Fri, 31 May 2013, 17:43 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Jim Samuel

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 44th Toyota NHRA Summernationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 4.743/184.52, Now #2
Right Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 4.658/203.92, Now #1

5:13 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 92 degrees, relative humidity 36 percent, barometer 29.93 inches, adjusted altitude 2,831 feet, track temperature 117 degrees.

Both runs looked good to the eighth-mile marker, then both cars started to smoke the rear tires. Haddock's car trailed a lot more smoke than Lee's.

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Left Lane: Chad Head Runs 4.317/235.39, Now #1
Right Lane: Blake Alexander Runs 7.338/90.93, Now #4

Alexander's rear tires went up in smoke and he clicked it off by 330 feet. Head had some tire shake at the end of the run and clicked it off a couple feet early.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 5.508/131.81, Now #4
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 7.338/85.31, Now #6

Arend launched and smoked the rear tires right out of the gate. He tried to drive through it, then gave up on the run. Pedregon got out a couple hundred feet, then smoked the rear tires and clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 4.249/287.29, Now #1
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 4.268/286.62, Now #2

Both cars were losing cylinders as they went down the track but they were quick enough to take the top two spots in the order for now.

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 6.581/97.92, Now #8
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.270/289.63, Now #3

The rear tires on Force's car went up in smoke at 330 feet. He clicked it off. Worsham went all the way down the track to take over the third spot for now.

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Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 6.650/92.05, Now #9
Right Lane: Robert Hight Runs 10.440/69.25, Now #12

Hight launched and went up in smoke almost immediately. Beckman got a couple of hundred feet down the track before he went up in smoke.

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.153/301.54, Now #2
Right Lane: Courtney Force Runs 4.130/306.05, Now #1

These two had the right setup for this track and weather conditions. Both drivers took their cars right down the groove with no tire shake and no smoke.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.861/163.67, Now #10
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.183/297.88, Now #3

Capps' car smoked the rear tires from 660 feet to the finish line. Hagan had a clean run to move into the third spot in the order for now.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.216/263.46, Now #5
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 4.179/298.93, Now #3

Gray took the third spot with a clean run for the full 1,000 feet. Pedregon had a good run going but clicked it off a little bit early. That's it for the first qualifying session.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink