NHRA

Seattle: Tony Pedregon Saturday summary

Tony Pedregon Drives Into Seattle Show Quaker State Racing Adapts to a Multitude of Extremes KENT, Wash. (July 24, 2004) -- Being on the outside looking in is always tough. Being on the outside of a NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car ...

Edited: Jul 26, 2004, 3:34 AM

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Tony Pedregon Drives Into Seattle Show
Quaker State Racing Adapts to a Multitude of Extremes

KENT, Wash. (July 24, 2004) -- Being on the outside looking in is always tough. Being on the outside of a NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car field, staring into one last qualifying session can be excruciating.

That's exactly what faced Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State Monte Carlo Nitro Funny Car team prior to grabbing the 15th-position for tomorrow's NHRA national event at Pacific Raceways. Despite the challenging situation and extreme heat of the day, Pedregon clicked off a 5.185-second elapsed time at 279.38 mph -- enough to make tomorrow's show.

"This is a tough way to make a living," Pedregon said. "This team proved it can work under pressure. It's times like this that really test a team. These are the most extreme conditions, and the most extreme temperatures we've faced all year. We definitely know our Quaker State Motor Oil isn't going to fail us in situations like these. Quaker State should really be proud of the engineers, and the knowledge and time they have invested. They have kept us going this weekend and helped us get into this show.

"The car was going pretty well to half track," said Pedregon, describing his third session. "It was on a much quicker pass. We had to combat a 10 to 15-degree increase in track temperature over the last session. We couldn't just make adjustments and run what we had before. We had to compensate for the extremely hot temperatures.

"We qualified, and I think that's a good accomplishment," Pedregon continued. "It's tough when you get behind in qualifying and your not able to take advantage of Friday's late session. We found our way back, made it into the show, and I actually feel good about our chances for tomorrow. We know we have left a lot on the table and there's a lot of room for improvement this weekend. If we can address what the car is doing from the 100-foot mark on, it's going to be better. We have them right where we want them for tomorrow."

Pedregon will match up with Eric Medlin in round one tomorrow.

QUAKER STATE RACING NOTEBOOK:

PRESSURE COOKER: Extreme conditions don't just apply to the race surface. When Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State Racing Monte Carlo was faced with not qualifying for this weekend's race at Pacific Raceways, it made the reigning NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car champion a little nervous.

"The pressure does get to you a little bit," Pedregon noted. "It's just a little reminder that every team has to be a little extra cautious. This is the type of experience that's invaluable to a race team. In the end, you just have to rely on what we do as a team and trust all the different components from our Quaker State Motor Oil, the tires, the race team and everything that brings a it together. We were close, but we made the show. That told me a lot about this great race team."

HOT TIMES: Track temperatures again hovered just over the 140-degree mark today, hottest of the 2004 season.

-PedregonRacing.com-

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