Sun, 30 Oct 2011, 05:30 PM Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, 11th annual Big O Tires NHRA Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   31 Johnny Gray                           116 Paul Lee                     
E2   ****WINNER****  0.103  4.147 312.93                     0.084  5.228 152.42
 Prior rounds:
E1    (M Troxel    ) 0.087  4.158 311.63      (M Neff      ) 0.094  4.225 305.56
 Qualified:            #10  4.118 311.05                       #15  4.218 304.19

2:10 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 80 degrees, relative humidity 17 percent, barometer 27.96 inches, adjusted altitude 4,000 feet, track temperature 104 degrees.

Gray is 3 - 0 against Lee in prior events.

Lee had a cylinder out at the hit, got out of the groove, steers it back in, then hazes the tires about 400 feet out. Gray went right down the middle of the track and improved on his first round time to take the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   28 Ron Capps                               4 Jack Beckman                 
E2   ****WINNER****  0.068  4.187 305.22                     0.083  4.208 303.16
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Lesenko   ) 0.084  4.139 306.95      (J Force     ) 0.052  4.238 301.13
 Qualified:             #1  4.080 315.49                        #8  4.105 311.34

Capps is 11 - 8 against Beckman in prior events.

Capps gets out of the gate first and never looks back. Beckman made a good, clean run, right down the groove, but couldn't run down Capps.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 2814 Matt Hagan                             71 Cruz Pedregon                
E2                   0.077 No Time           ****WINNER****  0.115  4.167 306.60
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Wilkerson ) 0.081  4.138 307.09      (J Arend     ) 0.083  4.171 306.95
 Qualified:             #5  4.093 310.05                        #4  4.087 309.49

Hagan is 7 - 6 against Pedregon in prior events.

Hagan is just one point ahead of Beckman and could increase his lead with a win here.

Hagan hits the throttle, gets about 60 feet out, breaks the tires loose and bangs the blower. Pedregon pulled away quickly and will have lane choice over Capps in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Bob Tasca III                           9 Tony Pedregon                
E2   ****WINNER****  0.055  4.205 306.12                     0.033  4.509 223.43
 Prior rounds:
E1    (A DeJoria   ) 0.101  4.185 307.65      (R Hight     ) 0.082  4.486 242.89
 Qualified:             #6  4.096 310.91                       #14  4.166 297.48

Tasca III is 10 - 3 against Pedregon in prior events.

Pedregon hits the throttle, gets about 200 feet out and puts out a cylinder. Tasca pulls in front quickly and goes right down the groove to take the win.

In the next round it will be Cruz Pedregon with lane choice over Capps and Gray vs. Tasca.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink