Fri, 22 Oct 1999, 08:40 PM DALLAS - Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the 14th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec 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:

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Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 5.388/203.29, Now #11; Best prior run: 16.335/59.18, Was #20

6:45 PM We open the second qualifying session for Funny Cars with a single, Worsham's designated "dancing partner" either electing to skip the session or unable to repair the car in time to make the run.

The racer setting top speed tonight (Funny Car or Top Fuel) will earn $2,500 from Budweiser for the racer's favorite charity.

Worsham's car labored off the starting line and began mixing the cylinders up around half track, so he shut it off very early.

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Left Lane: Ronny Young Runs 13.028/72.28, Now #20; Best prior run: 12.615/76.23, Was #20
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.874/305.81, Now #1; Best prior run: 12.330/69.61, Was #19

Young lost traction almost immediately. Force went from A to B, right down the groove, the header flames strong and steady all the way through - a picture-perfect pass.

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Left Lane: Kenny Sayers Runs 9.951/86.79, Now #19; Best prior run: 7.055/122.16, Was #19
Right Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 5.026/301.00, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.633/136.69, Was #18

Sayers launched, spun the tires, pedaled , then called it off. Creasy made a good, straight, smooth pass, not spectacular, but solid and clean.

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Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.857/316.45, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.623/134.08, Was #18
Right Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 10.912/82.22, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.583/133.53, Was #17

We've just been informed that after the Winston Finals the Interstate Batteries Funny Car will be parked - but for now it's the hottest car in the category, knocking Force off the pole position . Skuza smoked the tires early and hard.-

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.950/298.01, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.367/134.79, Was #17
Right Lane: Gary Densham No Time, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.298/284.45, Was #11

Didn't see any sign of Densham's car. Capps made a safe, clean, easy pass with no trace of tire smoke or engine damage we could see.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 5.019/308.11, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.745/176.26, Was #17
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 5.060/297.52, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.298/284.45, Was #12

Now Densham shows up - the timing monitor showed him in the right lane for the previous pair also. Obviously that was wrong. Two nice passes here, the header flames steady on both cars.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 5.237/264.39, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.302/216.29, Was #14
Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.954/259.14, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.122/232.79, Was #11

Pedregon's car dropped a cylinder or two right off the starting line but made a full pass. Bazemore was on a very good run, but there were sparklers from the engine bay and the car nosed over just past the 1,000-foot marker.

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Left Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 4.994/306.43, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.157/293.35, Was #12
Right Lane: Cory Lee Runs 8.582/106.60, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.030/306.74, Was #10

If Scotty actually is doing his own tuning, he made the right adjustments after the first run because this one was straight, smooth, and clean, the header flames steady right through the lights. Lee lost traction early in his run.

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Left Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 4.987/298.50, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.005/308.32, Was #6
Right Lane: Jim Epler Runs 5.125/249.37, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.015/292.87, Was #8

There was a several-minute delay before these two fired while the Safety Safari put out a stubborn fire in the "diaper" on one of the two preceding cars - no clue as to which one.

These two WWF-sponsored cars went down the track side-by-side to about 1,000 feet, then Epler's header flames turned very green as his engine began eating some parts and he slowed, but Toliver steamed across the finish line under full power.

That closes the session.




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