Sun, 28 Sep 2003, 04:07 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Jonathan Adams

JOLIET, Ill. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Third annual CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Tony Pedregon                           1 John Force
E3   ****WINNER****  0.079  4.797 318.84                     0.154 10.949  91.96
 Prior rounds:
E2    (G Densham   ) 0.088  4.996 235.15      (R Capps     ) 0.053  4.833 320.58
E1    (B Bode      ) 0.090  4.845 312.28      (J Lawson    ) 0.070  4.883 305.42
 Qualified:             #6  4.787 320.66                        #2  4.725 323.81

Once again, it's Team Castrol vs. Team Castrol. Force still has a chance at the title, and Pedregon is leading the points now, so this one should be entertaining.

Pedregon leaves Force at the line and Force goes up in smoke almost instantly. So Pedregon extends his points lead with an easy win over the boss.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   20 Gary Scelzi                           156 Phil Burkart
E3                   0.066  4.842 314.90     ****WINNER****  0.067  4.776 319.75
 Prior rounds:
E2    (D Worsham   ) 0.062  4.738 329.18      (C Lee       ) 0.099  4.773 318.54
E1    (C Pedregon  ) 0.083  4.768 328.70      (S Cannon    ) 0.125  4.817 320.05
 Qualified:             #4  4.750 320.74                        #8  4.802 318.02

Scelzi can help his teammate Bazemore by winning here and then stopping Pedregon in the final, but Burkart is no pushover.

Upset! It's Burkart all the way, and he will have lane choice over Pedregon in the final. By the way, Burkart is driving the car that went to the final at Indy with Johnny Gray at the wheel.

Phil Burkart's incremental margins: 60ft(0.021), 330 ft(0.032), 660ft(0.047), 1,000ft(0.055). MOV: 0.0652 seconds (approximately 30 feet).

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink