Fri, 11 Oct 2002, 09:05 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec 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:

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Left Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 4.891/312.50, Now #1; Best prior run: 10.054/77.92, Was #14

7:30 PM The temperature is 64 degrees, the humidity is 75 percent, the barometer is at 30.05 and the track temp is 84 degrees.

Gilbertson makes a good run, right down the groove and jumps into the top spot.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 5.823/161.26, Now #7; Best prior run: 9.116/82.22, Was #14
Right Lane: Todd Paton Runs 5.180/282.92, Now #6; No Prior Run

Capps had a pretty good run going until just past half-track. Then the headers flames started going away and finally went out just before he crossed the finish-line. This is Paton's first pass, he elected not to make a run in the first session. He made a decent run, just starting to mix up the cylinders as he neared the finish-line.

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Left Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 4.997/287.08, Now #6; Best prior run: 7.814/107.55, Was #14
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.957/264.70, Now #4; Best prior run: 10.546/93.35, Was #17

Johnson was on a great pass, 252 MPH at half-track, then the flames went out just as he passed the 1000 foot mark and the car nosed over.

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Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 8.730/98.68, Now #16; Best prior run: 7.527/110.83, Was #15
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.823/319.82, Now #1; Best prior run: 10.088/77.19, Was #17

Bode gets about 300 feet out, strikes the tires and pedals, then goes back up in smoke. Worsham made a flawless pass, right down the groove, and takes over the top spot.

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Left Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 10.234/84.69, Now #15; Best prior run: 7.215/117.69, Was #14
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 5.326/198.54, Now #10; Best prior run: 8.761/92.17, Was #17

Skuza gets about 300 feet out, strikes the tires and aborts the run. Pedregon had the quickest sixty-foot time of the round so far, .897, but the car noses over at the 1000-foot mark, not sure what happened.

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Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.817/322.92, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.250/144.43, Was #13
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 4.910/312.06, Now #4; Best prior run: 7.430/118.31, Was #16

A couple of good passes, Bazemore right down the groove and Gray having to work a little to keep it straight. They get deep in the field, Bazemore on the pole and Gray not far behind in the fourth spot.

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Left Lane: Bruce Sarver Runs 4.798/320.39, Now #1; Best prior run: 6.088/152.05, Was #14
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 4.853/309.70, Now #4; Best prior run: 6.549/133.29, Was #15

The times are really picking up now. Good runs for both drivers, Sarver runs a career best speed and takes the top spot for now.

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.957/299.80, Now #10; Best prior run: 5.102/283.46, Was #12
Right Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 4.872/315.01, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.996/308.64, Was #10

Force's sixty-foot time was equal to that of Sarver's last run. His incremental times started to fall back after that and the engine started eating itself up just before he got to the 1000-foot mark.

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Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.903/317.12, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.930/317.57, Was #8
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.789/323.50, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.945/287.26, Was #9

A couple of good runs here. Pedregon went right down the groove, header flames high and equal all the way through the run, and he takes the pole for the second round of qualifying. Densham made a little improvement over his earlier run but did not move up in the order.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink

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