Tony Pedregon Drives to Second Round at Brainerd

Quaker State Racing Funny Car

Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway
Elimination Notes & Quotes

Tony Pedregon Drives to Second Round

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 15, 2004) ­ Tony Pedregon drove his Quaker State
Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car to the second round of eliminations
during todayıs NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series national event at Brainerd
International Raceway.

Pedregon, who qualified in the sixth slot, fell to current points leader and
former teammate John Force in the second round. Pedregon lit the tires and
watched as Force managed a 4.898-second lap at 314.09 mph.

³Itıs a little disappointing,² Pedregon said. ³Weıre still trying to get
where we need to be. These cars are very temperamental, but I think weıre
just an adjustment or two away from where we need to be. We had a little
glitch during the service after the first round. The time we lost during the
trouble shoot was very valuable. It didnıt allow us to fine tune a couple of
things ­ it probably made the difference in that run.

³We still have our chin up,² Pedregon continued. ³We did qualify in the top
half, which is great. Itıs just a matter of time. It will come for this team
because weıre not far away.²

The California resident moved into the second round when he defeated Phil
Burkhart, Jr., in round one. Pedregon clocked a 5.142-second elapsed time at
280.84 mph.

Quaker State Racing Notebook:

NIGHT RACING: Next weekendıs OıReilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals presented by
Pennzoil at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park will be the second night race
of the 2004 season. The first was held at Gateway International Raceway in
Madison, Ill., this past June.

PedregonRacing.com