Sun, 6 Jun 2010, 09:12 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Larry Sullivan

JOLIET, Ill. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 13th annual United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by Miller Welders:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Ashley Force Hood                    2814 Matt Hagan                   
E3                   0.112  4.044 308.00     ****WINNER****  0.101  4.022 312.71
 Prior rounds:
E2    (B Bode      ) 0.109  4.138 304.46      (J Arend     ) 0.034  4.219 295.21
E1    (J Force     ) 0.112  4.114 303.03      (T Pedregon  ) 0.088  4.184 291.32
 Qualified:             #2  4.092 306.46                        #3  4.128 299.40

8:00 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 67 degrees, relative humidity 64 percent, barometer 29.23 inches, adjusted altitude 1,955 feet, track temperature 79 degrees.

Force Hood is 2 - 1 against Hagan in prior events; this is the first time they have faced off in the semifinals.

This was a great race, Hagan with the third-quickest run ever, in the quickest side-by-side race ever. Hagan led all the way, but it was close to 330 feet, then he started pulling away. Matt Hagan's margins: 60ft(0.007), 330 ft(0.008), 660ft(0.025). MOV: 0.0337 seconds (approximately 15 feet).

Ashley Force Hood's incremental times: 60ft-0.887 sec., 330ft-2.286, 660ft-3.256/264.80 mph.
Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.891 sec., 330ft-2.289, 660ft-3.242/269.40 mph.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Robert Hight                            5 Jack Beckman                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.089  4.041 307.79                     0.117  4.060 314.61
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Wilkerson ) 0.112  4.111 309.20      (B Tasca III ) 0.119  4.121 302.55
E1    (J Schriefer ) 0.120  4.112 302.69      (P Lee       ) 0.105  4.158 299.06
 Qualified:             #1  4.067 313.15                        #5  4.151 297.29

Hight is 8 - 5 against Beckman in prior events, but Beckman is 2 - 1 in semifinals.

Another great drag race, and Beckman had the faster car, but Hight left first and was quicker to get the win. However, he will not have lane choice against hagan in the final round.

Robert Hight's incremental margins: 60ft(0.047), 330 ft(0.056), 660ft(0.056). MOV: 0.0473 seconds (approximately 22 feet).

Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.889 sec., 330ft-2.296, 660ft-3.255/267.53 mph.
Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.908 sec., 330ft-2.324, 660ft-3.283/268.12 mph.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink