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Fri, 21 Aug 2009, 07:40 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 25th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

Right Lane: Justin Schriefer Runs 6.611/154.32, Now #1

7:10 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 76 degrees, relative humidity 79 percent, barometer 29.29 inches, adjusted altitude 2,830 feet, track temperature 87 degrees.

Schriefer launched and got to about 60 feet when he smoked the tires and backed off the throttle. He pedaled it a couple of times as he made his way down the quarter mile.

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 6.506/132.82, Now #2
Right Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.220/273.66, Now #1

Densham got to 330 feet when he spun the rear tires. He pedaled it to try to get down the track. Head was running strong to about 1,000 feet when his car started trailing smoke.

Left Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 4.289/276.52, Now #2
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 12.034/79.66, Now #5

Arend launched and went nowhere while the car just spun the rear tires. Toliver had a nice run but started trailing a lot of smoke as he crossed the finish line.

Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.137/293.66, Now #1
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.167/292.14, Now #2

Hight is driving John Force's car this weekend and has Force's crew with him, including Austin Coil. The car still carries Hight's AAA of Southern California body. The move paid off as of now as Hight took the car straight down the groove to move to the top of the order for now. Hagan had an equally nice run and ran just a eyeblink behind Hight as they traveled down the track.

Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.146/295.21, Now #2
Right Lane: Mike Neff Runs 4.178/295.92, Now #4

Another pair of strong runs, with Pedregon being just a bit better to move into the number two spot for now. His car let out a lot of smoke as he crossed the finish line.

Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.159/299.00, Now #3
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.174/299.26, Now #5

Because of the switch with Hight, this was the first time John Force was staged by someone other than Austin Coil since the 1984 World Finals. It looks like a lot of teams have this track figured out. We've had a lot of nice runs in this round and right now, the top four cars are separated by just three hundredths of a second.

Left Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.138/299.26, Now #2
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 6.886/93.96, Now #12

Wilkerson shook the rear tires and clicked it off. Tasca had a nice run and moved into the number two spot in the order.

Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.180/296.83, Now #9
Right Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 4.114/301.47, Now #1

Force Hood took over the top spot with a good trip down the quarter mile, dropping Hight into the second spot. Beckman also had a nice-looking run but was only quick enough to go into the top spot in the order. The Force team has four cars in the top eight qualifiers as of now.

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 15.744/33.64, Now #17
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.177/297.61, Now #8

Capps launched and shook the rear tires right away, so he just coasted the rest of the way. Pedregon had a clean run to move into the number eight spot in the order. At the end of the first round, Force Hood is in the top spot and Jerry Toliver is in the number 12 spot.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink