Sun, 16 Nov 2008, 03:12 PM Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 44th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  729 Jerry Toliver                          71 Cruz Pedregon                
E1                   0.057  5.380 144.63     ****WINNER****  0.110  4.142 301.47
 Qualified:             #5  4.110 303.78                       #12  4.150 300.33

11:29 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 77 degrees, relative humidity 28 percent, barometer 28.96 inches, adjusted altitude 2,748 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.

Pedregon is 8 - 2 against Toliver in prior events and no round has been quite as important between the two. Pedregon leads the points but it's so close that any of three drivers could win the title and two more have an outside chance. Toliver does his job but the car spins the tires around half track and C.Ped is one step closer to 'The Prize'!

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  347 Tim Wilkerson                           7 John Force                   
E1                  -0.026  4.161 304.19     ****WINNER**** -0.024  4.226 258.27
 Qualified:            #13  4.151 300.33                        #4  4.108 303.78

Force is racing this round for Hight to give his teammate a chance in the title fight. Force is 23 - 8 against Wilkerson in prior events. Oh my...this was a double redlight and the worst one went to Wilkerson. He outran Force but Force went red .002 seconds later than he did. Hight is still alive unlike Tony Pedregon who was eliminated by his brother's win in the first pair.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  782 Gary Densham                           10 Ashley Force                 
E1                   0.096  4.324 278.58     ****WINNER****  0.083  4.178 296.96
 Qualified:            #14  4.164 294.43                        #3  4.092 304.87

A.Force is 3 - 1 against Densham in prior events and both are looking to end their season's on a high note. A.Force took a lead at the hit and was ahead of Densham at every timer. She gets the win and waits to see if she races Capps or Tasca in round 2.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 7701 Mike Neff                             170 Jeff Arend                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.094  4.076 307.72                     0.078  4.193 289.63
 Qualified:             #1  4.079 305.49                       #16  4.200 292.20

Neff and Arend have each won 1 time against the other in prior events. Wow! Neff goes low for the weekend and the lead Arend got at the green meant nothing. That was quite a pass for the Force team Mustang.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  507 Melanie Troxel                        388 Jim Head                     
E1   ****WINNER****  0.075  5.192 189.95                     0.074  6.730  80.17
 Qualified:             #2  4.082 305.01                       #15  4.187 296.63

Troxel is 1 - 0 against Head in prior events and that goes to an ugly 2-0. Both cars struck the tires around 330ft and Head had the misfortune blow the burst panel which deployed the chutes and shut off the fuel. Troxel get the car under control and coasted across the stripe first.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   28 Ron Capps                            1777 Bob Tasca III                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.083  4.142 299.13                     0.055  4.793 172.94
 Qualified:             #6  4.118 302.08                       #11  4.144 299.86

Tasca strikes the tires by half track and Capps goes on for the win. Capps is 3-0 against Tasca III in prior events and now he works that up to 4-0.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Pedregon                           2 Robert Hight                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.074  4.252 272.61                     0.043  4.443 251.34
 Qualified:             #8  4.122 301.67                        #9  4.122 298.14

Pedregon is 10 - 6 against Hight in prior events but few rounds have been bigger. T.Ped is unofficially out of the points battle but Hight still has a chance if he wins this round. If Pedregon wins he clinches the championship for his brother. Tire smoke was involved in both lanes but Hight was the first to lose traction at about 150ft. He fell back just in time to see T.Ped strike the tires. Pedregon crosses the stripe first and hands the championship to his brother, Cruz/.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Gary Scelzi                             5 Jack Beckman                 
E1                   0.088  5.066 162.59     ****WINNER****  0.080  4.149 299.80
 Qualified:             #7  4.121 302.01                       #10  4.123 301.67

Scelzi smokes the tires and ends yet another chapter of his storied career. I can only hope he's taking a short timeout before getting behind the butterflies again. Beckman might be eliminated from the championship battle but he'll certainly take the round win. Round 2 looks like this: Neff vs T.Ped; J.Force vs C.Ped; Beckman vs Troxel and A.Force vs Capps.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink