Sun, 22 Sep 2013, 16:12 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 28th annual AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    9 John Force                              7 Robert Hight                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.085  4.150 282.19                     0.068  4.836 194.83
 Prior rounds:
E2    (T Pedregon  ) 0.069  4.101 311.27      (J Gray      ) 0.100  4.593 240.12
E1    (C Force     ) 0.087  4.069 311.49      (D Worsham   ) 0.087  4.067 313.37
 Qualified:            #12  4.174 297.94                        #1  4.052 311.85

3:04 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 86 degrees, relative humidity 35 percent, barometer 29.28 inches, adjusted altitude 3,122 feet, track temperature 127 degrees.

Hight is 14 - 13 against Force in prior events.

Hight is second in the points, Force is fourth.

Hight gets out of the gate first, then gets about 200 feet out and loses traction. Force goes right down the groove with a good pass for the conditions and moves on to the finals.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Cruz Pedregon                           1 Jack Beckman                 
E3   ****WINNER****  0.119  4.135 297.29                     0.077  4.551 209.95
 Prior rounds:
E2    (B Tasca III ) 0.091  4.097 310.05      (M Hagan     ) 0.097  4.131 304.19
E1    (B Alexander ) 0.116  4.106 307.58      (A DeJoria   ) 0.106  4.107 306.26
 Qualified:             #2  4.092 304.32                        #6  4.122 306.12

Pedregon and Beckman have each won 11 times against the other in prior events.

Beckman is third in points but will have to win this round to stay in front of Force. Pedregon is fifth in points.

Beckman gets off the line first, stays in front to the 330 foot mark, then strikes the tires and falls behind. Pedregon goes right down the groove to take the win.

Cruz Pedregon's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.043), 330 ft(-0.049), 660ft(0.130). MOV: 0.3741 seconds (more than 100 feet).

With the loss, Force goes around Beckman to take over third in the points and Pedregon moves into fourth.

Pedregon will have lane choice over Force in the final round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink