Cruz Pedregon Advances to Quarterfinals

Advance Auto Parts Racing Nitro Funny Car

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

Cruz Pedregon Advances to Quarterfinals
Advance Auto Parts Machine Continues First-Round Streak
 
BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 15, 2004)  Cruz Pedregon has been a model of
consistency on race day with his Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny
Car. It continued this weekend as Pedregon advanced to the second round of
eliminations during today¹s NHRA National Event at Brainerd International
Raceway.

Pedregon recorded his sixth-straight first round triumph when he clocked a
4.940-second elapsed time at 305.70 mph, outrunning No. 2 qualifier Gary
Densham. The pass was the third quickest of that round.

³Anytime you can get to the quarterfinals of a NHRA POWERade Drag Racing
Series Funny Car race, you have accomplished something,² Pedregon said.
³Especially in this day and age. Every car out here is just excellent.²

In the second round, Gary Scelzi defeated Pedregon with a 5.146-second
elapsed time at 275.17 mph. The former NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Funny Car World Champion overpowered the track, ending his day.

³We had a good weekend,² Pedregon said. ³We felt the car was going to go
right down the track. Crew chief Wes Cerny felt  and one of the reasons we
struggled on Saturday and Sunday  that it was to our advantage to develop a
set up that would go down the race track during warmer conditions.

³We have a great race car when track conditions are cool,² Pedregon
continued. ³In doing so, we got behind and it took until first round to get
it going. This is our time to learn.²

Advance Auto Parts Racing Notebook:

POWERFUL RUN: Cruz Pedregon, driver of the Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo
Nitro Funny Car, put a little too much power into his ride in his
second-round match up with Gary Scelzi. The California resident elaborated
on what happened.

³The car was an animal against Scelzi, thus the tire smoke,² Pedregon noted.
³We had a lot of horsepower. We know what happened on that one  and it¹s
something that definitely won¹t happen again. The camshaft in these cars are
different and it wasn¹t in its proper place. We made a lot more horsepower
than we intended. I feel like we could have had a longer day because
Scelzi¹s run was beatable.²

PedregonRacing.com