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POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the 37th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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: David Benjamin Runs 5.090/277.54, Now #14; Best prior run: 9.690/89.02, Was #19 Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 5.154/243.81, Now #15; No Prior Run 2:57 PM It's time for the Nitro Funny Cars...Nasty Benjamin and Haddock leave together and run to near the finish line where Haddock starts to drop cylinders and finally blows up the engine in a hugh cloud of smoke. Both cars bump into the bottom of the field. The bump is currently is Johnny Gary at 5.163. We are down for oil in Left Lane: David Benjamin Runs 5.090/277.54, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.090/277.54, Was #14 Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 5.154/243.81, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.154/243.81, Was #15 That was a career best run for 'Nasty' Benjamin. Haddock had engine problems in the other lane and we are down for a clean up. Left Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 6.408/135.14, Now #21; Best prior run: 7.121/123.04, Was #20 Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.772/320.20, Now #1; No Prior Run Whit takes over the top spot in the field on a really pretty pass. It seems strange to not see Force in the other lane. Frank strikes the tires in the CSK Blue car at half track and he finishes the run coasting. Bazemore takes the track speed record away from Gary Densham. Left Lane: John Lawson Runs 5.674/172.34, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.167/291.01, Was #18 Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 5.063/288.58, Now #14; Best prior run: 17.057/57.20, Was #24 Lawson has a big boomer here at half track. The burst panel goes flying and the blower is cocked at a 45 degree manifold. Toliver gets a full pass with a couple of holes spewing raw fuel. The WWF car goes into the 14th position. Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 5.050/296.70, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.163/245.36, Was #18 Right Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 10.440/85.91, Now #24; Best prior run: 11.267/79.15, Was #24 It was a pretty big cleaning after Lawson so we had to wait about ten minutes. This is a tough weekend for Gray as his father has passed recently and he has dedicated his 'Toys for Tots' drive to his father's name. Gray gets from point A to point B but the engine was really starting to groan on the topend. You could actually hear it pulling down as he neared the stripe. Creasy smokes the tires for the second run in a row. Left Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 4.980/305.29, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.069/295.85, Was #16 Right Lane: Bruce Sarver Runs 6.985/129.85, Now #23; Best prior run: 10.243/81.15, Was #23 Burkart improves but nips a few pistons as the car approached the finish. Sarver started smoked the tires before he reached the 330 mark. Left Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 4.913/302.69, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.020/297.81, Was #14 Right Lane: Robert Hallock No Time, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.976/167.91, Was #21 Hallock has a wild ride after half track. At the hit his car drifted towards the centerline but he managed to horse it back. At about 900 feet the car just dived towards the center again and the center punched the finish marker and the mph block. He followed along behind Gilbertson and finally get the car back into his lane. Gilbertson stays in his own lane and moves into the top half of the field. Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 8.533/72.57, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.999/305.01, Was #14 Right Lane: Louis Sweet Runs 7.931/105.32, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.619/180.09, Was #20 Both cars click it early. Sweet after he smoked the tires and Bode for not apparent reason. Left Lane: Al Hofmann Runs 4.861/309.49, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.927/305.56, Was #11 Right Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 4.931/318.02, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.980/309.27, Was #12 The big news is about Scotty Cannon. It was just announced that Cannon will be joining the Schumacher team next season and that Oakley has signed a multi year contract to back the deal along with Matco Tools. That puts two of the most outstanding personalities under the same banner.
Hofmann makes almost his career best run across for Cannon. It felt like they just
took their frustrations out on one run. I think they needed that one. You could
see Dunn clapping his hands at the starting line after the pass. Cannon was
running strong but just about got lost in the shadow of Hofmann's run. Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 8.513/98.46, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.922/318.24, Was #10 Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.897/313.73, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.926/309.34, Was #11 The bump is down to Toliver's 5.06. Pedregon smokes the tires and shuts the Mustang off. Wilkerson is picture perfect in the other lane and goes into the top half of the field. I don't think there are any cars left in this session that can bump Toliver. Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.897/310.13, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.903/256.21, Was #9 Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.900/295.59, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.846/318.84, Was #4 Johnson's Camaro was putting strange flame out of the right bank of the engine right at the hit. I thought it was going to blow up, the way it looked, but he gets a nice run out of it. Worsham runs a 4.90 but the blower belt came off the pulley at about 1100 feet. Left Lane: Ron Capps No Time, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.902/306.46, Was #9 Right Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 4.857/307.58, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.843/311.05, Was #3 Capps has something go wrong by sixty feet and he ends up coasting to a stop at half track. He has a big boomer before the car moved two feet. Blew the body against the mounts and a flash of flame. Skuza doesn't improve but puts back to back runs together. Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.788/318.32, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.872/313.00, Was #6 Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.806/308.78, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.826/319.82, Was #2 The two teammates meet here in the final pair of the session. Bazemore pushed Densham down to the #2 spot due to his 4.77. Densham is doing double duty this weekend as the Automobile Club of Southern California Grand Marshall. In the qualifier both drivers were mixing cylinders on the top end. Force just misses the top spot but guarantees that he will meet Bazemore in the third session tomorrow morning.
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