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Fri, 26 Jul 2013, 23:45 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

SONOMA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 26th annual NHRA Sonoma 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:

Left Lane: Josh Crawford Runs 5.276/152.50, Now #17; No Prior Run

7:26 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 47 percent, barometer 29.96 inches, adjusted altitude 1,835 feet, track temperature 96 degrees.

Ron Capps is number one at 4.053 and Todd Lesenko is on the bump spot at 4.396. Crawford will make a single pass again.

The Charger leaves hard and then he has to slap the pedal right after the 60 foot lights. He gets after it again, but there are dropped cylinders and "stuff" from the motor.

The asphalt Zambonis are out working the left lane from the starting line to right at the 660 lights. Half way to the top of the hill, there is fire bottle liquid on the track that needs to get cleaned up too. Messy!

Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 9.638/64.94, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.078/146.89, Was #16
Right Lane: Jeff Diehl No Time, Now #18; No Prior Run

7:47 p.m. Well, that took a while!

Gray gets to just past the 60 foot lights and kicks the tires.

Diehl was on a good pass, but the car drifted steadily towards the center line and nail the 660 ET and MPH reflectors.

Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 7.832/75.41, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.702/176.17, Was #14
Right Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 8.762/77.01, Now #19; No Prior Run

8:05 p.m. It's getting cool fast! Weather conditions: air temperature 64 degrees, relative humidity 66 percent, barometer 29.96 inches, adjusted altitude 913 feet, track temperature 86 degrees.

After the clean up, NHRA temporarily stopped qualifying long enough for the sun to drop low enough to not be shining directly into the driver's eyes.

Both cars rattled the tires right off the line and slowed together.

Left Lane: Jeff Arend No Time, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.662/178.07, Was #13
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.102/302.89, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.068/146.42, Was #16

Arend fires and falls back. No power off the line and likely a broken blower belt. He pulls over to the wall and stops.

Pedregon makes it look easy with great looking flames from the engine right on down the track and into the top half of the field. Safe and clean!

Cruz Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.886 sec., 330ft-2.300, 660ft-3.293/257.28 mph.

Left Lane: Todd Lesenko Runs 4.165/304.87, Now #12; Best prior run: 4.396/285.11, Was #13
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.145/298.27, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.203/262.33, Was #11

Jon Capps is on the bump spot at 4.301.

Two great looking passes this time and Pedregon moves further from the dump with a near perfect pass. After a great start, the flames go down right before the lights.

Lesenko runs a season best ET and it's good enough to move up into the new bump spot.

Todd Lesenko's incremental times: 60ft-0.906 sec., 330ft-2.359, 660ft-3.360/256.99 mph.
Tony Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.901 sec., 330ft-2.332, 660ft-3.329/256.11 mph.

Left Lane: Jon Capps Runs 4.352/269.51, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.301/260.01, Was #13
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.055/304.32, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.158/297.61, Was #11

Capps was just bumped out by Lesenko, but won't get back in. He makes a good pass until near the light and the flames quickly disappear.

Densham continues to amaze with a terrific pass right on up the ladder into the new number two spot, with header flames over the roof. Nice!

Jon Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.400, 660ft-3.465/240.42 mph.
Gary Densham's incremental times: 60ft-0.886 sec., 330ft-2.293, 660ft-3.259/264.39 mph.

Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 3.986/320.51, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.120/305.84, Was #9
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.026/314.09, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.157/304.87, Was #11

POW! Hagen takes no prisoners and makes the second quickest and the sixth fastest pass in Funny Car history to set the first half of a new national record. Career bests of course.

Wilkerson gets no respect in the right lane, as he runs his career best ET and moves into the number two position. Lots of green flames in the lights, so there was more to get!

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.874 sec., 330ft-2.271, 660ft-3.221/273.11 mph.
Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.887 sec., 330ft-2.291, 660ft-3.249/268.97 mph.

Left Lane: Courtney Force Runs 4.057/314.46, Now #6; Best prior run: 4.117/304.25, Was #10
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 3.994/319.67, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.092/307.72, Was #7

...and the hits coming! Beckman runs another three second pass in the other lane and resets his season best speed to drop in right behind teammate Hagen in the number two spot.

Force makes another strong pass right behind him to move into the current top half of the field.

Courtney Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.892 sec., 330ft-2.301, 660ft-3.274/263.92 mph.
Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.882 sec., 330ft-2.277, 660ft-3.229/271.13 mph.

Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.025/316.60, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.104/305.22, Was #10
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 8.517/72.63, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.080/307.23, Was #7

Force has a strong pony and flies on down the track and into the #3 spot. There were some funny header flames on the top end and he used a lot of track getting there, but he's now the quick Ford here, so far.

Tasca was loaded for bear, but went over center on traction about 100 feet out and slowed.

John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.885 sec., 330ft-2.291, 660ft-3.251/268.81 mph.

Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.058/311.41, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.082/308.07, Was #9
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.012/312.50, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.053/308.85, Was #5

Capps makes a valiant effort and just misses the threes on a great looking pass behind his teammates in the number three position.

Lots of header flames from both cars going down the track and Hight picks up speed and ET to move into the final number eight spot of the day.

Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.879 sec., 330ft-2.290, 660ft-3.269/263.31 mph.
Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.875 sec., 330ft-2.271, 660ft-3.230/268.54 mph.

8:36 p.m. Matt Hagan is number one with a 3.986 and Todd Lesenko is on the bump spot at 4.165.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink