Cruz Pedregon Wraps Up 2004
Advance Auto Parts Nitro Funny Car Pedregon Racing NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series 40th Anniversary Auto Club of Southern California NHRA Finals Pomona Raceway Elimination Notes & Quotes Cruz Pedregon Closes Out Productive Season POMONA, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2004) Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car closed out a productive 2004 during todayıs running of the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals at Pomona Raceway. Despite a first round loss to Phil Burkhart, Pedregon made four final-round appearances in the second half of the season. He talked about a promising year and looked towards 2005. ³We have a lot to be prod of with this team,² Pedregon said. ³We qualified at every event this season and I havenıt done that since the mid-1990s. Thatıs a great achievement to accomplish. And those final rounds we made, especially our run in the second half of the season, demonstrated what this team is capable of. ³We also learned a lot as a team,² Pedregon added. ³Thatıs all going towards our effort next season.² Pedregon discussed the first round defeat by saying, ³Our first round run today was something that just happens. We had a clutch that wouldnıt neutralize and it held a tremendous amount of heat, which is the enemy in that area. I canıt remember that last time we went out and smoked the tires off the line like that. These things happen and we know why it happened, which means weıll be able to address the problem the next time we go out. It wonıt happen again. ³I feel bad for the team and Advance Auto Parts because we had a much better car than what we showed today,² Pedregon continued. ³We would have liked to of had that one over again because we had a mid-4.70 in that car. Weıre going to freshen some things up over the winter and complete our testing in January. I feel extremely confident about 2005.² The 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season will open on Feb. 10-13, here at Pomona Raceway for the 45th annual K&N Filters Winternationals.