Sat, 4 Nov 2000, 02:48 PM DALLAS-2 - Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Michael L. Jex

ENNIS, Texas - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the 15th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec:

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   2 Ron Capps          12.000  14.20  Q    7 Scotty Cannon      17.000  10.08
   (T Wilkerson ) 0.485  4.870 305.56  E1   (D Skuza     ) 0.512  5.119 234.98
                  0.460  7.241 124.14  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.521  5.164 246.21

1:24 PM With a run under their belts one must wonder what the Capps-Snake-McCulloch-team will do next. The 4.87 they ran in round one was spectacular. At the hit of the throttle Capps dropped a couple of clyinders, enough to make a big yellow cloud of nitro at the starting line. He pedaled a couple of times then aborted when he saw Cannon near the finishline. Cannon had problems of his own, enough to leave "stuff on the racetrack." He'll lose lane choice, 10 points, and make a $1,000 donation to the oil-down kitty. Time for a cleanup. 1:29 PM

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   8 Del Worsham        18.000   NS    Q    1 John Force         11.000  17.56
   (B Sarver    ) 0.496  5.020 299.26  E1   (C Powell    ) 0.532  5.201 215.75
                  0.491 14.090  68.70  E2 *****WINNER***** 0.473  4.904 312.28

1:39 PM Worsham commented at dinner last night he was excited about racing today - "Everybody is on exactly the same page tomorrow, isn't it cool!" Now he gets the chance to take on the champion. Worsham lit the tires up instantly, something probably wrong in the clutch can, not a tuneup problem. Force had flames out the pipes all the way to the top end of the track.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   4 Tony Pedregon      14.000  13.14  Q    5 Jim Epler          15.000  11.78
   (A Hofmann   ) 0.487  5.021 296.05  E1   (B Gilbertson) 0.483  5.317 234.21
 *****WINNER***** 0.440  5.014  29.76  E2                  0.448  8.878  88.57

Force was talking rapidly from the top end on the team radio, too fast to make out the instructions from the tiny speaker... Whatever he said it must have helped, Pedregon will race his boss in round two after Epler blazed the tires.

 Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-Rd-Qua-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed
   3 Jerry Toliver      13.000  13.85  Q   11 Frank Pedregon     21.000   NS
   (G Densham   ) 0.477  5.139 299.93  E1   (W Bazemore  ) 0.564  6.781 247.29
 *****WINNER***** 0.481  5.007 306.81  E2                  0.515  8.446 100.84

Pedregon got over near the wall, out of the narrow groove here at the Motorplex. The tire smoke and dancing around was the predictable result. In the semis Toliver will race Scotty Cannon, and Toliver will have lane choice. 1:39 PM