Rugged Liner NHRA Nationals NHRA POWERAde DragRacing
Sunday
 

Funny Car
Results for Elimination Round 1
BRAINERD, Minn. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 21st annual Rugged Liner NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) Bob Bode (Promotorsports\Arbee Firebird)    0.562      5.233 300.20
 (L) Tommy Johnson Jr. (Skoal Racing Camaro)     0.518      6.718 159.01
It is sunny and the temperature is around 61 degrees, 77% humidity, and the barometer 29.98 inches and steady.

Tommy Johnson with one of his better weekends in qualifying since Columbus, now he needs to get out of round one which also has not happened since Columbus.

Johnson is out of the gate first, but then up in smoke immediately and he tried to save it, but just blistered the Goodyears. Bode dropped a hole on the left side right at the hit, but was able to keep the tires stuck. He did get loose around half track and got out of the groove over by the centerline.
 (W) Bruce Sarver (White Cap Celica)             0.484      4.920 312.06
 (L) Bob Gilbertson (Fram SureGRIP Firebird)     0.509      5.064 307.51
Sarver with the starting line advantage and never looked back with his best pass of the weekend. Gilbertson with his best pass of the weekend and was there if Sarver would of had a problem.

Sarver will have lane choice over Bode in round two.
 (W) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.462      4.941 309.34
 (L) Scotty Cannon (Oakley Firebird)             0.505      5.036 300.93
Force with a great reaction time and just blasted on through the quarter mile. Cannon had a hole out on the right side as soon as he hit the throttle. Force was mixing up cylinders on the top end, but moves into round two.
 (W) Tony Pedregon (Castrol Syntec Mustang)      0.503      4.864 318.02
 (L) Todd Paton (Nitro Fish Camaro)              0.476      5.288 237.71
Paton was out of the gate first, but then dropped a cylinder. Pedregon had the starting line difference made up by 100 feet and then just blasted on through the quarter mile with the quickest pass of the first round.
 (W) Whit Bazemore (Matco Tools Firebird)        0.489      5.372 248.80
 (L) Cory Lee (Checker Schuck's Kragen Firebird) 0.557     (Broke)
Bazemore with a big starting line advantage and then lost traction around half track, but lucky for him Lee had lost traction about 330 feet. When Lee lost traction and he pedaled it he got completely side ways and then collected the half track cones, so he will be DQ'ed.
 (W) Gary Densham (AAA of So. Cal. Mustang)      0.503      4.932 285.59
 (L) Frank Pedregon (K&N Filters Firebird)       0.505      4.947 309.98
This is a rematch of round one from Sonoma and Frank won that one. He has a six and two win loss round record against Densham.

This was a great drag race as they left together and Densham was out ahead all the way. Densham banged a blower at around 1200 feet and was dead in the water, but had a big enough lead to hold on to win by about 8 feet.
 (W) Del Worsham (Checker Schuck's Kragen Firebir0.511      4.960 308.64
 (L) Tim Wilkerson (Levi, Ray & Shoup Firebird)  0.484      5.385 210.80
Wilkerson was out of the gate first and he was in the lead until just past half track when he lost traction and started to drop cylinders. He then got over close to the centerline. Worsham just a tick off his qualified time, but moves into round two. He will give up lane choice to Tony Pedregon in the next round.
 (W) Dean Skuza (Mopar Parts Stratus R/T)        0.471      4.924 310.91
 (L) Johnny Gray (Checker Schuck's Kragen Firebir0.471      5.206 225.94
They left at exactly the same time, but after that it was all Skuza. Gray lost a blower belt at half track and that was the end of his day. Skuza with his best pass of the weekend and he will have lane choice over Force in round two.

Funny Car
Results for Elimination Round 2
BRAINERD, Minn. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 21st annual Rugged Liner NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.472      4.897 319.82
 (L) Dean Skuza (Mopar Parts Stratus R/T)        0.226(R)  11.956  73.53
Skuza with lane choice here and in the last six times these two have matched up Skuza has won four of them. Skuza went real red and this was the first red light for Skuza this year. Force launched hard and with the candles lit and the Goodyears stuck all the way down the 1320 with a big top end speed.
 (W) Gary Densham (AAA of So. Cal. Mustang)      0.498      4.901 316.38
 (L) Whit Bazemore (Matco Tools Firebird)        0.510      4.890 314.68
Densham with the starting line advantage and the power to hold off the hard charging Bazemore for the win. Densham with the hole shot win by about nine inches.

Densham's margin of lead at the incrementals 60ft(0.028), 330ft(0.013), 660ft(-0.001), 1,000ft(-0.002).
MOV: 0.0017 seconds (approximately 9 inches).
 (W) Tony Pedregon (Castrol Syntec Mustang)      0.475      4.934 314.09
 (L) Del Worsham (Checker Schuck's Kragen Firebir0.496      4.964 307.51
Tony with the big starting line advantage and never looked back and was straight as a string to move into the semifinal to face his teammate Densham and Gary will have lane choice.
 (W) Bruce Sarver (White Cap Celica)             0.526      4.922 312.06
 (L) Bob Bode (Promotorsports\Arbee Firebird)    0.538      5.150 291.19
Sarver out of the gate first and was straight down Broadway to the semifinal to face Force. Bode was hazing the tires around 900 feet, but it would not of mattered. Sarver will give up lane choice to Force in the semifinal.

Funny Car
Results for Elimination Round 3
BRAINERD, Minn. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 21st annual Rugged Liner NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) Gary Densham (AAA of So. Cal. Mustang)      0.477      6.457 179.54
 (L) Tony Pedregon (Castrol Syntec Mustang)      0.486      7.570 144.71
It is sunny with a few nice puffy clouds, the temperature is 66 degrees, humidity is 63% and the barometer is 29.95 inches.

Pedregon was second off the line and and up in smoke immediately. He was on and off the throttle at least six times attempting to recover and could not get it to hook up. Densham lost traction around the 330-foot mark and pedaled it at least three times before the engine went silent and coasted on through the 1320.
 (W) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.465      5.056 292.96
 (L) Bruce Sarver (White Cap Celica)             0.503     12.531  51.90
Force was out of the gate first and never looked back, he was hazing the tires dropping cylinders from 1000 feet on. Sarver was up in smoke before he got to the Christmas tree. Force will have lane choice for the final against Densham.

Funny Car
Results for Final Round 
BRAINERD, Minn. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 21st annual Rugged Liner NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.476      5.405 216.62
 (L) Gary Densham (AAA of So. Cal. Mustang)      0.507      6.929 130.27
Force with the starting line advantage and never looked back. Densham lost traction around 300 feet, pedaled it and could not recover. Force started to haze the tires at half track and hazed them all the way through the quarter mile. Force with his tenth win here at Brainerd.