Fri, 13 Nov 2009, 07:08 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 45th 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: Matt Hagan Runs 4.107/304.94, Now #2; Best prior run: 8.786/75.41, Was #19
Right Lane: Leah Pruett-LeDuc No Time, Now #20; No Prior Run

3:27 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 68 degrees, relative humidity 38 percent, barometer 28.68 inches, adjusted altitude 2,453 feet, track temperature 86 degrees.

Pruett-LeDuc's car spit out the blower belt on the burnout yesterday, so this was her first official pass in Funny Car. Hagan was one of several drivers to experience tire shake and traction problems yesterday.

This time, Pruett-LeDuc's car popped the supercharger at the green, blowing the pressure relief hatch out of the hood, deploying the chutes and shutting off the fuel. She pulled over next to the wall, stopping before the 660-foot timing marker. Meanwhile, hiding behind the smoke from Leah's problems, Hagan streaked down the groove with the second-quickest run so far this weekend.

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.909 sec., 330ft-2.330, 660ft-3.309/262.95 mph.

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Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 6.191/106.59, Now #17; Best prior run: 7.724/82.73, Was #19
Right Lane: Grant Downing Runs 7.049/90.82, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.200/110.37, Was #17

Oh-for-two, both drivers losing traction before the 330-foot marker.

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Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.234/261.47, Now #11; Best prior run: 7.155/97.74, Was #19
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.188/294.63, Now #8; Best prior run: 6.056/130.25, Was #16

Densham's car moved around a lot on the launch, but was the quicker of the two after 330 feet. Bode was quicker early in the run, but the engine started eating parts on the top half of the run and the car nosed over before the finish line. Both were quick enough to get into the field, bumping Tony Pedregon and Bob Tasca III. Now Cruz Pedregon is on the bump spot at 4.266.

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Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 7.400/87.63, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.940/155.92, Was #16
Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 7.760/91.63, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.932/112.79, Was #17

Oh-for-two, both cars losing traction before going 100 feet.

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Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.214/295.79, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.541/194.07, Was #15
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.154/295.08, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.509/195.34, Was #13

This was a nice side-by-side show, but both teams were probably disappointed by the numbers, especially Worsham's since the run put him on the bump spot.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.144/303.98, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.523/195.25, Was #15
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.975/155.81, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.266/286.38, Was #14

The Brothers Pedregon, side-by-each.

Tony made a nice run, moving well up in the field, but Cruz was spinning the tires and moving to the left, out of the groove, so he shut if off before the 660-foot marker. Now Ashley Force Hood is on the bump spot at 4.211.

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Left Lane: Jeff Diehl No Time, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.192/292.20, Was #11
Right Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 4.098/307.58, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.211/290.88, Was #12

The remaining cars are already in the field and Diehl's team elected to skip this run to save the parts for tomorrow and Sunday.

Looks like Ashley's crew has figured out what was wrong with her car because this run was second only to #1-qualifier Robert Hight's run yesterday.

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.060/307.72, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.165/303.91, Was #10
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 8.285/81.91, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.154/294.18, Was #9

Wilkerson launched, started to lose traction, and shut it off. There were no problems on Force's run whatsoever, that's his quickest-ever 1,000-foot run and puts him out in front of the field.

John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.898 sec., 330ft-2.305, 660ft-3.267/265.48 mph.

Remember, Force made a fifth test, so as far as we know, he won't get any points this weekend.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.076/307.65, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.149/302.08, Was #8
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 5.593/123.64, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.145/303.57, Was #7

Nice run by Capps, putting him second, right behind Force. Beckman left hard, with a quicker 60-foot time than Capps, but he lost traction around the 300 foot mark.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.069/310.55, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.093/309.34, Was #3
Right Lane: Mike Neff Runs 9.039/72.83, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.137/300.00, Was #6

Hight made the seventh-fastest run of the 1,000-foot era, moving into second spot. Neff lost traction early in the run. By the way, we were just informed that Neff also made a fifth test and also won't earn any points this weekend.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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