FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals NHRA POWERAde DragRacing
Sunday
 

Funny Car
Results for Elimination Round 1
SONOMA, Calif. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 1 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 16th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) Dean Skuza (Cornwell Tools Firebird)        0.092      4.967 301.40
 (L) Ron Capps (Skoal Racing Camaro)             0.053      5.044 290.01
12:27 PM As strange as it sounds, this is a tie breaker between this pair. The Skuza/Capps match up has happened fourteen times before and the record stands at 7-7. Meatloaf is out on the starting line to watch Skuza's Camaro carry his name down track. Mr. Loaf will get to come back and watch again in the second round. Capps made a real hard move towards the centerline about 1000 feet and when he horsed the car back his racer went up in smoke. Big win for Skuza and Dad.
 (W) Cruz Pedregon (Advance Auto Parts Firebird) 0.071      5.016 298.34
 (L) Johnny Gray (Checker Schuck's Kragen Firebir0.018     13.859  78.97
This is Johnny Gray's 91st round appearance in Fuel Funny Car competition. He blows the tires off at the hit and can only watch Cruz disappear down track. Pedregon has really piled up the round wins in the Western swing.
 (W) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.092      4.956 298.07
 (L) Dale Creasy Jr. (Craftsman Firebird)        0.082      5.043 300.86
John Force has faced Creasy nine times and has yet to come away a loser. Peanut is looking to change that stat to 9-1. This is the 115th time Force has qualified #1 and he's pocketed $454,000 in Budweiser qualifying bonuses over the course of his long career. 52 of John's 108 wins have come when he qualified #1. Force has no in between here at Infineon. He wins the event or goes out in the first round. Force goes to 10-0 against Creasy and if history repeats John will win the event. Others will have something to say about that, I'm certain.
 (W) Del Worsham (Checker Schuck's Kragen Firebir0.040      5.326 277.37
 (L) Frank Pedregon (K&N Filters Firebird)       0.088      6.302 127.15
Frank Pedregon faces Del Worsham here in the first round for the 16th time. Del is 10-5 in the previous meetings. Oh ouch! Frank is side by side with DEl to half track when he struck the tires. He tried to pedal but on the second stab of the throttle the engine went bang so hard that it blew the body apart. No off but apart. Pieces went everywhere and there was a huge ball of fire. Frank kept the car straight but just tapped the wall with a rear tire as he came to a stop. Pedregon appears to be ok but he goes over to take a seat on the wall for a few minutes. That was a bad one and certain to make all the replays. While all of this was going on in the left lane Worsham completed his run and took the win. Del gives up lane choice to Skuza in round two.
 (W) Keith Jackson (J4 Racing Firebird)          0.137      5.017 275.90
 (L) Tony Pedregon (Castrol Syntec Mustang)      0.066      5.433 227.15
Tony was in the car right behind Frank and got to watch the entire incident. I know he was relived to find out that Frank was entirely ok and making jokes on tv. Back to work for everyone. The last time Jackson qualified for an NHRA national event was 1998 in Denver. He was 0-14 in qualifying since then. Ok. Here's the stunner. Keith Jackson has won his first ever NHRA national event round. For the third race in a row the POWERade points leader is out in the first round. Tony was catching Jackson but the engine went flat and he smoked the tires. By .005 Cruz has lane choice over Jackson in round two.
 (W) Whit Bazemore (Matco Tools Stratus)         0.095      4.924 311.77
 (L) Arnie Karp (Artisan Home Entertainment Fireb-0.377(R)  4.693 235.72
Throw out Karp's numbers are bogus. Karp just barely left after the tree was activated and his race was over. Bazemore had the presence of mind to wait and caught a pretty good light. He then proceeds to run low et of the round to this point. Whit also picks up 20 points on Tony in the points race.
 (W) Gary Scelzi (Oakley Stratus)                0.095      4.899 316.97
 (L) Scotty Cannon (Oakley Firebird)             0.080      7.041 119.08
Scotty is up in smoke and it's Scelzi going to the next round. Scelzi will have lane choice over Bazemore in the next round as he resets the round low et mark.
 (W) Tommy Johnson Jr. (Skoal Racing Camaro)     0.063      5.038 286.44
 (L) Tim Wilkerson (Levi, Ray & Shoup Firebird)  0.087     25.309  50.36
Wilkerson has something go wrong right at the hit and the engine was silent before 60 feet. Johnson made a full pass but will lose lane choice to John Force in round two.

Funny Car
Results for Elimination Round 2
SONOMA, Calif. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 2 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 16th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) Dean Skuza (Cornwell Tools Firebird)        0.090      5.020 302.28
 (L) Del Worsham (Checker Schuck's Kragen Firebir0.075      6.029 169.27
2:24 PM Skuza and Meatloaf are back for the second round. Oh. Yep, so is Del. Del is chasing points with Tony out and really needs this 20 points. Whoops. Do count those points yet by golly. It's Skuza going to the semi finals for the first time in a long time. Worsham struck the tires about half track and it was game over for the CSK racer.
 (W) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.053      5.664 253.09
 (L) Tommy Johnson Jr. (Skoal Racing Camaro)     0.093      6.017 215.48
Oh. It's one of those races that brings the crowds to their feet. First Johnson lost traction and he was followed closely by Force. Side by side pedaling almost always favors Force and true to form the Boss pulls out the race. It's not pretty but it is exciting to watch.
 (W) Gary Scelzi (Oakley Stratus)                0.067      4.975 309.77
 (L) Whit Bazemore (Matco Tools Stratus)         0.093      5.178 273.72
Here we go again. It's last weeks pairing, revisited. The pair left side by side and were right together until the tires started smoking on Whit's racer. Scelzi streaks away for the win in the Oakley sponsored racer. Scelzi will have lane choice over fForce in the semis.
 (W) Cruz Pedregon (Advance Auto Parts Firebird) 0.081      4.999 302.28
 (L) Keith Jackson (J4 Racing Firebird)          0.102      5.014 296.31
The clock struck 11:59 for Jackson. Pedregon took the early lead but Jackson came closing baCK UP. Cruz pulled away again and takes the round win in a very close race. Fantastic weekend for Jackson but Cruz sticks another 20 points on the board with a win. Pedregon has lane choice over a recharged Skuza...and Meatloaf.

Funny Car
Results for Elimination Round 3
SONOMA, Calif. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of round 3 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 16th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) Dean Skuza (Cornwell Tools Firebird)        0.073      4.971 304.80
 (L) Cruz Pedregon (Advance Auto Parts Firebird) 0.061      5.017 303.16
4:03 PM Skuza's crew must have their collective tongues hanging out by now. They havn't worked this hard in a long, long time. Pedregon has been collecting points by the ton on the Western swing so I think you could say he's pretty hot at the moment. Mr. Loaf is going to be late to his concert tonight and the crew has more work to do. Skuza is in the final. This was close as the lights were close and they were window to window all the way down. Skuza pulled away at the end. Dean Skuza's MOV: 0.0346 seconds (approximately 15 feet).
 (W) Gary Scelzi (Oakley Stratus)                0.073      4.954 308.99
 (L) John Force (Castrol GTX Mustang)            0.064      5.028 297.94
Who's going to face Skuza in the final. Whits rooting for Scelzi to stop Force and keep his point harvest down. It's Scelzi going to his first ever final round in Funny Car. An even start with Force. I watched the header flames turn color on the Mustang and Scelzi nips him for the win. Scelzi will have lane choice when he faces the 'Bat Outta Hell' in the final.

Funny Car
Results for Final Round 
SONOMA, Calif. - SUMMIT FastNews - Results of final, round 4 eliminations in Funny Car at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, 16th annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals: 
 W/L  Driver                                       RT        ET   Speed

 (W) Gary Scelzi (Oakley Stratus)                0.063      4.958 312.21
 (L) Dean Skuza (Cornwell Tools Firebird)        0.084      4.966 306.74
5:31 PM This is most likely the most anticipated final of the day. This is the first time since 2001 that Dean Skuza has been to a final round. He's looking for his first win since 1998 at Reading. He has two prior national event wins in twelve prior finals. In history, only 12 drivers have won in both Top Fuel Dragsters and Fuel Funny Car and ?Scelzi could join that group. He would also be in the exclusive position of being the only driver to win in both alcohol classes as well as the Pro divisions.

The race lived up to the anticipation as they both left together and were side by side. There was not engine smoke, tire smoke or fire, just a close race. Scelzi pulled away in the last 300 feet for a 13 foot win. Both teams will remember this event for a long time.