Commerce: Tony Pedregon Friday summary

Tony Pedregon Grabs Eighth Qualifier 'Q' Racing team Testing New Combination COMMERCE, Ga. (May 13, 2005) -- Tony Pedregon drove his Q Racing Nitro Funny Car to the provisional eighth positon after the second pass of Friday's Summit Racing ...

Tony Pedregon Grabs Eighth Qualifier
'Q' Racing team Testing New Combination

COMMERCE, Ga. (May 13, 2005) -- Tony Pedregon drove his Q Racing Nitro Funny Car to the provisional eighth positon after the second pass of Friday's Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

The 2003 NHRA Funny Car Champion was not able to take full advantage of the night's cooler conditions clicking off a 4.952-second elapsed time at 303.37 mph. The pass still placed Q Racing in the top half of the field, setting the team up nicely for tomorrow.

"The run was not as solid as we had expected," said Pedregon. "But we are in the top half of the field and still have two more (qualifying) runs tomorrow.

"We're in the process of testing a new combination for the clutch and fuel system," explained Pedregon. "It may take a couple more runs to polish it, but once its ready, the car will be more forgiving and we'll be able to race under any conditions."

Two more qualifying session are slated for Saturday at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. Final eliminations are scheduled for Sunday, May 15, at 11 a.m. All times Eastern.