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Fri, 07 Feb 2020, 19:20 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #2

By David Gerard

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 2 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 60th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com 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: Paul Lee Runs 3.910/332.92, Now #5; Best prior run: 11.417/72.82, Was #14
Right Lane: Bob Bode Runs 3.984/320.89, Now #8; No Prior Run

3:41 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 73 degrees, relative humidity 33 percent, barometer 28.90 inches, adjusted altitude 2,509 feet, track temperature 94 degrees.

Matt Hagan is number one at 3.867 and field not filled, no bump yet.

First attempt for Bode and it's a clean one to put him in the current top half of the field. The chutes are late, but he gets the Mustang whoa'ed without a problem. Bob Bode was charged with an oildown, #1 for the season. That will cost 5 points.

Lee gets a full pass this time and it is a strong one, for top speed of the event at almost 333 MPH. That is good enough to move him up nine spots to number five. Career best speed to boot.

Paul Lee's incremental times: 60ft-0.871 sec., 330ft-2.245, 660ft-3.172/281.42 mph.
Bob Bode's incremental times: 60ft-0.876 sec., 330ft-2.293, 660ft-3.230/276.75 mph.

Left Lane: Alex Miladinovich Runs 4.554/246.71, Now #13; Best prior run: 7.359/91.61, Was #14
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 10.951/75.01, Now #16; No Prior Run

Pedregon blows the tires off right at the hit, but he posts an ET to get him into the field in the bump spot.

Miladinovich leaves hard and runs down the track with the Camry pulling steadily towards the wall. He finally has to give it up and will still move up a spot to #13. His best career times, so far.

Alex Miladinovich's incremental times: 60ft-0.990 sec., 330ft-2.551, 660ft-3.629/240.94 mph.

Left Lane: Steven Densham Runs 4.361/205.35, Now #13; Best prior run: 4.504/197.57, Was #12
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 3.947/324.12, Now #6; Best prior run: 8.540/83.02, Was #15

Capps gets to the lights this time under power and runs into the three second zone to boot. That is a nine position improvement!

Densham was on a good pass, but had his Mustang drove towards the center line down track and he had to lift. That drops him back a spot to #13.

Ron Capps' incremental times: 60ft-0.869 sec., 330ft-2.260, 660ft-3.198/277.89 mph.

Right Lane: Jim Campbell Runs 5.215/149.61, Now #15; Best prior run: 4.930/173.76, Was #15

Campbell has a good leave and then has the engine get unhappy after the 330 lights. He gives it up early and coasts on down.

Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 3.918/322.96, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.951/322.73, Was #8
Right Lane: John Force Runs 8.504/80.38, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.130/302.28, Was #11

Force fires and falls back with another "not so good" pass.

No problems for Wilkerson as he powers right on down the track to pick up two positions to number six.

Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.874 sec., 330ft-2.261, 660ft-3.175/284.21 mph.

Left Lane: J.R. Todd Runs 3.914/327.11, Now #6; Best prior run: 3.950/327.51, Was #8
Right Lane: Alexis DeJoria Runs 3.983/325.37, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.048/284.93, Was #10

Two strong passes and both drivers improve.

Todd is away first and pull steadily ahead to the finish line and moves up two spots to the number six spot.

Del Worsham, DeJoria's crew chief, continues to improve the tune up and she drives into the three second zone and moves up a spot to number nine.

J.R. Todd's incremental times: 60ft-0.872 sec., 330ft-2.253, 660ft-3.171/281.95 mph.
Alexis DeJoria's incremental times: 60ft-0.897 sec., 330ft-2.291, 660ft-3.233/275.34 mph.

Left Lane: Robert Hight Runs 3.885/330.31, Now #3; Best prior run: 3.890/330.31, Was #3
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 3.906/323.12, Now #4; Best prior run: 3.905/318.02, Was #4

Another two strong and clean passes, with both cars running close to their prior best.

Johnson gets a narrow 0.004 second advantage off the line and runs just 0.001 off of his prior best to stay #4, with a little better speed.

Hight finds 0.005 in ET and matches his prior speed to stay #3.

Robert Hight's incremental times: 60ft-0.878 sec., 330ft-2.250, 660ft-3.148/287.11 mph.
Tommy Johnson Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.870 sec., 330ft-2.236, 660ft-3.155/277.49 mph.

Left Lane: Matt Hagan Runs 9.371/76.54, Now #1; Best prior run: 3.867/331.20, Was #1
Right Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 3.885/328.46, Now #2; Best prior run: 3.868/326.95, Was #2

Hagan drives right into smoke before the 60 foot lights and lifts.

Straight and clean to the finish line for Beckman with both a better ET and speed to stay #2 for today. Best run of the session for the Bonus Points!

Matt Hagan's incremental times: 60ft-0.892 sec., 330ft-3.346, 660ft-6.329/075.56 mph.
Jack Beckman's incremental times: 60ft-0.865 sec., 330ft-2.230, 660ft-3.147/282.24 mph.

4:11 p.m. Matt Hagan stays number one at 3.867 and Cruz Pedregon is on th bump at 10.951.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink