Sun, 10 Feb 2008, 05:20 PM Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 48th annual CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  782 Gary Densham                            2 Robert Hight                 
E2                   0.099  9.088  97.12     ****WINNER****  0.113  5.291 295.46
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Wilkerson ) 0.097  4.862 312.86      (R Capps     ) 0.092  5.521 280.37
 Qualified:            #16  4.866 315.93                        #9  4.837 319.14

1:55 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 16 percent, barometer 28.93 inches, adjusted altitude 2,651 feet, track temperature 104 degrees.

Hight and Densham meet to see who gets the spot in the semis. Both cars strike the tires early in the run but Hight gathers the car up and hooks it quicker than Densham. The bad news for Hight and team is that Hight stopped his car on the track and bailed out pretty quickly. He went to the left side of the car and tried to stomp out the flames. By the time the Safari got there he was pointing to where to spry the fire retardent under the body. We're down for a few to do a little cleaning on the shutdown area.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 1777 Bob Tasca III                          10 Ashley Force                 
E2                   0.129  4.955 310.63     ****WINNER****  0.119  4.873 318.62
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M Troxel    ) 0.090  5.235 225.97      (B Bode      ) 0.112  5.959 300.00
 Qualified:            #14  4.845 321.42                        #6  4.828 309.77

Ford vs Ford and non-winner vs non-winner. Another pair of sterling lights but it's A. Force that lights the light at the finish. Both runs looked really good from the tower. They just need to tune the driver a little.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Gary Scelzi                             7 John Force                   
E2                   0.060 No Time           ****WINNER****  0.109  4.871 312.42
 Prior rounds:
E1    (S Kalitta   ) 0.085  4.911 317.94      (T Pedregon  ) 0.101  4.805 327.66
 Qualified:            #13  4.845 322.27                        #5  4.823 321.58

Scelzi left on Force but stopped so quickly it appeared the linkage must have fallen off! Force took the lead and Scelzi coasted to a stop at the 330ft marker. BTW, J. Force says A. Force drives like him but looks like her mom. Thank heavens! J. Force has lane choice over Hight in the semi-final.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   71 Cruz Pedregon                           5 Jack Beckman                 
E2   ****WINNER****  0.048  5.010 303.84                     0.014  5.122 295.21
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M Neff      ) 0.045  4.927 311.85      (J Toliver   ) 0.066  4.959 309.63
 Qualified:             #7  4.830 321.27                       #15  4.864 295.72

Beckman has a psychic light but the car lets him down. C. Pedregon drove around him and takes the stripe with a less than great 5.010. Cruz said that they blew it up again but they are working on the fuel system. A. Force has lane choice over Cruz in the other semi.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink