Sun, 15 Oct 2006, 05:11 PM Funny Car Final, Round 4 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

DINWIDDIE, Va. - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Inaugural Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Eric Medlen                            10 Cruz Pedregon
E4   ****WINNER****  0.086  4.814 301.00                     0.069  4.873 297.02
 Prior rounds:
E3    (S Kalitta   ) 0.095  4.796 303.09      (J Force     ) 0.077  4.870 304.39
E2    (J Beckman   ) 0.093  4.795 301.13      (R Hight     ) 0.103  5.016 278.58
E1    (T Wilkerson ) 0.042  4.831 286.68      (T Johnson Jr) 0.080  4.841 301.67
 Qualified:             #1  4.728 311.49                       #10  4.833 307.16

5:02 p.m. Medlen came in with a 4-3 record against Pedregon, but this was the first time they have squared off in a final round. Pedregon has taken out two of the three Force team cars today, would like to join brother Tony as the only drivers to take out all three Force team cars single-handedly.

It was a good drag race, but Medlen had the better race car and ran him down before the 330-foot marker. Pedregon's car puffed the tires during the runs and he drove through it, but Medlen's car never faltered. Eric Medlen's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.020), 330 ft(0.005), 660ft(0.016), 1,000ft(0.031). MOV: 0.0425 seconds (approximately 19 feet). That puts Medlen fourth in the points, 22 points ahead of Tony Pedregon.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink