Fri, 14 Nov 2008, 06:52 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 44th 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:

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Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.187/296.63, Now #10; Best prior run: 7.431/86.38, Was #19
Right Lane: Jeff Arend No Time, Now #20; Best prior run: 9.914/78.69, Was #20

3:05 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 84 degrees, relative humidity 25 percent, barometer 28.84 inches, adjusted altitude 3,297 feet, track temperature 99 degrees.

Arend launched but the car fell flat by about 30ft. It was blubbering and pouring fuel out like there was a major malfunction in the fuel system. Head got a full pull out of his Solara and is in the provisional field at #10.

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Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 6.096/107.01, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.451/129.84, Was #17
Right Lane: Tony Bartone No Time, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.870/116.94, Was #19

Bartone fired the car, made the burnout and then shut the car off. Couldn't see what was wrong but there was nothing on the track as they crew did no cleaning after pushing the car away. Beckman struck the tires early and put another nail in his drive for a championship, not qualified after two rounds.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 6.984/86.93, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.478/194.21, Was #16
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.176/299.40, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.518/129.93, Was #18

Same problem for C.Ped, working hard on the championship and striking the tires within 100ft of the starting line. Tasca finds a way into the field and goes to #9.

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Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 7.153/95.62, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.218/292.39, Was #15
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 6.555/102.99, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.275/281.07, Was #16

Dueling tire smoke ends the second round of qualifying for both Bode and Johnson. Both kicked the Goodyears loose just before 330ft and at the same instant.

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Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 6.924/86.09, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.214/293.86, Was #14
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.164/294.43, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.213/292.46, Was #13

Worsham was out of the throttle early as he spun the tires hard at about 330ft. Densham gets the best looking pass of the session and moves into the field at #8.

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Left Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 4.157/301.13, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.186/297.61, Was #11
Right Lane: Ashley Force Runs 4.273/277.66, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.207/302.62, Was #13

Lots of haze and smoke outside the press center and it's actually hard to see. This pair was very slow to stage and after doing so it was rather ho hum for A.Force. She fails to improve but Toliver makes the top half of the show. Nice pass for the Rockstar Racer!

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.108/303.78, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.144/282.95, Was #6
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 6.956/89.10, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.169/297.02, Was #10

Wilkerson smoked the tires around 150ft and wound up coasting. He remains #10. J.Force low for the session but can't quite catch his teammate, Neff. He's second to Neff by .003.

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Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.105/304.25, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.129/302.21, Was #6
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.118/302.08, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.150/293.41, Was #7

Troxel matches ETs with Neff and takes over the top spot in the show by virtue of her better speed. Capps was right there with her and he climbs up to #4.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight No Time, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.122/298.14, Was #7
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon No Time, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.122/301.67, Was #6

T.Ped drove over the center line and wiped out both of the 1000ft cones. That stopped the clocks for Hight as well so both times will be DQd. That of course means that neither time will count towards qualifying.

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Left Lane: Mike Neff Runs 4.127/299.73, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.105/299.13, Was #2
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 6.684/99.34, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.121/302.01, Was #5

Neff remains #2 as the pipes appeared to turn wet just before the 1000ft finish line. Scelzi blistered the tires much earlier in the run and remains #5 at the close of a warm and pretty ugly nitro session.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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