Compiled from NHRA and team press releases by Kay Burk
Photos by Ron Lewis
6/9/2008
ne day after his second explosion this season, Tony Pedregon powered his Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS to a trip to the winner's circle at the 11th annual Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Chicago's own Tony Schumacher took center stage in Top Fuel with an event-best time and speed in the final round, while Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock) and Chris Rivas (Pro Stock Motorcycle) drove away with event titles as well.
FUNNY CAR
Pedregon was uninjured in an accident during qualifying Saturday. This win was his third at Route 66 Raceway, his second of the year and the 38th of his career. He turned in a 4.818-second run at 319.75 mph to deny Scott Kalitta his first Funny Car win since 1989.
"Someone reminded me about 24 hours ago I was on fire," Pedregon said after the race. "This is a very competitive business, and that little incident last night, it just took me back to the beginning of the year (to the season-opener in Pomona, Calif.). And it really started out to just be a run that everything was going good. We jumped on it to try to get low E.T. and it just pushed a head gasket out. We'd had a lot of them...I thought it would go out. As soon as the black smoke started coming in, I've been in enough of these things that I hit the (fire) bottles. At least in Pomona I knew I had my hands full right away. This just started, it seemed like kind of a routine, and then it just gradually got worse.
"I just felt good (today)," Pedregon said. "I didn't feel concerned. We had a new chassis. There's always a little question mark if it's going to drive like the other one. We had zero runs on it. It was brand new. Fortunately my guys had it ready and after that first round, I kind of had that confidence that I haven't had in a while.
"I just feel, when I look at that roll cage and I look at what I'm surrounded by, and I actually feel some sense of security in the car...I know what's at stake and I know the risks, but we do take a lot of precautions. Hey, I'm competitive. This is what I do. I'm no different from any athlete that takes a hit or falls on the turf and twists his knee. We get back up, and this is what we do."
It had been 19 years since Scott Kalitta, driver of the DHL Toyota Solara Funny Car, had been to a NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series final round until Sunday.
Kalitta raced against Tony Pedregon in the final round. The two wily drag racing veterans gave the fans at Route 66 Raceway a great race to watch in the final round, but unfortunately, Kalitta came up on the losing end, 4.957 sec., 308.92 mph to 4.818 sec., 319.75 mph, to be the event runner-up.
Kalitta’s previous final-round appearance was also the site of his only win in NHRA’s Funny Car class in Houston in 1989. Kalitta was the back-to-back NHRA Top Fuel world champion in 1994-95. He won 17 NHRA national events in a Top Fuel dragster in his career before switching back to Funny Cars in 2006.