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Sun, 26 Jun 2011, 12:04 PM

Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations
By Dave Rowe





NORWALK, Ohio - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Fifth annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  116 Paul Lee                              348 Daniel Wilkerson             
E1                   0.124  4.345 290.01     ****WINNER****  0.132  4.209 270.27
 Qualified:            #11  4.184 306.26                        #6  4.137 295.08
11:37 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 52 percent, barometer 29.06 inches, adjusted altitude 2,893 feet, track temperature 98 degrees.

This is the first time Lee and Wilkerson have faced each other in eliminations.

Lee gets a small advantage off the line but has a cylinder out early. Wilkerson is on a pretty good run, then puts out a cylinder or two late in the run but hangs on to take the win.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 Tony Pedregon                        7701 Mike Neff                    
E1                   0.089  4.538 242.45     ****WINNER****  0.092  4.170 305.98
 Qualified:            #12  4.194 280.25                        #5  4.110 309.06
Pedregon and Neff have each won 7 times against the other in prior events.

Pedregon won this race in 2008. This is the 26th time he has started from the 12th spot and has a 10-16 record when starting from there.

Pedregon gets out of the gate first and starts to pull away. He gets about 300 feet out, strikes the tires and Neff drives around him for the win.

Mike Neff's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.011), 330 ft(0.002), 660ft(0.213). MOV: 0.3656 seconds (more than 100 feet).


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  340 Bob Bode                             2814 Matt Hagan                   
E1                   0.089  8.221 100.26     ****WINNER****  0.074  4.170 300.66
 Qualified:            #13  4.197 298.21                        #4  4.106 304.32
Hagan is 2 - 0 against Bode in prior events.

Bode hits the throttle, moves about 60 feet and goes up in smoke. Hagan goes right down the groove with a nice run for the conditions to take the win.

Hagan runs the exact same ET as Neff, his second round opponent, and Neff will have lane choice by virtue of his faster speed.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  388 Jim Head                                1 John Force                   
E1                   0.100  5.685 117.93     ****WINNER****  0.097  4.130 298.21
 Qualified:            #14  4.199 295.53                        #3  4.097 307.51
Force is 14 - 7 against Head in prior events, 9-6 in first round match-ups.

They come off the line together and Head starts to pull away. he gets about 300 feet out, strikes the tires and has to back off the throttle. Force drives around him quickly and pulls away with the quickest run of the round so far for the win.

John Force's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.006), 330 ft(0.043), 660ft(0.535). MOV: 1.5580 seconds (more than 100 feet).

Force will have lane choice over Wilkerson in round two.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  170 Jeff Arend                              8 Robert Hight                 
E1                   0.087  4.935 160.35     ****WINNER****  0.102  4.111 303.91
 Qualified:            #16  4.231 281.30                        #1  4.065 306.53
Hight is 10 - 1 against Arend in prior events.

This is Hight's 39th start from the top spot and he has five wins when starting number one.

Arend gets off the line first, stays out in front for about 300 feet, then strikes the tires and has to give up on the run. Hight goes right down the groove with the quickest pass of the round so far to take the win.

Robert Hight's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.015), 330 ft(0.009), 660ft(0.249). MOV: 0.8093 seconds (more than 100 feet).


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  507 Melanie Troxel                         28 Ron Capps                    
E1                   0.098  4.188 284.99     ****WINNER****  0.065  4.118 299.26
 Qualified:            #15  4.210 284.33                        #2  4.095 299.26
Capps is 3 - 2 against Troxel in prior events.

Capps gets out of the gate first and starts to pull away. Troxel is able to solve the traction problems in the left lane but falls behind at every marker. Capps stays right in the groove and runs the second quickest of the round so far and takes the win.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Jack Beckman                            5 Bob Tasca III                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.063  4.177 287.60                     0.063  7.354 104.42
 Qualified:            #10  4.167 286.74                        #7  4.143 304.05
Beckman is 8 - 2 against Tasca III in prior events. This is a re-match of the final here in 2009 where Beckman took the win.

They leave the line together but Tasca boils the hides almost as soon as he hit the throttle and had to give up on the run. Beckman went right down the groove for the win.

Capps will have lane choice over Beckman in the next round.


 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   10 Tim Wilkerson                          71 Cruz Pedregon                
E1                   0.088  4.138 303.57     ****WINNER****  0.067  4.141 303.03
 Qualified:             #9  4.164 294.75                        #8  4.153 287.41
Pedregon is 11 - 10 against Wilkerson in prior events. Wilkerson won this race last year.

This was a good side -by-side. Pedregon gets out of the gate first but Wilkerson makes up the difference before they reach the sixty foot mark. Pedregon goes back around before they reach the 330 foot mark, inches ahead and takes the holeshot victory.

Cruz Pedregon's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.004), 330 ft(0.011), 660ft(0.014). MOV: 0.0184 seconds (approximately 8 feet).

Pedregon will give up lane choice to Hight in round two.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink




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