Tony Pedregon First Day of Indy Qualifying

Quaker State Racing Funny Car

Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
50th Annual U.S. Nationals
Friday Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Tony Pedregon Wraps Up First Day of Qualifying

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 3, 2004) ­ Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State Racing
Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car wrapped up the first day of qualifying for this
weekendıs 50th anniversary U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Pedregon maneuvered his way to a 5.060-second elapsed time at 271.90 mph. He
will be gunning for a fourth-straight, top-eight effort when qualifying
resumes tomorrow. Todayıs single session marked the first of an unusual five
sessions of qualifying, unique to the U.S. Nationals.

³There was a little more humidity out there than we thought,² Pedregon said.
³It appeared, within the first 400 feet, that there wasnıt anyone that ran
quicker. We have a new body and it just wore a lot of clutch.

³I think one of the challenges was that it was a little dark out there,²
Pedregon added. ³There was so much clutch dust that I couldnıt see that
well. Itıs hard enough to keep these cars in the center of the track. As
much power as it was making, it drifted over to the right and that put it
right over the edge. We have a couple more passes tomorrow and another
evening run under decent conditions. No glitches at all. The car responded
early and thatıs important. If you get the car to run well in the first
part, we know what it will do in the second half.²

PedregonRacing.com