Sun, Oct 11, 07:43 PM MEMPHIS - Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Rick Green Elvis has Left the Building

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the 11th annual Pennzoil Nationals presented by AutoZone:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   5 Whit Bazemore       4.955 310.27  Q   4 Tony Pedregon       4.947 302.48
   (G Mikres    ) 0.527  5.018 297.94 E1   (D Creasy, Jr) 0.525  5.214 265.01
                  0.505  5.058 294.56 E2 *****WINNER***** 0.478  4.955 311.63

2:10 PM Tony leads head to head matchups 2 - 1. Bazemore with the lane choice here. Pedregon is out of the gate first and has a car length lead at half track. He just streches it out from there.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 Cruz Pedregon       4.916 311.20  Q   8 Chuck Etchells      4.980 286.68
   (G Densham   ) 0.496  5.139 275.73 E1   (T Wilkerson ) 0.514  4.939 309.06
 *****WINNER***** 0.518  4.969 305.22 E2                  0.543  5.034 292.08

Cruz is off the line first, and then Etchells drops cylinders big time. Cruz will give up lane choice to his brother in the semis.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
  14 Tom Hoover          5.310 244.78  Q   6 Dean Skuza          4.964 301.67
   (R Capps     ) 0.605  5.182 235.68 E1   (J Epler     ) 0.492  5.002 299.86
                  0.596  8.271 110.67 E2 *****WINNER***** 0.497  5.034 298.73

Skuza now has six straight round victories. Skuza is off the line first, and Hoover was a little too aggressive as he had the quicker 60-foot time, but then blew the tires off and clicked.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   7 Al Hofmann          4.979 305.15  Q   2 John Force          4.924 311.13
   (D Worsham   ) 0.513  6.123 253.71 E1   (F Pedregon  ) 0.507  5.011 308.85
 *****WINNER***** 0.516  4.958 299.53 E2                  0.491  4.992 308.92

Force leaves first, but Hofmann has a 0.891 second 60-foot time and then passes Force around 100 feet. Hofmann is real lose all the way down track and starts to mix up cylinders at the finsh line, but holds on for the big upset. Hofmann will have lane choice over Skuza in the semis.