Sat, 21 Feb 2009, 06:40 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Darryl Jackman

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 25th annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist 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 Bode Runs 4.307/285.05, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.916/222.29, Was #17
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.202/301.74, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.196/293.60, Was #16

4:13 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 77 degrees, relative humidity 21 percent, barometer 28.83 inches, adjusted altitude 2,755 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.

Here we are at the final session of Pro qualifying at Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals. Boy, is that a mouthful! Both cars have candles lighted all the way to the finish but it's Arend's earlier run that keeps him in the field while Bode misses on his shot. He made a nice pass, just not quite quick enough.

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Left Lane: Gary Densham No Time, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.165/296.50, Was #15
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 7.387/87.94, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.148/297.09, Was #13

Densham can't be bumped and considering his issues he decides to pull out of line. Wilkerson kicks the tires loose before 330ft but remains qualified at #13, a far better performance than at the one shot qualifying Winternationals.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.135/295.40, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.164/296.05, Was #14
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.140/300.80, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.106/301.94, Was #7

With all the cars accounted for we're simply qualifying for starting position now. Wow! this was a great pair to watch. High headerflames and even from all cylinders. The two were welded to each other, door handle to door handle to the 1K stripe. Cruz pulls up two spots and at the moment he's paired with J.Force for Sunday. Tasca remains #7.

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Left Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 4.129/301.40, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.140/300.06, Was #13
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.069/306.53, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.089/298.14, Was #5

Father and daughter meet here in final qualifying and this one goes to the old man. He runs his second 4.0 of the weekend and goes all the way to #3 behind Capps and Neff. A.Force picks up one position.

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Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.145/296.57, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.125/301.40, Was #11
Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 5.228/140.61, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.077/303.71, Was #5

Beckman duplicates his round 3 efforts as far as ET goes but drops a few mph. He still feels the setup us good for Sunday. Hight rattled the tires loose and they started spinning at about 800ft. He will stand on his round 2 effort.

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Left Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.136/299.06, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.116/294.82, Was #9
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 7.111/92.40, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.072/305.22, Was #4

Worsham spins the tires at about 500ft and he will stand on his second round qualifying effort. Head spun the tires late in the run but he remains #9 going into Sunday.

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Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.131/300.20, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.106/298.93, Was #8
Right Lane: Mike Neff Runs 4.063/308.43, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.050/309.06, Was #2

Neff has really been in the groove this weekend and now Force says Medlen is 'barking out orders' over the phone from his hospital bed in Indy. You just can't stop these guys! Hagan puts it all together and makes another good run. That team make have something for the field this weekend.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.131/289.57, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.104/295.72, Was #6
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.119/304.53, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.023/305.63, Was #1

Pedregon was side by side with Capps until it appeared something broke near the lights. Capps got another full pull. Tony Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.900 sec., 330ft-2.336, 660ft-3.323/262.33 mph.
Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.914 sec., 330ft-2.346, 660ft-3.321/263.00 mph. That was the final pair in qualifying but we have a few rounds of sportsman racing to be contested today.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink