NHRA

Seattle: Cruz Pedregon eliminations summary

Cruz Pedregon pleased with semifinal finish at Seattle KENT, Wash., July 27, 2003 - Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Auto Parts Funny Car team overcame a slippery, bumpy racetrack to move into the Northwest Nationals semifinals Sunday at Pacific ...

Published: Jul 29, 2003, 5:15 AM

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Cruz Pedregon pleased with semifinal finish at Seattle

KENT, Wash., July 27, 2003 - Cruz Pedregon and the Advance Auto Parts Funny Car team overcame a slippery, bumpy racetrack to move into the Northwest Nationals semifinals Sunday at Pacific Raceways before losing to longtime rival John Force.

It marked the second consecutive Sunday that Force ended Pedregon's competitive day. Pedregon finished second to Force last week at Denver and has now moved into ninth place in NHRA POWERade Series standings with 634 points.

"It was so exciting to go to at least the semifinals two weeks in a row," Pedregon said after giving Force a scare.

Pedregon had a great reaction time (.056) and the lead off the starting line only to see it vanish when his engine dropped a cylinder and Force caught him just before the finish line. Force won with a time of 5.046 seconds at 275.39 mph to Pedregon's 5.170 at 280.66.

"We lost lane choice (which was extremely important) but we decided we weren't going to throw in the towel against Force," said Pedregon. "We wanted to go as fast as we could and were actually on a pace to run a 5.09 (seconds) or 5.10 when the engine dropped a cylinder before halftrack."

"We had some gremlins bite us mechanically in the first two rounds and weren't able to get down the track with better times until the semifinals," he added.

Pedregon earned his best qualifying effort of the season - No. 2 - with a 4.977 at 306.74 mph.

The team wraps up three consecutive races with the Fram/Autolite Nationals, Friday through Sunday at Sonoma, Calif.

Pro winners: Larry Dixon, Top Fuel; John Force, Funny Car; Greg Anderson, Pro Stock.

Funny Car Standings: 1, Tony Pedregon, 1174; 2, Whit Bazemore, 1111; 3, John Force, 933; 4, Del Worsham, 887; 5, Gary Densham, 826; 6, Ron Capps, 798; 7, Tommy Johnson Jr., 727; 8, Johnny Gray, 655; 9, Cruz Pedregon, 634; 10, Frank Pedregon, 632

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