Sun, 25 Oct 2020, 12:43 PM Funny Car Round 1 Eliminations

By Rick Green

BAYTOWN, Texas - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, 33rd annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
 3095 Bobby Bode                            256 Blake Alexander              
E1                   0.064  4.086 275.67     ****WINNER****  0.084  3.949 321.35
 Qualified:             #7  4.024 259.51                       #10  4.077 302.62

Weather conditions: air temperature 70 degrees, relative humidity 76 percent, barometer 29.93 inches, adjusted altitude 1,499 feet, track temperature 78 degrees.

Bobby Bode qualifies for his first race in his first attempt.

Bode with the starting line advantage, but Alexander has the difference made up by the time they go by the Christmas tree and never trails from there on for the win.

Alexander with his quickest and fastest pass of the weekend for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   10 Tim Wilkerson                         771 Alexis DeJoria               
E1                   0.085  5.426 132.70     ****WINNER****  0.153  3.874 330.39
 Qualified:            #12  4.291 225.71                        #5  3.958 308.21

Tim Wilkerson beat Alexis in round 1 at Phoenix this year. 8 of the 10 meetings between Alexis and Tim have come in round 1 and Alexis leads 5 - 3.

DeJoria is 6 - 4 against Wilkerson in prior events.

This is the 151st race for Alexis DeJoria in the FC class. She is 9 - 4 in round 1 after qualifying 5th.

Wilkerson with the starting line advantage, but was up in smoke right at the hit.

DeJoria launched hard and kept it hooked up to make the quickest and fastest pass of the event for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  139 Dave Richards                        2814 Matt Hagan                   
E1                   0.180  4.421 212.86     ****WINNER****  0.073  4.286 301.00
 Qualified:            #15  5.269 169.85                        #2  3.907 327.74

Matt Hagan is 22 - 5 in round 1 as the #2 qualifier.

Hagan is 4 - 0 against Richards in prior events.

Hagan with the starting line advantage, but then started to lose traction and pedaled it. He got it to hook up and take the win. He will give up lane choice to Alexander in the next round.

Richards grabbed the lead early and then around half track he was up in smoke and that is when Hagan drove back around him.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
   28 Ron Capps                               2 Jack Beckman                 
E1   ****WINNER****  0.055  4.158 320.51                     0.086  5.012 207.88
 Qualified:            #16  5.295 136.44                        #1  3.884 328.14

Jack Beckman and Ron Capps are 6 - 6 in round 1 meetings. Jack Beckman has won 18 consecutive round 1 races as the #1 qualifier.

Capps is 38 - 23 against Beckman in prior events.

Capps with the starting line advantage and never trailed as Beckman is up in smoke right at the hit.

Capps started to shake and pedaled it and got it to hook up for the win.

Beckman pedaled it and couldn't get it to hook up.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  121 Terry Haddock                         373 J.R. Todd                    
E1                   0.132  9.360  73.65     ****WINNER****  0.075  3.894 333.49
 Qualified:            #14  5.021 150.48                        #3  3.923 328.62

For his career J.R. Todd is 130 - 99 in round 1 (57%) and 6 - 3 this year in round 1.

Todd is 3 - 0 against Haddock in prior events.

Todd with the starting line advantage and is straight down the groove for the win. He runs his quickest pass of the weekend and the fastest pass of the event for the win.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  116 Paul Lee                                5 Bob Tasca III                
E1                   0.084  6.305 104.29     ****WINNER****  0.090  4.271 317.34
 Qualified:            #13  4.492 190.59                        #4  3.928 325.22

Tasca III is 5 - 0 against Lee in prior events.

Lee with the starting line advantage, but lost traction early.

Tasca started to lose traction and pedaled it, he got it to hook up for the win. He will give up lane choice to DeJoria in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  703 Jim Campbell                           33 Tommy Johnson Jr.            
E1                  -0.104  7.324  86.96     ****WINNER****  0.089  6.373 110.91
 Qualified:            #11  4.120 309.70                        #6  3.973 317.94

This (#11) is the best starting spot for Jim Campbell in his last 26 races.

Tommy Johnson is 9 - 0 against Jim Campbell and 7 of those meeting have come in round 1.

Campbell goes red and Johnson Jr. is up in smoke right st the hit and clicked it off. He will give up lane choice to todd in the next round.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
  473 Chad Green                             71 Cruz Pedregon                
E1                   0.160  5.086 149.65     ****WINNER****  0.080  3.926 327.19
 Qualified:             #9  4.062 294.88                        #8  4.041 298.47

This is the first time Green and Pedregon have faced each other in eliminations.

Chad Green is the 98th drive to face Cruz Pedregon in eliminations.

Pedregon with the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win. He runs his quickest and fastest pass of the weekend for the win. He will have lane choice over Capps in the next round.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink

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