Sun, 13 Nov 2016, 15:07 PM Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations |
By David Gerard |
POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 52nd annual Auto Club NHRA Finals:
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
7 John Force 71 Cruz Pedregon
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.045 3.964 327.98 -0.126 4.075 317.19
Qualified: #4 3.879 330.96 #13 3.950 319.37
11:24 a.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 81 degrees, relative humidity 28 percent,
barometer 28.98 inches, adjusted altitude 2,948 feet, track temperature 100 degrees.John Force has won this race 8 times and that is the most in the Funny Car class. He has run in over 1800 rounds so far and has a career win record of almost 70%. Over 74% in round one encounters. Cruz Pedregon won this race in 2008 & 2012. He is making his 985th first round appearance, with a 55% career win record. Almost 60% in round one. This is the 101st meeting between these two and that is the most head-to-head matches by any two drivers in any pro class.
Force has a black Camaro body on the car today, after last night's encounter with the wall. He makes a clean and straight pass right on down the track for the win.
Pedregon was way early and then gets really close to the wall down track.
John Force's
incremental times: 60ft-0.919 sec., 330ft-2.299, 660ft-3.219/279.44 mph.
Cruz Pedregon's
incremental times: 60ft-0.968 sec., 330ft-2.386, 660ft-3.313/277.15 mph.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 303 John Bojec 2 Jack Beckman E1 No Time ****WINNER**** 0.078 No Time Qualified: #16 4.029 301.00 #1 3.825 332.10Number one qualifier and track ET and speed record holder, Beckman, comes into to today's eliminations with a career round win record of 60%. He has a first round advantage of over 68%. He won the only first round match up with Bojec. Bojec would have been making his seventeenth appearance in eliminations, but engine damage from last night way too severe and he is a nos show.
Beckman tests the starting line and fails!
Instant smoke at the green and then the car stops on the track about 300 feet out.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 746 Courtney Force 703 Jim Campbell E1 ****WINNER**** 0.095 4.137 260.56 -0.074 6.610 96.98 Qualified: #2 3.869 324.83 #15 3.977 302.82Force is making her 240th round of racing this morning with a 54% win record. Almost 57% in round one. Campbell is making his eleventh first round appearance with one win to date.
Campbell goes red. Force has a cylinder drop early in the pass and she keeps the car centered in her lane for the win. An ugly win is still a win.
Courtney Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.909 sec., 330ft-2.332,
660ft-3.282/269.51 mph.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 139 Dave Richards 3 Tommy Johnson Jr. E1 0.119 6.365 112.99 ****WINNER**** 0.069 4.373 235.23 Qualified: #14 3.975 316.60 #3 3.873 326.95Tommy Johnson has two runner-up finishes at this event including last year. He has won almost half of all of the rounds he has raced to date. About 54% in round one. Dave Richards is the 80th different driver that Tommy has faced in his career. He is making his seventeenth first round start with one win to date.
Another ugly win! Johnson is away first and has the tires loose before the 660 lights. He slaps the pedals a bunch and gets to the finish first.
Richards Was way loose early and stayed with too long. the car moves towards the wall and then gets tail happy, when he lifts. A real hands full pass.
Dave Richards' incremental times:
60ft-0.931 sec., 330ft-2.720, 660ft-4.441/131.73 mph.
Tommy Johnson Jr.'s incremental times:
60ft-0.872 sec., 330ft-2.246, 660ft-3.395/216.34 mph.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 28 Ron Capps 3111 Chad Head E1 ****WINNER**** 0.094 4.140 234.90 0.064 8.634 70.32 Qualified: #5 3.883 323.66 #12 3.945 325.06Ron Capps won here to start the year and now that he has clinched the championship he would love to finish the year with another win here. Ron has never won this race. He starts the day with 1,038 rounds of racing and that is 5th best among all pro drivers. He has a careen win record of over 60% and almost 62% in round one races. Chad Head has over 100 rounds of racing already, with almost a 29% win record.
Another crazy race. Head's has the tires come loose early and he is done.
Capps looks to be on another strong pass until near the 660 foot lights, where the back end gets loose and wants to pass the front. It's an abrupt move and Capps had his hands full.
Force will have lane choice in round two.
Ron
Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.866 sec., 330ft-2.225, 660ft-3.192/249.03 mph.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
6 Robert Hight 116 Paul Lee
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.072 3.929 326.40 0.038 4.460 195.28
Qualified: #6 3.889 329.75 #11 3.935 305.36
Robert Hight won here in 2007. He ran the quickest pass of the weekend last night, but the time
was DQ'ed, when he clipped the final reflector at 1000ft. He has a career round win record of
almost 62%. Almost 66% in round one races.
Lee is filling in for Alexia DeJoria this weekend. She is still experiencing concussion symptoms
from Vegas 2. This is his 55th first round appearence and has won almost 25% of them.Lee gets a big head start and leads Hight until after the 330 lights. The tires get loose and he is done.
Hight makes the best pass of the session. Clean and straight to the finish line. He will keep lane choice over Johnson in round two.
Robert Hight's incremental margins (negative if behind): 60ft(-0.027), 330 ft(-0.016), 660ft(0.103). MOV: 0.4976 seconds (more than 100 feet).
Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.881 sec., 330ft-2.255, 660ft-3.181/278.52
mph.
Paul Lee's incremental times: 60ft-0.888 sec., 330ft-2.273, 660ft-3.318/215.82
mph.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
5 Matt Hagan 170 Jeff Arend
E1 0.071 6.367 118.41 ****WINNER**** 0.101 3.971 314.97
Qualified: #7 3.894 329.83 #10 3.930 317.19
Hagan has a career win record of almost 60% of his races. Almost 70% in round one.
Jeff Arend was runner-up here in 2010. He already has run over 300 rounds of eliminations.Hagan gets a small lead off the line and then has to start slapping the pedal well before the 330 lights. Doesn't work.
Arend drives the track straight and smooth for the win a capturing lane choice over Courtney Force in the next round.
Jeff Arend's incremental times: 60ft-0.895 sec., 330ft-2.284,
660ft-3.213/276.52 mph.
Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed 10 Tim Wilkerson 1 Del Worsham E1 ****WINNER**** 0.069 3.922 325.77 0.071 6.290 108.28 Qualified: #9 3.920 328.38 #8 3.912 327.35Del Worsham has three Funny Car wins at this event (and one Top Fuel). He is the defending event champion. In the history of this event only two drivers, Matt Hagan and Kenny Bernstein, have ever won the Funny Car crown in back-to-back years. He has won almost 55% of all of his races and has a round one win advantage of over 60%. He has won eleven of the twenty-one first round encounters with Wilkerson. Wilkerson is running his 743rd round of competition with a 48% win record. Over 52% in round one pairings.
Worsham has lane choice and decided to move over to the right lane after Arend's pass. Well, that didn't work! He is just 0.02 behind at the green, but the car moves hard left at the green and then smokes the tires.
Wilkerson takes advantage of the left lane and powers on down the track to make the quickest pass of the session. He will have lane choice over Beckman next round.
Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.870 sec., 330ft-2.259, 660ft-3.178/280.72 mph.
11:53 a.m.
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