CRUZ PEDREGON AND THE ADVANCE AUTO PARTS RACE TEAM RETAIN TOP-10 POINT STANDINGS EARLY IN SEASON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2006
Contact:  
     Allison Holt, JRL Group, (847) 291-7080 x201,
<http://us.f332.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=allison@jrlgroup.com>
allison@jrlgroup.com
     Janie Vogel, JRL Group, (440) 915-7627,
<http://us.f332.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=janievogel@yahoo.com>
janievogel@yahoo.com
Hi- and low-resolution photos available upon request

 

CRUZ PEDREGON AND THE ADVANCE AUTO PARTS RACE TEAM RETAIN 

TOP-10 POINT STANDINGS EARLY IN SEASON

 

2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series 
Round 8 of 23 
NHRA Nationals at National Trail Raceway in Columbus, OH
Race Date:  May 19-21, 2006

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 22, 2006) - Cruz Pedregon and his Advance Auto Parts
Race Team qualified fifth in NHRA POWERade Nitro Funny Car action from the
NHRA Nationals at National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio, this past
weekend before a tough first-round loss.  

 

Pedregon retained a positive outlook for the upcoming May race in Topeka and
is already working on bettering his performance and 9th-place point standing
for the next stop on the NHRA tour:  "Our weekend went pretty well.  Our
Advance Auto Parts car was consistent and we qualified for the race well
into the top-half of the field, which is important.  Although we had a few
clean passes in qualifying, the fuel system went lean in the first round of
eliminations and burnt a few pistons before half-track causing the car to
slow down, which turned into a small fire at three-quarter track.  Finally
the engine gave up.  We were leading the race, at that time, and obviously
that cost us the win.  We know why it happened and we'll do everything we
can to make sure that doesn't happen again in Topeka."

 

Cruz's teammate Tony Pedregon won the event in the Funny Car division, his
second consecutive win in 2006:  "For my teammate Tony to win, that's
important for our team and all of the sponsors we share like Quaker State,
Snap-on, Great Stuff, Herzog, Pug, Sioux City, Mr. Gasket, Mountain View
Chevrolet and The Palms.  Because we also share all of our technical
information, I am confident we'll be able to get the Advance Auto Parts car
in the winner's circle again soon."  

 

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 330.80mph. 

 

NEXT RACE:  NHRA Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka (Kan.), May
26-28, 2006

 

COLUMBUS RACE RESULTS:   

 

QUALIFIED:
5th - 4.744 / 326.56

 

FIRST ROUND RESULTS:
(W) Del Worsham - 4.873 / 314.61

(L) Cruz Pedregon - 4.972 / 268.60

 

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Ron Capps, 666

2. John Force, 575

3. Eric Medlen, 482

4. Robert Hight, 474

5. Tommy Johnson Jr., 446

6. Tony Pedregon, 434

7. Del Worsham, 428

8. Whit Bazemore, 412

9. Cruz Pedregon, 402

10. Phil Burkart Jr., 354


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