Sun, 26 Oct 2003, 06:55 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Third annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   20 Gary Scelzi                             2 Tony Pedregon
E3                   0.059  5.976 216.97     ****WINNER****  0.041  4.881 310.13
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Wilkerson ) 0.028  4.909 320.58      (D Worsham   ) 0.058  4.913 305.42
E1    (J Force     ) 0.026  4.879 321.88      (T Haddock   ) 0.088  4.886 313.37
 Qualified:            #13  4.916 313.51                        #1  4.753 322.88

3:39 PM Pedregon gets the jump off the line and starts pulling away. Scelzi gets about 300 feet out, loses traction, pedals once, then gives up on the run. The pressure is now on Bazemore, he has to win this round to stay in the points chase. Pedregon only needs to go one round further than Bazemore to clinch the championship.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Whit Bazemore                          73 Frank Pedregon
E3   ****WINNER****  0.054  4.860 317.27                     0.057  4.934 304.94
 Prior rounds:
E2    (P Burkart Jr) 0.068  4.869 312.57      (K Jackson   ) 0.068  4.969 293.35
E1    (T Johnson Jr) 0.062  4.904 307.79      (R Capps     ) 0.063  4.929 307.16
 Qualified:             #6  4.825 309.98                        #7  4.836 303.37

Bazemore does what he needs to do, gets by Frank in this round and runs quick enough to get lane choice in the final round. He must win the final round to stay in the points chase.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink