NHRA
Topeka: Cruz Pedregon eliminations summary
TOPEKA, Kan., May 25, 2003 - Cruz Pedregon won one and lost one in what turned out to be a battle of Pedregon brothers in the top half of the NHRA's Summer Nationals pairings ladder Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka. Cruz Pedregon's Advance Auto ...
Edited: May 29, 2003, 1:24 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
TOPEKA, Kan., May 25, 2003 - Cruz Pedregon won one and lost one in what turned out to be a battle of Pedregon brothers in the top half of the NHRA's Summer Nationals pairings ladder Sunday at Heartland Park Topeka.
Cruz Pedregon's Advance Auto Parts Firebird dispatched older brother Frank in the quarterfinals before younger brother Tony prevailed in the semifinals in what was Cruz's best finish of the year.
"Getting to the semifinals is really a good thing," said Cruz while wearing a smile. "Getting to the semis means we were one of the last four cars in the race, and that's a good thing, too. We look at it as something we can build on. It was a morale booster for the team."
Co-crew chiefs Rob Flynn and Dave Fletcher found a combination the car liked during Saturday's qualifying and it ran consistently in the last two qualifying runs (4.876 and 4.874 seconds to put him No. 12 in the starting line-up) and the first two rounds of eliminations.
In the semis, Cruz left the starting line first but the Advance Auto Parts machine suffered traction problems and the younger Pedregon won, 4.857 at 317.94 to 5.533 at 197.10. Tony then went on to win the race, marking the second time in two races that Cruz has lost to the eventual race winner.
Cruz began the day by upsetting No. 5 qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr.
"I'd say this was a mini-victory for our team this weekend," Pedregon commented. "This will make it a lot easier going to Chicago this week for our next race."
That will be the Lucas Oil Route 66 Nationals, May 30-June 1, at Joliet, Ill.
The performance lifted Cruz into 11th place with 365 points, three behind brother Frank.
-cpr-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dover: Mike Wallace preview
Next article CORR: Toyota Motorsports Dresser race notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Cruz Pedregon
Can Millican start a winning streak?
NHRA
NHRA
Norwalk
Can Millican start a winning streak?
Good, bad and ugly dominate Gatornationals memories
NHRA
NHRA
Good, bad and ugly dominate Gatornationals memories
Joy and drama in Sin City
NHRA
NHRA
Las Vegas II
Joy and drama in Sin City
Latest news
"Exhausted" George Russell set for Brazilian F1 grid penalty
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
34 min
"Exhausted" George Russell set for Brazilian F1 grid penalty
F1 Brazilian GP: FP1 back underway after Freddie Slater red flag, Kimi Antonelli fastest
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
40 min
F1 Brazilian GP: FP1 back underway after Freddie Slater red flag, Kimi Antonelli fastest
Ferrari says abolishing BoP should be “final goal” of 2030 WEC Hypercar regulations
WEC
WEC WEC
Bahrain
58 min
Ferrari says abolishing BoP should be “final goal” of 2030 WEC Hypercar regulations
"FIA Rating pushes drivers like me into retirement" - Sebastien Bourdais
WEC
WEC WEC
Bahrain
2 h
"FIA Rating pushes drivers like me into retirement" - Sebastien Bourdais
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe