Joliet II: Tony Pedregon final summary

Tony Pedregon Drives to Second Round Quaker State Racing Edged Out By John Force JOLIET, Ill. (Oct. 2, 2004) -- Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car lost in a tough second round match up with John Force during ...

Tony Pedregon Drives to Second Round Quaker State Racing Edged Out By John Force

JOLIET, Ill. (Oct. 2, 2004) -- Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car lost in a tough second round match up with John Force during today's CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway.

Pedregon, who clicked off a 4.809-second elapsed time at 298.07 mph, fell a bit shy of Force's 4.714-second lap at 330.96 mph. It was a close race against Pedregon's former boss.

"We don't have anything to be ashamed of," Pedregon said. "We pulled it back a little bit for that second round because there was a little increase in temperature. I think its easy to second guess and say we could have given it some more -- and maybe it would have taken more -- but one of the keys for us is to make sure this car gets down the track.

"We're real encouraged that the car ran well in the first round," Pedregon continued. "We had more performance left in it, but because of the changes we had to play it a little safe. The pair before, we saw Gary Densham smoke the tires. I think at this stage, we move to the next race. We go to Reading (Pa.) next and thee should be good conditions. We got a little behind in qualifying this weekend, but we also made a great recovery. We're going to take what we learned here for the next one."

Pedregon moved into the second round by defeating Bob Gilbertson in the opener. The California resident logged a 4.761-second elapsed time at 320.28 mph, his best run of the weekend.