Sun, 5 Jun 2011, 03:00 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Jim Samuel

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 42nd annual NHRA SuperNationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   71 Cruz Pedregon                        2814 Matt Hagan                   
E3   ****WINNER****  0.098  4.111 284.62                     0.077  4.314 257.43
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Beckman   ) 0.092  4.074 305.84      (M Troxel    ) 0.098  4.217 241.15
E1    (J Smith     ) 0.097  4.141 302.08      (J Force     ) 0.063  4.101 303.64
 Qualified:             #1  4.048 302.82                       #12  4.142 299.86

2:50 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 55 percent, barometer 29.94 inches, adjusted altitude 1,650 feet, track temperature 102 degrees.

The last time these two raced each other before this was round three of the Gatornationals in March. Pedregon won that race. This was an odd one. Hagan got off the starting line first and was ahead at 60 feet. They were side-by-side at 330 feet,m then Pedregon pulled ahead. Pedregon's chutes came out early, but Hagan's car had started to slow so Pedregon still got the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 7701 Mike Neff                              28 Ron Capps                    
E3   ****WINNER****  0.096  4.067 313.00                     0.082  4.185 288.70
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Gray      ) 0.117  4.083 313.66      (T Wilkerson ) 0.070  4.132 303.37
E1    (J Arend     ) 0.100  4.079 311.77      (J Head      ) 0.088  4.116 306.53
 Qualified:             #7  4.111 306.95                        #6  4.108 305.15

Neff was second coming off the line and trailed at 60 feet. After that, Neff took over and it was his race the rest of the way. he'll have lane choice over Cruz Pedregon in the final round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink