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Nitro Member

https://www.facebook.com/CruzPedreg...414457679332/1572919582728805/?type=3&theaterIf you walked by Cruz Pedregon's pit during the weekend and thought his engine sounded and looked a little weird during the pre-race warm-up, you were not mistaken. Crew chief Aaron Brooks bolted on a pair of Top Fuel headers for the warmup – but, obviously, not the run -- but there’s a method to his madness.
Brooks, who has a deep background in Top Fuel, has noticed that the EGT (exhaust gas temperature readings) at idle that he was used to seeing on his computer screen varied wildly in Funny Car compared to the tightly-grouped readings he was used to seeing on his dragsters. Because crew chiefs will utilize these EGTs as a tuning aid, perhaps to calm an overly hot cylinder, they’re a crucial piece of the puzzle.
“Because Funny Car headers are so long and have a lot more backpressure, the idle temperatures are really scattered,” he said. “We’ve been struggling with dropped cylinders so I thought this was one way I could get a better handle of what the actual idle temperatures are.”
The Snap-on Tools team, clinging to the tenth and final spot in the Funny Car Countdown field, believes it finally has found its footing, with a series of good outings after a tough early-season go.
“I told Cruz it would probably take 90 runs to get this combination where we want it from scratch,” he said. “Friday was run No. 90, so here we are. We’ve had some good events – Englishtown, Topeka – but screwed up in eliminations and I really feel like we could have won in Denver. Lately it’s dropped cylinders that is killing us, even though we’re still making good seven-cylinder runs. Hopefully we’re getting closer to getting it figured out.”