Fri, 4 Jun 2010, 11:48 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

JOLIET, Ill. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 13th annual United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by Miller Welders listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Jack Wyatt Runs 8.439/81.93, Now #2
Right Lane: Daniel Wilkerson Runs 4.564/203.89, Now #1

9:59 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 71 percent, barometer 29.01 inches, adjusted altitude 3,277 feet.

This is the first NHRA outing for these two this season - Wyatt from Iowa and Wilkerson from Illinois. It's also our first whiff of nitro today since the Top Alcohol Dragster session was postponed until after the Professional session.

Wyatt rattled the tires and headed for the wall, then clicked it off. Wilkerson ran okay to 660 feet, then slowed - perhaps a planned short shakedown pass.

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Left Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. No Time, Now #4
Right Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.938/248.48, Now #2

The clutch must have locked up on Wyatt's car, it took a long time to get his car off the top end so these two could fire their engines.

Both shook, both headed for the centerline, then they pedaled in almost perfect synchronization. Bode got it back to the groove, but Creasy's car kicked the rear end out and crossed the centerline, taking out the 330-foot marker.

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Left Lane: Jeff Diehl Runs 4.711/253.23, Now #2
Right Lane: Paul Lee Runs 5.428/136.65, Now #4

Both cars were dancing around. Lee pedaled once, then shut off. Diehl pedaled once, then continued.

Then came the call, "Stuff on the race track." Looks like they are working in both lanes in the shutdown area.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 8.114/90.21, Now #6
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.681/244.47, Now #2

10:23 p.m. Back to racing...that's always more fun than watching the Safety Safari do their cleanup thing.

Both cars shook. Pedregon pedaled and shut off. Arend pedaled and finished the run, but he hurt it, with a flash of flame as he crossed the stripe. The flash went away almost immediately and he almost made it off the track without assistance.

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Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 5.803/150.66, Now #7
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.813/172.87, Now #4

So far, almost every driver has had to pedal quickly after leaving the starting line and the times have been unspectacular.

Same thing here, but both kept pedaling, the header flames up and down several times in both lanes. Worsham pedaled at least six times, wilkerson maybe only five.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.774/254.90, Now #5
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.552/194.94, Now #1

So far, it's been "track 10, drivers 0."

Tasca solved the problem, getting through the short zone without pedaling, but his header flames went out well before the stripe. Pedregon did one of the better jobs of pedaling early in the run and had all eight lit as he crossed the stripe.

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Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.142/304.53, Now #1
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.151/297.29, Now #2

That was pretty, the Team Schumacher cars putting on a nice side-by-side show with team leader Don Schumacher carefully straddling the centerline to watch them run.

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.355, 660ft-3.341/260.46 mph.
Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.895 sec., 330ft-2.336, 660ft-3.333/256.45 mph.

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Left Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 5.932/119.27, Now #13
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.456/294.37, Now #3

Both cars rattled the tires early in the run. Force Hood shut it off, ending up outside the provisional field. Meanwhile, Capps did a nice job of pedaling to save the run, posting the third-best time of the event, right behind his teammates.

Del Worsham is on the bump spot at 5.803.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.067/313.15, Now #1
Right Lane: John Force Runs 5.182/151.68, Now #12

Last pair. Force joined the pedaling crowd, finally clicking it off, but Hight just crushed the rest of the field with a picture-perfect run, right down the groove with all eight candles tall and steady all the way. Force squeaked into the provisional field on the bump spot.

Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.894 sec., 330ft-2.311, 660ft-3.284/265.01 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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