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Sat, 2 Oct 1999, 04:13 PM

TOPEKA - Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Bob Orme

Not many changes

TOPEKA, Kan. - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the 11th annual Advance Auto Parts 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:

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 5.391/282.54, Now #12; Best prior run: 9.885/80.02, Was #18
Right Lane: Jim Epler Runs 5.160/270.64, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.117/275.96, Was #7

2:10 PM and after a lengthy clean up of Gary Scelzi's frightening accident, the Funny Cars are ready to run. Capps was shaking the tires at half track, it looked like he did a quick pedal at that point, and he moves up into the field. Epler had smoke coming from the back of the car starting at around 1000', doesn't improve with this run.

Left Lane: Scotty Cannon No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 6.285/142.51, Was #16

Cannon did a burnout, backed the car up, and shut it off at the line. Something was leaking from under the car, apparently synthetic oil, as the Safety Safari is using what I've been told is a mixture of water and Super Clean to remove it from the track surface.

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 5.127/285.29, Now #8; Best prior run: 9.715/96.46, Was #18
Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 5.894/152.07, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.156/299.66, Was #9

Densham moves into the field on this pass, mixing up cylinders through the traps. Toliver hit the in-car fire extinguishers at about 900'. No flames were visible at that point in the run, but the car was on fire in the shutdown area. He wasted no time in popping the hatch and exiting the car uninjured.

Left Lane: Jack Wyatt Runs 5.586/274.05, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.905/166.66, Was #16
Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 13.614/63.44, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.099/287.11, Was #6

Wyatt was skating around at mid track but was able to hang on to ride it out. Bazemore shook his tires extremely hard at about 150',

Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.999/305.70, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.012/295.14, Was #4
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 5.568/224.58, Now #16; Best prior run: 10.296/79.28, Was #19

Wilkerson had to pedal it once at 300', then moved toward the centerline, using all of his lane to get the rest of the way down the track.

Left Lane: Cory Lee Runs 12.411/71.17, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.165/299.80, Was #11
Right Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 8.864/92.85, Now #20; Best prior run: 15.423/49.96, Was #20

Lee was up in smoke at 200' and clicked it off. Skuza traveled about the same distance before losing traction, pedaled it, and got almost completely sideways before getting off the throttle and straightening the car out.

Left Lane: Larry Huff Runs 12.575/69.46, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.444/237.55, Was #15
Right Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 8.816/101.51, Now #19; Best prior run: 7.348/112.54, Was #19

Both drivers shook the tires hard at 100', Creasy pedaling once and Huff shutting it off.

Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 5.100/301.94, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.021/306.40, Was #5
Right Lane: Cristen Powell Runs 5.720/170.36, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.971/263.56, Was #3

Powell's car went dead at about 800' for no apparent reason. Worsham has a decent looking pass here, but he doesn't improve his position.

Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 16.813/55.06, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.894/305.01, Was #1
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.905/311.70, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.920/303.84, Was #2

Pedregon moved maybe 10 feet before he was up in smoke. Force, on a strong pass, improves his ET but stays in the number two position. After three rounds of Funny Car qualifying, Tony Pedregon has the pole with a 4.894 second ET and Tim Wilkerson is on the bump with a 5.568 second ET.