Sun, 1 Nov 2009, 06:38 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Ninth annual NHRA Las Vegas Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  750 Del Worsham                             3 Jack Beckman                 
E3                   0.006  8.613  77.85     ****WINNER****  0.083  4.359 262.90
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Pedregon  ) 0.030  4.232 269.67      (M Hagan     ) 0.097  4.210 285.41
E1    (B Tasca III ) 0.066  4.163 304.19      (M Neff      ) 0.097  4.430 261.12
 Qualified:            #12  4.155 306.12                        #8  4.118 304.87

3:24 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 84 degrees, relative humidity 21 percent, barometer 27.90 inches, adjusted altitude 4,392 feet, track temperature 89 degrees.

Beckman has an 8-1 advantage in match-ups with Worsham, 2-0 this year. Worsham hits the throttle, goes up in smoke and has to back off the throttle. Beckman was on a decent run but started mixing up cylinders late in the run.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Tim Wilkerson                           4 Robert Hight                 
E3                   0.088  4.233 285.41     ****WINNER****  0.095  4.080 312.57
 Prior rounds:
E2    (R Capps     ) 0.096  4.163 301.40      (J Force     ) 0.118  4.125 309.42
E1    (J Head      ) 0.084  4.159 299.00      (A Force Hood) 0.071  4.114 309.06
 Qualified:             #7  4.116 297.22                        #3  4.065 308.71

Wilkerson gets off the line a little ahead of hight but that was about all. Hight drives around him quickly then goes right down the groove to pull away for the win and another 20 points added to his lead. The 312.57 speed for Hight is the second fastest in history for 1000 feet.

Hight will have lane choice over Beckman in the final round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink