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Sat, 11 Nov 2006, 07:57 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 42nd annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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:

Left Lane: Peter Russo Runs 10.946/84.56, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.035/263.20, Was #22

3:58 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 69 degrees, relative humidity 52 percent, barometer 29.06 inches, adjusted altitude 1,932 feet, track temperature 78 degrees.

Russo is first out to try and crack the field. he's already run his career best on the second run and this time he makes a squirt and clicks it off. Hope to see these folks again soon.

Left Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 9.131/84.24, Now #22; Best prior run: 4.939/285.95, Was #21
Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 4.886/302.69, Now #18; Best prior run: 9.342/92.56, Was #23

Pedregon pedaled two or three times before lifting. Haddock ran hard but falls just short of Cruz Pedregon's 4.860. To make matters worse he has problems getting the car stopped and into the sand he went. He commented that one of the parachute levers bent and when he went after the brakes the bent lever kept the brake handle from functioning correctly. Tough break...

Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.772/317.57, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.888/317.27, Was #20
Right Lane: Grant Downing Runs 11.507/78.51, Now #21; Best prior run: 4.933/305.49, Was #21

Here comes another pair that have had no luck so for this weekend. For Wilkerson some have that's true of his entire season. Wow, where did that come from? Wilkerson gets one right and runs one of the better passes of his career. Downing was off the pedal very early with a very rough running nitro engine. That decision certainly saved some parts. Wilkerson goes in at #9 and bumps C. Pedregon and puts Kalitta on the bump.

Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.888/273.27, Now #19; Best prior run: 4.886/305.98, Was #18
Right Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 4.869/296.57, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.886/293.47, Was #20

Oh, ever so close for both of these guys. Bode has a huge explosion at about 1000 feet and the fire went on for a bit. He was really busy inside the car and the chutes took forever to come out but he still managed to slide the car to a stop. Bode says the only problem was he didn't go quick enough. Bartone was really close but the Dunn camp will be folding their tents early. We're down to clean the lane behind Bode.

Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon No Time, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.860/287.84, Was #17
Right Lane: Scott Kalitta No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.843/319.37, Was #16

4:21 p.m. and were back after a quick cleaning of the left lane. Kalitta is currently on the bump and this one isn't going to help. Kalitta stopped the clocks by mowing down the final two orange blocks on the center. He has a huge hole in the front of the Toyota and his 4.783/284.62, that would have moved him to #13, is DQd. That also means no time in the other lane for Pedregon as well. No real loss as he had problems early in the run and was only going 230 mph at half track. It appeared the belt came off. both runs of course are out.

Left Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 6.961/150.60, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.838/318.54, Was #15
Right Lane: Jim Head Runs 5.645/174.71, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.831/322.34, Was #14

Gilbertson shook and called it off before 60 feet. Head got a bit further but I'm wondering if the track is getting a bit cold.

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.799/322.88, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.805/322.88, Was #13

Densham improves ever so slightly but remains #13. He drifted over towards the wall starting at about 900 feet and barely held it off to finish the run.

Left Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.766/325.92, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.798/328.70, Was #12
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.725/327.35, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.774/325.14, Was #11

Johnson puts a good looking run together and moves well into the top half of the show. Scelzi improves but can't quite crack the top half. Right now Tony Pedregon is #8 with a 4.747.

Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.753/317.57, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.745/323.35, Was #8
Right Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 9.336/91.84, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.774/325.30, Was #12

Pedregon fires a pretty good shot but still can't better his earlier ET. Burkart was coasting early and the windows are so dark that it's really hard to see what happened.

Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.677/328.22, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.731/323.74, Was #7
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.671/333.66, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.755/326.32, Was #9

Beckman was #1 for awhile earlier but as it turned out there was a problem with his fuel and the run was DQd. Ok...LOOK AT THE NUMBERS!!!! Beckman runs one of the quickest and fastest runs in Funny Car history and when he looked over, there was Force, right next to him and looking back. John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.891 sec., 330ft-2.257, 660ft-3.210/265.90mph, 1,000ft-4.000
Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.904 sec., 330ft-2.287, 660ft-3.224/271.73mph, 1,000ft-4.002

Now what was that fuel problem about? Whit Bazemore was in the press room watching that run. I wonder what went through his mind watching Beckman.

Left Lane: Mike Ashley Runs 4.731/330.07, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.730/331.85, Was #8
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.759/326.63, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.725/328.86, Was #6

Ashley and Capps put two good runs together but they are kind of lost in the hoopla surrounding the prior pair.

Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.672/328.94, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.724/328.54, Was #5
Right Lane: Eric Medlen Runs 9.355/80.75, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.723/323.58, Was #4

Now here's another pair that could rotate the earth! Hight JUST misses! he winds up just .001 behind Beckman for the top spot. Medlen was off the power early and that was all for his qualifying efforts.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink