Drag Race Central | Presented by Summitracing.com

Sat, 13 Nov 1999, 05:12 PM

POMONA - Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the 35th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals 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: Al Hofmann Runs 5.317/267.43, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.251/288.27, Was #11
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 5.254/267.85, Now #8; Best prior run: 5.220/252.14, Was #8

12:58 PM The bump as we begin the third qualifying session for the fuel floppers is Larry Huff's very soft 5.544. In the session just completed, the Top Fuel cars were finding traction in the top end of the right lane especially elusive. So did Worsham, his car trailing tire smoke from half track through the finish line. Hofmann didn't leave any tire smoke in his wake, but the way his car was darting around in the lane it wasn't very firmly planted.

Left Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 5.034/292.65, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.082/308.85, Was #7
Right Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 5.353/229.74, Now #13; Best prior run: 6.844/130.33, Was #21

Pedregon also found the traction on the top end of the right lane less than desired, but managed to get through the tire spin with enough momentum to get into the field. However, there was a flash of flame from under the car at the 1,000-foot mark and from the falloff in speed it appears he lost the engine at that point. Good pass by Skuza, also a bit loose on the top end of the run, but without the tire smoke we've come to expect on the right side.

Left Lane: Peter Russo Runs 10.430/85.85, Now #21; Best prior run: 6.318/159.61, Was #20
Right Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 5.178/244.16, Now #8; Best prior run: 9.600/74.91, Was #25

Russo lost traction about 200 feet out. Gilbertson was spinning the tires on the top end, the car darting around, and he shut it off early (or it shut itself off).

Left Lane: Glenn Mikres Runs 5.378/248.80, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.541/253.99, Was #17
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 5.055/291.70, Now #7; Best prior run: 8.792/97.71, Was #25

Huff was bumped earlier and these two added Scotty Cannon, and Mitch McDowell to the list of "bumpees" this session. Two good efforts, Pedregon making a very good run in the tricky right lane and Mikres carrying enough momentum to survive a snaking run and a top-end engine problem of some kind. Mikres' ET is now the mark to beat for those outside the field.

Left Lane: Scotty Cannon No Time, Now #19; Best prior run: 5.470/203.22, Was #18
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 5.417/222.58, Now #17; Best prior run: 8.504/96.48, Was #25

Speaking of "outside the field," two of them squared off here. We were just informed that AAA of Southern California has signed with Densham for another two years, so the popular former teacher will be around for a bit longer. Cannon made his burnout and when the smoke cleared we couldn't see him any more, the car refusing to go into reverse and Cannon driving out the other end to clear the track for Densham. Densham's car got a bit out of shape and puffed the rear tires on the top end, then he lifted very early. >From the cleanup work in the right lane after his run, it looks like the engine let go.

Left Lane: Mitch McDowell Runs 7.650/88.03, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.452/276.80, Was #18
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 5.620/277.03, Now #22; Best prior run: 7.639/119.78, Was #25

Gray salvaged his quickest pass of the weekend with a pedal job about 200 feet out. McDowell also pedaled, but his run ended when the blower belt came off before half track.

Left Lane: Wyatt Radke Runs 9.125/76.57, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.318/282.01, Was #14
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 5.227/293.79, Now #11; Best prior run: 6.727/146.56, Was #25

TJ needed to better Mikres' 5.378 to get into the field with the additional challenge of doing so in the tricky right lane. Wes Cerny solved the riddle very nicely, the clutch very soft in the middle of the run and no trace of tire smoke enroute to a mid-pack qualifying position. Now they will be able to attack the track a bit more aggressively in the final session this afternoon. Radke was on a pretty good good run, but his engine let go in a flash of flame before half track. The "diaper" did its job, the cleanup mainly in the shutdown area of the left lane.

During the cleanup we heard from Cristen Powell and Helen Hofmann, the new team on the block in Funny Car. Their unique teaming arrangement should open some marketing opportunities for the team among companies that cater to a predominantly female audience.

Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 5.280/243.81, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.237/262.33, Was #12
Right Lane: Larry Huff Runs 6.137/162.55, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.544/260.97, Was #21

Traction problems for both cars, Huff before half track and Wilkerson on the top end. Despite a lot of tire smoke, there was "no deposit" on the track.

Left Lane: Jim Epler Runs 5.046/292.77, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.990/308.07, Was #4
Right Lane: Jack Wyatt Runs 5.550/279.67, Now #22; Best prior run: 5.760/215.51, Was #24

Pretty good pass by Epler in a session where track conditions are getting progressively worse as the sunshine heats up the track surface. Wyatt tried to save his run with a pedal job about 300 feet out, but the damage was already done.

Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 5.222/256.84, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.032/304.25, Was #5
Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 5.000/303.64, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.603/181.84, Was #23

Toliver makes the best run of the session in the right lane, no trace of tire smoke anywhere that we could see. Not so in the left lane, Bazemore trailing lots of tire smoke from the half track markers onward.

Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.972/291.57, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.923/300.46, Was #2
Right Lane: Cory Lee Runs 5.273/269.13, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.248/295.72, Was #14

Even Force has to admit to being mortal and the conditions just wouldn't take all he threw at the top end of the left lane, spinning the tires and skating all over the lane. Like the champion he is, Force drove through it for the quickest lap of the session, but it wasn't a pretty sight.

Lee made a pretty good run to half track, but then the traction went away and he blistered the tires through the lights.

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 4.883/306.19, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.853/307.72, Was #1
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.955/295.72, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.957/314.31, Was #3

These two began their engine start sequence and then were signaled to shut the engines off, trackside observers reporting oil in the finish line area of the left lane, so apparently Force's pedaling was a little more than the engine could stand.

It looks like Ed McCulloch's honeymoon with the Snake Racing Team is working out pretty well, another 'eighty. The car was dancing on the top end, but obviously it wasn't losing much momentum with that 306 mph speed! Tony also made a good run, the best of the day in the right lane, but tire smoke trailed his car through the top half of the run, wiping off some speed and ET in the process.

That's it, only one more Funny Car qualifying session left this century. Yes, I know that 2000 really isn't the start of the next century, but that intellectually accurate argument is outweighed about 100-1 by a sentimental desire for 2000 to be the start of a new millennium. Since sentimentalists outnumber intellectuals by a large margin, it's easier to go with the flow than fight a losing battle. It's sort of like the Betamax versus VHS argument with video recorders.