Sun, 8 Jun 2008, 06:36 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

JOLIET, Ill. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 11th annual Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Pedregon                          10 Ashley Force                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.110  4.897 318.62                     0.107  4.936 288.64
 Prior rounds:
E2    (M Oswald    ) 0.069  4.882 297.61      (G Scelzi    ) 0.113  4.896 319.29
E1    (J Toliver   ) 0.062  4.884 311.49      (R Hight     ) 0.141  4.817 318.02
 Qualified:            #10  4.797 323.43                        #3  4.759 329.10

5:25 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 88 degrees, relative humidity 63 percent, barometer 29.11 inches, adjusted altitude 3,878 feet, track temperature 112 degrees.

Pedregon holds a 3-2 edge over Force in head-to-head meetings.

They come off the line even and Pedregon starts to pull away. Force drives around him before the 330-foot mark and starts to pull away. She starts mixing up cylinders, then starts losing power, allowing Pedregon to drive around and take the win.

Tony Pedregon's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(0.004), 330 ft(-0.010), 660ft(-0.019), 1,000ft(-0.002). MOV: 0.0363 seconds (approximately 15 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  319 Scott Kalitta                         782 Gary Densham                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.111  5.057 251.02                     0.089  6.535 138.20
 Prior rounds:
E2    (C Pedregon  ) 0.115  4.896 312.21      (T Wilkerson ) 0.101  4.880 318.62
E1    (R Capps     ) 0.105  4.918 305.29      (M Troxel    ) 0.108  4.928 309.98
 Qualified:            #13  4.825 319.82                       #16  4.854 312.57

Densham comes out of the gate first, then starts to lose traction, finally having to back off of the throttle about 500 feet out. Kalitta drives around Densham, drifts close to the wall, and has to back off the throttle about 1200 feet out, but takes the win to go to his first final round this year.

Tony Pedregon will have lane choice over Kalitta in the final round

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink