Sun, 30 Mar 2008, 04:12 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Rick Green

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 21st annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  427 Tony Bartone                           10 Ashley Force                 
E3                   0.093 12.483  86.06     ****WINNER****  0.113  5.008 300.33
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Johnson Jr) 0.123  5.071 287.05      (T Pedregon  ) 0.094  4.932 307.86
E1    (B Tasca III ) 0.165  6.327 261.88      (B Gilbertson) 0.138  4.921 316.30
 Qualified:             #2  4.839 305.08                        #6  4.890 319.29

Weather conditions: air temperature 76 degrees, relative humidity 77 percent, barometer 29.95 inches, adjusted altitude 2,011 feet, track temperature 104 degrees.

This is the first time Bartone and Force have faced each other in eliminations. Bartone is out of the gate first and up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle. Ashley Force is going to her second final round with a chance to make history.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 John Force                            750 Del Worsham                  
E3                   0.063  5.005 303.57     ****WINNER****  0.086  4.917 313.37
 Prior rounds:
E2    (C Pedregon  ) 0.076  5.077 244.83      (T Wilkerson ) 0.081  4.917 311.85
E1    (J Beckman   ) 0.073  4.924 313.95      (J Toliver   ) 0.079  4.922 313.22
 Qualified:             #9  4.913 312.71                        #4  4.881 313.66

Force is 43 - 19 against Worsham in prior events. Force with the starting line advantage, but Worsham has the lead by 60 feet and never looked back. Worsham matches his ET from last round and will have lane choice over Ashley Force. He is looking for his first win since Indy 2005.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink