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CHANDLER, Ariz. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 25th annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run: Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.397/268.38, Now #1 2:18 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 75 degrees, relative humidity 16 percent, barometer 28.79 inches, adjusted altitude 2,685 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.
Nitro Funny Cars, with Tim Wilkerson leading off, open the first Nitro session. Wilkerson was soft on the first hit and the engine
felt silent well before the 1K marker. Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.944 sec., 330ft-2.453, 660ft-3.513/239.57
mph. Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.106/298.93, Now #1 Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 4.728/197.10, Now #3 Matt Hagan is attempting to make his second NHRA event as a Funny Car pilot and does so with his personal best ET and speed in the Brakesafe Charger. Toliver, in the Jim Dunn tuned and Canidae Pet Food sponsored Monte Carlo, was on a nice run until the fire went out at about 800ft. Couldn't see the why of that one. Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.325, 660ft-3.301/262.54 mph. Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 7.431/101.12, Now #4 Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 9.551/80.49, Now #5 Back to the drawing boards for both teams after this pair shook the tires in unison with Bode staying with it just a bit longer than Arend. You could see the dotted line tire tracks in both lanes after the run. Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 6.601/98.41, Now #5 Right Lane: Mike Neff Runs 4.126/301.74, Now #2 Neff was either smoking pretty good or there was a ton of raw fuel coming out of the Ford. Either way when Neff stepped down the engine cleared up and pulled strong enough to put him in the second spot behind Hagan. Pedregon looked good early but something went away and he coasted down range. Cruz Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.887 sec., 330ft-2.488, 660ft-4.352/113.25 mph. Mike Neff's incremental times: 60ft-0.898 sec., 330ft-2.332, 660ft-3.322/259.61 mph. Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.927/207.94, Now #5 Right Lane: John Force Runs 12.273/50.55, Now #9 Pedregon left and when into tire shake within a few feet of the starting line. He pedaled and tried to continue the run but his racer sort of blubbered to the finish under a little power. Force struck the tires and coasted the entire length of the track. Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 8.954/78.16, Now #9 Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 5.092/157.80, Now #6 Beckman struck the tires early on and we're starting to form a little pattern here. Tasca got the car off the starting line but found traction to be at a premium after half track. He tried to pedal but the Ford was having no part of that trick. Left Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 5.003/183.27, Now #7 Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.287/240.08, Now #3 Worsham looked good for the first half of the track but started spinning the Goodyears after that point. Force pedaled after the hit and the car went a bit sideways on her at about 400ft. She pedaled a second time and when she hit the pedal again it appeared the rods came out the bottom. There was a flash fire and now the Safety Safari begins the clean up at the 660ft mark. Upon further review, while I was watching Force and her fire, it appears Worsham also spilled some 'stuff' in his lane as well. Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.389/224.32, Now #4 Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 6.555/107.10, Now #10 Densham is here this weekend and appears to have some sponsorship from Ascomboro Tequila. I sure hope I spelled that correctly as it was very strange and the name was not on the announcers screen. Densham left pretty well but the car laid down on him pretty hard at the big end. The Safari is out for a quick dust and clean but that might have just a tiny bit of leftovers from the prior pair. Hight shook the tires loose before half track and it simply would not recover for him. Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.116/294.82, Now #3 Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.116/300.86, Now #2 We're down to the final pair of Nitro Funny Cars and of course that would feature the winner and runnerup from Pomona, Capps and Head. 3:01 p.m. and the call goes out to 'Fire the next pair'! Side by side runs here with identical ETs! Capps will take the #2 spot behind Hagan and Head goes to #3 based on their speeds. That closes out the session with seventeen cars taking the green light.
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