Sun, 12 Feb 2017, 17:50 PM Funny Car Round 3 Eliminations

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 57th annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    6 Courtney Force                          4 John Force                   
E3   ****WINNER****  0.054  3.872 326.24                     0.066  3.886 328.54
 Prior rounds:
E2    (J Todd      ) 0.066  3.892 326.08      (T Johnson Jr) 0.068  3.884 329.67
E1    (J Campbell  ) 0.077  6.610 105.68      (P Burkart Jr) 0.094  3.897 328.38
 Qualified:             #3  3.849 330.23                        #2  3.849 335.15

2:36 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 74 degrees, relative humidity 41 percent, barometer 28.89 inches, adjusted altitude 2,672 feet, track temperature 101 degrees.

J. Force is 14 - 7 against C. Force in prior events. John has won all of the last eight encounters. The top four qualifiers all made it to this race.

Courtney leaves first and stays first right on down the track to the finish line and scores a place in the final round. Great looking pass.

John Force made a great pass too, but had to watch the back of Courtney's Camaro all the way down the track.

Courtney Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.883 sec., 330ft-2.238, 660ft-3.135/285.41 mph. John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.886 sec., 330ft-2.240, 660ft-3.146/286.13 mph.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Ron Capps                               3 Matt Hagan                   
E3                  -0.129  4.068 244.60     ****WINNER****  0.050  4.290 207.50
 Prior rounds:
E2    (D Worsham   ) 0.067  3.898 325.22      (J Beckman   ) 0.045  3.882 329.18
E1    (B Bode      ) 0.075  3.880 329.10      (J Diehl     ) 0.072  3.885 331.77
 Qualified:             #4  3.850 325.85                        #1  3.822 335.57

Capps is 25 - 16 against Hagan in prior events. This will ensure a DSR and JFR match up in the final round.

Capps goes red by a bunch and then Hagan starts to drop cylinder after the 330 lights. The Charger starts to push hard towards the center line. NHRA does a close inspection of the track where he got "close" and announces that he didn't cross. There will likely be a lot of traffic on the Internet over this!

2:45 p.m. Courtney Force will have lane choice in the final round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink