Dallas: Tony Pedregon final summary

Tony Pedregon Falls in Round One
Quaker State Racing To Regroup For Next Weekend

ENNIS, Texas (Sept. 26, 2004) -- Tony Pedregon, driver of the Quaker State Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car, lost in the first round of eliminations during today's O'Reilly Auto Parts Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

Pedregon, who garnered lane choice with his fourth No. 2 qualifier of the season, smoked the tires and watched as Phil Burkart traveled the quarter mile in 4.948 seconds at 308.64 mph. Pedregon described the day.

"Sometimes these cars have a tendency to get a little unpredictable," Pedregon said. "Right now, we're going through a process of trying to get the car to respond to all the changes we have been making. We set the car up like we did when we made the late session run yesterday, but something in the tune up was just too much. It had more power and more clutch. The end result when there is temperature in the track is loss of traction.

"We're going to continue to fight it," Pedregon continued. "It just takes a determination, the will to do it and the ability to overcome these situations. We have the talent and we certainly have what it takes to win.

"It was a tough day at the office," he added. "The strong survive and we're a strong team. I think in a time of adverse conditions we'll be able to rise above it. There's no doubt about that."

-PedregonRacing.com