Sat, 03 Oct 2015, 15:21 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, 31st annual NHRA Keystone Nationals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

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Left Lane: John Bojec Runs 10.426/69.33, Now #1
Right Lane: Paul Lee No Time, Now #2

2:49 p.m. - Weather conditions: air temperature 56 degrees, relative humidity 71 percent, barometer 29.63 inches, adjusted altitude 674 feet, track temperature 60 degrees.

Lee's car is sporting the U.S. Male colors from the 1970s. Lee's car launched, backfired, the blower popped up, the burst panel came off, the chutes came out and the car hopped before coming to a rest at the 330 foot marker. Bojec's car launched, shook the tires hard and he got off the throttle and coasted the final 800 feet of his run.

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Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 11.080/81.39, Now #3
Right Lane: Chad Head Runs 9.649/69.48, Now #1

Pedregon launched, the car got up on the rear tires and he clicked it off. Head's car got out about 60 feet, shook the rear tires and he clicked it off.

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Left Lane: John Hale No Time, Now #6
Right Lane: Courtney Force Runs 9.874/66.36, Now #2

Force had a strong launch but the car shook the rear tires before she passed the tree. She clicked it off and coasted down the track. Hale's car shook the tries so hard on launch that the chutes popped out and the car shut off. He coasted to mid track and stopped without recording an ET.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 3.922/329.34, Now #1
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 7.717/84.76, Now #2

Hight and his crew had this track figured out...zooming to the top of the order and setting new career best marks for speed and ET and new track records for speed and ET. Like the other drivers before him, Wilkerson launched and his car shook the rear tires hard just after he launched.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 9.344/65.01, Now #3
Right Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 13.036/76.76, Now #8

DeJoria's car is in hot pink for breast cancer awareness ... it even has bright pink chutes. Her car launched and immediately shook the tires and clicked off. Pedregon got out about 100 feet before his car shook the tires and he clicked off.

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Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.218/318.17, Now #2
Right Lane: John Force Runs 9.594/71.07, Now #5

Capps launched, shook the rear tires and got off the throttle at 100 feet, then got back on the throttle to finish the run. Force's car shook the tires hard at the same spot but stayed off the throttle.

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Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 5.440/203.12, Now #3
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 10.022/71.26, Now #9

Both cars shook the rear tires about 200 feet out. Beckman pedaled the throttle rest of the way down the track while Johnson clicked it off and coasted.

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Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 8.170/103.23, Now #5
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 8.172/84.23, Now #6

Hagan launched, got off the throttle, pedaled it to 330 feet, then got off the throttle again. Worsham ran it out to about 100 feet, then coasted. Both drivers got back on the throttle just before they reached the finish line. Hight was the only Funny Car driver to make it all the way down the track without pedaling. He's in the top spot in the order by a wide margin.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink