Sunday Elimination Round 1 Results Elimination Round 2 Results Elimination Round 3 Results Final Round Results

Funny Car Results for Elimination Round 1

CHANDLER, Ariz. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the 17th annual Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals presented by Pennzoil: W/L Driver RT ET Speed (W) Gary Densham (AAA '00 Chevy Camaro) 0.487 5.041 295.21 (L) Dean Skuza (Mopar Parts '01 Dodge R/T) 0.518 6.752 138.40 11:35 AM We did a quick scrape of the track between the Top Fuel session and the Funny Cars. It appeared that there was some rubber coming up. The conditions are totally different today. Bright sun on the track. Well it's a good thing we don't run these things on paper. SKuza set the pace in the quickest field in history but come the first round it's Gary Densham in the big upset. Who's happier? Densham or the rest of the funny car field. Skuza struck the tires before 330 feet and couldn't recover. (W) Bruce Sarver (e-moola.com '00 Pontiac Firebi0.513 4.932 304.53 (L) Jerry Toliver (WWF/XFL Racing '01 Pontiac Fi0.274(R) 4.905 311.56 Toliver will be asking for a do-over on this one. As red lights go this was a bad one. Toliver had the E-moola car covered in the ET area but decided to go for the tree. Sarver makes a clean, but slower pass in the left lane. (W) John Force (Castrol GTX '00 Ford Mustang) 0.493 4.911 311.34 (L) Al Hofmann (Mooneyes '01 Pontiac Firebird) 0.507 6.317 142.34 Really bad luck for Hofmann. He had Force even to half track where there was a big puff of nitro out of the pipes and the blower belt fell off. I can tell you that Force could see Hofmann out of the window until half track. (W) Scotty Cannon (Oakley '01 Pontiac Firebird) 0.560 4.902 309.34 (L) Bob Gilbertson (Stewart & Stevenson '00 Chev0.521 4.958 304.67 I will never get over seeing Wes Cerney in the Oakley garb. The Glasses and the beret are great. It was the race here that was even better. The pair was welded together, side by side, until Cannon started pulling away to the finish. As fuel races go this one was close. Margin of victory = 0.017 seconds (approximately 8 feet). Cannon also secures lane choice over Sarver in the next round. (W) Del Worsham (CSK '00 Pontiac Firebird) 0.496 4.927 306.81 (L) Whit Bazemore (Matco Tools '01 Pontiac Fireb0.560 4.877 313.73 Another great side by side. Worsham drills Bazemore at the start and leads all the way to the finish. Bazemore was closing but passed Worsham after the finish. Margin of victory = 0.014 seconds (approximately 6 feet). (W) Ron Capps (Skoal Racing '01 Chevy Camaro) 0.503 4.841 314.24 (L) Tony Pedregon (Castrol Syntec '01 Ford Musta0.512 4.906 306.33 This race followed qualifying form. Both drivers made laps about identical to qualifying and the reaction times were close. Capps was ahead all the way. That pass gives lane choice to Capps over Worsham next round. (W) Chuck Etchells ('00 Chevy Camaro) 0.548 9.414 87.78 (L) Jim Epler ('00 Chevy Camaro) 0.000(R) (Broke) Etchells gets a big bye run as after the burnout the Epler car is shutoff. Etchells ride was there for the taking as he struck the tires about 300 feet out. To make matters even worse for Epler the Safety Safari has to roll and clean oil out of the right lane. Tough to waste a freebie on a burn out oil down. Force will have lane choice in the next round. (W) Tommy Johnson Jr. (Skoal Racing '01 Chevy Ca0.500 4.881 310.05 (L) Frank Pedregon (CSK '00 Pontiac Firebird) 0.537 7.225 114.02 We were down for about fifteen minutes to clean the track but the call goes out to fire the next pair. This one sets up to be close as we feature the eight and nine qualifiers. Pedregon has choice and puts Johnson into the repaired lane. Of course. Again the choice makes no difference as Pedregon tosses a belt at around 300 feet. As the blue CSK car falls silent it's Johnson that takes the win and lane choice over Densham in the next round.

Funny Car Results for Elimination Round 2

CHANDLER, Ariz. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the 17th annual Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals presented by Pennzoil: W/L Driver RT ET Speed (W) John Force (Castrol GTX '00 Ford Mustang) 0.537 5.057 284.56 (L) Chuck Etchells ('00 Chevy Camaro) 0.531 8.008 103.95 1:21 PM Etchells got away with a tire smoker in the first round when Epler dumped a load of oil on the burn out. He might not get away with that against Force. I was right. Etchells loses traction about 300 feet out and falls behind. Force was there for the taking as the engine began to eat its self from 1000 feet to the finish. One look at the numbers and it's clear that Force's crew has a big job in the next 75 minutes. (W) Ron Capps (Skoal Racing '01 Chevy Camaro) 0.499 4.863 309.06 (L) Del Worsham (CSK '00 Pontiac Firebird) 0.361(R) 5.004 299.40 Capps looks on as Worsham takes a shot at the tree. He misses and turns on the big red bulb. Capps looks for lane choice and runs it out the back. Capps secures lane choice over Force in the semifinals. (W) Bruce Sarver (e-moola.com '00 Pontiac Firebi0.484 4.869 309.84 (L) Scotty Cannon (Oakley '01 Pontiac Firebird) 0.527 4.925 310.20 Sarver runs his streak to six rounds as he wins a barn burner against Cannon. Sarver left first and his numbers were better at every marker. Hogan has that hotrod running! (W) Gary Densham (AAA '00 Chevy Camaro) 0.532 5.045 279.21 (L) Tommy Johnson Jr. (Skoal Racing '01 Chevy Ca0.527 6.715 128.54 Well lookie here. Johnson gets the lead at the hit but it appeared that the blower belt falls off and Johnson watches Densham streak by. I noticed that Densham made a weak burnout and he did shut off early. The camp may be real busy. Densham also gives up choice to Sarver in the next round.

Funny Car Results for Elimination Round 3

CHANDLER, Ariz. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the 17th annual Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals presented by Pennzoil: W/L Driver RT ET Speed (W) Bruce Sarver (e-moola.com '00 Pontiac Firebi0.524 4.938 305.01 (L) Gary Densham (AAA '00 Chevy Camaro) 0.517 5.276 221.82 2:45 PM Is this Densham's day? We're about to find out as he faces a really bad hotrod, driven by Bruce Sarver. Between Richard Hogan and Alan Johnson this thing is flying. Densham leaves first but can't muster the power to stay in front of the 'big black' car. If Sarver showed any weakness it was the fact that he did haze the tires before the finish. (W) John Force (Castrol GTX '00 Ford Mustang) 0.492 4.926 306.05 (L) Ron Capps (Skoal Racing '01 Chevy Camaro) 0.493 6.023 164.13 When you start saying the King is dead it pays to make sure. After Pomona everyone was saying it just wouldn't be Force's year. Two weeks later he's in the final with lane choice over Bruce Sarver. The race against Capps was an even start and side by side until the Capps racer struck the tires about half track. A big trail of smoke from the Goodyears and he can only watch Force streak away.

Funny Car Results for Final Round

CHANDLER, Ariz. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Funny Car at the 17th annual Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals presented by Pennzoil: W/L Driver RT ET Speed (W) John Force (Castrol GTX '00 Ford Mustang) 0.505 4.929 285.77 (L) Bruce Sarver (e-moola.com '00 Pontiac Firebi0.481 6.956 121.91 4:12 PM Force is looking to give Austin Coil his 100th win in the funny car catagory. He holds a 2-0 record against Sarver in final rounds. Sarver has thrown a 4.86 earlier so this one should be close. Well, that's not close and John hands Coil his 100th and he wins his third straight at Firebird Raceway. Force has now won this event seven out of the last eight years. According to Sarver he got out about 200 feet and he thinks he threw the clutch of his racer. The E-moola team can still hold their heads up as this is two final rounds in two races for them.

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