Sun, 13 Oct 2002, 03:07 PM Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Dave Rowe

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   4 Del Worsham         4.823 319.82  Q    5 Frank Pedregon      4.853 309.70
   (B Bode      ) 0.501  4.886 314.46  E1   (J Gray      ) 0.524  5.134 308.11
 *****WINNER***** 0.500  4.900 305.49  E2                  0.485  4.927 308.85

1:41 PM It's 61 degrees, humidity at 60 percent, the barometric pressure is 30.39 and the track temp is 77 degrees.

Pedregon gets a slight advantage off the line and starts pulling away. He holds off Worsham until half-track, then Worsham drives around and takes the win. Worsham's margin 60ft(-0.020), 330 ft(-0.023), 660ft(0.005), 1,000ft(0.015). MOV: 0.0122 seconds (approximately 6 feet).

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   6 Gary Densham        4.854 320.97  Q    3 Whit Bazemore       4.817 322.92
   (B Gilbertson) 0.512  4.828 321.08  E1   (D Skuza     ) 0.509  7.608 110.72
 *****WINNER***** 0.513  4.802 322.00  E2                  0.476  4.893 293.82

Bazemore gets the jump off the line but Densham drives around by the 330-foot mark and takes the win.

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   7 John Force          4.854 315.34  Q    2 Bruce Sarver        4.798 320.39
   (S Cannon    ) 0.460  4.816 319.48  E1   (D Creasy Jr ) 0.524  4.822 308.21
                  0.458  5.130 240.89  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.472  4.942 266.19

Force is still just 13 points ahead of Tony Pedregon in the points chase and needs a win here to insure he maintains that lead. Force gives up a little off the line but drove around Sarver before they got to the sixty-foot mark. he started mixing up cylinders at about half-track and Sarver pulled ahead. Sarver gets about 1100 feet out and bangs the blower but holds on for the win. Worsham margin 60ft(-0.020), 330 ft(-0.023), 660ft(0.005), 1,000ft(0.015). MOV: 0.0122 seconds (approximately 6 feet).

Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   1 Tony Pedregon       4.789 323.50  Q    9 Tommy Johnson Jr.   4.870 313.91
   (T Paton     ) 0.481  4.826 318.92  E1   (R Capps     ) 0.477  5.068 279.76
                  0.493  4.854 319.26  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.453  4.893 311.31

Johnson gets a jump off the line and starts pulling away. He increases his lead for the first 330 feet then Pedregon starts reeling him in. Pedregon continues to close the gap but runs out of racetrack. Johnson's margin 60ft(0.024), 330ft(0.047), 660ft(0.029), 1,000ft(0.017). MOV: 0.0015 seconds (approximately 8 inches).