Sun, 27 Jan 2002, 07:52 PM Tucson PRO Warmup Sunday Final

Courtesy of Darryl Jackman Force Quickest Funnycar

TUCSON, Ariz.- Welcome to Tucson and the final day of testing for the Pro Warm-up. Weather wise, this may be the nicest day of the weekend. We begin with no wind at all and scattered high clouds. The morning feels like mid to high 50's and the weather guesser is calling for a high in the mid 70's. That will be just about the same as yesterday.

Talking with a couple Doug Herbert's crew this morning I found out that the problem I thought was a headgasket yesterday was actually the front of the blower falling off at about half track. All of the bolts that hold the front cover on were pulled out and the blower drive fell onto the manifold. Strange things happen in drag racing.

Near the end of the day there was a pretty bad crash involving Tucson resident, Mike Savage, driving a 1982 Corvette funny car. The car got loose after half track and made contact with both retaining walls. The driver was air lifted out with what were considered minor burns to his face.

FUNNY CAR

10:28 AM Tony Pedregon becomes the first Pro car to make a Sunday attempt. Again, Tony has to step off the pedal at about 330. Short numbers: .878 and 2.411.

10:33 AM John Force follows his Tony to the starting line. They are still running all the Pro cars out of the right lane only. John makes a full pass and sets Top Speed of the event: .876, 2.301, 3.312/253.28, 4.132, 4.824/321.35.

11:14 AM And Johnny Gray is next out of the chute in the unlettered CSK Blue entry. Gray rattles the tires loose before sixty feet and cards a .905 short time.

11:22 AM Gary Densham is pulling into the bleach box and is ready to go. Densham has made several short shots but hasn’t managed a full pass to this point. This time he stays with it until about 800 feet as the Mustang was starting to get loose. Times: .894, 2.320, 3.331/241.20, 4.290, 5.316/201.91.

11:59 AM It’s Del Worsham out in the CSK Red racer. Del Gets almost to the sixty foot marker before he rattles the tires loose. .910 short number.

12:39 PM Tony Pedregon is back for another hit. Tony has to step off the pedal before 330 but gets back into it to finish the run: .890, 2.388, 3.431/245.09, 4.366, 5.371/206.32.

12:59 PM John Force is back to follow up on his earlier 4.82/321 at 10:30 this morning. Force makes another full pass but the Mustang was mixing cylinders before the lights and the cloud of smoke says that the engine was eating parts at the finish: .873, 2.310, 3.317/254.14, 4.138, 4.873/283.01.

1:11 PM Dean Skuza makes his first appearance this Sunday. Skuza is sneaking up on the numbers with his brand new Dodge and took it to 1000 feet yesterday. Today he strikes the tires just after sixty feet so that’s the only number that will count: .897

1:44 PM We were down for some problems with the tree but Del Worsham is finally told to light it up. Worsham cards a .894 short number and then rattled the tires loose.

1:50 PM Johnny Gray is up next for another CSK attempt. Gray cards a shutoff .916, 2.352, 3.401/239.44, 4.293, 5.145/243.72.

1:54 PM It’s Gary Densham up next. Densham makes it almost to the 330 marker before he blew the tires off. Short time was .887.

2:31 PM Tony Pedregon lights it off. Tony begins eating engine parts at around 1000 feet. The run nets : .892, 2.338, 3.379/241.71, 4.255, 5.021/278.75.

3:21 PM It’s Gary Densham, again. Still looking for their first full run of the weekend. Gary leaves hard, .881, but smokes the tires before 330.

3:43 PM Del Worsham is back for another attempt. Worsham cards a .901 before he goes up in smoke.

3:46 PM Dean Skuza will make another attempt in his Stratus. Much better this time. Dean is off the pedal around 1000 feet: .886, 2.318, 3.338/247.66, 4.192, 4.994/256.21.

4:02 PM Time for Johnny Gray to take another shot a Southwestern Raceway. Gray’s ride was a bus at the hit but ran pretty well down track: .937, 2.375, 3.407/243.46, 4.274, 5.017/301.13.

5:45 PM Dean Skuza will make the final pass of the weekend. Skuza gets to 1000 feet and clicks it off. Numbers: .887, 2.321, 3.325/253.14, 4.217, 5.178/214.66.

TOP FUEL

10:38 AM Doug Herbert becomes the first Top Fuel car of the day. Herbert will most likely only make one today as he has a flight out at 1:00 PM. Another full pass for the red car: .849, 2.164, 3.123/260.97, 3.944, 4.657/311.27.

10:59 AM Wyatt Radke is up next in the former Bobby Baldwin Top Fueler. Radke leaves hard and stays with it all the way to the finish. At about 900 feet the engine erupts into flames that continued all the way past the finish. Hope he didn ’t burn the chutes off the car. .882, 2.254, 3.254/246.21, 4.136, 4.917/281.66.

11:42 AM Ken Zeal is attempting to finish off his license requirements and he needs a pass over 275 mph in the Bill Miller entry. Zeal won’t get it on this one as it sounded like the engine was nosing over before half track: .904, 2.318, 3.502/202.39, 4.558, 5.459/237.38.

11:46 AM Clay Millican makes his first of the day. Millican makes a full pass with just a bit of smoke at the finish: .840, 2.188, 3.169/256.60, 3.994, 4.708/308.43.

11:55 AM Kenny Bernstein is about to make his first hit of the day. Yesterday the red car had low ET and Top Speed of the day. Today he shakes the tires after the hit and the only good number is the sixty foot, .849.

12:17 PM Ok, I lied. Doug Herbert has found time to make one more today. Herbert makes a full pass and it nets him: .859, 2.192, 3.152/260.06, 3.980, 4.706/302.96.

2:12 PM And the big red car of Kenny Bernstein is ready to make another attempt. Bernstein still has low ET of the weekend but Force has Top Speed. This time a blower belt leaves the car just before half track: .862, 2.192, 3.162/248.92 at half track.

2:35 PM Clay Millican comes around for another attempt. Millican makes a full pass and has his best of the weekend: .851, 2.205, 3.169/265.64, 3.961, 4.645/318.77.

3:18 Ken Zeal will make another attempt to get his ticket. He still needs the minimum speed of 275 mph. Zeal: .892, 2.300, 3.293/254.76, 4.129, 4.865/298.60. Zeal gets his card punched and will be welcomed into the Top Fuel drivers club.

4:27 PM Another hit from Bernstein. Kenny runs his Sunday best: .859, 2.198, 3.162/259.86, 3.984, 4.693/312.50.

PRO STOCK

10:51 AM The lone Pro Stocker of the weekend is back. George Marnell has made several passes this weekend. His Grand Am has been a bracket car this weekend. Times: 1.031, 2.941, 4.539/153.98, 5.916, 7.077/194.16.

12:44 PM and George Marnell takes the stage. Marnell has run a bunch of 7.07’s this weekend. This time: 1.045, 2.958, 4.559/153.58, 5.940, 7.106/193.49.

2:50 PM Marnell is back. He cards a : 1.045, 2.969 and 4.573/153.46. Timing cleared the screen but it was slower than all his previous runs.

4:13 PM Marnell for one more. He is turning this into a roundy round event. This time: 1.033, 2.936, 4.534/154.07, 5.908, 7.066/194.60. His best since Friday.



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