Sun, 21 Feb 2010, 09:04 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By David Gerard

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 26th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Tony Pedregon                           5 Jack Beckman                 
E3                   0.115  9.335  91.65     ****WINNER****  0.186  5.023 262.64
 Prior rounds:
E2    (R Capps     ) 0.111  4.195 304.05      (M Hagan     ) 0.104  4.136 303.78
E1    (D Worsham   ) 0.060  4.198 300.06      (B Tasca III ) 0.092  4.132 307.37
 Qualified:            #14  4.211 303.23                        #7  4.133 307.30

6:34 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 66 degrees, relative humidity 44 percent, barometer 28.70 inches, adjusted altitude 2,379 feet, track temperature 71 degrees.

After a full day of weirdness, it's almost dark and we are down to tha last four cars in FC competition. One of these two will face a Team Force car in the final round. That has been another long delay, this time for the last pair of TF'er.

Beckman is 7 - 4 against Pedregon in prior events. Pedregon gets another starting line advantage, but it doesn't help this time, as the slicks are spinning and smoking right at the hit.

Beckman appears to be on a strong pass and then has his own traction issues further out and has to pump the throttle to get the FC to the finish line. It was ugly, but a win is a win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Robert Hight                            9 John Force                   
E3                   0.123 20.952  36.81     ****WINNER****  0.079  4.080 309.06
 Prior rounds:
E2    (A Force Hood) 0.105  4.107 302.69      (J Head      ) 0.109  4.044 309.77
E1    (T Wilkerson ) 0.106  4.075 308.99      (C Pedregon  ) 0.141  4.142 305.01
 Qualified:             #4  4.094 302.96                        #1  4.063 308.78

Hight is 10 - 7 against Force in prior events.

Force just dominates the race with a strong lead off the line and another four-oh pass to ensure lane choice in the final round over Beckman. Jippy is making terrific decisions with the tune up to get another commanding win.

Hight gets further than Pedregon before kicking the tires and then has the chutes come out to boot.

Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-1.007 sec., 330ft-4.230, 660ft-9.797/032.86 mph.
John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.905 sec., 330ft-2.324, 660ft-3.289/265.33 mph.

6:41 p.m. That's a wrap for today's activities. Eliminations will continue tomorrow morning, as weather permits.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink