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POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the 39th annual NHRA AutoZone Winternationals, 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: John Force Runs 4.933/303.30 Now # 1, (Best prior run: 4.831/304.32 Was # 1) Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 5.014/296.89 Now # 6, (Best prior run: 5.348/238.30 Was #14) 4:53 PM and the sun is very low in the sky, well behind the grandstands here in Southern California. Force runs yet another 4.90, ho hum, but Rob Flynn and the ex-Bazemore crew tune Toliver to a career-best, and move him solidly into the top half of the show, just ahead of Pulde, Cannon, et al. There had to be a problem with the Castrol car, but it wasn't apparent from our vantage. Force was predicting a record-setting number, given the conditions, but obviously that didn't happen. Left Lane: Dale Pulde Runs 11.126/ 81.12 Now # 7, (Best prior run: 5.079/296.70 Was # 7) Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 5.187/268.38 Now #10, (Best prior run: 5.338/272.78 Was #14) Pulde shook the tires and headed right for the 330' cone, so he wisely stepped off the throttle, while Pedregon spit a ton of molten aluminum out the headers, a sure sign that this engine was hurting early, but it was still enough to step up four rungs on the ladder. Left Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 4.867/309.98 Now # 2, (Best prior run: 4.901/306.26 Was # 2) Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 11.658/ 39.06 Now #18, (Best prior run: 5.717/207.53 Was #18) Cruz loses traction at the 300' mark and fails to make this show for the second year in a row... of course, after his DNQ he went on to notch 12 #1 qualifying spots in 1998. Skuza makes a picture-perfect run but fails to run the 4.830 that he needed to unseat Force from the pole position. Left Lane: Cory Lee Runs 6.833/233.03 Now #19, (Best prior run: 9.524/ 89.82 Was #19) Right Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 8.606/ 98.39 Now # 8, (Best prior run: 5.098/291.01 Was # 8) Cannon does a long burnout this time, and then backs up almost as fast as he went forward... way cool. Both cars are up in shake / smoke, likely the biggest shake that Cannon has experienced. Cory Lee got back on the throttle, trying to run quick enough to bump Glenn Mikres' 5.508, but it just didn't happen. Cannon never had a chance to get back on the gas, the Oakley machine completely sideways and very close to the right side wall at 300' out. Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 5.033/305.15 Now # 4, (Best prior run: 4.968/291.51 Was # 4) Right Lane: Jim Epler Runs 8.566/104.16 Now #20, (Best prior run: 11.950/ 73.22 Was #21) No smoke from Epler's machine, but enough shake so that he stepped off the throttle pretty quickly. Worsham fails to retake the pole, but he breaks the 300mph barrier for the first time here this weekend. Left Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 15.429/ 72.16 Now # 9, (Best prior run: 5.145/299.33 Was # 9) Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 5.165/287.60 Now #10, (Best prior run: 5.260/268.65 Was #14) Pedregon is up in smoke instantly, while Arend pedalled once then hooked up and motored straight to the finish, good enough to move ahead of Tony Pedregon, Gary Densham, and Dale Creasy. Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 11.065/ 88.80 Now #17, (Best prior run: 5.513/203.28 Was #17) Right Lane: Randy Anderson Runs 5.730/257.33 Now #19, (Best prior run: 9.905/ 77.67 Was #21) Once again, Wilkerson in the left side is up in smoke instantly, while the right lane car gets a bit further downtrack. Anderson pedals to try and salvage the run, but it's not enough to better Mikres' 5.508. Left Lane: Glenn Mikres Runs 11.541/ 73.48 Now #16, (Best prior run: 5.508/269.89 Was #16) Right Lane: Al Hofmann Runs 5.561/184.12 Now #14, (Best prior run: 5.252/272.17 Was #14) Mitch McDowell and Dale Creasy were in line to run, but at this point neither car cam be bumped (#15 and #13, respectively) so they opt to pull out of line and tow back to the pits. Mikres probably wishes he'd opted to pull out, the car up in smoke immediately. Meanwhile Al Hofmann was looking good until something went 'bang' at half-track, likely a valve hanging open resulting in a flash of fire and the body panel over the engine sailing high into the air, almost hitting Mikres' coasting machine, in fact. There's a trail of oil following Hofmann's Firebird off the end of the track, so we're down for a short cleanup. Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 9.579/ 85.36 Now # 5, (Best prior run: 5.003/293.79 Was # 5) The left lane gremlins claim another victim, Capps making it only 200' before he clicked it off. Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 17.149/ 69.19 Now #12, (Best prior run: 5.217/267.48 Was #12) The next-to-last car of the session, here, and he's up in smoke instantly. The track and air temps have both fallen dramatically as the sun has set here in Pomona. Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.964/294.37 Now # 3, (Best prior run: 4.953/307.16 Was # 3) The professional category qualifying run of the weekend, and it's a good one. Bazemore was really loose when we talked to him in the pits this afternoon, his new deal obviously suiting him just fine. He raved about his new crew, and after watching him go down this lane after so many have failed, we'd have to agree. So it's Force against Glenn Mikres in round one tomorrow.   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