Sat, 28 Sep 2019, 19:54 PM Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Dave Rowe

MADISON, Ill. - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, eighth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest 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:

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Left Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. No Time, Now #17; Best prior run: 4.258/237.05, Was #17
Right Lane: Jack Wyatt No Time, Now #18; Best prior run: 7.335/98.44, Was #18

6:05 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 82 degrees, relative humidity 68 percent, barometer 29.52 inches, adjusted altitude 2,902 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.

Wyatt hits the throttle and the car makes a move to the right. He gets about 400 feet out, backs off the throttle, but the rear of the car tags the wall.

Creasy gets out of the groove, the car makes a hard move to the right and he crosses over the centerline in front of Wyatt. Lucky for Wyatt he had backed off of the throttle or there could have been a collision. Creasy goes on through in the right lane and neither driver receives a time.

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Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.014/320.05, Now #14; Best prior run: 4.047/314.97, Was #15

Pedregon goes right down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend but he is still off of the pace. He runs well enough to move up a spot in the order to 14th.

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Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 3.877/332.84, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.012/323.50, Was #13

Capps goes right down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend and he goes all the way to the third spot in the order.

Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.851 sec., 330ft-2.219, 660ft-3.140/281.48 mph.

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Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.128/236.17, Now #11; Best prior run: 3.949/309.91, Was #11
Right Lane: Bob Bode Runs 4.009/320.58, Now #13; Best prior run: 3.967/322.96, Was #13

Wilkerson leaves the line and has a hint of green coming out of the right side headers. He gets about 600 feet down, the engine explodes and the body flies high into the air. He comes to a stop in the shutdown area, the car looks like a roadster and the blower is leaning to the left. Wilkerson gets out under his own power and appears to be okay.

Bode makes a clean pass but doesn't improve.

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Left Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 3.890/333.58, Now #5; Best prior run: 3.940/329.83, Was #10
Right Lane: Blake Alexander Runs 3.999/319.37, Now #12; Best prior run: 3.960/323.43, Was #12

Todd goes down the groove with his quickest pass of the weekend and he moves up to the fifth spot in the order. Alexander makes a clean pass but doesn't improve.

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Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 3.894/326.16, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.916/329.99, Was #9
Right Lane: Shawn Langdon Runs 3.905/330.72, Now #8; Best prior run: 3.923/329.50, Was #10

Beckman makes a good pass, header flames high and steady all the way through the run, and he moves up to the sixth spot. langdon makes his quickest pass of the weekend and he moves up to the eighth spot for now.

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Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 3.889/324.59, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.911/324.12, Was #10
Right Lane: John Force Runs 3.842/334.40, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.911/329.18, Was #9

Force goes down the groove with an impressive run to take the top spot for now.

John Force's incremental times: 60ft-0.867 sec., 330ft-2.216, 660ft-3.112/288.70 mph.

Johnson makes his quickest pass of the weekend and he moves up to the sixth spot.

Tommy Johnson Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.860 sec., 330ft-2.224, 660ft-3.143/279.85 mph.

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Left Lane: Jonnie Lindberg Runs 7.917/81.35, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.878/328.46, Was #5
Right Lane: Bob Tasca III Runs 3.855/327.51, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.897/331.69, Was #9

Lindberg has traction problems at the hit and is off the throttle quickly. tasca goes down the groove with a clean, straight pass, his quickest of the weekend, and he moves up to the third spot for now.

Bob Tasca III's incremental times: 60ft-0.859 sec., 330ft-2.217, 660ft-3.119/287.53 mph.

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Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 3.877/331.61, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.877/334.90, Was #4
Right Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 3.889/333.91, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.854/333.08, Was #2

A good side-by-side, both right down the groove, header flames high and steady all the way through. Hight equals his best time of the weekend and stays in the fourth spot. hagan doesn't improve and will start from the second spot.

Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.866 sec., 330ft-2.233, 660ft-3.143/282.60 mph.


Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.868 sec., 330ft-2.245, 660ft-3.155/284.69 mph.

Force hangs on to the top spot, the fourth time this year and the 159th in his career.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink