Team Chevy's Tony Pedregon Leads Funny Car Qualifying at Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 30, 2008 - Team Chevy's Tony Pedregon roared to the No. 1 qualifying spot in Funny Car tonight at the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park. With two rounds of time trials still to be contested on Sunday, the two-time NHRA POWERade champion took the provisional pole in the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS with a run of 4.073 seconds at 301.94 mph.
"Running under the lights at Indianapolis - it doesn't get any better than this," Pedregon said. "Now we have to get ready to race Cruz (Pedregon) tomorrow in the U.S. Smokeless Showdown. That's going to be a good race - the fans will certainly get a good show tomorrow.
"We knew the conditions were very good. We've been too conservative for the last, really, dozen races. We figured it would go, or smoke the tires, and it went," said Pedregon, currently second to Tim Wilkerson in the Funny Car standings."
The 43-year-old Pedregon was runner-up at Indy in 2001, was No. 1 qualifier in 2002 and won the $100,000 U.S. Smokeless Showdown in 2003. So far this year, the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala driver has two no. 1 qualifying awards at Gainesville (a race he won) and Denver, and four national-event victories. Since winning the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago in June, Pedregon has more round wins than any driver in the category.
"If you really break down what we actually do on the track, Indy should be just another race," Pedregon said. But because of the media attention and just so much more electricity, the schedule gets as busy as if it were a race going down to the wire. It really is a bigger spectacle than anything we do all year. If I could pick one race that I haven't won yet, I'd even give up some of my race wins to win Indy. It's just human nature to want to win the biggest event of the year, so that's something that's in the back of my mind. Going into it this year, I feel like my chances are as good if not better than they have ever been. I've been fortunate to be in some good cars in my career, and I just feel like this is as good of a chance as I've ever had."
Gary Densham is qualified in the No. 3 position in the Racebricks Chevy Impala with a 4.109 e.t. and and Tim Wilkerson holds down the No. 9 spot in the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevrolet with a 4.132 second run.
In Pro Stock, Mike Edwards Pontiac GXP is qualified No. 2 after posting the second quickest runs in both sessions today. Edwards Young Life Pontiac ran 6.672 seconds during the first round on Saturday, and then came back tonight with a 6.660 e.t. at 206.89 mph. Edwards won the U.S. Nationals in 1998.
"We made two really nice runs today," Edwards said. "The Young Life Pontiac GXP was second for both sessions and just missed by an eyelash of being No. 1 in both of them. If we can continue tomorrow with the same kind of runs, then hopefully we can get a little bit more out of it. It's a great start to the U.S. Nationals for us.
"You're never satisfied and we'll come out tomorrow and see what the conditions give us. We run a little bit earlier than we did this morning, and if the air is the same as it was this morning, I look for some pretty good numbers. I think we left a little bit on the table tonight, and there's probably some more teams that did too. But I'm pleased with what we did today. Our whole team did a great job.
"The more time you can have with something, the engine program, the car, it's all been a learning curve. Everybody has been trying to learn together and we're a lot farther along this time of year than I thought we would be."
Jason Line is qualified in the No. 3 spot in the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP with a 6.661 e.t. at 207.05 mph. Line's teammate Greg Anderson is No. 4 with a 6.667 second run at 206.95 mph, and GM Performance Pontiac driver Warren Johnson moved to the No. 5 spot with a 6.668 e.t. at a track-record speed of 207.88 mph.
"We had a decent day today with our GM Performance Parts GXP, wandering down there twice without hitting anything," Johnson said. "It did get up a little higher than we would have liked in the early part of this afternoon's run, giving up a little bit when it bounced down in second gear. Still, it went pretty nice and straight both times, and based on the information we've gathered, I think we should be in good shape for tomorrow morning's session when the conditions should be as good as as they have been all weekend. I think we should be able to fix it and make it even better."
Defending U.S. nationals champ Dave Connolly is qualified in the No. 6 position with a 6.671 e.t. at 206.45 mph. Ron Krisher's Valvoline Chevrolet is seventh with 6.676 second run at 206.67 mph.
"We didn't think it would be as fast as it was tonight, but the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt will be all right in the morning," Krisher said. "The car's been running good, though. We broke a rearend on the first run and we were seventh tonight, but for a reason. I feel real good about tomorrow, though."
Team Chevy's Jeg Coughlin Jr. is qualified No. 8 with a 6.677 second run and Kurt Johnson is 12th with a 6.694 e.t. at 206.39 mph.
"We're improving every pass and that's encouraging," Coughlin said. "And, as it turns out, it's become a necessity because everyone else is stepping up as well. People always bring their best to Indy and this year is no exception."
"We had our share of challenges today," Johnson said. "It started with an electrical problem in the morning session, which we fixed by the afternoon. Unfortunately, by then we were in the right lane, which is definitely not as good as the left lane here at O'Reilly Raceway Park. I'm confident we'll be able to get down that right lane in the morning and put ourselves in the top half of the field, setting our ACDelco Chevy Cobalt up to do some damage on Monday."
More than 10 hours of television coverage of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals on ESPN2 starts on Sunday, Aug. 31, with one hour of qualifying highlights at 12:30 a.m., and then the 30-minute magazine show NHRA Race Day starts at 11:00 a.m. Additional qualifying coverage on Sunday, Aug. 31, includes two hours and 30 minutes of highlights at 11:30 a.m. and two more hours of coverage at 5:00 p.m. There will be five hours of eliminations coverage on Monday, Sept. 1, starting with two hours of early eliminations coverage at 12:00 noon and three more hours of final eliminations coverage at 7:00 p.m. All times are Eastern.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at General Motors | Corporate Website | GM.
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INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 30, 2008 - Team Chevy's Tony Pedregon roared to the No. 1 qualifying spot in Funny Car tonight at the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park. With two rounds of time trials still to be contested on Sunday, the two-time NHRA POWERade champion took the provisional pole in the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala SS with a run of 4.073 seconds at 301.94 mph.
"Running under the lights at Indianapolis - it doesn't get any better than this," Pedregon said. "Now we have to get ready to race Cruz (Pedregon) tomorrow in the U.S. Smokeless Showdown. That's going to be a good race - the fans will certainly get a good show tomorrow.
"We knew the conditions were very good. We've been too conservative for the last, really, dozen races. We figured it would go, or smoke the tires, and it went," said Pedregon, currently second to Tim Wilkerson in the Funny Car standings."
The 43-year-old Pedregon was runner-up at Indy in 2001, was No. 1 qualifier in 2002 and won the $100,000 U.S. Smokeless Showdown in 2003. So far this year, the Q Horsepower Chevy Impala driver has two no. 1 qualifying awards at Gainesville (a race he won) and Denver, and four national-event victories. Since winning the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago in June, Pedregon has more round wins than any driver in the category.
"If you really break down what we actually do on the track, Indy should be just another race," Pedregon said. But because of the media attention and just so much more electricity, the schedule gets as busy as if it were a race going down to the wire. It really is a bigger spectacle than anything we do all year. If I could pick one race that I haven't won yet, I'd even give up some of my race wins to win Indy. It's just human nature to want to win the biggest event of the year, so that's something that's in the back of my mind. Going into it this year, I feel like my chances are as good if not better than they have ever been. I've been fortunate to be in some good cars in my career, and I just feel like this is as good of a chance as I've ever had."
Gary Densham is qualified in the No. 3 position in the Racebricks Chevy Impala with a 4.109 e.t. and and Tim Wilkerson holds down the No. 9 spot in the Levi Ray & Shoup Chevrolet with a 4.132 second run.
In Pro Stock, Mike Edwards Pontiac GXP is qualified No. 2 after posting the second quickest runs in both sessions today. Edwards Young Life Pontiac ran 6.672 seconds during the first round on Saturday, and then came back tonight with a 6.660 e.t. at 206.89 mph. Edwards won the U.S. Nationals in 1998.
"We made two really nice runs today," Edwards said. "The Young Life Pontiac GXP was second for both sessions and just missed by an eyelash of being No. 1 in both of them. If we can continue tomorrow with the same kind of runs, then hopefully we can get a little bit more out of it. It's a great start to the U.S. Nationals for us.
"You're never satisfied and we'll come out tomorrow and see what the conditions give us. We run a little bit earlier than we did this morning, and if the air is the same as it was this morning, I look for some pretty good numbers. I think we left a little bit on the table tonight, and there's probably some more teams that did too. But I'm pleased with what we did today. Our whole team did a great job.
"The more time you can have with something, the engine program, the car, it's all been a learning curve. Everybody has been trying to learn together and we're a lot farther along this time of year than I thought we would be."
Jason Line is qualified in the No. 3 spot in the Summit Racing Pontiac GXP with a 6.661 e.t. at 207.05 mph. Line's teammate Greg Anderson is No. 4 with a 6.667 second run at 206.95 mph, and GM Performance Pontiac driver Warren Johnson moved to the No. 5 spot with a 6.668 e.t. at a track-record speed of 207.88 mph.
"We had a decent day today with our GM Performance Parts GXP, wandering down there twice without hitting anything," Johnson said. "It did get up a little higher than we would have liked in the early part of this afternoon's run, giving up a little bit when it bounced down in second gear. Still, it went pretty nice and straight both times, and based on the information we've gathered, I think we should be in good shape for tomorrow morning's session when the conditions should be as good as as they have been all weekend. I think we should be able to fix it and make it even better."
Defending U.S. nationals champ Dave Connolly is qualified in the No. 6 position with a 6.671 e.t. at 206.45 mph. Ron Krisher's Valvoline Chevrolet is seventh with 6.676 second run at 206.67 mph.
"We didn't think it would be as fast as it was tonight, but the Valvoline Chevy Cobalt will be all right in the morning," Krisher said. "The car's been running good, though. We broke a rearend on the first run and we were seventh tonight, but for a reason. I feel real good about tomorrow, though."
Team Chevy's Jeg Coughlin Jr. is qualified No. 8 with a 6.677 second run and Kurt Johnson is 12th with a 6.694 e.t. at 206.39 mph.
"We're improving every pass and that's encouraging," Coughlin said. "And, as it turns out, it's become a necessity because everyone else is stepping up as well. People always bring their best to Indy and this year is no exception."
"We had our share of challenges today," Johnson said. "It started with an electrical problem in the morning session, which we fixed by the afternoon. Unfortunately, by then we were in the right lane, which is definitely not as good as the left lane here at O'Reilly Raceway Park. I'm confident we'll be able to get down that right lane in the morning and put ourselves in the top half of the field, setting our ACDelco Chevy Cobalt up to do some damage on Monday."
More than 10 hours of television coverage of the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals on ESPN2 starts on Sunday, Aug. 31, with one hour of qualifying highlights at 12:30 a.m., and then the 30-minute magazine show NHRA Race Day starts at 11:00 a.m. Additional qualifying coverage on Sunday, Aug. 31, includes two hours and 30 minutes of highlights at 11:30 a.m. and two more hours of coverage at 5:00 p.m. There will be five hours of eliminations coverage on Monday, Sept. 1, starting with two hours of early eliminations coverage at 12:00 noon and three more hours of final eliminations coverage at 7:00 p.m. All times are Eastern.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 77 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 266,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2007, nearly 9.37 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at General Motors | Corporate Website | GM.
