FUNNY CAR ELIMINATOR

In the AA/Funny Car class rookie driver Ryan Hodgson had a career event. The second generation drag racer not only won the AA/Funny Car title over a stellar field that required an ET of 5.89 or better to qualify for the quick 16-car field, but he also “ran the table” on his fellow Funny Car racers. He qualified on the pole, recorded both Top Speed (262.28 mph) and Low ET (5.642) for the class, and won the race -- and did it all on his first trip to Bakersfield as a funny car driver.

In the final round it was a battle between ‘69 Camaros. Rupert was defeated when he inexplicably slowed to a 5.817/249.21 to Hodgson’s 5.722/255.62 effort. Rupert put .07 “in the bank” with a serious holeshot, but couldn’t hold off his opponent at the big end, losing the race to the stripe by .083 seconds.  

“You go out there know it is running so good and you just get in your groove and keep on keeping on and race,” Hodgson said after the race. “My team is everything and I’m just the smallest part of this thing and I get it down the track. These guys (crew) bend over backwards. Every time we race...”

FUNNY CAR PIT NOTES: There was only one 6-second ET during the 15 rounds of AA/FC Eliminations all the rest were 5-second passes...In the last three round of Eliminations no car winner or loser ran slower than a 5.83...Only one of the qualified cars at the event had a 500ci engine; all of the rest of the field had smaller cubic inch engines... the most popular body style was the ‘69 Camaro.