Sat, 3 May 2003, 01:33 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By Bob Orme

COMMERCE, Ga. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 23rd annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals presented by Pontiac 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: Gary Scelzi Runs 4.855/318.09, Now #1; Best prior run: 9.269/89.76, Was #16
Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 8.678/95.98, Now #16; No Prior Run

12:41 PM Scelzi's stellar pass puts him into the top position for now. Haddock was hazing the tires from the hit and it looked like he may have lost the blower belt at about 500 feet.

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Left Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 5.872/231.87, Now #15; Best prior run: 9.260/92.67, Was #17
Right Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 5.157/223.62, Now #10; No Prior Run

1:01 PM There were about 15 minutes of cleanup done to the right lane before this pair was told to started the engines. Skuza smoked the tires at 300 feet, pedaled it and was up in smoke again at half track. Cannon was on a strong pass until just past half track where he banged the blower and blew out the burst panel.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.892/313.29, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.363/206.86, Was #13
Right Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 4.938/312.42, Now #5; Best prior run: 7.468/115.35, Was #17

Creasy was mixing up the cylinders at the finish line while Capps was trailing smoke from the rear of the car right after the finish.

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Left Lane: Jack Wyatt Runs 5.385/237.96, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.281/261.83, Was #14
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 4.880/311.77, Now #2; Best prior run: 7.246/115.30, Was #17

Wyatt struck the tires at about 300 feet. He was able to pedal through it, though he was losing the engine at the top end. Pedregon's pass bumps Skuza from the field for now.

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Left Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 7.364/140.65, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.116/278.00, Was #12
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.743/184.70, Was #16

Pedregon did a burnout then shut it off before staging the car. Gilbertson lost traction immediately, tried to pedal through it, but the car started to fishtail at 300 feet and he backed way off of the throttle.

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Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.906/310.41, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.107/296.44, Was #10
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.856/317.27, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.254/251.34, Was #14

This was a good looking side-by-side drag race, no real problems for either driver.

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 5.018/299.26, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.090/251.34, Was #11
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 4.923/311.13, Now #7; Best prior run: 5.114/296.63, Was #12

This pair looked better than the numbers show. Looking at the incremental numbers, Wilkerson must have been spinning the tires in the middle section of the track.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.799/320.58, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.924/307.02, Was #8
Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.802/322.73, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.985/304.80, Was #11

Strong and straight is the only way to describe this pair! They both break the track elapsed time record.

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Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 8.909/90.57, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.917/309.13, Was #8
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.768/320.13, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.940/303.78, Was #11

Johnson smoked the tires at about 150 feet and he clicked it off. Force takes the track ET record away from teammate Tony Pedregon.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink