Tony Pedregon Grabs Top Qualifying Spot In Pomona
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 Grabs No. 1 Qualifying Spot Spectacular Run Ends in the Sand Traps at the Top End POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 12, 2005) Q Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car driver Tony Pedregonıs final-qualifying pass for the 45th annual CARQUEST Winternationals at Pomona Raceway will not be soon forgotten. Not only did the 2003 POWERade World Champion make the second-quickest pass in NHRA Funny Car history at 4.681 seconds (at 323.35 mph) and grab his first No. 1 qualifier of the season, but a chute failure propelled Pedregon into the sand trap at the top end of the track. It was spectacular in every sense of the word. ³I feel good we have a car that will run a 4.68,² said Pedregon, who picked up his 29th career No. 1 qualifier. ³I was really disappointed at the end of the run, until someone yelled, Œ4.68.ı It was more important for us to run that quick, so weıll just have to work late to take care of the car - thatıs how I look at it. ³We had a good game plan going into the session,² Pedregon continued. ³We had optimum conditions during that run. We might have lucked out because we were fortunate we didnıt have more damage. I was concerned the chassis was going to be twisted or bent, but we may be in better shape than we thought.² Another encouraging sign for Pedregon is the fact he made three solid qualifying passes so far this weekend, maintaining a level of consistency the Q Racing team has long sought. ³We did a lot of testing and are no longer a new team,² Pedregon noted. ³We now have some continuity. I knew coming into this race and even through testing, that weıre a much better prepared team than we were last year. The key people are still in place with (crew chief) Dickie (Venables), (assistant crew chief) Kurt (Elliott) and myself - so we know what to expect.² The Q Racing team will regroup and ready itself for a round one match up with Terry Haddock tomorrow. Q Racing Notebook On the Front LinesŠ Tony Pedregon, driver of the Q Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car, expanded upon the situation that led up to his shunt at the top end of Pomona Raceway. ³At some point during the run, a strut broke and shoved itself through the body, laying the parachute levers over,² Pedregon said. ³I knew something was wrong the first time I went to hit the levers. Normally, there are two levers there primary and the backup. I only felt one when I made the initial hit. I went back and took another swing at it, and it wasnıt there. The one that was there didnıt feel right. And in the half seconds that are going by, youıre traveling hundreds of feet. ³The third time I went to hit them, I had a pretty good idea where I was at and knew I was in trouble,² Pedregon added. ³At that point, I didnıt want to release the brake and slow it down. I did scrub some speed off before I hit the sand, so it could have been worse. Itıs pretty slushy down at the end of the track from the rain and I guess they put a lot more sand out there as well. It was a mess, but it actually looked worse than it really was. I think that car will live to see a quite a few more days.² He went on to talk about how the team will prepare for tomorrowıs eliminations. ³We have a backup body weıre going to try and update with all of Q Racingıs re-branded look,² Pedregon said. ³Dickie and the team will do their thing on the chassis. Weıll just have to be a little more thorough when we get into the service. Other than that, the rest of it is going to be routine. All the engine, electronics and components can be changed at the drop of a hat. The control box is the only area we want to be really concerned about. Thatıs where some of the electronics and pneumatic timers are. Hopefully, not a lot of the sand got in that area. And I know we can fix me because I can always take an aspirin.² Track Record... Tony Pedregon and the Q Racing Monte Carlo also broke the existing Pomona Raceway record with his 4.681-second elapsed time. -PedregonRacing.com-