Cruz Pedregon Closes Memphis Qualifying Strong

Advance Auto Parts Racing Nitro Funny Car

Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park
Final Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Cruz Pedregon Makes Strong Final Pass
Advance Auto Parts Funny Car Grabs 10th
 
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 21, 2004)  Cruz Pedregon maneuvered the Advance Auto
Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car to the tenth-qualifying position for this
weekend¹s NHRA National Event at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Pedregon came back strong in the fourth session, clicking off a 4.948-second
elapsed time at 296.37 mph, after smoking the tires in the third round. His
run sets up a first round match with long-time rival John Force.

³The car was trying to run fast all weekend,² Pedregon said. ³We stumbled
last night, got out of the groove, and spun the tires. This morning we just
made the wrong set up call, but tonight was a lot better.

³It was a good run, even though we left something on the table,² Pedregon
continued. ³We felt we needed to be conservative because when you¹re not in
the field you just want to get solidly in the show. It¹s a good starting
point and we¹re ready to race.²

High humidity and erratic temperatures have thrown a curve ball to the
teams. Pedregon talked about the conditions of this weekend.

³It¹s pretty warm out here this weekend,² Pedregon said. ³But we¹re hanging
in there pretty good. We fixed the weight around in the car because it
wanted to drift to the right. It¹s kind of been doing that the last several
races. We changed that around, so the car is leaving nice and straight
again. 

³It¹s a challenge because the grooves are so narrow here and there¹s not a
big margin for error,² Pedregon added. ³This team has done such a great job
of adapting. One thing we left with last week was a set up we thought would
drive well when the track temperature was above 105 degrees or so. First
round should be interesting, conditions wise. We feel like we have a set up
that will go right down the race track.²

Advance Auto Parts Racing Notebook:

OLD FOES: Former Funny Car World Champion Cruz Pedregon, driver of the
Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car, will face off against
12-time champ John Force in the first round of competition. Ironically, up
until brother Tony Pedregon¹s championship of last season, Cruz (1992) had
been the only driver to win a championship other than John Force since 1989.

³It¹s a good first round match up,² Pedregon commented. ³I definitely enjoy
racing Force, but prefer racing him in the later rounds. He always brings
the best out in us.³

PedregonRacing.com