Tony Pedregon Topeka Friday

17th annual O¹Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals
Heartland Park Topeka­ Topeka, Kan.
ŒQ¹ Racing Nitro Funny Car - Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

Tony Pedregon Opens at Topeka in 11th
Q Racing Car Ready for Saturday¹s Qualifying

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 27, 2005) ­Tony Pedregon, driver of the Q Racing Nitro
Funny Car, placed in the provisional 11th slot at this weekend¹s O¹Reilly
NHRA Summer Nationals.

Rain at Heartland Park Topeka made for a late night second qualifying pass.
Despite the tricky conditions resulting from the cool temperatures and
humidity, the California native managed to power the ŒQ¹ Racing machine to a
4.892-second elapsed time at 305.98 mph.

³We dropped a cylinder during the second pass,² explained Dickie Venables,
crew chief). ³But we have a strong car and it will be ready to run in the
4.80¹s during tomorrow¹s qualifying.²

During the last pass of the day, Robert Hight captured the track elapsed
time record from previous holder Eric Medlen. Heartland Park Topeka¹s new
record is set at 4.729 seconds at 322.5 mph.
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