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Fri, 14 Oct 2011, 08:58 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 27th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

Left Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 4.320/274.27, Now #2; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Todd Lesanko Runs 4.342/282.48, Now #3; No Prior Run

5:19 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 89 degrees, relative humidity 16 percent, barometer 28.50 inches, adjusted altitude 3,748 feet, track temperature 114 degrees.

Just a little cooler for this session.

DeJoria's times from session one were DQ'ed, due to timing problems with the computer system.

The car sounds really weird with a very high sharp sounding "idle". Didn't seem to hurt much though, as both cars get away clean and score ET's that move them to near the top of the ladder.

This bodes well for the rest of the field!

Alexis DeJoria's incremental times: 60ft-0.912 sec., 330ft-2.387, 660ft-3.440/239.44 mph.
Todd Lesenko's incremental times: 60ft-0.912 sec., 330ft-2.405, 660ft-3.476/238.47 mph.

Left Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.322/282.72, Now #3; Best prior run: 6.902/106.09, Was #13
Right Lane: Jeff Diehl Runs 5.819/123.69, Now #14; No Prior Run

Paul Lee is on the bump spot at 5.478.

Diehl joins the festivities this round too. he has the better times down low, but the car drifts towards the center line and out of the groove before he clicks it off.

Tasca runs almost a full pass and moves well up the ladder to the new #3 spot.

Bob Tasca III's incremental times: 60ft-0.919 sec., 330ft-2.399, 660ft-3.457/239.70 mph.

Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 4.335/287.17, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.478/125.46, Was #13
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.376/276.80, Now #8; Best prior run: 7.941/77.98, Was #18

Two clean and straight passes and another set of big improvements into the field. Lee gets the best of it and runs into the top half of the field.

Paul Lee's incremental times: 60ft-0.937 sec., 330ft-2.429, 660ft-3.484/244.16 mph.
Jeff Arend's incremental times: 60ft-0.913 sec., 330ft-2.412, 660ft-3.492/234.53 mph.

Left Lane: John Force Runs 10.330/64.05, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.959/242.54, Was #13
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 6.372/108.12, Now #16; Best prior run: 7.575/76.55, Was #18

Jack Beckman is on the bump spot at 4.956.

No big improvements for these two.

Force is away second, but the first to start to smoke the tires near the 100 foot area.

Capps was stronger off the line and then has the Charger start to move around near the 330 lights. The tires are quickly up in smoke and he has to lift. He still moves up to the #16 spot.

Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.279/284.45, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.956/165.05, Was #12
Right Lane: Jim Head Runs 4.238/289.07, Now #1; Best prior run: 7.387/84.18, Was #18

Two full passes and our first two into the twenties.

Beckman's car was quicker for the first half of the track, but Head's Solara started to thunders at that point and flies on down the track and into the new top spot.

Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.377, 660ft-3.425/243.63 mph.
Jim Head's incremental times: 60ft-0.924 sec., 330ft-2.385, 660ft-3.408/250.64 mph.

Left Lane: Melanie Troxel Runs 4.405/234.98, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.478/219.22, Was #13
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.456/214.45, Now #14; Best prior run: 7.195/87.04, Was #18

Two more good runs and Troxel bumps into the field with a clean pass to the finish line. Pedregon got a full pass too, but misses the bump.

Melanie Troxel's incremental times: 60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.389, 660ft-3.462/238.81 mph.
Tony Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.911 sec., 330ft-2.376, 660ft-3.426/236.01 mph.

Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.294/264.55, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.409/275.34, Was #13
Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.368/278.46, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.334/201.34, Was #16

Hagan sacrifices some pistons to the fuel gods and it's worth it to move The DieHard car ten spots up the ladder and into the current #3 spot.

Hight made a clean pass into the field, but couldn't match Hagen's times to move into the field. He won't get bumped tonight though.

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.909 sec., 330ft-2.369, 660ft-3.393/242.89 mph.
Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.916 sec., 330ft-2.419, 660ft-3.493/237.75 mph.

Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.215/296.37, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.390/261.07, Was #13
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.315/283.91, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.366/271.84, Was #10

Jeff Arend is on the bump spot at 4.376.

Pedregon gets a full pass this time and it's a good one to move him from outhouse to penthouse. He started with a terrific 0.905 sixty foot time and kept on pulling hard all the way down the track and into the new top spot.

Wilkerson was right behind him and runs into the top half of the field on a clean and straight pass.

Cruz Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.905 sec., 330ft-2.362, 660ft-3.387/249.86 mph.
Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.924 sec., 330ft-2.426, 660ft-3.463/246.57 mph.

Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 7.683/79.60, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.310/277.49, Was #5
Right Lane: Mike Neff Runs 4.251/287.23, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.349/278.06, Was #11

It's Neff from start to to finish and picks up one of the "little points" to move ahead of Hagan in the Championship and into the final number three spot for tonight.

Gray is within 0.001 at sixty feet, but can't get to the 330 lights with the tires stuck. He moves down the ladder one spot, but stays in the top half of the field.

Johnny Gray's incremental times: 60ft-0.911 sec., 330ft-2.648, 660ft-4.900/092.70 mph.
Mike Neff's incremental times: 60ft-0.910 sec., 330ft-2.370, 660ft-3.403/245.81 mph.

5:50 p.m. Cruz Pedregon is number one at 4.215 and Robert Hight is on the bump spot at 4.368.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink