Fri, 10 Oct 2003, 08:43 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 18th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec 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:

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Left Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 4.902/318.58, Now #3; Best prior run: 8.721/93.75, Was #19

6:47 PM Current weather conditions: 77 degrees, 57 percent relative humidity, the barometer 29.80 inches, with a track temperature of 90 degrees.

Cannon goes right down Broadway, keeping the candles lit all the way, and he gets in the field in the third spot.

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Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.865/321.19, Now #2; Best prior run: 6.250/142.90, Was #15
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.832/323.39, Now #1; Best prior run: 8.474/90.82, Was #19

Densham gets in the show in a big way. He moves around a little, getting close to the centerline at one point, but hangs on and takes the pole for now. A great run for Worsham and he gets in right behind Densham in the second spot.

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Left Lane: Dean Skuza No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 6.087/154.18, Was #16
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon No Time, Now #19; Best prior run: 7.709/105.32, Was #19

Pedregon never fires the engine, not sure why. Skuza does his burnout, develops a leak and has to shut down.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.894/300.00, Now #4; Best prior run: 6.043/159.03, Was #15
Right Lane: Cory Lee Runs 5.000/314.57, Now #8; Best prior run: 7.053/122.21, Was #18

7:17 PM and we're back from a cleanup in the left lane. Pedregon had traction problems in round one but doesn't have any problems on this pass. Lee makes a good run and gets in the show in the 8th spot for now.

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Left Lane: Keith Jackson Runs 9.741/68.87, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.323/243.57, Was #14

Jackson shakes the tires hard, the chute comes out about 200 feet out and he gives up on the run.

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Left Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 5.011/301.20, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.097/297.12, Was #13
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 10.715/78.91, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.782/167.41, Was #16

Pedregon gets out of the groove, makes a move toward the wall and has to shut down. Creasy makes another good pass and moves up four notches to the 9th spot.

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Left Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 5.472/189.83, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.090/297.22, Was #13
Right Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 9.264/99.51, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.607/151.36, Was #15

Gilbertson shakes the tires right off the line and shuts down. Burkart gets to half-track, loses traction and has to abort the run.

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.942/309.49, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.028/253.73, Was #11
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 5.019/267.14, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.072/291.63, Was #12

Capps was on a good pass, ahead of Wilkerson at half-track, then the candles go out about 1000 feet out. Wilkerson with a nice pass to get in the top half of the field.

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Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 5.041/237.40, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.015/296.83, Was #11
Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 5.812/178.11, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.955/314.24, Was #8

Bazemore comes off the line, loses traction about 200 feet out and has to pedal. He gets back on it, gets a little past half-track, loses traction again and has to abort the run. Johnson was on a good pass until the 1000-foot mark, then the header flames disappear, not sure why.

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.965/309.81, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.866/311.20, Was #3
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.828/323.97, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.897/316.78, Was #5

Scelzi makes a great pass, header flames high and steady all the way through the run, and he takes the pole after this session of qualifying. Force was on a pretty good run, then started mixing up cylinders about 1000 feet out.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink