Sun, Feb 7, 03:23 PM POMONA - Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Darryl Jackman Wild First Round

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the 39th annual NHRA AutoZone Winternationals:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   4 Del Worsham         4.968 291.51  Q  13 Dale Creasy, Jr.    5.221 277.03
                  0.521  8.737 102.24 E1 *****WINNER***** 0.532  5.229 282.78

11:34 AM We open the first round of Fuel Funny Car. Worsham chatters the tires right from the hit and the result is smoke. The Creasy family takes their first round win under the Mad Magazine banner.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   3 Whit Bazemore       4.953 307.16  Q  14 Al Hofmann          5.252 272.17
 *****WINNER***** 0.493  4.921 311.77 E1                  0.487  7.817  98.43

Bazemore, in the Superwinch car, makes a clean run from beginning to end. Not a puff of smoke from the tires or the engine. Tim and Kim Richards have this car ready to run. Hofmann was into severe tire shake at the 60 foot mark and could not recover.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 John Force          4.831 304.32  Q  16 Glenn Mikres        5.508 269.89
 *****WINNER***** 0.561  4.899 300.00 E1                  0.537 14.435  76.30

Force said that he lost 15 pounds in the off season and the car lost another 30. This one was right down the middle. The only problem was a couple of burned pistons just before the finish. The mph was down just a bit. Mikres tried hard but overpowered the track in the first 30 feet.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Dean Skuza          4.867 309.98  Q  15 Mitch McDowell      5.423 281.30
 *****WINNER***** 0.499  4.886 299.40 E1                  0.531 15.251  58.74

We seem to have a pattern developing here. The left lane is the lane of choice at Pomona and right now it appears the be the better one. Skuza was right on Force's heels with his 4.88. McDowell was smoking the tires well before the tree.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   5 Ron Capps           5.003 293.79  Q  12 Gary Densham        5.217 267.48
                  0.475  7.064 224.88 E1 *****WINNER***** 0.506  6.889 149.66

This was a wild one! Capps smoked the tires at 100 feet and Densham appeared to have a free ride. Densham pedals and the front end comes WAY up in the air and he shuts off. Capps is in and out of the throttle and just couldn't catch Densham.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   6 Jerry Toliver       5.014 296.89  Q  11 Tony Pedregon       5.187 268.38
                  0.521  6.178 152.26 E1 *****WINNER***** 0.492  5.232 291.38

Toliver lost the starting line but was pulling in every interval. Problems set in when the dropped a cylinder and the car was driven towards the concrete wall. Toliver was forced to lift and Pedregon just streaked on to the win.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   7 Dale Pulde          5.079 296.70  Q  10 Jeff Arend          5.165 287.60
 *****WINNER***** 0.539  5.017 298.40 E1                  0.484  5.166 299.40

The Winston 'No Bull' money goes unpaid this weekend. Jeff Arend's number was drawn before the race and if he had won the event he would have pocketed an extra 100K from the Winston folks. It was not to be as Pulde drove around Arend to take the win.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   8 Scotty Cannon       5.098 291.01  Q   9 Frank Pedregon      5.145 299.33
                  0.535 14.443  69.79 E1 *****WINNER***** 0.495  5.111 303.03

Cannon had problems with the car all weekend not wanting to go straight. Murf McKinney was brought over to the vehicle and he found the rearend was about an 1/8 of an inch out of square. Repairs were made but the result went undecided as an over aggressive clutch setup does Cannon in. Pedregon, in the Penthouse car, was clean from end to end. In the second round Force has choice over Frank Pedregon. Creasy over Densham, Skuza over Pulde and Bazemore over Tony Pedregon.

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