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SONOMA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run: Right Lane: Brian Thiel Runs 4.507/267.91, Now #1 5:20 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 79 degrees, relative humidity 46 percent, barometer 29.88 inches, adjusted altitude 2,002 feet. The cool air is starting to come to the
track, so we should have a great session. Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.227/292.52, Now #1 Right Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.496/262.79, Now #2 Densham has been down this track many times and joins the tour again, two weeks in a row. Troxel is back in "In & Out" country and looking to make a statement. Identical RTs and then the Teacher's Pet starts to pull steadily ahead to make a great pass into the top spot for now. Troxel's Charger looked to be losing cylinders on the top end, but still is number two out of three, so far. Gary Densham's incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.373, 660ft-3.393/250.92 mph. Melanie Troxel's incremental times: 60ft-0.945 sec., 330ft-2.466, 660ft-3.574/227.46 mph. Right Lane: Paul Lee Runs 4.274/284.15, Now #2 Lee will make a single this session. The Canidae makes a good leave and runs well for a while before putting out a cylinder down track. Some smoke out of the pipes after the 1000 foot lights, but its good enough for the current #2 spot. Paul Lee's incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.379, 660ft-3.418/245.27 mph. Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.184/292.39, Now #1 Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.253/286.13, Now #3 Toyota Solara's a pair to the line. Pedregon goes to the top of the ladder for now with a engine flash right before the finish line. No major clean up though. Nice clean pass for Arend into the current #3 spot without any obvious issues. Cruz Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.892 sec., 330ft-2.323, 660ft-3.348/249.12 mph. Jeff Arend's incremental times: 60ft-0.905 sec., 330ft-2.370, 660ft-3.406/247.11 mph. Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.415/257.09, Now #6 Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.213/282.13, Now #2 Pedregon is running Hertoz colors this weekend and gets a small advantage off the line. He runs to just after the 660 lights and starts to drop cylinders and has a lot of orange flame from the headers. Worsham gets further down track before losing any cylinder and its good enough to capture the new #2 position. Tony Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.947 sec., 330ft-2.452, 660ft-3.515/239.27 mph. Del Worsham's incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.352, 660ft-3.368/251.25 mph. Left Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.152/300.73, Now #1 Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.223/284.51, Now #4 Great side by side passes, with Tasca getting all of it, with both ET and MPH. Our first 300MPH of the weekend too. Capps has a better 60 foot time, but can't quite match the Ford's tuneup. He have to settle for #4 for now. Bob Tasca III's incremental times: 60ft-0.902 sec., 330ft-2.338, 660ft-3.339/256.99 mph. Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.899 sec., 330ft-2.346, 660ft-3.371/247.70 mph. Left Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 4.187/292.77, Now #3 Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.188/293.09, Now #4 Wilkerson has been dominant the last few weeks in eliminations and Force Hood has been at or near the top of the points all year. Terrific looking passes for both cars. Almost identical RT's and they are only 0.002 apart at the 660 lights. They stay welded together through the lights and finish up within 0.001 of each other. Nice! Ashley Force Hood's incremental times: 60ft-0.895 sec., 330ft-2.347, 660ft-3.358/253.95 mph. Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.910 sec., 330ft-2.357, 660ft-3.360/254.81 mph. Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.238/289.57, Now #9 Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.202/284.93, Now #5 Brian Thiel is on the bump spot at 4.507. Two more DSR Chargers are next. The pack is bunched up near the top of the ladder and although Beckman is just a couple of hundreds slower than Hagan, it places him in the bottom hal of today's field in the number one spot. Hagan has representative incrementals on the low end, but slows a little on the top. Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.906 sec., 330ft-2.360, 660ft-3.392/246.17 mph. Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.889 sec., 330ft-2.327, 660ft-3.354/245.67 mph. Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.172/301.87, Now #2 Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.753/178.59, Now #16 Tony Pedregon is on the bump spot at 4.415. Team JFR this time. Force's Mustang gets away first and then starts to drop cylinders after the 300 lights and slows. Hight matches Force's 0.900 sixty foot time to the thousandths and begins to pull steadily ahead, until Force's Castrol car falters. The AAA Mustang thunders on down the track to set Top Speed, but Hight will have to settle for the final #2 spot. Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.900 sec., 330ft-2.350, 660ft-3.361/256.06 mph. John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.900 sec., 330ft-2.361, 660ft-3.528/200.26 mph. 5:59 p.m. Bob Tasca III is number one with a strong 4.152 and Paul Lee is on the bump spot at 4.274.
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