Sun, 14 Nov 2004, 04:41 PM Funny Car Round 2 Eliminations

By Darryl Jackman

POMONA, Calif. - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 40th annual Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals:

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    4 Del Worsham                           156 Phil Burkart
E2   ****WINNER****  0.136  4.785 324.98                     0.156 10.239  87.02
 Prior rounds:
E1    (P Burkart   ) 0.096  4.993 285.17      (D Worsham   ) 0.068  8.589 100.84
 Qualified:             #3  4.728 329.67                        #6  4.759 327.11

1:21 p.m. Weather conditions: air temperature 71 degrees, relative humidity 45 percent, barometer 28.94 inches, adjusted altitude 2,206 feet, track temperature 106 degrees.

Well, the first question is answered. After a team meeting Burkart came out of the trailer and announced to the Red Team that they were loading the car up and taking the right lane. Burkart was up in smoke before 100 feet and Worsham runs huge numbers. Bet Scelzi and team were taking notes.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    3 John Force                            716 Eric Medlen
E2   ****WINNER****  0.102  4.764 321.58                     0.062  4.883 316.97
 Prior rounds:
E1    (T Bartone   ) 0.114  4.780 323.27      (T Wilkerson ) 0.033  4.817 319.90
 Qualified:             #1  4.698 329.18                        #8  4.764 320.28

Medlen ties the boss to the starting line but it does him no good at all. Force drives around him and takes the win going away. Medlen was getting really close to the center stripe right at the finish.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    5 Gary Densham                          503 Tommy Johnson Jr.
E2   ****WINNER****  0.119  4.764 326.48                     0.078  5.496 187.11
 Prior rounds:
E1    (J Head      ) 0.108  4.750 321.42      (W Bazemore  ) 0.074  4.831 323.81
 Qualified:             #2  4.706 329.75                        #7  4.759 326.79

Humm. Densham runs exactly the same ET as Force out to the thousandth of a second. He was five MPH faster than his boss though. TJ was first off the line but Densham just had too many ponies.

 Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT-----ET---Speed-----Car#-Driver(Opp'nt)-RT----ET---Speed
    1 Tony Pedregon                           6 Gary Scelzi
E2                   0.099  5.556 190.16     ****WINNER****  0.083  4.802 325.14
 Prior rounds:
E1    (R Capps     ) 0.103  4.766 325.06      (B Bode      ) 0.148  4.790 321.96
 Qualified:             #5  4.734 316.01                        #4  4.728 326.00

The other half of the #2 saga is up and he doesn't have a teammate in the other lane. Scelzi gets a prayer answered when T.Pedregon strikes the tires around 330 feet. Scelzi takes the win but loses lane choice to Force in the semi. The other pair will have Densham picking over Worsham. The battle for #2 could be settled in the semi or it could carry to the final if both Worsham and Scelzi win their matches.

Timing data courtesy of CompuLink