Thu, 10 Nov 2011, 16:42 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 47th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Cory Lee Runs 5.661/126.28, Now #1
Right Lane: Peter Russo Runs 8.632/76.80, Now #2

Weather conditions: air temperature 73 degrees, relative humidity 22 percent, barometer 28.99 inches, adjusted altitude 2,327 feet, track temperature 84 degrees.

12:55 p.m. We open with a couple of fresh faces - Russo making the trek from Australia and Lee coming out of hiding for his first NHRA appearance of the year.

Russo launched, spun the tires and lifted. Lee used up a lot of lane and the header flames were very orange before he shut it off around half track.

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Right Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 8.264/77.45, Now #2

Todd Lesenko was schedule to run beside DeJoria but chose to skip this round.DeJoris rattled the tires immediately and shut off by the 330-foot marker.

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Left Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 8.886/85.81, Now #5
Right Lane: Jeff Diehl Runs 7.547/95.52, Now #2

In almost-perfect synchronization, they launched, smoked the tires and shut off.

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Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.993/164.81, Now #2
Right Lane: Jon Capps Runs 4.165/298.01, Now #1

Capps went to the top of the list with the first full pass of the session, running his best speed of the season. Densham made a good launch and was beside Capps to about 300 feet, then started smoking the tires.

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Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.257/295.79, Now #2
Right Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 5.488/222.73, Now #4

Troxel lost traction early in the run, backpedaled and got it hooked back up enough to improve her position on the list for round 2. Bode also had to get through some tire shake, but only lost about a tenth of a second doing so, his car making a big move toward the wall when he did so.

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Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 6.701/102.77, Now #7
Right Lane: Paul Lee Runs 4.254/300.20, Now #2

Head lost traction about 300 feet out. Lee's car was moving around a lot and was very close to the wall on the top end, but he finished the run under power.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.471/270.81, Now #4
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 8.957/75.35, Now #13

Gray smoked the tires early in the run, shut it off. Pedregon started to haze the tires, did a quick pedal job and finished the run. It wasn't pretty, but may keep him in the provisional field until tomorrow.

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.125/301.87, Now #1
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.585/260.06, Now #6

Finally more-or-less complete runs in both lanes. Wilkerson made a clean run to take over the top spot. Force's run was not "clean," with early tire shake and apparent engine damage on the top end. But it looks like the containment devices did their job because the track is clean and dry.

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Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.261/241.71, Now #6
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.138/306.33, Now #2

These two were side-by-side until Arend's car made a huge move toward the centerline and he had to shut it off. Nice pass by Tasca, with our best speed so far.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.124/301.94, Now #2
Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.084/312.13, Now #1

Side-by-side nice runs to rest the top two spots and Ron outqualifies his brother. Hight runs low ET and top speed so far - but "we ain't done yet."

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Left Lane: Mike Neff Runs 4.087/313.44, Now #2
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 9.157/73.41, Now #21

Capps, Hight, these two, Mike Neff and Matt Hagan are all in the running for the 2011 championship. Whatever your opinion of the Countdown, it made for an interesting final race this year.

Neff joined his teammate at the top of the list, not quite as quick, but faster. Pedregon ran out of traction past he 330-foot marker after a strong launch - he was just 0.004 seconds back at that point, then went up in smoke.

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Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 6.613/96.95, Now #16
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.137/304.32, Now #5

Beckman's car lost traction about 100 feet out. He pedaled, lost traction again, and shut it off. Hagan's car was moving around a lot on this run and that cost him some times. John Force is on the provisional bump spot at 4.585 after one round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink



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