Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 16th
annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals:
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
28 Ron Capps 9 Dean Skuza
E1 0.053 5.044 290.01 ****WINNER**** 0.092 4.967 301.40
Qualified: #10 4.937 302.08 #7 4.932 311.27
12:27 PM As strange as it sounds, this is a tie breaker between this pair. The Skuza/Capps
match up has happened fourteen times before and the record stands at 7-7. Meatloaf is out on the
starting line to watch Skuza's Camaro carry his name down track. Mr. Loaf will get to come back
and watch again in the second round. Capps made a real hard move towards the centerline about
1000 feet and when he horsed the car back his racer went up in smoke. Big win for Skuza and
Dad.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
71 Cruz Pedregon 10 Johnny Gray
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.071 5.016 298.34 0.018 13.859 78.97
Qualified: #11 4.940 304.74 #6 4.883 312.71
This is Johnny Gray's 91st round appearance in Fuel Funny Car competition. He blows the
tires off at the hit and can only watch Cruz disappear down track. Pedregon has really piled up
the round wins in the Western swing.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
302 Dale Creasy Jr. 1 John Force
E1 0.082 5.043 300.86 ****WINNER**** 0.092 4.956 298.07
Qualified: #16 5.052 300.33 #1 4.814 316.90
John Force has faced Creasy nine times and has yet to come away a loser. Peanut is looking
to change that stat to 9-1. This is the 115th time Force has qualified #1 and he's pocketed
$454,000 in Budweiser qualifying bonuses over the course of his long career. 52 of John's 108
wins have come when he qualified #1. Force has no in between here at Infineon. He wins the event
or goes out in the first round. Force goes to 10-0 against Creasy and if history repeats John
will win the event. Others will have something to say about that, I'm certain.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
73 Frank Pedregon 3 Del Worsham
E1 0.088 6.302 127.15 ****WINNER**** 0.040 5.326 277.37
Qualified: #15 5.048 295.85 #2 4.827 316.75
Frank Pedregon faces Del Worsham here in the first round for the 16th time. Del is 10-5 in
the previous meetings. Oh ouch! Frank is side by side with DEl to half track when he struck the
tires. He tried to pedal but on the second stab of the throttle the engine went bang so hard
that it blew the body apart. No off but apart. Pieces went everywhere and there was a huge ball
of fire. Frank kept the car straight but just tapped the wall with a rear tire as he came to a
stop. Pedregon appears to be ok but he goes over to take a seat on the wall for a few minutes.
That was a bad one and certain to make all the replays. While all of this was going on in the
left lane Worsham completed his run and took the win. Del gives up lane choice to Skuza in round
two.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
589 Keith Jackson 2 Tony Pedregon
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.137 5.017 275.90 0.066 5.433 227.15
Qualified: #14 4.982 290.01 #3 4.837 309.70
Tony was in the car right behind Frank and got to watch the entire incident. I know he was
relived to find out that Frank was entirely ok and making jokes on tv. Back to work for
everyone. The last time Jackson qualified for an NHRA national event was 1998 in Denver. He was
0-14 in qualifying since then. Ok. Here's the stunner. Keith Jackson has won his first ever
NHRA national event round. For the third race in a row the POWERade points leader is out in the
first round. Tony was catching Jackson but the engine went flat and he smoked the tires. By .005
Cruz has lane choice over Jackson in round two.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
1149 Arnie Karp 5 Whit Bazemore
E1 -0.377 4.693 235.72 ****WINNER**** 0.095 4.924 311.77
Qualified: #13 4.967 300.06 #4 4.845 290.07
Throw out Karp's numbers are bogus. Karp just barely left after the tree was activated and
his race was over. Bazemore had the presence of mind to wait and caught a pretty good light. He
then proceeds to run low et of the round to this point. Whit also picks up 20 points on Tony in
the points race.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
21 Scotty Cannon 20 Gary Scelzi
E1 0.080 7.041 119.08 ****WINNER**** 0.095 4.899 316.97
Qualified: #12 4.941 296.05 #5 4.849 318.92
Scotty is up in smoke and it's Scelzi going to the next round. Scelzi will have lane choice
over Bazemore in the next round as he resets the round low et mark.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
347 Tim Wilkerson 503 Tommy Johnson Jr.
E1 0.087 25.309 50.36 ****WINNER**** 0.063 5.038 286.44
Qualified: #9 4.935 287.72 #8 4.933 306.05
Wilkerson has something go wrong right at the hit and the engine was silent before 60 feet.
Johnson made a full pass but will lose lane choice to John Force in round two.
Timing data courtesy of
CompuLink
