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Sat, 28 Oct 2000, 05:30 PM

HOUSTON-2 - Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Final Session

By Darryl Jackman

BAYTOWN, Texas - Notes from final, round 4 qualifying in Funny Car at the 4th annual Matco Tools SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions 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: Cory Lee Runs 5.068/287.29, Now #13; Best prior run: 8.513/106.44, Was #24

4:38 PM The final session for the Fuel Funny Cars comes out from under the tower. Cory Lee needs a big run here to make a tough field. Whit Bazemore is on the bump with a 5.13. Not any more. Lee has his hands full as the car has a hole out by half track. The unequal pressure drove him towards the centerline and he barely stays in the lane.

Left Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.913/312.21, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.193/223.50, Was #20
Right Lane: Todd Paton Runs 5.100/298.21, Now #17; Best prior run: 9.572/90.52, Was #25

Paton bumps Worsham and Wilkerson returns the favor to Paton...all on the same run. Wilkerson's pass moves him all the way to #2. When he was told on the top end all he could say was "No Way!"

Left Lane: Cristen Powell Runs 5.010/294.75, Now #12; Best prior run: 5.166/270.86, Was #21
Right Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.948/306.95, Now #5; Best prior run: 8.200/102.08, Was #25

Wow! Both drivers bump into the field. Where did Densham come from? That was his only run of the weekend where he didn't smoke the tires. That moves Scotty Cannon and Phil Burkart out of the field. Cory Lee fills out the bump spot...for the moment.

Left Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 4.934/308.28, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.138/260.01, Was #22
Right Lane: Louis Sweet Runs 8.421/99.33, Now #24; Best prior run: 5.465/196.04, Was #24

Gilbertson moves the 'Trick Tank' from almost the bottom of the field to the #4 hole. Bob Frey says that tuner Paul Smith threw down his crutches in the staging area saying ,"I'm cured!!". That bumps Cory Lee out, Scott Weis replacing him on the hot seat.

Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.919/313.00, Now #3; Best prior run: 5.134/271.79, Was #22
Right Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 10.798/86.42, Now #23; Best prior run: 5.231/273.27, Was #23

Bazemore started the session from the bump spot and has slipped almost to the bottom. Well, he cures that with a blast right to the #3 spot. We are very quickly coming up on the quickest field in history. We have to be quicker than 5.024.

Left Lane: Scott Weis Runs 6.606/137.37, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.057/293.22, Was #17
Right Lane: Del Worsham Runs 5.051/296.24, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.112/261.32, Was #22

Hofmann is now on the bump spot in a furious qualifying session. Worsham's car was very soft in the first half of the run and he will not make this field. Weis smoked the tires and his weekend is also over. Life goes on, fire the next pair.

Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 5.072/298.73, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.022/297.42, Was #15
Right Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 4.993/311.41, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.093/302.01, Was #21

Burkart was another car that started this session qualified. Gray was also well up into the field and now he's #15. Al Hofmann is now out of the field and Gray is on the bubble. This is now the quickest field in Funny Car history, bettering the mark set at Memphis earlier in the season.

Left Lane: Jerry Toliver No Time, Now #11; Best prior run: 4.985/305.22, Was #11
Right Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 10.182/79.26, Now #21; Best prior run: 5.089/270.05, Was #21

Toliver makes the burnout but after backing to the starting line there was stuff all over the windshield and they shut the car off. Cannon makes a hard launch but the car goes silent before 200 feet.

Left Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 5.100/231.99, Now #10; Best prior run: 4.949/305.84, Was #10
Right Lane: Al Hofmann Runs 9.955/90.35, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.032/288.15, Was #17

Gray is holding down the dreaded bump spot and Hofmann is the last car that can bump him. The Mooneyes car leaves hard but smokes the tires to end the bumping. Pedregon was on a good pass until about 1100 feet when he had a big boomer and sent the burst panel high into the afternoon sky. There was a small flash of fire but it appeared to go out right away. There's a big trail of oil and we are down for a cleanup.

Left Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 5.215/227.34, Now #9; Best prior run: 4.948/298.73, Was #9
Right Lane: Ron Capps Runs 11.304/80.84, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.007/275.00, Was #14

Now we begin jockeying for position. All of the rest of the runners in this session are qualified so the field could be changing on the inside. Capps left hard but lost traction early in the run. Skuza had a .901 60 foot number and was well on his way until a blower belt fell off. By the way John Stewart (Epler's tuner) will be sharing the tuning on Skuza's car next season.

Left Lane: John Force Runs 4.878/311.77, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.931/310.84, Was #4
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 8.593/99.94, Now #8; Best prior run: 4.948/304.39, Was #8

Well it was a session for big moves so the Champ decided it was time. Force unloads low ET on the field. In the other lane Force's team mate, Tony Pedregon, smoked the tires. A rear side window just fell out of Pedregon's tow vehicle and left glass every where

Left Lane: Jim Epler Runs 5.459/187.05, Now #3; Best prior run: 4.892/309.91, Was #2
Right Lane: Bruce Sarver Runs 4.876/310.55, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.945/308.85, Was #6

Well, Force's stay at the top was as short as one pair. Sarver drops the bomb on the field and moves into his first ever #1 qualifying spot, ever. The E-Moola car was right down the middle and clean as a whistle. Epler was up in smoke shortly after the hit. This was most certainly a much better Funny Car show than yesterday evening. The only real difference was it was earlier and the wind was behind the cars instead of from the side.