Cruz Pedregon Makes Semifinal Round Appearance
Advance Auto Parts Racing Nitro Funny Car Pedregon Racing NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Route 66 Raceway Joliet, Ill. Elimination Notes & Quotes Cruz Pedregon Advances to Semifinals Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo Keeps Momentum Up JOLIET, Ill. (Oct. 3, 2004) Cruz Pedregon drove his Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car to the semifinals of todayıs NHRA National Event at Route 66 Raceway. Coming off of back-to-back final round appearances, Pedregon ran into a strong John Force in the semifinals. Pedregon logged a 4.785-second elapsed time at 312.21 mph, but it was a bit shy of Forceıs 4.729-second pass at 329.83 mph. ³I so happy with how weıre running right now,² Pedregon said. ³This car has been performing flawlessly week in and week out. I havenıt had a car like this since the mid 1990ıs with the McDonaldıs and Interstate Batteries cars. This is just awesome. ³We know that if we pull into the track and do our thing, we have a shot every weekend,² Pedregon added. ³We know we can get to the final four or the final two. I still think weıre going to get into the winnerıs circle before the year is out. Johnıs car has been on a different planet this weekend, but I felt if we had run any of the other teamıs, we would have had a shot at another final. It didnıt work out that way. There were 25 tough Funny Cars out here this weekend and to be in the final four is great. Pedregon advanced to the second round by defeating Johnny Gray in round one and Gary Densham in round two. In his second round match, both competitors smoked the tires, but Pedregon was able to catch the car in time and drive to victory. Advance Auto Parts Notebook: ROUND WINNER: In the last three races, Cruz Pedregon has wielded his Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car to eight round victories.