Pomona: Tony Pedregon Thursday summary

Tony Pedregon Starts Off Season Strong
Q Racing Monte Carlo Grabs Provisional Fourth

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 10, 2005) -- Tony Pedregon and his Q Racing Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car, in an unusual one lane, one car at a time qualifying session, started the season and the Carquest NHRA Winternationals at Pomona Raceway in fourth.

Due to a faulty timing system, each Funny Car, including Pedregon, had to qualify in the right lane. The conditions did not hamper the 2003 NHRA POWERade Funny Car World Champion because he clicked off a solid 4.797--second elapsed time at 302.82 mph.

"We were a little conservative on that run because of the uncertainty in the weather conditions," Pedregon said. "We were less aggressive on that pass, got down the track so we feel comfortable about going into the rest of the weekend.

"We have to race smart, think and plan ahead," Pedregon continued. "Anytime you can be in the top five after the first day of qualifying is real encouraging. We're going to open up the car tomorrow and hope for the best with the weather. We're leaving a lot on the table because we only ran 302 mph. We are capable of running 330, so it shows you how much we have left in the car. Just like Q Racing says, we're going to unleash the horses tomorrow."

Pedregon had to make an adjustment to what Pomona offered this evening because the weather narrowed the racing groove.

"The dew point came in a little bit," Pedregon said. "It was cool, which is good for the cars, but a little unusual for Southern California We communicated as a team pretty well and came up with a great gameplan."

-PedregonRacing.com-