Sun, 19 Sep 2010, 03:36 PM Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green

CONCORD, N.C. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, Third annual O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  116 Paul Lee                                5 Jack Beckman                 
E2                   0.095  4.280 283.97     ****WINNER****  0.092  4.239 292.58
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Force     ) 0.068  4.605 225.71      (R Capps     ) 0.073  4.232 302.01
 Qualified:            #15  4.190 302.75                        #7  4.123 305.36

Weather conditions: air temperature 89 degrees, relative humidity 37 percent, barometer 29.41 inches, adjusted altitude 3,229 feet, track temperature 131 degrees.

This was a great drag race as they leave together and then Beckman increased his lead at every increment for the win by 0.0444 seconds (approximately 18 feet).

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2814 Matt Hagan                            170 Jeff Arend                   
E2                   0.071 No Time           ****WINNER****  0.094  4.205 302.35
 Prior rounds:
E1    (R Hight     ) 0.046  4.486 266.64      (J Head      ) 0.073  4.180 304.67
 Qualified:             #5  4.115 299.40                        #4  4.115 306.95

Hagan is 8 - 1 against Arend in prior events. Hagan with the starting line advantage, but is up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle. He might of bang the blower too as the chutes came out and he stopped on the track before the finish line. Arend launched hard and was straight down the groove with a great looking pass here in the heat of the day.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Tony Pedregon                          71 Cruz Pedregon                
E2                   0.045  5.254 143.96     ****WINNER****  0.058  4.392 268.87
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M Troxel    ) 0.063  4.318 275.73      (J Smith     ) 0.078  4.161 298.27
 Qualified:             #8  4.131 304.80                        #1  4.078 303.57

T. Pedregon is 26 - 13 against C. Pedregon in prior events. Tony with the starting line advantage but then starts to lose traction and clicks it off...Cruz nosed over on the top end, but still gets the win light. He will give up lane choice to Arend in the semifinal.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    2 Ashley Force Hood                       8 Bob Tasca III                
E2                   0.110  5.314 152.73     ****WINNER****  0.076  4.483 250.78
 Prior rounds:
E1    (D Worsham   ) 0.125  5.301 175.32      (B Bode      ) 0.068  4.221 301.40
 Qualified:            #11  4.151 301.27                        #3  4.109 304.39

Force Hood is 6 - 3 against Tasca III in prior events. Tasca III with the starting line advantage and he never trailed and his car nosed over on the top end, but still got the win. He will give up lane choice to Beckman in the semifinal. Force Hood started to smoke the tires around 330 feet and pedaled it, but couldn't get it to hook back up.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink