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Sat, 8 Nov 2003, 08:31 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, 39th 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: Stephen Neese Runs 7.979/106.11, Now #24; Best prior run: 8.767/99.27, Was #23
Right Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 4.897/292.90, Now #12; Best prior run: 8.802/94.14, Was #24

4:24 PM Final session of Nitro Funnycar comes out from under the bridge left of the tower. We begin with a pair of cars that have had problems all weekend. Bartone's debut in the K&N Filters racers comes down to this final session. Neese pedals twice and has to give it up. Bartone stays stuck in the middle of the lane and he gets in the show at #12. Bartone bumps Bob Gilbertson from the eliminations ladder.

Left Lane: David Benjamin Runs 7.191/117.33, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.018/294.75, Was #21
Right Lane: Jack Wyatt Runs 10.029/84.77, Now #23; Best prior run: 5.385/200.98, Was #23

Benjamin has run a career best ET and speed this weekend but is still far short of making the show. Wyatt has had problems on every pass and is down to his last shot. Benjamin takes a dive towards the centerline and actually appeared to tip the car over on to the headers on the right side of the car. Wyatt struck the tires and fell silent as well. Time to pack the trailer.

Left Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 12.816/85.13, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.971/303.16, Was #18
Right Lane: Keith Jackson Runs 10.919/66.95, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.062/291.01, Was #22

The bump is down to 4.931 and Dean Skuza has the spot. Both of these drivers have been close to that so I's say they have a chance. Not going to happen. Both cars jumped right up on the tire and went into smoke immediately. Lots of sparks out from underneath the Haddock ride. Perhaps clutch?

Left Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 4.919/307.58, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.959/308.43, Was #17
Right Lane: Grant Downing Runs 4.995/305.36, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.017/0.00, Was #20

One gets in and one doesn't. Skuza is bumped by Bob Gilbertson in the Jungle Jim tribute car and Downing just misses. That was career best numbers for Downing for both ET and speed. His first four second run and first over 300 mph.

Left Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 5.100/273.94, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.931/280.37, Was #17
Right Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 5.213/283.31, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.010/303.78, Was #20

Skuza gets his chance to get back into the show in the very next pair after he was bumped. Creasy has had problems and only got down the track once out of his prior three attempts. No help for either driver. Skuza was all over the left lane and spun the tires pretty hard down track. Peanut was in the middle of the lane but hurt it pretty badly before the lights. The had a fire going by the bottles knocked it down fairly quickly. As the car rolled to a stop you could see flames under the car but the Safari was on him quickly to minimize the damage.

Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.929/308.57, Was #16
Right Lane: Bob Bode No Time, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.921/309.84, Was #15

Cruz is on the bubble and Bode is one position above him. They both would like to move away from the bottom part of the field. Cruz and Bode were both running really hard as he got to the finish he veered towards the center stripe and clipped the mph start and finish line markers He was ahead of Bode by a car length so neither run is going to count. To bad as those numbers would have moved both to the top half of the field at #6 and #7.

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.906/311.05, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.912/313.58, Was #13
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.838/310.27, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.879/317.05, Was #11

Capps has to horse the Skoal car back to the middle of the lane after the car started moving around on him. Wilkerson had no wasted motion and made the most of his attempt. That will make him a top half runner at #8.

Left Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 4.896/276.24, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.864/315.42, Was #10
Right Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 4.921/305.15, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.872/314.31, Was #11

Burkart is on a nice pass but the fire went out early as shown by the mph. Cannon slows slightly from his best but remains in the show.

Left Lane: Cory Lee Runs 4.947/250.74, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.864/315.71, Was #9
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 11.043/82.94, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.862/314.02, Was #8

If nothing changes this is a preview of the first round on Sunday. Lee is another early shutoff in the left lane. TJ has problems before half track and calls his run off early.

Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.817/318.62, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.809/321.42, Was #5
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.769/327.27, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.846/328.38, Was #7

Scelzi breaks up the Force racing strangle hold on the top three spots in the show. He moves to #3 and bumps Force to #4. Worsham moves down a spot due to Scelzi's move. Nice side by side pass.

Left Lane: John Force Runs 6.095/151.10, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.771/321.65, Was #4
Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.768/324.90, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.774/322.34, Was #5

Force's car falls silent before half track but Bazemore cruises on to the #3 spot. That Bumps Scelzi down to #4 and John to #5.

Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.761/320.74, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.721/326.79, Was #1
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.793/324.28, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.749/327.43, Was #2

Both of the JFR Mustangs slow from their earlier best efforts. The pair will remain in the top two spots as they were the final pair of the session. We still have several rounds of sportsman classes to run this evening so stay tuned for more results. That's all for Pro qualifying.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink