TONY PEDREGON AND THE Q TORQUE POWER RACE TEAM HAVE PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND IN INDY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 5, 2006

Contact: 

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

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

Hi- and low-resolution photos available upon request

 

TONY PEDREGON AND THE Q TORQUE POWER RACE TEAM HAVE PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND IN
INDY

 

2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series 

Round 18 of 23 

NHRA U.S. Nationals, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis 

Race Date: September 1-4, 2006

 

CLERMONT, Ind. (September 5, 2006) - Tony Pedregon and his Q Torque Power
Race Team suffered a tough first-round loss at O'Reilly Raceway Park at
Indianapolis in the Nitro Funny Car division during the NHRA U.S. Nationals
this past weekend.  A busy weekend at the biggest race of the year saw
Pedregon not only solidly qualify for the U.S. Nationals field - the
toughest drag race in the world - but also run the $100,000 Skoal Showdown
on Sunday, which pits the top eight drivers in points, calculated from last
year's U.S. Nationals to this year's event.  Pedregon was paired with his
former boss and Funny Car foe, John Force, in Sunday's first-round match in
the Showdown, but lost to the eventual winner. 

 

Regarding the Skoal Shootout, Pedregon stated, "our Showdown didn't go as
many rounds as I had hoped, but I've won that race in the past, and I know I
can win it again, and that's why I'll continue to run hard every race so I
can guarantee I'll be able to run that race next year."

  

"I always love coming to Indianapolis. This is a great race with great fans,
and our Q Torque Power Team also had a lot of sponsors and supporters here,
so we certainly hope to always put on a good show for them," Pedregon
explained. "We tested well here a few weeks ago, ran the best E.T. of all of
the Funny Cars, and know we can win here. We qualified well (8th), and knew
we had a good setup for a lot of different conditions heading into Monday's
final eliminations, as we had run in both cool and warm temperatures. We
typically run better in a cooler setting, but we had a really good
qualifying session on Sunday in the heat that showed we had the consistency
in warmer weather, and consistency wins races and championships. That was
encouraging. We went into that first round on Monday knowing we had the best
chance at winning this race that we've ever had, and I was confident. Our
team performed well and we ran an exceptionally close race, but just missed
it by a little bit. It's disappointing, but I'm sure we'll be able to
analyze the data and rebound in Reading." 

 

NEXT RACE: September 15-17 - NHRA Nationals, Maple Grove Raceway, Reading,
PA

 

INDIANAPOLIS U.S. NATIONALS RACE RESULTS: 

 

QUALIFIED:

8th - 4.735 / 325.30

 

FIRST ROUND:

(W) Mike Ashley - 4.754 / 326.95

(L) Tony Pedregon - 4.753 / 318.17

 

SKOAL SHOWDOWN RESULTS:

 

FIRST ROUND:

John Force - 4.790 / 322.58 def. Tony Pedregon - 4.834 / 295.46

 

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:

1. Ron Capps, 1300 

2. John Force, 1281 

3. Robert Hight, 1141

4. Tony Pedregon, 1112 

5. Eric Medlen, 1069 

6. Tommy Johnson Jr., 1008 

7. Gary Scelzi, 1001 

8. Whit Bazemore, 956 

9. Cruz Pedregon, 759 

10. Phil Burkart, Jr. 756 

 

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