Sun, 11 Apr 2010, 12:56 PM Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    7 Del Worsham                             8 Bob Tasca III                
E1   ****WINNER****  0.088  4.109 307.02                     0.067  4.230 300.33
 Qualified:             #7  4.096 305.84                       #10  4.124 305.15

Weather conditions: air temperature 73 degrees, relative humidity 65 percent, barometer 30.18 inches, adjusted altitude 1,367 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Worsham is 3 - 2 against Tasca III in prior events. Tasca III with the starting line advantage, but Worsham had the difference made up by the time they went by the Christmas tree.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  170 Jeff Arend                            388 Jim Head                     
E1   ****WINNER****  0.078  4.140 307.23                     0.098  4.561 277.37
 Qualified:             #6  4.095 309.98                       #11  4.129 300.33

Head is 1 - 0 against Arend in prior events. Arend is out of the gate first and never trailed to take the win. Head started to lose traction around 200 feet and pedaled it, but couldn't chase him down.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Ashley Force Hood                     719 Jeff Diehl                   
E1   ****WINNER****  0.122  4.134 282.60                     0.170  4.408 224.92
 Qualified:             #2  4.042 314.90                       #15  4.264 291.70

This is the first time Force Hood and Diehl have faced each other in eliminations. Force Hood with the starting line advantage and then dropped a cylinder or two on the top end and got out of the groove, but reeled it in for the win. Diehl clicked it off early. Force Hood will give up lane choice to Worsham in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 John Force                              6 Tony Pedregon                
E1                   0.065  4.898 240.77     ****WINNER****  0.069  4.708 183.79
 Qualified:             #1  4.021 316.08                       #16  4.296 260.16

This is the 77th time they have raced and only the second time they were qualified one and two. Force is 53 - 23 against Pedregon in prior events. They leave together and then Pedregon never trailed, but it wasn't that easy. It appears that Pedregon lost blower belt on the top end as he was out of power when he crossed the finish line. Force started to smoke the tires around half track and pedaled it, but couldn't chase Pedregon down.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Robert Hight                          116 Paul Lee                     
E1   ****WINNER****  0.092  4.108 309.13                     0.105  7.644  88.21
 Qualified:             #3  4.051 312.64                       #14  4.246 279.32

This is the first time Hight and Lee have faced each other in eliminations. Lee is up in smoke right off the starting line and clicked it off. Hight with good clean pass, straight down the groove into the next round. He will have lane choice over Arend.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   28 Ron Capps                              71 Cruz Pedregon                
E1                   0.093  5.764 128.20     ****WINNER****  0.031  4.215 297.68
 Qualified:             #4  4.059 314.09                       #13  4.246 292.71

Capps is 21 - 16 against Pedregon in prior events. Pedregon is out of the gate first and runs his quickest pass of the weekend and never trailed as Capps is up in smoke early and can't recover.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2814 Matt Hagan                            507 Melanie Troxel               
E1   ****WINNER****  0.071  4.217 302.48                     0.086  5.578 141.59
 Qualified:             #5  4.091 311.99                       #12  4.176 303.64

This is the first time Hagan and Troxel have faced each other in eliminations. Hagan with the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win light. Troxel starts to lose traction early and pedals it and can't get it to hook up. Hagan will give up lane choice to Cruz Pedregon in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Jack Beckman                            4 Tim Wilkerson                
E1                   0.110  5.030 225.71     ****WINNER****  0.060  5.051 185.28
 Qualified:             #8  4.097 311.63                        #9  4.098 306.12

Wilkerson is 6 - 4 against Beckman in prior events. Wilkerson is out of the gate first and then starts to smoke the tires and pedals it at least three times and holds on for the win by about 10 feet on a hole shot. Beckman is up in smoke and he3 too pedals it a few times and almost catches Wilkerson in the pedal fest. Wilkerson will give up lane choice to Tony Pedregon in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink