Cruz Pedregon Drives To Atlanta Semifinals

NHRA 2005 NOTES & QUOTES

25th Annual NHRA Southern Nationals
Atlanta Dragway ­ Commerce, Ga.
Advance Auto Parts Nitro Funny Car  - Pedregon Racing
NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

Cruz Pedregon Advances to Semifinals
Advance Auto Parts Nitro Funny Car To Fourth of 2005

Commerce, GA. (May 16, 2005) ­Cruz Pedregon, driver of the Advance Auto
Parts Nitro Funny Car, advanced to his fourth semifinal of the 2005 season
during todayıs NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

The rain delay did not slow down Pedregon, who posted a solid semifinal run
of 4.856-second elapsed time at 318.17 mph. Pedregon barely missed the
finals as he ran into a strong John Force who clicked-off a 4.842-second
pass at 323.74 mph.

³I am very happy with the way this team recovers from qualifying sessions
and puts on a strong show during final eliminations,² said Pedregon. ³Weıre
running against very strong teams like Scelziıs, Worshamıs and Forceıs and
putting in a good fight. Today, we had a great side by side race with Force.
I think we gave it a very good shot but came up a little short.

³Wes Cerny (Crew Chief) put in a new fuel system and the car has really
responded well,² Pedregon added.
³The elapsed times got progressively better: 4.92, 4.88 and 4.85. I know
weıre headed in the right direction.²

Pedregon defeated Gary Scelzi in round two, after posting a 4.882-second
elapsed time at 315.78 mph and Del Worsham in round one with a 4.926-second
elapsed time at 298.14.

Todayıs semifinal placed Pedregon in fourth for the NHRA Nitro Funny Car
championship with 435 points.

-PedregonRacing.com-