Post by Franko10 ™ on Feb 13, 2005 8:54:43 GMT -5
Local impact felt in Funny Car field
By LOUIS BREWSTER, Staff Writer
POMONA - Not even dark, rain-laden clouds could spoil the day for a trio of drag racers who posted career-best runs Saturday during qualifying for the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series Winternationals.
PHOTO GALLERY: Winternationals Saturday
Frank Pedregon of Rancho Cucamonga, who has raced Funny Cars in the shadow of younger brothers Cruz and Tony, recorded the quickest two runs of his career in making the 16-car field for today's final eliminations. Pedregon's 4.754-second run at 314.75 mph in the afternoon session put him in the fifth spot behind Tony's track record 4.681 at 323.35.
That run bettered Frank Pedregon's previous best of 4.823, set in the morning session.
Jeff Arend of San Dimas dropped to the 10th spot in Funny Car when he could not improve on his morning run of 4.797 at 312.71 down the Pomona Raceway quarter-mile strip. Arend was fifth after the first session but did not gain traction in the last run of the day.
There is a definite local flavor in the Funny Car class. Tony Pedregon and Del Worsham, who qualified 14th, are from Chino Hills.
Morgan Lucas also registered his career-best time, driving the Joe Amato-owned Top Fuel dragster to a run of 4.474 seconds at 326.40. Lucas will start in the fourth position in the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history.
A mere 0.150 seconds separates pole-sitter Tony Schumacher, whose 4.447-second effort was fourth-quickest ever, from Andrew Cowin, the 16th qualifier at 4.597.
For Pedregon, it was the second run in a car delivered a little more than two weeks ago to his Fontana shop. However, don't let the fact that it is a used car create an impression as to how Pedregon plans to run the operation.
``I have enough money to run every race I get to, about 10 or 12,'' Pedregon said. ``We're going to run it like we have a million dollars. If you don't take a chance, you don't have a chance.''
Crew chief Scott Graham of Upland, elevated to the position when Mark Oswald was unable to commit full time due to a business conflict, simply inserted his dragster setup into the Funny Car.
``I worked for Del (Worsham) last year with Frank,'' Graham said. ``It's been a two-week thrash to get everything ready for this. I've always wanted to be the guy, but Mark and I are on the phone all the time. Without him, we couldn't have done this.''
Arend, whose NHRA career highlight is a national event victory at Reading, Pa., in 1996, said he is almost on even terms with big-budget teams now that he is racing in a Murf McKinney chassis.
``It was a new car, new everything, the first full run to the finish line,'' Arend said of his Firebird. ``We were in a 6-year-old car last year, a high .84 car, it just couldn't go any faster. With the new car, we getting the same as everybody else.''
The morning run, which put him in the fifth qualifying spot, also took a great deal of pressure off the CMKXtreme team.
``That was huge,'' said Arend, a one-time instructor at the Frank Hawley racing school based at Fairplex. ``Seven or eight times last year we qualified on the final run with the best time. I can't think of a race last year that I qualified early.
``Now I know what the big teams feel like.''
Lucas was most proud of his reaction in the morning qualifying session, a .071-second time that tied him with Schumacher. But he wasn't satisfied with his dismount after he learned of his career-best time.
``I just couldn't get out fast enough,'' said the 21-year-old from Riverside. ``I was pretty excited. I was giving people hugs I didn't even know. It was moving pretty good, but we need to work on getting more speed on the back end.''
Louis Brewster can be reached at (909) 483-9363, 386-3935 or l_brewster@dailybulletin.com.
By LOUIS BREWSTER, Staff Writer
POMONA - Not even dark, rain-laden clouds could spoil the day for a trio of drag racers who posted career-best runs Saturday during qualifying for the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series Winternationals.
PHOTO GALLERY: Winternationals Saturday
Frank Pedregon of Rancho Cucamonga, who has raced Funny Cars in the shadow of younger brothers Cruz and Tony, recorded the quickest two runs of his career in making the 16-car field for today's final eliminations. Pedregon's 4.754-second run at 314.75 mph in the afternoon session put him in the fifth spot behind Tony's track record 4.681 at 323.35.
That run bettered Frank Pedregon's previous best of 4.823, set in the morning session.
Jeff Arend of San Dimas dropped to the 10th spot in Funny Car when he could not improve on his morning run of 4.797 at 312.71 down the Pomona Raceway quarter-mile strip. Arend was fifth after the first session but did not gain traction in the last run of the day.
There is a definite local flavor in the Funny Car class. Tony Pedregon and Del Worsham, who qualified 14th, are from Chino Hills.
Morgan Lucas also registered his career-best time, driving the Joe Amato-owned Top Fuel dragster to a run of 4.474 seconds at 326.40. Lucas will start in the fourth position in the quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history.
A mere 0.150 seconds separates pole-sitter Tony Schumacher, whose 4.447-second effort was fourth-quickest ever, from Andrew Cowin, the 16th qualifier at 4.597.
For Pedregon, it was the second run in a car delivered a little more than two weeks ago to his Fontana shop. However, don't let the fact that it is a used car create an impression as to how Pedregon plans to run the operation.
``I have enough money to run every race I get to, about 10 or 12,'' Pedregon said. ``We're going to run it like we have a million dollars. If you don't take a chance, you don't have a chance.''
Crew chief Scott Graham of Upland, elevated to the position when Mark Oswald was unable to commit full time due to a business conflict, simply inserted his dragster setup into the Funny Car.
``I worked for Del (Worsham) last year with Frank,'' Graham said. ``It's been a two-week thrash to get everything ready for this. I've always wanted to be the guy, but Mark and I are on the phone all the time. Without him, we couldn't have done this.''
Arend, whose NHRA career highlight is a national event victory at Reading, Pa., in 1996, said he is almost on even terms with big-budget teams now that he is racing in a Murf McKinney chassis.
``It was a new car, new everything, the first full run to the finish line,'' Arend said of his Firebird. ``We were in a 6-year-old car last year, a high .84 car, it just couldn't go any faster. With the new car, we getting the same as everybody else.''
The morning run, which put him in the fifth qualifying spot, also took a great deal of pressure off the CMKXtreme team.
``That was huge,'' said Arend, a one-time instructor at the Frank Hawley racing school based at Fairplex. ``Seven or eight times last year we qualified on the final run with the best time. I can't think of a race last year that I qualified early.
``Now I know what the big teams feel like.''
Lucas was most proud of his reaction in the morning qualifying session, a .071-second time that tied him with Schumacher. But he wasn't satisfied with his dismount after he learned of his career-best time.
``I just couldn't get out fast enough,'' said the 21-year-old from Riverside. ``I was pretty excited. I was giving people hugs I didn't even know. It was moving pretty good, but we need to work on getting more speed on the back end.''
Louis Brewster can be reached at (909) 483-9363, 386-3935 or l_brewster@dailybulletin.com.