Fri, 04 Oct 2013, 14:35 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Jim Samuel

MOHNTON, Pa. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 29th annual Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: Mike Smith Runs 7.254/92.94, Now #2
Right Lane: Paul Lee Runs 5.703/126.90, Now #1

1:57 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 82 degrees, relative humidity 56 percent, barometer 29.45 inches, adjusted altitude 2,842 feet, track temperature 107 degrees.

Lee was running a tribute to Bobby Lagana Sr. on his car. Both drivers launched, both shook the tires and both shut down by the time they reached 330 feet, with Lee running just a bit further before he clicked it off.

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Left Lane: Blake Alexander Runs 4.167/299.06, Now #2
Right Lane: Chad Head Runs 4.109/307.16, Now #1

Head and Alexander went right down the groove with a pair of nice runs.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.222/292.77, Now #3
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 10.408/64.77, Now #6

Arend launched and smoked the tires out of the gate. His car made a hard move to the right and then he clicked it off. Pedregon's car went down the groove in a clean run.

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Left Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 4.118/307.02, Now #2
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 7.393/88.62, Now #7

Racing resumed after a 10 minute delay to clean up after Arend.Tasca spun the rear tires at mid track and clicked it off. DeJoria took her car straight down the groove in a good run.

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Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.084/313.37, Now #1
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.165/308.28, Now #4

Worsham and Wilkerson both took their cars down the groove to take the number one and number four spots in the order for now.

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Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 4.097/309.91, Now #3
Right Lane: Courtney Force Runs 4.071/318.54, Now #1

Both cars went right down the groove with a pari of clean runs. Force took over the top spot in the order, Gray took the number three spot.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 5.290/137.74, Now #10
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.077/311.13, Now #2

Capps' car popped the blower just past the 330 foot markers. Pedregon had a good run and is in the number two spot in the order.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 5.530/128.26, Now #12
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.078/313.95, Now #3

Hight's car went up in smoke at mid-track and he shut it down. Beckman had a clean run and is in the number three spot for now.

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Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.032/317.12, Now #1
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 4.123/303.84, Now #9

Both drivers just had clean runs down the track. Force took over the number one spot, Hagan had to settle for number nine.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink