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Fri, 27 Oct 2000, 04:46 PM

HOUSTON-2 - Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Darryl Jackman

BAYTOWN, Texas - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the 4th annual Matco Tools SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

Right Lane: Don Sosenko Runs 5.991/258.86, Now #1

2:47 PM Don Sosenko comes out from under the bridge and will make a single to open the first session. He has a double hit of the throttle off the line but does manage to set his best ever speed in a Funny Car on this pass.

Left Lane: Louis Sweet Runs 9.136/89.56, Now #3
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 7.933/105.45, Now #2

Johnny Gray is out with pretty new paint job on his Avenger. Not to many decals too mar the effect. That's a polite way of saying 'no sponsor'. Both cars smoke the tires before 100 feet.

Left Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 5.093/302.01, Now #1
Right Lane: Cory Lee Runs 9.841/89.67, Now #5

Burkart, in the Geronimo car, in the left lane. Cory Lee with a 'Mr. Horsepower' decal on the side of the car in the other. Burkart makes a nice baseline pass, but Lee has tire smoke problems in the right lane.

Left Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 5.231/273.27, Now #3
Right Lane: Scott Weis Runs 5.057/293.22, Now #1

Weis and Creasy both make good first round passes. Creasy was up against the wall from start to finish and the engine was making some very strange header flames. Weis was down the middle of the lane. The wind is blowing from right to left across the track, at a goode clip. Pulling the chutes has been an adventure all afternoon.

Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 9.070/89.45, Now #6
Right Lane: Cristen Powell Runs 9.114/90.91, Now #7

Tire smoke ballet. Both cars are up in smoke at exactly the same instant, about 200 feet out.

Left Lane: Todd Paton Runs 11.790/78.55, Now #11
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 5.343/209.65, Now #4

Paton got out about 300 feet and started smoking the tires. The car headed for the guardrail and he's forced to lift. Wilkerson got to about 1000 feet before the smoke set in, and he lifted.

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 9.179/100.02, Now #11
Right Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 5.256/245.54, Now #4

Gilbertson has the 'Trick Tank' done up in a camo pattern like Desert Storm. The Stewart and Stevenson Company makes air tanks that are used in large military vehicles, hence the 'Trick Tank' name. Gilbertson goes up in smoke as he nears the lights. Densham got close to the guardrail and is forced to lift.

Left Lane: Al Hofmann Runs 5.059/295.98, Now #2
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 9.416/89.96, Now #13

Hofmann gets off the transition spot in the left lane and moves into the #2 spot. Pedregon got to the 330 marker before he smoked the tires. We're one car away from having a full field.

Left Lane: Bruce Sarver Runs 4.945/308.85, Now #1
Right Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 5.061/302.08, Now #4

Sarver takes the Alan Johnson tuned funny car right to the top of the field. Can you imagine all the tuning info Johnson could get if he ran TWO funny cars? Hummm. Skuza is only a tick behind in the right lane. Good first pass for their crew.

Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 9.946/83.63, Now #17
Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 10.241/88.51, Now #18

Again the Goodyear's are boiling in both lanes.

Left Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 5.371/226.24, Now #9
Right Lane: Jim Epler Runs 8.526/92.84, Now #12

Cannon left hard but the car loaded down very hard at half track and parts started coming out of the bottom of the engine. We are down for a wallet emptying cleanup. Epler struck the tires about 600 feet and was forced to lift.

Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.948/304.39, Now #2
Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 9.670/84.22, Now #19

Pedregon misses the top spot by .003 seconds. Toliver was smoking the tires before 300 feet.

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 5.007/275.00, Now #3
Right Lane: John Force Runs 5.024/296.31, Now #4

Capps is in a new body and it's done in 'velvet', black primer that is. Capps gets to the other end before Force but it appeared that it might have been a bit costly. Smoke from the tires and the engine in the last 400 feet and the Safety Safari is looking at the track. They decide that it's ok, except for a quick cleaning of the start line before Top Fuel begins. Force made a great pass and gets into the #4 spot and that will hold until later on this evening since this was the last pair.