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Thu, 11 Feb 2010, 08:10 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals presented by Valvoline listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

Right Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.296/285.95, Now #1

4:07 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 66 degrees, relative humidity 44 percent, barometer 28.99 inches, adjusted altitude 2,020 feet, track temperature 81 degrees. It's starting to cool off quickly now.

This will be the first "official" qualifying pass on the new "In and Out" funny car, after some pre-season testing at Las Vegas.

Not too bad! The car stays mostly in the middle of the track and runs to near the 1000 ft lights before the header flames drop. Good place to tune from!

Melanie Troxel's incremental times: 60ft-0.940 sec., 330ft-2.430, 660ft-3.450/249.76 mph.

Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 4.734/183.44, Now #2
Right Lane: Jeff Diehl No Time, Now #3

Lee is the new driver in Dunn's Canidae FC.

Diehl was supposed to run in the right lane, but motored on down the track after the burnout. It took a long time to clear the track and Lee patiently waited.

The Impala left the line and ran to near mid-track before starting to drop cylinders on the right bank. He clicks it early and coasts on down. No good deed goes unpunished!

Left Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 11.554/73.27, Now #4
Right Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.184/264.49, Now #1

Haddock's car starts to bounce and shake off the line and he clicks it off.

Bode has near a career best ET after clicking it early. Lots of mixed flames out of the pipes down track.

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.167/293.60, Now #2
Right Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.166/304.74, Now #1

OK! Two almost identical passes, with almost identical ET's.

Head has a small lead at the green takes a 0.001 difference into the top spot.

Densham's engine wasn't as happy down track, but still slots into the current #2 spot.

Gary Densham's incremental times: 60ft-0.901 sec., 330ft-2.350, 660ft-3.342/256.70 mph.
Jim Head's incremental times: 60ft-0.938 sec., 330ft-2.379, 660ft-3.364/260.61 mph.

Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.712/175.02, Now #5
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 5.508/138.80, Now #7

Pedregon has the new look Snap-On Solara in the right lane.

Both cars struggle, but at different spots on the track. The Cruzer has a bunch of shake, is in and out of the throttle, and gives it up.

Arend gets to near half track and the pipes go wet.

Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.109/305.01, Now #1
Right Lane: John Force No Time, Now #10

Hagan has a new sponsor too and the Die Hard Charger looks great! Force has the new 25th anniversary Castrol GTX silver and green colors in the other lane [another collectable?]. We are on a short wait for some clean up near the top end in the right lane and the call goes out to start the engines!

OK! A terrific looking pass and likely a great ET, but the incrementals ET's from sixty feet to the finish line are bogus:

John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.583 sec., 330ft-2.013, 660ft-2.999/261.22 mph.

Hagan in the left lane, Makes the kind of pass you expect and moves into the top spot for now with a terrific pass. Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.909 sec., 330ft-2.332, 660ft-3.311/263.41 mph.

4:28 p.m. We are on hold while NHRA looks into the right lane timing problem

Left Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.190/299.26, Now #6
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.062/312.35, Now #1

4:40 p.m. ...and we are back.

Both cars are side by side to near the lights, where the flames go down first on Tasca's Mustang. Worsham's Solara is thundering and runs the third fastest Funny Car speed ever! We have a new #1!

Bob Tasca III's incremental times: 60ft-99.999 sec., 330ft-99.999, 660ft-99.999/000.00 mph.
Del Worsham's incremental times: 60ft-99.999 sec., 330ft-99.999, 660ft-99.999/000.00 mph.

Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.377/270.81, Now #9
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.101/310.91, Now #2

Pedregon is stronger at the green and then has to pump the throttle.

Beckman has the power and takes the Valvoline/MTS Charger into the current #2 spot with a career best MPH by over four MPH.

Tony Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.903 sec., 330ft-2.429, 660ft-3.511/239.53 mph.
Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.925 sec., 330ft-2.353, 660ft-3.315/267.00 mph.

Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.182/294.43, Now #6
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 8.725/75.85, Now #14

Cruz Pedregon is on the bump spot at 5.508.

Capps smokes the tires and slows. Nice tune up pass for Wilkerson.

Left Lane: Ashley Force Hood Runs 4.093/310.70, Now #3
Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.059/312.86, Now #1

Last pair and it's a great one, with Paul Lee on the bump spot at 4.734.

It's Hight from start to finish, as he is away first at the green, and thunders on down the track to set a new personal best and fastest MPH on the way to the #1 position for today.

Force Hood has big power too and chases him down the track and misses the #2 spot by 0.03 seconds.

Ashley Force Hood's incremental times: 60ft-0.915 sec., 330ft-2.334, 660ft-3.306/265.74 mph.
Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.322, 660ft-3.279/268.38 mph.

What a great way to end the Thursday qualifying for funny car.

4:56 p.m. Tony Pedregon is on the bump spot at 4.377.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink