Sun, 29 Jun 2003, 08:11 PM Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green

MADISON, Ill. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Seventh annual Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   73 Frank Pedregon                          2 Tony Pedregon
E2                   0.078 10.989  84.63     ****WINNER****  0.055  5.008 312.50
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Johnson Jr) 0.121  5.380 264.96      (D Creasy Jr ) 0.079  5.361 269.89
 Qualified:             #6  4.908 313.22                        #3  4.895 314.97

Current weather conditions: 89 degrees, 36 percent relative humidity, the barometer 30.09 inches, with a track temperature of 117 degrees.

Tony with a slight advantage over his brother winning seven and losing five. Tony is out of the gate first and never looked back as Frank was up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 Dean Skuza                              1 John Force
E2                   0.077  5.069 300.26     ****WINNER****  0.052  5.071 297.81
 Prior rounds:
E1    (A Karp      ) 0.058  8.248 104.17      (G Scelzi    ) 0.065  5.128 300.20
 Qualified:             #2  4.893 308.85                       #10  4.959 297.22

This is the 37th time these two have raced and John has won 26 of them. Force with the starting line advantage and holds off the hard charging Skuza for the hole shot win by 10 feet.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 Del Worsham                            21 Scotty Cannon
E2   ****WINNER****  0.082  5.011 304.12                     0.103  7.948 102.90
 Prior rounds:
E1    (G Densham   ) 0.054  5.086 300.13      (J Gray      ) 0.091  5.820 253.33
 Qualified:            #16  5.088 296.05                        #8  4.942 301.40

Worsham has owned Cannon beating him eight times out of the 11 times they have raced. Worsham with the starting line advantage and runs a good clean pass here to move on to the semifinals. Cannon blistered the hides around the 200-foot mark.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   28 Ron Capps                             347 Tim Wilkerson
E2   ****WINNER****  0.062  4.981 303.57                     0.074  5.380 251.86
 Prior rounds:
E1    (W Bazemore  ) 0.036  5.078 297.35      (C Pedregon  ) 0.097  5.093 296.89
 Qualified:            #12  4.964 305.84                       #13  4.995 294.95

Capps has owned Wilkerson beating him eight times out of the nine times they have raced. Capps with the starting line advantage and the quickest pass of the session to move on and haver lane choice over Worsham. Wilkerson started to haze the tires early and he tried to drive through it, but did not have enough for Capps.

Tony Pedregon will have lane choice over the boss John Force in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink