Tony Pedregon Starts Off Season Fourth

NHRA 2005 NOTES & QUOTES

45th Annual Carquest NHRA Winternationals
Pomona Raceway ­ Pomona, California
Q Racing Nitro Funny Car  - Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
 
Tony Pedregon Starts Off Season Strong
Q Racing Monte Carlo Grabs Provisional Fourth

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 10, 2005) ­ Tony Pedregon and his Q Racing Monte Carlo
Nitro Funny Car, in an unusual one lane, one car at a time qualifying
session, started the season and the Carquest NHRA Winternationals at Pomona
Raceway in fourth.

Due to a faulty timing system, each Funny Car, including Pedregon, had to
qualify in the right lane. The conditions did not hamper the 2003 NHRA
POWERade Funny Car World Champion because he clicked off a solid
4.797­second elapsed time at 302.82 mph.

³We were a little conservative on that run because of the uncertainty in the
weather conditions,² Pedregon said. ³We were less aggressive on that pass,
got down the track so we feel comfortable about going into the rest of the
weekend. 

³We have to race smart, think and plan ahead,² Pedregon continued. ³Anytime
you can be in the top five after the first day of qualifying is real
encouraging. We¹re going to open up the car tomorrow and hope for the best
with the weather. We¹re leaving a lot on the table because we only ran 302
mph. We are capable of running 330, so it shows you how much we have left in
the car. Just like Q Racing says, we¹re going to unleash the horses
tomorrow.²

Pedregon had to make an adjustment to what Pomona offered this evening
because the weather narrowed the racing groove.

 ³The dew point came in a little bit,² Pedregon said. ³It was cool, which is
good for the cars, but a little unusual for Southern California We
communicated as a team pretty well and came up with a great gameplan.²