Sat, 17 May 2003, 06:41 PM Corrected Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Jim Samuel

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Corrected notes from final, round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 34th annual K&N Filters SuperNationals presented by Pep Boys 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:

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Left Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 5.186/263.56, Now #12; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 5.215/238.93, Now #13; Best prior run: 15.226/21.23, Was #17

5:18 PM - Current weather conditions: 61 degrees, 66 percent relative humidity, the barometer is 29.95 inches, with a track temperature of 87 degrees.

Pedregon and Haddock came into this round as the only two drivers who are not in the field. To get in, they had to beat Bob Gilbertson's 8.092 second ET and Dean Skuza's 15.092 second ET. Both Haddock and Pedregon had clean runs with only a little tire shake and both are in the field for now. The only drivers who are not in the field are Gilbertson and Skuza, who are in the next pair.

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Left Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 11.496/78.57, Now #18; Best prior run: 15.092/68.55, Was #16
Right Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 4.971/313.22, Now #10; Best prior run: 8.928/128.26, Was #15

Skuza smoked the tires as soon as he left the starting line and quickly gave up on this run. Gilbertson had a good run but when he got to the end of the track, his chutes did not open and he went sideways into the sand trap at the end of the track. There was just some minor damage to the front of the Jungle Jim tribute car but that should be fixed in time for eliminations tomorrow.

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Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.876/312.93, Now #9; Best prior run: 7.493/119.96, Was #17

Densham was in the 17th position when he staged and he put together a good run to move up eight spots in the order and bump Cruz Pedregon.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.886/312.93, Now #10; Best prior run: 6.864/127.74, Was #17
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 4.877/316.52, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.875/315.34, Was #8

Pedregon got back into the field and moved up seven spots in the order with a clean run. He bumped Whit Bazemore in the process. Gray also had a good run but it had no effect on his spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.836/313.44, Now #5; Best prior run: 6.788/137.00, Was #17
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.837/316.08, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.870/312.50, Was #7

Bazemore came to the line as the only driver left that could bump his way into the field. If he ran quicker than 5.215 seconds, he'd bump Frank Pedregon from the field. He took everything he could get from the car and got into the top half of the field, bumping Pedregon out. Wilkerson moved up a spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 4.872/304.46, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.065/263.92, Was #14
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 5.450/186.20, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.851/322.65, Was #8

Scelzi's car was all over the track so he shut it down at 1,000 feet. Cannon's run moved him up five spots in the order.

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Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.868/300.93, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.826/318.39, Was #4

Worsham had a nice looking run going for the first half of the track but then starting losing cylinders the rest of the way.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 5.235/209.20, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.844/314.17, Was #7
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.824/319.52, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.817/318.69, Was #3

Capps had a good run going but his car started to smoke at 880, so he backed off this run. Johnson's run looked good but did not beat his time from the second qualifying session.

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.799/317.19, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.803/315.05, Was #2
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.786/322.50, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.760/320.89, Was #1

A pair of strong runs from the number one and two qualifiers. When they were done, Pedregon stayed in first and Force remained in the second qualifying spot.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink