Tony Pedregon And The Q Power Race Team Race Unleash All Their Horses With Win In Phoenix; Set National E.T. Record
2007 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Round 2 of 23 NHRA Nationals,
Firebird Int’l Raceway, Phoenix, Ariz.
Race Date: February 23-25, 2007
PHOENIX, Ariz. – February 26, 2007
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| GREAT STUFF™ Racing’s Tony Pedregon jumps in the NHRA standings; sets national record and adds to his trophy case. |
Tony Pedregon and his Q Power Nitro Funny Car Team set a national elapsed time record en route to his 33rd career victory at the Checker Schuck’s Kragen NHRA Nationals, held at Firebird Int’l Raceway in Phoenix. Pedregon’s opening-round pass of 4.701 seconds backed up his 4.659 second qualifying run, making it an official NHRA record, which is worth 20 bonus points in the POWERade standings.
Qualified in the 2nd position, Tony Pedregon easily beat Scott Kalitta in the first round with his 4.701 second run at 326.71 mph which eventually delivered him into the record books. In the second round, Pedregon beat Jim Head with a 4.924/254.95 mph to a 5.729/168.09 mph.
In the semi-finals, Pedregon beat Gary Densham with a 5.077/233.84 mph, but not after a terrific piece of driving as the Q Power Funny Car was drifting hard toward the center line at 1000 feet. Pedregon was able to get off the throttle just enough to take the win.
In the finals, Tony faced the #1 qualifier Robert Hight, which in the history of this event is only the fourth time the #1 and #2 qualifiers have met in the Funny Car final round. Pedregon was out of the gate first (an event best .052 reaction time) and the Q Power Funny Car took the win with an impressive 4.803 second at 326.32 mph.
“What a great weekend for this Q Power race team,” stated a jubilant Pedregon. “Dickie [Venables, crew chief] and the guys worked so hard this weekend. We saw so many 4.60’s last year that we knew we needed to do something. We needed all the Q Power to win, but to come out of here with the win and the record…wow, I mean that’s pretty impressive. Anytime you can qualify well, set a national record, and win the race with the two quickest cars in the class going at it in the final, I’d say it’s a great weekend. The fans sure got their money’s worth.”
With this win, Tony moves up to 2nd in championship points, just 6 points out of first. This was Tony’s first win at Firebird International Speedway.
For more information, log onto www.PedregonRacing.com.
CURRENT 2007 POINT STANDINGS:
- Robert Hight, 195
- Tony Pedregon, 189
- Gary Scelzi, 154
- Ron Capps, 131
- Mike Ashley, 106 Eric Medlen, 106
- Jeff Arend, 103
- Tim Wilkerson, 86
- Bob Gilbertson, 83 Jim Head, 83
- Gary Densham, 81
- Jack Beckman, 66 John Force, 66
NEXT RACE: NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway, March 15-18, 2007
All NHRA qualifying and final elimination races are televised on ESPN2. Check you local listings for times.
For Editorial Information:
Allison Holt
JRL Group
(847) 291-7080 x201
allison@jrlgroup.com
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