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SONOMA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 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 this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run: Left Lane: Brian Thiel Runs 4.442/276.92, Now #14; No Prior Run Right Lane: Grant Downing Runs 8.107/79.69, Now #17; No Prior Run 8:56 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 63 degrees, relative humidity 67 percent, barometer 29.92 inches, adjusted altitude 844 feet, track temperature 83 degrees. After Seattle,
Downing was out of parts and not expected to make this race. Paul Lee is on the bump spot at
4.274. Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.104/307.30, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.753/178.59, Was #16 Right Lane: Jeff Diehl Runs 8.068/82.34, Now #17; No Prior Run This is not the normal time in qualifying that we expect to see John Force. Paul Lee is on the bump spot at 4.274. Looks like Zippy found the handle on the tune up and the Mustang just thunders down the track with flames high above the roof and he nails the new #one spot. Diehl fires and falls back with tire smoke. Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 11.022/67.38, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.496/262.79, Was #14 Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 6.438/103.12, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.415/257.09, Was #13 Troxel's car is lazy off the line and then makes a move towards the wall. She has to click it. Pedregon gets a little further out and smokes the times. Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 7.434/89.27, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.274/284.15, Was #13 Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.063/311.56, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.238/289.57, Was #11 BANG! Beckman not only takes over the top spot with a picture perfect pass, but takes both ends of the track record to boot. Makes you want more! Lee's car is done before the 330 lights, as the tires are up in smoke. Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.890 sec., 330ft-2.303, 660ft-3.277/264.29 mph. Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 5.754/113.39, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.253/286.13, Was #12 Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.103/300.26, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.227/292.52, Was #11 Jeff Arend is on the bump spot at 4.253. Densham wins the battle and loses the war. He runs his first 300 plus pass and moves all the way up to the new #2 position. After a strong 0.889 sixty foot time, his funny car marches towards the finish line, straight and true. Right in the lights, the engine goes bang and the body just disappears into a huge cloud of carbon fiber chunks. He keeps control and quickly brings what is left of the car to a safe stop and is he is OK. The car is not! Arend had his hands full earlier in his pass, as the tires start to smoke near the three thirty lights and has to work to settle the Solara, as the tail starts to wag big time. Right after that, he has to start evasive maneuvers to dodge the rain of body parts from Densham's car. I couldn't tell if he was entirely successful, but he gets the car stopped safely too. Jeff Arend's incremental times: 60ft-0.891 sec., 330ft-2.377, 660ft-3.903/139.59 mph. Gary Densham's incremental times: 60ft-0.889 sec., 330ft-2.308, 660ft-3.293/260.01 mph. Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 7.738/81.26, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.223/284.51, Was #11 Right Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 6.812/89.19, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.187/292.77, Was #7 9:25 p.m. Lots of dusting and cleaning on the top end to pick up all of tiny carbon fiber shards. Jeff Arend is on the bump spot at 4.253. Zero for two with this pair. Both cars leave with header flames high. Force Hood gets a 0.04 advantage at the green and has better incrementals until just before the 330 lights, where the tires start to spin. Capps was done just before that, when his Charger's tire are smoking first. They stay #7 and #11. Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 8.074/81.14, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.213/282.13, Was #10 Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.112/304.19, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.184/292.39, Was #6 Pedregon makes a straight and true pass right down the middle of the lane, with all of the pipes spitting fire. That's worth two spots on the tough ladder. Worsham was off the line well ahead of Pedregon and almost match his incrementals to near the 330 lights, where the slicks begin to spin. Del Worsham's incremental times: 60ft-0.904 sec., 330ft-2.738, 660ft-5.225/084.22 mph. Cruz Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.320, 660ft-3.307/260.06 mph. Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.508/188.12, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.202/284.93, Was #9 Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.684/172.19, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.172/301.87, Was #6 9:39 p.m. The Asphalt Zamboni makes a few passes to ensure that the next pair gets a fair chance at qualifying. Two good leaves with great incrementals until just before the 660 lights where both cars spin the tire on the now cold track. Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.884 sec., 330ft-2.296, 660ft-3.347/218.16 mph. Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.893 sec., 330ft-2.306, 660ft-3.411/197.02 mph. Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 5.515/126.44, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.188/293.09, Was #8 Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.130/304.39, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.152/300.73, Was #5 Two Fords come to the line to wrap up tonight's qualifying. The track temperature is all the way down to 74 degrees now. Tasca shows that his earlier pass was no fluke, as he takes his Quick Lane Mustang right down Broadway on a great pass to end the day. He picks up a little ET and almost four MPH and stays #5. Wilkerson was right with him until near the 660 light and then has the tires go up in smoke. Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.358, 660ft-3.795/147.50 mph. Bob Tasca III's incremental times: 60ft-0.900 sec., 330ft-2.338, 660ft-3.327/260.61 mph. 9:44 p.m. Jack Beckman is number one at 4.063 and Jeff Arend is on the bump spot at 4.253.
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