. Neff goes right down the groove with a clean pass to take the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Gary Scelzi                            10 Ashley Force                 
E2                   0.084  6.362  98.30     ****WINNER****  0.079  4.146 291.57
 Prior rounds:
E1    (G Densham   ) 0.092  4.193 293.73      (B Tasca III ) 0.089  4.128 298.47
 Qualified:             #8  4.131 295.08                        #1  4.079 298.87

Another pair, another Force car. We'll have a Force car in every match-up in this round. Force is 3 - 0 against Scelzi in prior events. Ashley will have to do well this race and have a lot of things go her way to get back in the points chase.

Scelzi hits the throttle, gets about 60 feet out and goes up in smoke. At that point he bangs the blower and lifts the body. Force makes another great run, just getting a little out of shape near the end, but taking the win and taking lane choice over Neff in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   71 Cruz Pedregon                           2 Robert Hight                 
E2                   0.059  4.222 292.20     ****WINNER****  0.047  4.228 282.24
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Toliver   ) 0.083  4.131 297.94      (R Capps     ) 0.069  4.125 297.48
 Qualified:            #15  4.194 288.89                        #7  4.122 285.95

The third pair, the third Force car. Hight had a throttle cable break in the last round of qualifying yesterday and also had one break during qualifying in Ennis last week.

Hight is 8 - 3 against Pedregon in prior events.

This is another big race, Hight is fourth in the points, Pedregon is just behind in fifth.

Hight is first out of the gate, and starts to pull away. Pedregon starts to make up ground about 600 feet out but runs out of race track. Hight goes on for the hole-shot win and keeps his championship hopes alive.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  347 Tim Wilkerson                           7 John Force                   
E2   ****WINNER****  0.099  4.231 281.54                     0.042  4.405 249.16
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M Troxel    ) 0.115  4.186 295.21      (T Johnson Jr) 0.085  4.157 298.27
 Qualified:            #11  4.154 300.40                        #3  4.105 300.26

The last pair, the last Force car. Three have already made it to the semi-finals. Wilkerson is leading the points chase and needs to win here to hold off the Force team. Force is 23 - 7 against Wilkerson in prior events.

Force gets out of the gate first and starts to pull away. He extends his lead to the 330 foot mark, then loses traction and starts hazing the tires. Thats all Wilkerson needed, he pulls even at half-track, then pulls away for the win.

Tim Wilkerson's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.054), 330 ft(-0.071), 660ft(0.000), 1,000ft(-0.057). MOV: 0.1178 seconds (approximately 43 feet).

Hight will have lane choice over Wilkerson in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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