Sat, 06 Jul 2013, 13:31 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Dave Rowe

NORWALK, Ohio - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, Seventh annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA 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:

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 10.632/82.03, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.091/303.43, Was #8

1:05 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 83 degrees, relative humidity 62 percent, barometer 29.19 inches, adjusted altitude 3,322 feet, track temperature 108 degrees.

Pedregon goes up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle.

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Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.100/308.92, Now #9; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 13.174/65.39, Now #14; No Prior Run

Tasca goes up in smoke at the hit and gives up on the run quickly. Beckman makes his quickest pass of the weekend and gets in the show in the ninth spot.

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Left Lane: Blake Alexander No Time, Now #16; No Prior Run
Right Lane: Courtney Force Runs 4.123/313.95, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.106/312.86, Was #10

Alexander completes his burnout, they raise the body, then shut down the engine, not sure why.

Force makes a decent pass but doesn't improve and stays in the tenth spot.

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Left Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 5.608/126.87, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.124/281.07, Was #13
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.145/305.22, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.115/310.27, Was #12

DeJoria gets about 300 feet out, strikes the tires, then has to abort the run. Worsham makes a decent pass but doesn't improve.

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.107/308.78, Now #7; Best prior run: 4.082/309.98, Was #7

Tony Pedregon was supposed to be in the right lane but did not make an appearance.

Wilkerson makes another good, clean pass but doesn't improve and stays in the seventh spot.

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Left Lane: Chad Head No Time, Now #5; Best prior run: 4.065/305.29, Was #5
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.235/238.60, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.071/313.29, Was #6

Head stages, raw fuel starts pouring out of the headers and he never hits the throttle when the tree came down. Hagan had problems late in the run and backed off the throttle.

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Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 4.560/187.89, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.061/312.64, Was #4
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 7.962/86.12, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.040/316.82, Was #3

Capps hits the throttle, loses traction and gives up on the run quickly. Gray gets about 500 feet out, strikes the tires and backs off the throttle.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 5.047/151.41, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.030/318.77, Was #2
Right Lane: John Force Runs 7.646/85.38, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.021/317.72, Was #1

A repeat of the last pair, Force goes up in smoke about 100 feet out, hight makes it about 500 feet and goes up in smoke.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink