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Thu, 11 Nov 2004, 08:01 PM

Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #1

By Larry Sullivan

POMONA, Calif. - Notes from round 1 qualifying in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 40th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals listing lane, driver name, elapsed time, top speed, and position in order following run:

Left Lane: David Benjamin Runs 7.010/121.72, Now #1

3:44 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 61 degrees, relative humidity 68 percent, barometer 29.01 inches, adjusted altitude 1,452 feet, track temperature 74 degrees.

You can tell we're not on Daylight Savings Time, the Musco lights are already on. Benjamin's car fishtailed, dragging the headers on the track, and he lifted before half track.

Left Lane: Dale Pulde No Time, Now #4
Right Lane: Grant Downing Runs 17.981/50.48, Now #2

Pulde's car is plain white, like a big refrigerator on wheels. He made the burnout, backed up, and then the engine went silent. Downing launched into instant tire spin, the engine RPMs getting way up there before he could shut it down.

Left Lane: Jack Wyatt Runs 10.726/79.22, Now #3
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 4.950/304.46, Now #1

These two fired and immediately shut their engines off, a light sprinkle speckling the track. After two or three minutes, they spun them over again and this time the rain stayed away. Wyatt chattered the tires and shut it off. "Frankie" went right down the groove, off to a good start for the weekend.

Left Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 7.885/104.11, Now #3
Right Lane: Bob Bode Runs 11.051/78.97, Now #5

Both shook and shut off, Bode first, then Gray, the "Wonder Wagon" getting out near the wall.

Left Lane: Terry Haddock No Time, Now #10
Right Lane: Jim Head No Time, Now #9

Head's Menards-sponsored entry is "Velvet Black" this weekend instead of one of the usual Menards bright colors. Once again there was a brief delay to let a light sprinkle pass through, this time before the cars fired. However, after they made their burnouts, the sprinkles returned and they shut them off once more. Haddock decided to take the car back t the pits and service it, but Head waited out the rain and Jeff Arend took Haddock's place in the left lane.

Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.896/315.64, Now #1
Right Lane: Jim Head Runs 5.414/193.93, Now #3

Head got to about half track, then the pipes "went wet." Arend made a very nice run, smooth and fast.

Left Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 7.321/141.18, Now #6
Right Lane: Tony Bartone Runs 4.983/310.55, Now #3

Gilbertson launched hard, then shook and shut off. Bartone had a slower 60-foot time, but managed to make it all the way down under power.

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 9.140/96.57, Now #8
Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 10.824/80.53, Now #10

Both drivers were off the throttle before the 330-foot marker with tire smoke.

Left Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 8.925/93.38, Now #9
Right Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.777/323.74, Now #1

Burkart's run looked like the previous pair, but TJ went right down the groove on a very pretty run, no false moves anywhere.Tommy Johnson Jr.'s incremental times: 60ft-0.878 sec., 330ft-2.284, 660ft-3.271/258.17mph, 1,000ft-4.085.

Left Lane: Cruz Pedregon Runs 4.796/324.51, Now #3
Right Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 4.779/321.12, Now #2

Two nice runs by the brothers, but they could not catch TJ. Cruz Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.880 sec., 330ft-2.304, 660ft-3.295/257.68mph, 1,000ft-4.107
Tony Pedregon's incremental times: 60ft-0.880 sec., 330ft-2.301, 660ft-3.279/260.76mph, 1,000ft-4.086

Left Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 4.829/305.63, Now #5
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 4.764/317.49, Now #1

Wilkerson moves to the top of the list on yet another nice run. Bazemore trailed early and fell steadily further behind. Tim Wilkerson's incremental times: 60ft-0.879 sec., 330ft-2.282, 660ft-3.266/259.66mph, 1,000ft-4.072

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 4.909/248.52, Now #8
Right Lane: Eric Medlen Runs 4.764/320.28, Now #1

Densham has had a miserable week, a root canal on Tuesday leadiung to an abscessed tooth on Wednesday and his jaw is still visibly swollen, so his helmet must have felt like a vise when he tightened the straps and must have felt even worse when he hit the chutes at the other end of this run. To make matters worse, there was another brief delay for a passing sprinkle after these two pulled into position to start their engines.Densham had to lift earl to avoid the finish line markers. Medlen matched Wilkerson's elapsed time and took over the top speed with a better speed. Eric Medlen's incremental times: 60ft-0.879 sec., 330ft-2.288, 660ft-3.263/261.17mph, 1,000ft-4.070. Densham was on a pace to beat Medlen by three or four hundredths before he shut it off - Gary Densham's incremental times: 60ft-0.889 sec., 330ft-2.295, 660ft-3.263/263.26mph, 1,000ft-4.041.

Left Lane: Terry Haddock Runs 5.180/234.94, Now #11
Right Lane: Gary Scelzi Runs 8.964/85.08, Now #17

Scelzi smoked the tires and fishtailed, then lifted. Haddock's car was laboring all the way to about 1,000 feet, then there was a flash of flame and the pressure relief hatch went sailing through the air.

Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 4.737/328.54, Now #1
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.747/324.12, Now #2

After a brief delay while the sweeper truck cleaned up the debris from Haddock's "boomer," these two put up the quickest runs of the round to take the top two sots, Worsham not only quickest, but also fastest.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink