Fri, 10 Oct 2008, 05:56 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Larry Sullivan

DINWIDDIE, Va. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Third annual Virginia NHRA Nationals 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: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.090/299.06, Now #4; Best prior run: 7.833/72.22, Was #17
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.135/295.98, Now #9; Best prior run: 8.443/78.71, Was #18

5:21 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 56 percent, barometer 29.97 inches, adjusted altitude 1,616 feet, track temperature 91 degrees.

Tim Wilkerson is on the bump spot at 4.156.

The first couple pairs feature cars that had problems in the first session.

Both cars got in with these runs, Tasca with his best-ever 1,000-foot run. Now Gary Densham is on the bump spot at 4.144.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.070/300.13, Now #1; Best prior run: 7.668/84.13, Was #18
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.089/300.40, Now #5; Best prior run: 7.366/83.63, Was #17

Two more really good runs - Hight making the third-quickest 1,000-foot run ever (that gives him possession of the top four best 1,000-foot times).

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.079/302.48, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.156/297.09, Was #16
Right Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 4.191/292.71, Now #18; Best prior run: 6.498/101.45, Was #18

Another nice run in the left lane - Wilkerson with the tenth-quickest 1,000-foot run. Bartone made a decent-looking run, but came up well short of the bump. Now Ron Capps is on the bump spot at 4.135.

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Left Lane: Ashley Force Runs 4.048/304.12, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.146/296.63, Was #16
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.083/301.00, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.159/293.86, Was #17

The best-ever 1,000-foot run used to be Hight's 4.056, from Seattle. No longer, teammate Force just knocked him off the top spot with a perfect-looking run. Ashley Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.891 sec., 330ft-2.290, 660ft-3.252/265.01mph. Scelzi made a good run of his own, didn't even come close to the rapidly-changing top ten.

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Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.070/303.64, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.130/300.73, Was #13
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 7.269/94.21, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.144/295.14, Was #17

Densham started shakjing and lifted. TJ made a career-best 1,000-foot run, the fifth-quickest ever.

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Left Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 7.282/84.96, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.107/298.87, Was #12
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.078/296.63, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.138/296.70, Was #16

Toliver shook hard about 200 feet out and he lifted. Worsham made a stout run, but made a very hard move toward the centerline just before the stripe. That isn't even a career-best for Worsham, and it's only the twelfth-quickest ever.

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Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.071/309.98, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.094/303.71, Was #12
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.049/306.74, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.138/297.55, Was #16

By the way, with all the good runs, Melanie Troxel is on the bump spot at 4.094.

Another four-oh-four run in one lane, the fastest speed ever at 1,000 feet in the other. Amazing stuff, and both elapsed times are career-bests, Tony's 4.049 the second-quickest and Melanie's 4.071 the seventh quickest ever. Speeds - also career-bests for the two drivers, Melanie's the fastest ever and Tony's fourth-fastest.

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Left Lane: Mike Neff Runs 4.041/304.80, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.081/300.20, Was #10
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.092/302.55, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.126/299.66, Was #15

Throw away the record books and start over again - Arend with a career-best run and not even in the field. Neff reset the quickest ever by a ton and he's atop the qulaifying list. Mike Neff's incremental times: 60ft-0.891 sec., 330ft-2.284, 660ft-3.245/265.74mph.

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 5.784/98.18, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.080/298.21, Was #10
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.059/300.06, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.080/298.47, Was #9

Force lost traction and may have popped the burst panel, the chutes out before he got to the line. Beckman made a great run, at least a great run during most sessions, but only fourth-quickest of the session and fifth-quickest ever.

Whew! That was a great session and it ends with Mike Neff atop the list at 4.041 and Cruz Pedregon on the bump spot at 4.089.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink