CRUZ PEDREGON / ADVANCE AUTO PARTS NITRO FUNNY CAR TEAM GAINESVILLE ADVANCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 13, 2006 

Media Contacts: 

   Allison Holt, JRL Group, (847) 291-7080, allison@jrlgroup.com

   Janie Vogel, JRL Group, (440) 915-7627,  
janievogel@yahoo.com

   On-site race weekend:  Andy Lieb , (847) 567-5751 (cell)

 

 

 

CRUZ PEDREGON

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS NITRO FUNNY CAR TEAM

GAINESVILLE ADVANCE

 

EVENT:

NHRA ACDelco Gatornationals

 

TRACK NAME / LOCATION:

Gainesville Raceway, Gainesville, Fla.

www.GainesvilleRaceway.com <http://www.gainesvilleraceway.com/> 

 

DATE:

March 16-19, 2006

 

SERIES:

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

Nitro Funny Car Division

 

TEAM MEMBERS:

Driver/Owner: Cruz Pedregon

Teammate: Tony Pedregon

Crew Chief: Ron Douglas

Co-Crew Chief: Sam Shockley

 

 

(Indianapolis, Ind.):  After strong appearances at the first two races of
the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series season in Pomona and Phoenix, reaching
the quarterfinals in the latter race, Cruz Pedregon and his Advance Auto
Parts Nitro Funny Car Team are anxious to attack the prestigious NHRA
ACDelco Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla. the
weekend of March 16-19, 2006.

 

The Santa Rosa Valley, Calif. resident has a history of winning at the huge
Gatornationals event, the first of the year for the eastern side of the
country, taking the #1 qualifying spot and winning in 1998, and also being
the top qualifier in 1997.  

 

“With the way my Advance Auto Parts car is working, I am really looking
forward to heading to Gainesville this weekend,” stated Pedregon.  “Although
we look forward to every race, Gainesville is really special because it’s
such a big race.  It’s the first stop on the eastern side of the country.”

 

Pedregon fully understands the significance of this third stop on the NHRA
schedule, and knows doing well in Gainesville could be the catalyst for a
successful 2006 campaign:  “The Gatornationals is such a traditional race, a
prestigious race.  And I’ve won there in a dragster, as well as the Funny
Car a few years ago, so we obviously feel like we can do well there again.
I can’t wait to go in there with the car I have now, which is the best car
I’ve brought there in years.  It will be interesting to see how the
different teams adjust to the new tire situation.  We feel like we had a
really solid test in Gainesville and we’ll be able to go in there as
prepared as we could possibly be.  I’m looking forward to a great weekend.”


 

After conquering the fast quarter-mile at Gainesville Raceway this weekend,
the NHRA warriors head to Houston for the NHRA Spring Nationals at Houston
Raceway Park from March 31 – April 2.  Check your local ESPN2 listings for
broadcast times and event coverage.  

 

 

PHOENIX RACE REVIEW:

Race:                NHRA Nationals (2 of 23 in NHRA race season)

Date:                Feb. 24-26, 2006

Series:              NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Nitro Funny Car
division

Track:               Firebird Raceway, Chandler, Ariz.

Qualified:           2nd, 4.741 sec. / 326.87 mph

Result:              After qualifying second, won his First-Round match-up
with Tim Wilkerson with a 4.741/ 326.87 mph pass.  In the Quarterfinals
pairing, Cruz’s 4.837 / 320.58 mph run was not quite good enough to beat
nemesis John Force and his 4.792 / 314.53 pass.  

Current Points:  10th (after Phoenix race)

Cruz Pedregon Phoenix Post-Race Quote: 

“We had a really good weekend.  We had a great Friday – qualified second –
then Saturday was not so good. But we rebounded on race day and had low ET
of the first round…excellent run.  We knew we were right there, we just had
to find the right setup.  Our strategy was when the conditions changed and
the track heated up, in this case it was 16 or 17 degrees hotter later in
the day, we needed to make more adjustments to maintain traction.  But we
went too far with the setup and backed it down too much in the second round.
It would have been nice to win that round but we are happy with our
performance.  It’s nice to have a car that’s fast at night in cool
conditions, but you have to make sure that same good car is just as fast
during the day when the track heats up.  If we would have raced again, we
could have beaten some of the other cars that were out there because we knew
where we wanted to go with the car.  We got back our consistency, got back
in our groove that we didn’t have in Pomona.”

 

 

GAINESVILLE WEEKEND SCHEDULE: 

 

FRIDAY, March 17, 2006

Pit and Spectator Gates Open
7:00 AM

Final Registration and Tech Inspection (Pro's, TAD/TAFC)             7:00 AM
- 12:00 PM

Sportsman Qualifying/Eliminations
7:30 AM

Pro Mod Qualifying Session
11:00 AM

Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle / PS Car)                11:30
AM

Nitro Qualifying Session (Funny Car / Top Fuel Dragster)               12:30
PM

Top Alcohol Qualifying Session (Funny Car / Dragster)                  1:30
PM

Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle / PS Car)                2:30 PM

Nitro Qualifying Session (Funny Car / Top Fuel Dragster)               3:30
PM

Pro Mod Qualifying Session
4:30 PM

Top Alcohol Qualifying Session (Funny Car / Dragster)                  5:00
PM

Secure Track
7:00 PM

            

SATURDAY, March 18, 2006

Pit and Spectator Gates Open
7:00 AM

Sportsman Eliminations
7:30 AM

Pro Mod Qualifying Session
11:00 AM

Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle / PS Car)                11:30
AM

Nitro Qualifying Session (Top Fuel Dragster / Funny Car)               12:30
PM

Top Alcohol Qualifying Session (Funny Car / Dragster)                  1:30
PM

Pro Stock Qualifying Session (PS Motorcycle / PS Car)                2:30 PM

Nitro Qualifying Session (Top Fuel Dragster / Funny Car)               3:30
PM

Pro Mod - Round 1
4:30 PM

Top Alcohol Qualifying Session (Funny Car / Dragster)                  5:00
PM

Secure Track
7:00 PM

            

SUNDAY, March 19, 2006

Pit and Spectator Gates Open
7:30 AM

Sportsman Eliminations
9:00 AM

Pre-Race Ceremonies
10:00 AM

Final Eliminations
11:00 AM

Secure Event
4:30 PM

**Schedule subject to change

 

 

GAINESVILLE ESPN2 TELEVISION COVERAGE:

March 19:  12:30 a.m.-2:30 a.m. - Qualifying

March 19:  5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. - Eliminations

March 22:  2:30 a.m.-4:30 a.m. - Repeat Eliminations

(All times Eastern)

 

 

GAINESVILLE LIVE AUDIO BROADCAST: 

The public-address commentary from the 37th Annual NHRA Gatornationals will
be broadcast live over the Internet from
http://www.nhra.com/2006/events/race03/broadcast.html.  Follow the
wire-to-wire, play by play coverage from the third race of the 2006 NHRA
POWERade Drag Racing Series season.   NHRA members get exclusive access to
listen live to Friday and Saturday's qualifying shows; check in both days at
7:30 a.m. Eastern.  The all-access final eliminations show – open to all
NHRA.com visitors – begins Sunday at 9 a.m. Sunday Eastern. 

 

 

2005 SEASON RECAP:

In 2005, Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Auto Parts Race Team finished for the
second consecutive year in the top 10 in points, was #1 qualifier twice and
recorded a career best ET speed of 4.680 seconds at 330.80 mph. 

 

 

D R I V E R

C R U Z   P E D R E G O N

 

 

The B A S I C S . . . 

 

Nickname

"The Cruzer"

 

Car

Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo

 

Birthdate

September 19, 1963

 

Residence

Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.

 

Website

www.PedregonRacing.com <http://www.pedregonracing.com/> 

 

Career Wins

27

 

Career Final Rounds

54

 

Career Best Elapsed Time

4.680 sec.

 

Career Best Speed

330.80 mph

 

 

The B A C K G R O U N D . . . 

 

·         2005: Earned a pair of No. 1 qualifiers (Englishtown and Chicago
2); Set the low E.T. at two events (Englishtown and Chicago 2); Set career
bests for both time and speed; Won at least two rounds at five consecutive
events and six of the first eight events to open the 2005 season; Won
$25,000 bonus for having closest margin of victory in Motel 6 Who Got the
Light award 

·         2004: Earned first No. 1 qualifying position (Columbus) since
1998; Was the runner-up at consecutive events twice (Denver & Seattle;
Indianapolis & Dallas); Established career-best performance numbers;
Qualified No. 11 in the quickest Funny Car field in NHRA history (Pomona 2) 

·         2003: Highest finish in the Funny Car standings since 1998; was
the runner-up at Denver and Reading; established career-best time and speed 

·         2002: After taking a year off from racing, Pedregon assembled a
team that qualified for 18 national events; Advanced to the semifinals at
Indianapolis 

·         2001: Served as color analyst for ESPN’s drag racing coverage 

·         2000: Raced part-time as an owner/driver, collecting one win
(Englishtown) 

·         1999: Raced part-time as an owner/driver in the Funny Car category


·         1998: Earned the No. 1 qualifying spot a career-best 12 times; Won
NHRA all-star race; Set national elapsed-time record three times; Runner-up
in Funny Car bonus race 

·         1997: The first motorsports athlete to received the "Premio De
Oro," the only national award for Hispanic athletes 

·         1996: Competing in a limited amount of races, Pedregon won one
race en route to a third-place finish in the NHRA championship point
standings; Finished in the top three for the fifth consecutive season 

·         1995: Won at Indianapolis for the third time in four years (1992,
’94-95); Recorded first career four-second run, a 4.991 at Dallas; Broke the
300-mph mark for the first time with a 300.90-mph pass at Indianapolis 

·         1994: Was the only Funny Car driver to defeat John Force in a
final round the entire season; Qualified in the top half at 15 of the 18
national events 

·         1992: Won the NHRA Funny Car championship — the only Funny Car
driver other than John Force to win a title in the 1990s 

·         1990: Won a career-best six races 

·         1991: Raced part-time in Top Fuel competition 

·         1990: Moved to Alcohol Funny Car competition 

·         1987: Started his NHRA career in Alcohol Dragster 

 

 

The F U N S T U F F . . . 

 

·         Wife: Sharon; Sons: Josh (4/16/82) and Gabe (9/20/85) 

·         Height/weight: 6´0", 180 lbs. 

·         Notable: Won first drag race in 1980 behind wheel of a 1953
Kenworth truck; Raced go-karts in 1986 and was track champion at Ventura
(Calif.) Raceway; Brothers Tony and Frank also compete in NHRA Funny Car
category 

·         Father, Frank, raced Top Fuel dragsters in 1960s 

·         Fluent in Spanish, Cruz enjoys working with Hispanic media 

·         Enjoys doing charitable work with children 

·         Avid NFL fan, especially of Oakland Raiders. Also enjoys listening
to sports talk radio 

 

 

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series 2006 Schedule

 

February 9-12 - CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals, Pomona, CA

February 24-26 - Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals, Chandler, AZ

March 16-19 - ACDelco NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville, FL

March 31-April 2 - O’Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals, Houston, TX

April 6-9 - NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals, Las Vegas, NV

April 28-30 - O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol, TN

May 4-7 - Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals, Atlanta, GA

May 18-21 - Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals, Columbus, OH

May 25-28 - O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals, Topeka, KS

June 8-11 - CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals, Joliet, IL

June 15-18 - K&N Filters SuperNationals, Englishtown, NJ

June 23-25 - O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals, Madison, IL

July 14-16 - Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, Denver, CO

July 21-23 - Schuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals, Seattle, WA

July 28-30 - Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals, Sonoma, CA

August 10-13 - Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd, MN

August 18-20 - O’Reilly Mid-South Nationals, Memphis, TN

August 30-Sept. 4 - Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, Clermont, IN

September 14-17 - Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals, Reading, PA

September 21-24 - O’Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals, Ennis, TX

October 6-8 - Virginia NHRA Nationals, Richmond, VA

October 26-29 - ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals, Las Vegas, NV

November 9-12 - Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, Pomona,
CA 

 

 

MANY THANKS TO THE ADVANCE AUTO PARTS TEAM

2006 SUPPORTERS

 

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS – www.advanceautoparts.com

QUAKER STATE – www.qpower.com 

SNAP-ON – www.snapon.com 

GREAT STUFF – www.greatstuff.dow.com/index.htm 

HERZOG – www.herzogcompanies.com 

FETERL – www.feterl.com 

GOODYEAR – www.goodyear.com 

SIOUX CITY TRUCK & TRAILER – www.siouxcitykenworth.com 

WELD RACING – www.weldracing.com 

MR. GASKET COMPANY – www.mrgasket.com 

MARK CHRISTOPHER AUTO CENTER – www.markchristopher.com 

THE PALMS CASINO RESORT – www.palms.com 

 

*****

 

Cruz Pedregon/Advance Auto Parts Nitro Funny Car Team high- and
low-resolution photos available upon request.

Media Contacts: 

Allison Holt, JRL Group, (847) 291-7080 x201, allison@jrlgroup.com

Janie Vogel, JRL Group, (440) 915-7627,  
janievogel@yahoo.com

On site the weekend of March 17-19:  Andy Lieb, (847) 567-5751 (cell)