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Sat, 12 Nov 2016, 21:11 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 52nd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals 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: John Hale Runs 7.552/70.85, Now #22; Best prior run: 4.390/206.51, Was #22
Right Lane: Brandon Welch Runs 4.824/172.01, Now #21; Best prior run: 4.249/246.03, Was #21

4:57 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 78 degrees, relative humidity 27 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude 2,904 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.

Jack Beckman is number one at 3.865 and Jon Capps is on the bump spot at 4.053. After a couple of long delays in Top Fuel, is full dark now and the track lights are on.

No joy for either driver. Welch gets away first and is off the throttle early.

Hale smoked the tires right off the line and coasted on down the track. The car stops on the track before the top end turnout and the engine is still running. The Safety Safari guys try to put extinguisher though the injectors, but the header flames come right back up again. They finally quit and the car can get pushed off the track. Weird!

Left Lane: Anthony Begley Runs 4.145/284.27, Now #20; Best prior run: 4.191/286.50, Was #20
Right Lane: Jon Capps Runs 10.868/79.80, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.053/307.44, Was #16

Capp's Impala strikes the tires hard at the green.

Begley makes his best pass of the weekend, but it's not enough for the bump. His crew seemed happy though.

Anthony Begley's incremental times: 60ft-0.908 sec., 330ft-2.343, 660ft-3.330/261.27 mph.

Left Lane: Dave Richards Runs 3.975/316.60, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.110/294.50, Was #19
Right Lane: John Bojec No Time, Now #16; Best prior run: 4.029/301.00, Was #15

Richard makes his best pass of the weekend by a bunch and sets a new career best ET and Speed to move up five spots into the new #14 spot.

Bojec wanted off the bump. He gets a big lead off the line and then has a huge explosion right before the tree. Lot of pieces and parts on the track.

Dave Richards' incremental times: 60ft-0.889 sec., 330ft-2.249, 660ft-3.201/268.60 mph.

5:04 p.m. Clean up time!

Left Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.229/243.55, Now #19; Best prior run: 4.103/268.44, Was #19
Right Lane: Jim Campbell Runs 4.071/258.71, Now #15; Best prior run: 3.977/302.82, Was #15

5:14 p.m. Back to qualifying. There was no liquid on the track, just a lot of small pieces!

Bode needs to run a lot better than his career best to get into the field. He gets away first and then has the car drive towards the center line. He gets close, and puts a wheel on the stripe after the 1000 foot lights. He wisely lifted early.

Campbell has a strong leave and runs hard to near the 660 lights. The fronted gets light and then the blower goes bang and sends the burst panel flying.

Bob Bode's incremental times: 60ft-0.915 sec., 330ft-2.345, 660ft-3.317/261.57 mph.
Jim Campbell's incremental times: 60ft-0.891 sec., 330ft-2.274, 660ft-3.191/276.07 mph.

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.085/249.30, Now #18; Best prior run: 4.071/268.33, Was #18
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 6.569/97.75, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.950/319.37, Was #13

Densham was well on his was to his first three second run, but the car drives hard towards the centerline. He has to lift and will not qualify. That keeps Jon Capps on the bump.

Pedregon's engine was too strong for the track and is up in smoke right off the line.

Gary Densham's incremental times: 60ft-0.871 sec., 330ft-2.242, 660ft-3.192/268.12 mph.

Left Lane: Chad Head Runs 7.307/83.59, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.945/325.06, Was #12
Right Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 5.803/120.90, Now #10; Best prior run: 3.930/317.19, Was #10

Both cars drive right into smoke together before the 330 lights.

Left Lane: Paul Lee Runs 3.941/320.89, Now #11; Best prior run: 3.935/305.36, Was #11
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 6.579/119.69, Now #9; Best prior run: 3.920/328.38, Was #9

Lee makes another three second pass. Four in a row. A little less ET to stay #11.

Wilkerson continues to work on low end launch and kicks the tires before 100 feet.

Paul Lee's incremental times: 60ft-0.890 sec., 330ft-2.267, 660ft-3.187/281.07 mph.

Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 3.970/294.75, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.912/327.35, Was #8
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 3.873/326.95, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.892/326.00, Was #6

Worsham makes a strong pass and moves towards the wall on the top end. He is off the throttle a little early and won't improve.

Great pass for Johnson. He is away first and pulls hard to the lights to move up three positions to #3 for now.

Del Worsham's incremental times: 60ft-0.881 sec., 330ft-2.275, 660ft-3.197/280.25 mph.
Tommy Johnson Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.875 sec., 330ft-2.222, 660ft-3.129/280.78 mph.

Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 3.908/330.72, Now #7; Best prior run: 3.894/329.83, Was #7
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 3.890/325.45, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.883/323.66, Was #5

Capps puts the final nail in the rest of the teams' coffin with this pass. He gets a big lead off the line and runs right ahead of Hagan to the finish line to stay #5. After four prior "Bridesmaid" rolls, he is the 2016 Funny Car Champion. Terrific!!

Hagan gives it his best and follows closely behind Capps right to the finish line and makes his fastest pass of the weekend. It's not quite as quick as his prior best, but a great looking pass to stay #7.

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.871 sec., 330ft-2.257, 660ft-3.172/283.07 mph.
Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.876 sec., 330ft-2.234, 660ft-3.145/281.66 mph.

Left Lane: Robert Hight No Time, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.889/329.75, Was #6
Right Lane: John Force No Time, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.879/330.96, Was #4

Team JFR comes to the line.

Force is away first and makes a great looking pass until near the top end where the Camaro moved hard towards the wall and bangs against it right after the finish line. He puts a 3.875 on the score board.

Hight has the Good News, Bad News run. He has a huge pass to move up to the top of the ladder with a 3.858 ET. The bad news: the header just clipped the last reflector at 1000 feet and both runs are DQ"ed. Hight will stay #6 and Force will stay #4.

Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.858 sec., 330ft-2.211, 660ft-3.116/284.27 mph.
John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.865 sec., 330ft-2.225, 660ft-3.136/281.54 mph.

Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 3.825/332.10, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.865/332.84, Was #1
Right Lane: Courtney Force Runs 4.935/149.40, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.869/324.83, Was #2

Force is on a good pass until after the 330 lights and the has the tries start to smoke. She has to lift.

Beckman gets a major lead off the line and thunders on down the track to take back the number one position and set another track ET record. He also set the track and career best speed records earlier. This is the second quickest pass in Funny Car history and a career best ET.

A terrific pass to wrap up 2016 qualifying!

Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.855 sec., 330ft-2.201, 660ft-3.097/287.84 mph.

6:00 p.m. John Bojec is on the bump spot at 4.029.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink