EVENT NEWS & RESULTS TOP FUEL FUNNY CAR PRO STOCK CAR PRO STOCK BIKE PRO MODIFIED SPORTSMAN LISTEN TO WFO RADIO LIVE			WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY

 

MONDAY NOTEBOOK - NEFF EXTENDS JFR FUNNY CAR STREAK, REGAINS CONFIDENCE

Mike Neff wasn't supposed to be in this position.
 
He was supposed to be in the background on the National Hot Rod Association scene. In fact, that's where he prefers to be.
 
Neff earned the 2008 Road to the Future Award as the NHRA's top rookie and won the final race of 2009 before funding dried up for a fourth John Force Racing Funny Car.
 
Contentedly he returned to his role as a crew chief. But this January, less than a month before the season started, he got a call to return to the cockpit as Ashley Force Hood went on maternity leave. Driving the the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang he tuned last year for Force's 15th championship, Neff has reached eight final rounds.
 
And Monday at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, he was thrust into the limelight on drag racing's biggest stage, as he beat fellow Ford Mustang driver Bob Tasca III to win the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
 
With a .068-second, 314.61-mph performance on the 1,000-foot course to Tasca's 4.147, 278.00, Neff carried on the JFR tradition by scoring the organization's seventh Indianapolis triumph in the past 10 years.
 
Force Hood won the U.S. Nationals the previous two years, following Robert Hight's 2008 victory. Gary Densham gave the team the 2004 victory, and John Force was the 2002 winner. (Mike Ashley interrupted the JFR streak in 2007. Del Worsham, Monday's Top Fuel runner-up, won in 2005, and Tim Wilkerson was the 2003 winner.)  
 
For Neff, though, the issue wasn't simply bringing the organization the $100,000 winner's share of the $1.1 million-plus event purse. Neither was it the fear of taking $70,000 less for being runner-up and pocketing just $30,000.  And he already had locked in the No. 1 seeding for the Countdown to the Championship earlier in the day.
 
It was about pride, pride in performance. And the tuner side of Neff overtook the driver side of Neff as the virtual year-long points leader marched through Monday's opponents Hight, Jeff Arend, and Matt Hagan.
 
"I wasn't feeling very confident coming in here today. We struggled the last four races, didn't do too well, qualified ninth,  not really even in the ballgame until this morning against Robert," he said. "We said, 'Well, we don't have anything to lose. If we lose, it's our teammate. So let's just take a shot at it. It put us where we needed to be."
 
It's hard to believe Neff worried about a "slump," considering he has led the points since Race No. 2 of the year, the Gatornationals and won four races in seven finals coming into this event. Many racers, including veterans, only fantasize about statistics like that. But Neff regards the on-track competition differently.
 
"I can deal with not going to the finals," Neff said. "It's not necessarily about that. We weren't performing well. To win the last four races. That's what bothers me. As long as we're competitive and we have a legitimate chance to win I'm OK with that.
 
"But it's when you just can't get it to go down the track and you're not even competitive and these guys are whipping all over you. It's not about the final round. It's about being competitive. And you don't want to do good all the way up to the Countdown and then suck. You just hope that this Countdown that you peak at the right time."
 
He said boss Force most likely is "relived." Said Neff, "All three of us, we haven't been looking too good, any of us. Then to qualify 7-8-9, it wasn't looking real promising for us. So for one of us to get out of here with a win, I'm sure he was as relieved as I was."
 
This marked the first time Neff has won as a driver and as a crew chief. He was a crew member for Cory McClenathan and Cruz Pedregon when they each won one of their multiple U.S. Nationals Wally trophies.
 
"It's the big one, the one you dream about," Neff said. "To knock 'em out here, it probably hasn't sunk in yet."
 
Tasca, driving the Motorcraft / QuickLane Ford with crew chiefs Chris Cunningham and Marc Denner, advanced past John Force, Melanie Troxel, and Ron Capps for his second final-round appearance of the year. (It was his first final round this season in a four-round format, as his first chance came at Charlotte in the three-round Four-Wide Nationals.)

QUICK HITS - RACE REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION

ROUND ONE

KEEPING IT REAL - Matt Hagan, driving the Die Hard Dodge Charger, advanced past Tim Wilkerson (4.066 seconds to 7.944) but said lining up again the veteran one-man-band in the Levi, Ray and Shoup Mustang is part of why racing in the U.S. Nationals is extraordinary.

"It's different because you've got Tim Wilkerson over there. He's a great race-car driver and he does a great job of tuning and driving that thing. For this Mopar car and for Die Hard and everybody at Shelor.com, I'm glad to be going rounds at the U.S. Nationals.

Tim races straight up and that's how we're going to keep all day today."

Still, Hagan said he has been trying to take the emotion out of the Indianapolis experience.

"I'd love to win it," he said, "but we're going to treat it like another race."

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS - Dan Wilkerson, like his more seasoned counterparts, would enjoy the thrill of a side-by-side triumph. However, he was happy Monday to take his first round-win at Indianapolis on an opponent's mishap. Johnny Gray's parachutes came out within the first 100 feet of the run.

He had his own troubles, too. He remarked that his engine "blew up." He said, "I don't know if it threw a rod out of it. But she had her tongue hanging out pretty bad."

Wilkerson sprang from his seat as soon as he was able and breathlessly paid tribute to his father and boss, saying, "Tim Wilkerson's the man. He'll get that thing all tuned up. For Summit Racing Equipment, Goodyear, and Dart, I'm just glad to get the round-win."

Announcer Alan Rinehart asked him how he could be so out of breath when his pass lasted only 4.1 seconds, Wilkerson said, "I guess I held my breath for a long time."

Wilkerson's dad and team owner, Tim Wilkerson, who lost to Matt Hagan in the opening pairing just before Dan's run, said of his son, "He's a great kid. He's going to make somebody a great race driver someday. Hopefully it' s me." He acknowledged that losing here at the U.S. Nationals  is a stark contrast to winning: "We won here in 2003, and we'll never forget it."

'I HAVE A GOOD FEELING' - No. 2  starter Melanie Troxel, who barely missed  qualifying No. 1 in both Pro Modified AND Funny Car in the same race, said she overcame a slight problem as she defeated Bob Bode and was optimistic about the rest of her day. "I could tell by the way this car was running early in the run that they had it set to run some big numbers. Fortunately made it down there. I was trying to lock in the clutch and pulled the tires loose, but we had enough to hold on for the win for In-N-Out Burger and Pro Care RX."  Moreover, Troxel said, "I have a good feeling about today. I think this is going to be a good day for the team."

BEATS NO. 1, MAKES COUNTDOWN - DHL Toyota Solara driver Jeff Arend clinched a Countdown spot with a holeshot, and he did it by eliminating Cruz Pedregon, the No. 1 qualifier who had kept an iron grip all weekend on the top spot -- on a holeshot. The Kalitta Motorsports driver used a .0498-second margin of victory to top Pedregon and his sizzling'-hot Snap-on Tools Toyota, 4.139 seconds to Pedregon's 4.127.

"It's unbelievable. It's kind of been a dream of mine for a long time, to get in that top 10," Arend said. "Had to get down to the wire, but our DHL team is fantastic: John O [Oberhofer] and Nicky [Boninfante]. It's fantastic we won that round. I saw Connie (team owner Kalitta, the 1994 winner here) with Jim O. And they're all helping out."

FROM 'BIG DADDY' TO CAPPS - Ron Capps received advice Monday morning from "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, voted 10 years ago as the No. 1 NHRA drag racer of all time. And he put it to excellent use in the first round, defeating savvy Jim Head, 4.118 to 4.227. The NAPA Dodge Charger driver said Garlits "told me to approach it like no other race.

Don't think about where you're at. Look at the lane. Worry about that lane only. Don't even look around you." He said he's has listened -- "so far so good!"

As announcer Bob Frey said, "Since he got Big's advice, he's unbeaten, untied, unscored upon."

Capps' second-round race will be against Dan Wilkerson, who's making only his third start of the year. Capps indicated he feels like an eager racer himself. "I'm still just happy to be here. Every time I show up in a NAPA uniform I'm happy to be here."

FAST JACK 'FINDS' CAR, KEEPS RAZOR HANDY - "Lost and Found calling Jack Beckman . . . We have your race car." Well, it didn't happen exactly like that. Nevertheless, Beckman said, "We found our hot rod. This Valvoline car tested so well last week. Then we lost it and found it. And everything we've done the last four runs to this car, it's answered us.

"You try to tell yourself it's just another round," he said. "But it's Indy. It's the last race before we start our playoffs, but we're fighting for positions here. If we can gain a round on [Robert] Hight, we can go in in second place. I think the best way to gain a round on Hight is just to win the whole damn thing."

Informed that teammate Ron Capps got a pep talk from NHRA legend Don Garlits before eliminations began, Beckman said, "Big [Garlits] beat James Warren here in '67 and shaved. You can shave my head in the winners circle."

TEAMMATES TIE - "But they're teammates . . . Identical teammates . . ." So Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman are not identical. But their winning elapsed times from the opening round were exactly the same -- 4.066 seconds. Beckman earned lane choice for their quarterfinal-round pairing because of his 315.19-mph speed that eclipsed the track record Ron Capps, another driver in their Don Schumacher Racing stable, had set Sunday at 314.31 mph. Hagan's speed was 308.14 mph. Those 4.066s represented low elapsed time of the round.

HARD WAY TO WIN - No. 10 qualifier Bob Tasca III secured the 10th and final berth in the 10-driver Countdown to the Championship with his upset of No. 7 John Force. But even with Force losing traction early in the run, it wasn't a cakewalk, according to Tasca, "It shook real, real hard. Almost didn't get through it. It cleaned up and we were fortunate to get the win. It certainly wasn't what we were trying to run," the Motorcraft/QuickLane Ford Mustang driver said. "But we're in the top 10 and we have three more rounds [here]."

NO SPANKING NEFF - Mike Neff said, "You can never take Robert Hight and Jimmy Prock lightly. They've spanked us before." They didn't spank Neff in Monday's first round in the hard-luck draw of teammate against teammate. Points leader Neff has lost his opening match-up only three times this season.

QUARTER-FINALS

EDGING CLOSER - Ron Capps got one step closer to his first U.S. Nationals victory with his sixth trip to the semifinals, beating Dan Wilkerson.

STUCK ON 4.066 - Evidently the lucky number for Matt Hagan at this edition of the U.S. Nationals is 4.066. That's what he ran in knocking teammate Jack Beckman out of contention in the quarterfinals. If that sounded familiar, it should have. That's the time both he and Beckman recorded in the first round to wind up in their own showdown. Hagan, who debuted his NHRA career here after a successful stint in the International Hot Rod Association in the Pro Modified and Funny Car classes, said he wasn't ready to start celebrating now. He said going down the Lucas Oil Raceway dragstrip two more times and winning both times would be the prompt for that.

YES, FIRE = NOT GOOD - Sometimes Castrol GTX Ford Mustang driver-crew chief Mike Neff is the master of the understatement. After blunting Jeff Arend's hopes of winning for the first time in Indianapolis, he had a problem that also could hurt his own chances. He exited his John Force-owned car and said, "It's hurt." He explained why he'll have his hands full during the 75-minute turnaround: "I just saw fire! Flames! I said, 'This isn't good.' It's wounded pretty good."

SUDDENLY LUCKY - Bob Tasca, plagued by eight first-round losses in the previous 15 events, advanced to the semifinals past Melanie Troxel. Her In-N-Out Burger Toyota had a pop-bang sequence and had the parachutes pop loose prematurely in the right lane as Tasca zipped on downtrack in the left lane in his Motorcraft/QuickLane Ford. "We haven't had any luck all year. It's good to come to the U.S. Nationals and have some luck," Tasca said. With Tasca's quarterfinal victory, the Funny Car field definitely will produce a first-time winner this year.

SEMI-FINALS

LUCK CONTINUES - While Ron Capps shimmied and shook and wiggled dangerously close to the right guard wall, Bob Tasca continued that luck he was talking about. He advanced to the final with a 4.143-second, 308.14-mph performance in the Motorcraft/QuickLane Mustang and credited crew chiefs Chris Cummingham and Marc Denner.

DOING ALL RIGHT, ACTUALLY  - Mike Neff said his Castrol GTX Ford  "wouldn't respond" to his preparation but that in Monday morning's Round 1 race against Robert Hight, "I jumped all over it." It feels god to be competitive again. Neff secured the No. 1 seeding for the Countdown that will begin at the next race, in Charlotte. But "uncompetitive" to Neff evidently means going four races without earning his fifth victory or making his eighth final-round appearance.

FINAL

NEFF STRETCHES JFR DOMINANCE - Mike Neff' has won just two races in his short and sporadic driving career, and Monday he added the U.S. Nationals triumph to the 2009 NHRA Finals victory, extending the John Force Racing dominance to seven in 10 years.

The Castrol GTX driver won with a 4.068-second, 314.61-mph performance in the right lane. In the all-Ford Mustang final round, Bob Tasca III's Motorcraft / QuickLane entry blew up in the left lane near the finish line but recorded a 4.147-second pass at 278 mph.

 

---

 

 

 

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website

---

  SUNDAY NOTEBOOK - BEST OF TIMES, WORST OF TIMES FOR PEDREGON BROTHERS

PEDREGON REGAINS FUNNY CAR TOP SPOT IN RECORD STYLE

Hot temperatures or cold, left lane or right, no matter who was in the other lane . . . none of that mattered Sunday to Funny Car's Cruz Pedregon as qualifying for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals reached a dramatic end.
 
He simply was relentless in his pursuit of the No. 1 qualifying position Melanie Troxel had swiped from him in Sunday's first session (fourth overall).
 
Pedregon showed plenty of muscle in his final chance, with a track-record 4.026-second run at a career-best 314.24-mph speed on the Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis 1,000-foot course in his Snap-on Tools Toyota Solara. It was his quickest 1,000-foot run.
 
He denied Troxel more than just the top spot. He prevented her from becoming the first female to qualify No. 1 in the Funny Car class at this storied National Hot Rod Association race. Moreover, he ruined her bid to lead both the Funny Car and Pro Modified fields.
 
Troxel, in her In-N-Out '53 Corvette for R2B2 Racing, topped the Pro Mod field with a 5.907-second, 251.25-mph performance that was .024-seconds quicker and more than 11 miles an hour faster than No. 2 qualifier Mike Castellana.
 
But while Pedregon was churning out his monster run down the right lane, Troxel was in the left, her car exploding and her hopes imploding just off the starting line. The engine in her In-N-Out Burger Toyota Solara blew in the class' final pairing, and she steered it to the outside wall.
 
"That car's been knocking on the door. Her day will come, because she has a good car," Pedregon said by way of encouragement.
 
But Sunday was his day, as he earned his fourth No. 1 position (after leading at Pomona, Englishtown and Denver). It was his first top spot at the Labor Day classic and ended a third straight day as the quickest Funny Car driver.
 
"We got it all," he said of the car, meaning he used all of the potential it offered on that pass. "We hurt the motor. But we were able to wrest it  (the position) back."
 
In the process, though, he said he recorded a personal-best speed at half-track. "It was motoring in the middle," Pedregon said.
 
"I've got to give it to the competition. They threw everything at us," he said. "They were handing out (4.)0s like candy."
 
The entire top half of the field had E.T.s in the 4.0-second range. But Pedregon had the best.
 
"If we're faster than everybody when it's hot, why not be faster when it's cool? When it's cool, we just throttle down," he said in registering his career 43rd No. 1 position.
 
He indicated he's more than ready to score that first victory of the season.
 
"We've been ready all year," Pedregon said.
 
Houston winner Jeff Arend will provide his first test when final eliminations get under way at 11 a.m. Monday.

STREAK ENDS - Tony Pedregon knew what he was talking about when he said, "Anything can happen at Indy" after failing to qualify Sunday.
 
With a 4.815-second pass that lifted him from outside the field at No. 17 to No. 15, Bob Bode dashed Pedregon's hopes of  making the race and landing another top-10 finish for the year.
 
Pedregon, who was last in the order,  improved from his 4.429-second E.T. that stuck him in 19th place. He mustered a 4.208, but he was .013-seconds slower than No. 16 Jeff Arend.
 
"A 4.20 just doesn't cut it," Pedregon said as his qualifying streak that dated back to the 2007 Topeka event stopped at 101 races. "To qualify here you've got to earn it. I don’t think myself or my team should hang their heads."
 
The two-time series champion counted his blessings, saying he has great children and has won races and championships. Just the same, it certainly hurt to have to say, "It's the first time in a long time I can spectate. I'll be up there [in the stands] with all those great fans."
 
Brother Cruz Pedregon, who'll lead the field Monday for final eliminations, said, "He'll bounce back. Tony's going though what I went through before. The competitive guy he is, he'll get through it. He had a heck of a streak, pretty phenomenal. It's the first time in his career he's not going to make the top 10."
 
Bode said, "I feel bad for Tony. We love Tony. But we love ourselves a little bit today, too" for re-entering the field. And Robert Hight, Pedregon's former teammate at John Force Racing, expressed his empathy with a quick but sincere, "Sorry to Tony Pedregon."
 
IN THE TRUNK - Ron Capps had to settle for starting No. 3 in final eliminations Monday, but the Don Schumacher Racing driver set the Lucas Oil Raceway Funny Car speed record at 314.31 mph in his final qualifying pass. "It shoved me into the trunk of this Dodge Charger. I mean  . . . in . . . the  . . . trunk. What a ride that was in the NAPA car," he said. Capps said he was reminded of the scene in which John Travolta and cast members in the movie "Grease" danced on the car and sang, "Go, greased lightnin', you're burnin' up the quarter mile . . . "
 
LOOK, DAD - Dan Wilkerson, making only his third appearance of the season in the Summit Racing Equipment Ford Mustang, seized the No. 6 starting spot with a 4.090-second blast at  307.37 mph in his fifth and final qualifying opportunity. He'll start seven positions ahead of his far more experienced father, No. 13 Tim Wilkerson, whose qualifying best was 4.138 , 302.96. After jumping from his car at the top end of the track and declaring that it is "bad to the bone," he got a reminder that he outshone his boss. "I never thought about that -- I don't want to get fired," he joked. Father and son drew Don Schumacher Racing drivers as first-round opponents. Dan will meet Johnny Gray, while Tim will go against Matt Hagan.
 
NOT BUMBLING, JUST NINTH - Points leader Mike Neff could manage no better than a 4.130-second E.T. that didn't improve his lot. He landed in the No. 9 position, stuck facing John Force Racing mate Robert Hight in Monday's first round of action. Neff, who serves as his own crew chief, said, "We tried something. It didn't work. This is the big one. I don't want to be bumbling around here."

MISSING OUT - Joining Tony Pedregon on the sidelines for the Labor Day tradition will be Jon Capps, Terry Haddock, and Justin Schriefer.

SHUFFLE AT THE TOP - Matt Hagan rebounded from his Saturday night engine concussion that knocked him and the Don Schumacher Racing-owned Die Hard Dodge from the top five to No. 11. In the first pairing of Sunday's opening qualifying run, Hagan matched the 4.071-second elapsed time that Cruz Pedregon used to secure the provisional lead Saturday. But Hagan aced out Pedregon with a considerably faster speed (309.13 mph to 301.54).
 
However, the dynamics changed in the final pairing of the session. Pedregon smoked the tires in his response to Hagan. And in the opposite lane, Melanie Troxel made the men's battle a bit of a moot point, taking the top spot in the R2B2 Racing In-N-Out Burger Toyota Solara with low E.T. (4.068 seconds) and top speed (313.73) of the meet so far.    
 
Troxel's crew chief, Aaron Brooks, said, "We've really worked on our clutch. It took a lot longer than expected. It's coming around."
 
TRANSLATION - Cruz Pedregon clarified some of his Friday-night remarks about his crew members. He had characterized them as former "guys who are on the sidelines" and said, "We have some guys who are -- I don't want to say outcasts -- but let's face it -- nobody wanted these guys."
 
The Snap-on Tools Toyota Solara owner-driver said late Saturday night, "I want 'em. That's all that matters. We all have a little fear of people not wanting us. But I want them. I like these guys. I love them, in fact. By no means do I have second-rate guys. They're quality people."
 
He said as a team owner he knows the value of trusted and trained personnel -- and said he has trained some of the finest drag-racing mechanics . . . who are working for other teams. "The minute I train them, they scurry off to the two big teams. It's chapped my rear for a long time."
 
HONORING OUR HEROES - Thousands regard Funny Car driver John Force a hero for his humble beginnings to a drag-racing empire and 15 driving championships. Before Sunday's final day of qualifying began, he announced his special tribute to unquestionably heroic Americans, the selfless 9-11 champions.
 
Force unveiled a commemorative Funny Car that he will showcase at the Sept. 15-18 O'Reilly Nationals at Charlotte. The body will feature "Honoring Our Heroes" imagery saluting those who gave their lives September 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks on America.
 
The Castrol GTX High Mileage / Honoring Our Heroes Ford Mustang will help raise funds to build "smart homes" for two of three surviving quadruple amputees of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan  – United States Marine Corps Corporal Todd Nicely and United States Marine Corps Corporal John Peck. The project is in cooperation with the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
 
Nicely and Peck are two of only three U.S. servicemen to lose all four limbs in combat and survive.
 
The foundation is a charitable organization the family of New York firefighter Stephen Siller established in 2001. Siller was on his way to play golf with his brothers when he got the call about the attack on the World Trade Center. Siller wasn't permitted to drive his truck through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, so he donned nearly 70 pounds of firefighting gear and ran through the tunnel to the towers to help rescue citizens. He perished in the collapse of one of the towers.
 
"John Force is a hero to thousands of race fans. And the fact that he would choose to honor another hero, my brother Stephen Siller, by putting Stephen's name on his car is unbelievable," Frank Siller, chairman of the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, said. "Watching this car race in Charlotte in honor of Stephen and all those who died on September 11, 2001, will be truly special."
 
Force called the opportunity to launch this project "a real honor for me and my whole organization. It has been 10 years since those terrible attacks in New York City, Washington D.C., and in Pennsylvania. I try to thank as many firefighters, policemen, and members of our armed forces every chance I get.
 
"We wanted to get the word out about this Funny Car at our biggest race, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, because this is a really important opportunity to promote a great organization," Force said.
 
Funding for the "smart homes" will come from proceeds from the sale of each Castrol GTX High Mileage / Honoring Our Heroes die-cast and associated merchandise. That arrangement is possible through a partnership between Lionel NASCAR Collectables and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
 
"I want to thank Lionel NASCAR and the Honoring Our Heroes group for giving me this chance to say thank you and to recognize these real American Heroes" Force said.
 
Howard Hitchcock, vice-president of Lionel NACAR Collectables, said, "September 11 is a date that is so meaningful to our country. We are honored to have John Force partner with us and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation to honor the heroes of that day and also our nation’s military heroes, like Brendan Marrocco, Todd Nicely and John Peck."
 
GLIDDEN-GRAY CONNECTION - Certainly Pro Stock racers and fans revere Bob Glidden, who won an NHRA-best nine U.S. Nationals and 10 Pro Stock championships. But one Funny Car competitor, who used to race in the Pro Stock class (as well as several other categories) who counts Glidden as his hero is Johnny Gray. Undoubtedly, Gray marvels at Glidden's on-track feats,  but he said what he really remembers most was  Glidden's kindness.
 
Gray had purchased an old Pro Stock car from Warren Johnson in 1993 and began his Pro Stock adventure at Denver's Bandimere Speedway. There it rained. Gray said he recalls "sitting on the curb under the tower, about ready to have a nervous breakdown." He said Glidden "sat down and started talking to me. He calmed me down."
 
Surely Gray was proud to look up as he rolled to the starting line and the sign declaring the Lucas Oil Raceway dragstrip "Bob Glidden Drive." NHRA President Tom Compton announced the special way the NHRA is honoring the legend in this 60th Anniversary season.

---

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - FORCE SWITCHES, HAGAN EXPLODES, AND PEDREGON CONTINUES TO DOMINATE

PEDREGON STILL HAS MORE IN HIS TOP-RANKED FUNNY CAR - Cruz Pedregon's National Hot Rod Association Funny Car rivals really need to look out.

It was stout enough that he took command of the tricky racetrack and its seemingly constant changes throughout Saturday evening. He ran a 4.071-second elapsed time at 301.54 mph on the Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis 1,000-foot course to retain his provisional No. 1 qualifying position for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
 
But in doing so, the Snap-on Tools Toyota Solara driver said he "might have shut it off a little early" because he thought it was flirting a little too much with the center line.
 
"It was pulling me to the center," Pedregon said. "I didn't want to run over anything foreign out there.
 
"We made a calculated guess: It'll take this amount of clutch, this amount of motor. It was hauling down there. It was dangling the front end. It kind of made a move to the center," he said.
 
The happy news for the veteran independent racer is that he said he hasn't coaxed everything out of the car yet.
 
"I'm a nervous wreck anyway," Pedregon said,. "Just when I think we've done our best, this car -- and it's done this all year --  it has a little bit left in it. That's just a great feeling."
 
Each run so far this weekend has been distinctively different, although Pedregon has led after each of the three sessions.
 
"The first run [Friday] was a great run in the heat," he said.
 
"The second [overall] run [Q2], we were just too slow, believe it or not. We were too conservative, My crew chiefs were telling me the track isn't very good. We pulled the car back too far. We are trying really hard, maybe too hard, to go down the track. We were trying too hard," he said. "Much like an airplane that doesn't gain lift t a certain speed, these cars need to go a certain speed at certain increments on the track."
 
As for his weekend-best pass, Pedregon said, "The last run tonight -- I never like to say the [phrase] 'going for it.' We take advantage of the conditions."
 
That, he said, helps him "validate what we're doing."
 
With two more qualifying sessions remaining Sunday, Terry Haddock, Bob Tasca, Justin Schriefer, and Daniel Wilkerson are struggling to make the field of 16. Jeff Arend sits on the bump spot overnight at No. 16.

BODY SWITCH - With a little bit of truth and a little of storytelling, John Force explained why he reverted to his familiar green Castrol GTX High Mileage body midway through Saturday's action.
 
"We had a problem with the 15X champion body, and we just needed some time to take a look at it and fix it," he said. "I always joke that (daughter) Ashley (Force Hood) wanted the other body back because her name is on the Castrol GTX High Mileage body but it isn't on the 15X body.
 
"She had said every time we change a body with a new car it always snake-bites you. Guido just said we needed to pull out the old body so that is what we did," Force said. "We might put it back on tomorrow."
 
Force is seventh, just behind Castrol teammate Mike Neff, in the lineup heading into Sunday's final day of qualifying.
 
"Our qualifying position is definitely better," Force said, "because at least if it rains you are in. All three of our teams are in. It builds confidence, and that is what it is all about. "
 
He has confidence -- and a packed schedule Sunday. But he said he's happy, that "the world is good."
 
Said Force, "We have a lot on our plate. I have an unveiling tomorrow of the Honoring our Heroes Stephen Siller Foundation Funny Car. That is stuff that is really important to me, because those are men and women that sacrificed for our country and to help their friends. Robert [Hight] is in the show, and Mike Neff is in the show. The world is good.”
 
TEEN SCENE - Paul Lee turned in an outstanding Saturday-night run at 4.171 seconds, and he wasn't entirely surprised. He said team owner-tuner Jim Dunn warned him, "Be ready for a teen." He said his first thought was "Let's see if the clutch is ready for it." It was, and Lee leaped from the No. 11 spot in the lineup to No. 5 with two more qualifying sessions scheduled for Sunday.
 
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT - Funny Car drivers toward both the top and bottom of the order Friday night were underwhelmed with their temperature-sabotaged runs in the hot, humid conditions.
 
Robert Hight, who entered the first of Saturday's two sessions in fourth place on the grid at 4.196 seconds, said he was sure Auto Club Ford Mustang crew chief  Jimmy Prock "was not ecstatic about that run. He is happy it went down the track. Basically what we did is we went back to what we ran when we were winning races. It worked then and that is what got us here,”" Hight said.
 
"If there are little issues, we will just have to live with them. This is not the time to try and reinvent fuel racing," he said. "We are just so happy it went down the track. When it got through the shake zone, I knew it was gone. I knew it was going to make it. Trust me, there are four hundredths there easy. In that run is we had to go up there again we could pick it up two in the middle and two in the beginning and you are really close to what Cruz (Pedregon) ran. It could at least be a 4.15 and we can win with that. I have never been happier with a 4.19."
 
It's a fortunate thing, for that's what he is stuck with until he's able to improve in the final two qualifying sessions Sunday that will set the field for Monday's eliminations.
 
Still reeling from his DNQ at Brainerd, where he entered as the reigning Funny Car event champion and failed to qualify, Bob Bode has been looking for that confidence-booster here. Thinking that "we were trying too much fancy stuff" at the Minnesota track where he had defeated Jack Beckman in the 2010 final, he and crew chief Wally Przybyl decided at the U.S. Nationals that "using tried and true stuff" in the Alard Machine Toyota Camry would be most effective.
 
However, it didn't produce the results Bode was looking for. He closed the first qualifying session 17th in the order, four-hundredths of a second behind No. 16 John Force.
 
Bode noted that in qualifying this year he has recorded 4.1s and 4.2s and that he ran 4.3 and 4.2 at Houston as he advanced to the semifinals. "I'd be happy with a [4].30. I'd kiss Wally for that."
 
Przybyl was safe Friday night with Bode's 5.577-second pass. And nobody 's kissing anybody on that crew Saturday night, although the Barrington, Ill., resident hangs onto the No. 13 position for now.
 

 
MYSTERY EXPLOSION - Matt Hagan said, "I don't know what happened" in the Saturday night session to cause the engine in his Don Schumacher Racing-owned Dodge Charger to blow up and catch fire just off the stating line. It cost him six rungs on the ladder, as he fell from fifth place to 11th.

FUNNY CAR DRIVERS TRY TO MATCH TF MATES - While DSR Top Fuel mates Antron Brown, Tony Schumacher, and Spencer Massey swiped the tentative top three positions in their class, half of the DSR Funny Car contingent performed well, too, Saturday. Ron Capps and Johnny Gray made the top half of the field, at Nos. 4 and 8, respectively.

PUSHED BACK - With extensive oil down and clean-up time all afternoon, the third overall session [second Saturday] kept getting pushed back. Graham Light, NHRA senior vice-president of racing operations, sends schedule-change text messages to each team, and Pedregon needled Light good-naturedly when he got the message that the Top Fuel class would begin its second session of the day at 7:55 p.m. "I knew you guys wanted another night session," Pedregon joked. But that huge delay certainly had its benefits for him.

HURRICANE AFTERMATH - Motorcraft Quick Lane Ford Mustang driver Bob Tasca isn't complaining so much about Indianapolis' scorching temperatures this weekend. If he were home in Hope, R.I., he might be sitting in the dark. Exactly one week ago, Hurricane Irene churned up the East Coast and brought high winds and heavy rain and lots of chaos to the region. "By the time it hit us, it was a tropical storm," Tasca said, "but it brought 60-plus-mile-an-hour sustained winds. There isn't a lot of flooding at our home our [auto dealership] offices, but we've been without power for a week. It's pretty humbling."
 
Irene also hit Matt Hagan's home state hard in the coastal areas. But the Die Hard Dodge Charger driver's part of Virginia -- Christiansburg -- hardly knew it paid a visit. He said his farm and that entire region of the Commonwealth could use some rain. He also said he never felt a rumble from the earthquake that hit earlier last week and rattled areas north toward neighbor Washington, D.C.

 

---

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - IT'S A CRUISE CONTROL FRIDAY IN INDY

CRUZ BARGING AHEAD INTO PROVISIONAL NO. 1 SPOT -  After seizing the provisional No. 1 position on a nasty-hot track cooked by triple-digit temperatures, Cruz Pedregon said he and his Snap-on Tools Toyota Solara "have been knocking on the door all year."
 
And they knocked down not only the competition but also some of their own en route to the early Mac Tools U.S. Nationals lead.
 
In the pre-race test session a week ago Thursday at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Pedregon was preparing to make his second pass when a crew member sustained minor injuries in a freakish accident.
 
"I made one good run until we ran over one of our crew guys," the three-time U.S. Nationals winner said. "The guy lowered the body and moved the body over about an inch and a half," he said, explaining that the throttle slipped and lurched like "a 70s-style dry hop."
 
Pedregon said, "It knocked a six-foot, 240-pound guy flat on his face. Luckily he sustained [only] minor leg injuries. We pushed him out of the way and made the run. I looked over and he looked like he was going to be OK. At $10,000 a run, it was kind of nice to salvage that run."
 
"It's a scary thing. These cars are like loaded guns out there," he said. "We're trying to look at ways we can minimize raising the body. There's only about an inch or two clearance. If a guy has a spasm or something while he's lowering the body, that could be not good. Those bodies are 200-and-something pounds."
 
His brother Tony experienced a frighteningly similar incident several years ago at this race, but Cruz Pedregon said in comparison, "This one wasn't X-rated. This one was G-rated."
 
He recounted the mishap with Tony Pedregon, in which crew chief Dickie Venables was the victim:
 
"He blew his crew chief's pants off his body. He had his underwear on. It exploded his pants. He must've been wearing a good pair of underwear."
 
Getting back to the 4.147-second elapsed time at 300.40 mph that put him on top of the order in the 19-car class during first day qualifying at the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Pedregon said, "It's a good indicator of what we can do, but by no means is this going to stay No. 1, I don't think. What I'm hoping is it cools down enough tomorrow night so we can really get out there and see if we can't make a run in the low 4s.
 
"The main thing is to be consistent," he said. "We have four more runs after this."
 
He said his car can produce results but that his team hasn't mastered the art of doing it four straight times on race day.
 
In a peculiar way of praising his crew and its progress, Pedregon said his team has been making steady progress in morphing into a unit and making the transition from one sponsor to another in the past few years.
 
He said he has hired "guys who are on the sidelines. We assembled a group of guys who wanted to race and have been through a couple of teams. I kind of Frankensteined it. We have some guys who are -- I don't want to say outcasts -- but let’s face it -- nobody wanted these guys. We're making the best with what we have.
 
"It feels good. We're doing it on our own terms," Pedregon said.
 
He said he's grateful for securing his place in the 10-driver Countdown field before arriving here.
 
"Two years in a row we missed the cut. It was our own doing," he said. "But we want to win a race, and we're running out of opportunities." He did have runner-up finishes at Gainesville and Englishtown, where he lost both times to Mike Neff.
 
Pedregon is fourth in the standings, behind Neff, Robert Hight, and Jack Beckman.
 
He said his team can be described like some football teams are characterized: "We're not too flashy during the season, but maybe we can get hot toward the end and sneak up on these guys."
 
Even his own crew members have to look out.

HOLDING DECENT HAND OVERNIGHT - For Funny Car driver Paul Lee -- who happens to have a law degree and an Ivy League pedigree with an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, all in addition to owning McLeod Clutches -- pursuing his first NHRA professional victory is his passion. The stakes are different on non-racing weekends.
 
He plays poker, but not penny-ante pick-up games among the guys in the neighborhood. He competes in World Poker Tour tournaments -- and is among the best at Texas Hold 'Em. Last weekend, in the Legends of Poker Main Event at the Bicycle Casino at Bell Gardens, Calif., Lee finished 79th among 780 players in the 20-event fall kickoff.
 
He has finished in the top three before. And it's no wonder -- he paid for his college education with his earnings as a craps dealer in Atlantic City casinos.
 
The Ewan, N.J., native who moved recently to Southern California, said he also knows the odds for success are much greater if an individual has a college education. So he has devoted considerable time throughout the years, encouraging America's youth to value education, set goals, and discover their passions.
 
Lee made the top-12 Friday night with a 4.296-second, 299.93-mph pass to take the No. 10 spot. Asked if he has an ace up his sleeve, he gave that poker face -- then smiled. And why not? He drew a pretty good hand overnight.

 

 
 
FORCE UNVEILS ONE-OFF BODY - Before John Force made his first qualifying pass of this year's Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, he unveiled a 15-time champion tribute paint scheme that paid homage to his fans and to his sponsors, including Castrol, Ford, the Auto Club of Southern California, Brand Source, and Mac Tools.
 
The new livery was popular, but his result in that run was regrettable. He smoked the tires down track and ended up overnight with a 5.535-second pass at 151.14 mph. It left him 16th among 19 drivers with four sessions remaining before Monday's eliminations.
 
The Castrol GTX High Mileage/15X Champ Ford Mustang will race only at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, then will sit in retirement. Force is wearing a commemorative 15X firesuit and helmet for this final event of the 2011 "regular season."
 
Said Force, "Winning the 15th championship was special, because I battled a great driver,  Matt Hagan, right down to the last day. It was a fight throughout the Countdown. And I am really proud of my team led by Austin Coil, Mike Neff, and Bernie Fedderly. It was a big comeback for me, and I just want to thank all my sponsors: Castrol, Ford, Auto Club, Mac Tools and BrandSource for standing behind me."

---