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Sat, 29 Oct 2016, 21:44 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Dave Rowe

LAS VEGAS - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 16th annual NHRA Toyota 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: Jim Campbell Runs 4.348/285.59, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.427/154.62, Was #21
Right Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 8.750/77.62, Now #23; Best prior run: 29.374/55.26, Was #24

5:24 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 82 degrees, relative humidity 40 percent, barometer 27.82 inches, adjusted altitude 4,606 feet, track temperature 93 degrees.

Burkart is out of power early and will not qualify. Campbell was mixing up cylinders a little near the end of the run.

Left Lane: Anthony Begley Runs 10.173/90.18, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.183/149.33, Was #21
Right Lane: John Hale Runs 4.031/318.62, Now #15; Best prior run: 20.880/160.90, Was #24

Begley hits the throttle and goes up in smoke. Hale goes right down the groove with a good pass and gets in the show in the 15th spot.

The 4.04 bump makes this the quickest field in Funny Car history.

Left Lane: Brandon Welch No Time, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.204/292.58, Was #18
Right Lane: Jon Capps Runs 4.491/206.42, Now #20; Best prior run: 5.623/124.46, Was #23

Welch did not come to the line to make a pass this round and will not be racing tomorrow.
Capps was on a decent pass but started getting pushed to the right. He gets about 500 feet out, the front wheels come off the ground and he makes a move toward the wall. He backs off the throttle, the wheels come down hard and he starts steering the car to the left. The car made a quick move to the left after the finish line, hits the wall pretty hard, then comes to a stop in the shutdown area.

Video from the top end shows Capps out of the vehicle and walking around.

Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 7.018/92.98, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.045/302.55, Was #16
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 6.676/102.81, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.024/152.14, Was #22

Densham hits the throttle, strikes the tires and gives up on the run. Arend rattles the tires early and has to abort the run.

Left Lane: John Bojec No Time, Now #14; Best prior run: 3.990/316.23, Was #14
Right Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.146/298.40, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.590/251.63, Was #21

Bojec was at the water box and decided not to make a pass when he realized he could not be bumped from the field.
Bode makes a clean pass, makes his quickest pass of the weekend but does not make the show.

Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 4.248/217.14, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.986/312.13, Was #13
Right Lane: Dave Richards Runs 6.211/106.39, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.121/305.91, Was #17

Richards had traction problems early and backed off the throttle. Lee was drifting to the right, gets close to the centerline, then wisely backed off the throttle about 700 feet out.

Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 3.991/295.92, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.952/318.99, Was #12
Right Lane: Chad Head Runs 3.994/322.19, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.923/326.24, Was #10

Pedregon was on a good pass but gets about 950 feet out and the flames go out, not sure why. Head went right down the groove, header flames high and steady all the way through the run but he doesn't improve.

Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 3.871/327.43, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.943/312.21, Was #11
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 6.795/101.47, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.895/325.69, Was #6

Worsham goes up in smoke off the line and clicks it off early. Beckman goes right down the groove with the quickest pass of the weekend, sets the track record and takes over the top spot for now.

Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 5.016/150.13, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.917/319.90, Was #10
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 3.906/319.52, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.888/324.36, Was #6

Johnson gets about 300 feet out, strikes the tires and aborts the run. Wilkerson goes right down the groove with a good run but doesn't improve.

Left Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 5.678/123.55, Now #9; Best prior run: 3.909/326.32, Was #9
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 3.897/324.12, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.881/326.71, Was #4

DeJoria hit the wall in the last round but there wasn't too much damage to the car and they were able to make it back for this session.

DeJoria hits the throttle, starts hazing the tires about 300 feet out and backs off the throttle. Capps went right down the groove with a good pass but did not improve.

Left Lane: Courtney Force Runs 6.858/92.18, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.905/325.69, Was #8
Right Lane: John Force Runs 3.885/328.54, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.876/331.94, Was #3

Courtney gets about 300 feet out and goes up in smoke. John makes another good pass but doesn't improve.

Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 4.547/181.47, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.885/312.28, Was #5
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 5.834/121.78, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.872/329.18, Was #2

Hagan gets about 300 feet out, goes up in smoke and aborts the run. Hight gets a little further before suffering the same fate.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink