Mon, May 11, 09:41 PM Tony Pedregon With New Sponsorship Ready To Battle For Championship

Courtesy of Rob Goodman, Sports Marketing Enterprises

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Drivers who challenge for Winston championships are usually a part of highly financed teams. Tony Pedregon finished second in the NHRA Winston Funny Car standings in each of the last two years with funding for only 12 races.

NHRA Winston Drag Racing returns to the Garden State for the 27th annual Mopar Parts Nationals May 15-17 in Englishtown, N.J. It's the ninth event on the 23-race, $30 million NHRA Winston Drag Racing tour.

Tony Pedregon got a boost from his sponsor last week. Castrol -- under the Syntec umbrella -- decided to sponsor his Ford Mustang for the full 23-race NHRA Winston Drag Racing tour rather than the limited schedule for which he was sponsored. Even though he began as a research and development team for his boss, John Force, Pedregon has been optimistic from the beginning.

"Really, my approach was that I was here with John for the long term," Pedregon said. "He told me that at some point, we would either get budget for the second car or go to Top Fuel. I'm partial to Funny Car, though. For (crew chief) John Medlin and myself, we've stuck it out mentally when everyone said we were just and R&D car."

"Now we have assurance that we're gonna be there at every race and be able to fight for the Winston championship like everyone else does."

Even though Castrol was only funding 12 of the 23 races in 1996 and 97, Pedregon was solid each season. His car was called a "test vehicle" during that time, but that "test vehicle" won a race in 1996 and recorded 32 elimination-round victories in 1997. The Gardena, Calif. resident competed in five final rounds last year and won twice.

"It was probably harder on John (Force) than anyone else," Pedregon said. "Castrol gave us the budget for 12 races, and John did the rest out of his pocket. John has to be glad that they saw the market value in our car. I think the fact we finished second in the Winston standings in each of the last two years didn't hurt much."

Entering the Mopar Parts Nationals, Pedregon is sixth in the NHRA Winston Funny Car standings. He won the Pennzoil Nationals at Houston and has reached the semifinals three times. Those results might be satisfying for some, but not Pedregon.

"Since Houston, we just haven't hit our stride," Pedregon said. "Downforce has been an issue with the body we're running, and we're working with Ford to improve it. We're fighting with that, but we're also still working with our new combinations."

"If I've learned everything over here, it's not to become a good loser, but to stay positive and keep your chin up. I think it's just a matter of a little more time before we go on our roll. I know that when we're running well, anyone will be hard pressed to beat us."

"Right now, I'd say there are six cars fighting for the top spot in the Winston standings, and we're in the mix. We can't let too many races slip away, though. We're feeling some pressure, but I think that's where we work our best."

Additional sponsorship won't hurt either.

Professional qualifying is set for 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday, May 15, 12:15 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, May 16 with eliminations set to begin at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 17. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster or the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park ticket office at (732) 446-7800.



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