Not many people thought Funny Car qualifying would even take place, Tony Pedregon included.

Pedregon responded after the rain delay to take the No. 1 spot with a track record 4.170-second effort during first day qualifying for the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway located outside of Denver, Co.

Not many people thought Funny Car qualifying would even take place, Tony Pedregon included.

Pedregon responded after the rain delay to take the No. 1 spot with a track record 4.170-second effort during first day qualifying for the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway located outside of Denver, Co.

"One of the big concerns of all the racers is the dew point, but that was not the case here," said Pedregon. "I didn't think that there was any way we were going to run, but what we were looking at here on the race track, were about the best conditions we will see anywhere. The challenge for us is that we're at elevation. You still have a power issue and over the years we have really been able to make the difference up and make more power than we used to. We just were able to take full advantage of these optimum racing conditions."

Tim Wilkerson is second in the log at 4.178 seconds. Jeff Arend also set a new 1000-foot speed record at Bandimere at 295.72 mph. Arend is fifth in qualifying at 4.218 seconds. 

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