NHRA funny car driver Tony Pedregon wins at Brainerd

Two days after replacing his crew chief, Tony Pedregon won the National Hot Rod Assn. funny car portion of the races at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota on Sunday.
Pedregon, the leader in the funny car standings, announced on Friday that he and Dickie Venables were parting ways. Venables was Pedregon’s crew chief and led his team to two wins this season. Tony Shortall was named interim crew chief. Rahn Tobler was assisting the team with some of the crew chief duties.
Pedregon beat Ron Capps in the final and moved into first place in the funny car standings. Pedregon has an 11-point lead over Capps.
“I’ve had a long and successful career,” said Pedregon. “I’ve been very fortunate to be able to drive for guys like Larry Minor and John Force. I’ve learned a lot from them, and I really felt that I’d been through everything, and I really didn’t anticipate this happening on such a short notice. Thursday I knew the reality and I didn’t really feel like I was in a panic. I’m very optimistic and I really believed that I had a good foundation to work with. I addressed my team when I showed up, and I told them that I really need them.”
Jack Beckman, a driver from North Hills, advanced to the semifinals and clinched a spot in the Countdown to One, the NHRA playoffs.
“We’re back in fourth place, which is awesome,” he said. “We’re thinking it’s going to be pretty tough to get up into third the way Tony Pedregon (No. 1), Ron Capps (No. 2), and Ashley Force Hood (No. 3) have been running.
“And we’re not safe in fourth by any stretch. Tim Wilkerson is still right on our heels and so are a slew of other good cars. But, we’re solid top five. We went a couple of rounds, we’re starting to get a handle on this tune-up and I think it’s gong to translate to another win pretty quick here.”
In the top fuel division, Larry Dixon, a Van Nuys High graduate, was a perfect 4-0 in final appearances entering the races at Brainerd. He lost for the first time in the finals on Sunday.
Morgan Lucas handed Dixon his first final defeat of the year. Lucas has won two top fuel events in a row and the 12th top fuel event of his career.

Photo: Tony Pedregon won the NHRA funny car portion of the races at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota on Sunday, two days after he and his crew chief parted ways.

No sure things in NHRA funny cars

The last two finals in the NHRA funny car division have been Tony Pedregon vs. Ashley Force Hood. Pederegon has won both times and leads the funny car division by 20 points over Force Hood.
The funny car division has been anything but predictable. Ron Capps started the season hot out of the gate, won four events and led the standings for most of the season. But he stumbled a bit, leaving the door open for Pedregon to rise to the top.
“Of course, it’s been nice to have led the points,” said Capps, who is seeking his first funny car championship. “We’ve kind of been floating out there in first, and here and there it got a little bit close. But then, on a couple of occasions, at the next race we were able to extend the lead.
“It allowed us to do some testing and try some things. To be honest with you, now that we’re in third, it kind of lights a little bit of a fire under us because we now have a reason to get back to our race mode and try to get the points lead back.”
Jack Beckman, Bob Tasca and Del Worsham all have claimed funny car victories this year. The top three drivers in the funny car standings are separated by 28 points.
“The next few races are going to be [run in] hot temperatures,” Force Hood said, “and we have a car that runs good in the heat. It’s great to be moving up in points, but we’re gonna keep our sights set on that No. 1 spot. We just kind of need to stay focused."
Force Hood has stayed consistent, posting three straight runner-up finishes and maintaining a stranglehold on second place in the funny car standings. Perhaps Norwalk can produce another finals appearance, and for Force Hood’s sake, another win.
“You always want to win and you’re bummed when you don’t," she said, “but the important thing is that our Mustang is running really well in all kinds of conditions.
“It’s a great feeling to go to the semis and finals week after week, [so] we’ll just keep trying to do that and see what happens.”

Photo: Ashley Force Hood has made it to three straight finals in the NHRA funny car division. She lost the past two to Tony Pedregon, who leads the funny car standings. Force Hood is second in the funny car standings.

Tony Pedregon beats Ashley Force Hood again in NHRA funny car rematch

Tony Pedregon beat Ashley Force Hood in the funny car final at Englishtown. It was a rematch of the final the previous Sunday at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois. Pedregon has won both finals against Force Hood.
“I never thought I’d be afraid of a girl,” said Pedregon who leads the funny car standings by 20 points over Force Hood. “Fear of losing was in the back of my head. I knew we had a good race car. It ran good in the heat, and it ran good with cloud cover.”
It was the third finals appearance in a row for Force Hood and her fifth finals appearance of the season. She leads the funny drivers in final appearances.
Force Hood made three final appearances in a row in 2008. She lost the first two, but won the third in Atlanta. Her three straight final appearances in 2009 have yet to produce a win for her.
“We were hoping since last year we went to three finals in a row (Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta) and won on our third attempt Atlanta. We were hoping that we could do that again and have the third time be the charm,” said Force Hood. “I can’t complain about getting to another final. It gives us that much more data and me more experience in the car. That will come in handy down the road. If you are losing first or second round you aren’t just losing those points you are not getting extra rounds.”

Photo: Tony Pedregon won his second straight NHRA funny car event. For the second Sunday in a row, Pedregon beat Ashley Force Hood in the final. Pedregon leads the funny car standings by 20 points over Force Hood.