Tony Pedregon and the American Racing team faced some tough obstacles this past weekend at the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals in Pomona.
It all started during second round qualifying on Friday when Pedregon’s funny car body launched about 100 feet into the air after a fiery explosion. Luckily Pedregon was unharmed from the incident. The crew reported a fuel leak partially contributed to the blaze and the engine explosion.
“It was an unpleasant surprise when the body launched off of the car,” said Pedregon. “A challenging weekend, however we had another Toyota body that will start off Phoenix this weekend. We have gone through the car front to back and believe we know what the cause was.”
Despite the massive explosion, Pedregon went on to qualify 14th with the 4.22 earned from the mishap during round two.
On Sunday Pedregon faced Gary Densham during round one. Pedregon was 25-8 against Densham in prior events. Like many funny cars during the session, these two struggled to make it down the track. Pedregon was out front first, but Densham rolls by at the finish for the win by only five hundredths of a second.
Pedregon and the American Racing team will have a chance to turn things around this weekend at the 29th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix. Pedregon won this event back in 2007, where he set the standing national quarter mile record at 4.659.
From: Rachel Stoudenmire
More...
It all started during second round qualifying on Friday when Pedregon’s funny car body launched about 100 feet into the air after a fiery explosion. Luckily Pedregon was unharmed from the incident. The crew reported a fuel leak partially contributed to the blaze and the engine explosion.
“It was an unpleasant surprise when the body launched off of the car,” said Pedregon. “A challenging weekend, however we had another Toyota body that will start off Phoenix this weekend. We have gone through the car front to back and believe we know what the cause was.”
Despite the massive explosion, Pedregon went on to qualify 14th with the 4.22 earned from the mishap during round two.
On Sunday Pedregon faced Gary Densham during round one. Pedregon was 25-8 against Densham in prior events. Like many funny cars during the session, these two struggled to make it down the track. Pedregon was out front first, but Densham rolls by at the finish for the win by only five hundredths of a second.
Pedregon and the American Racing team will have a chance to turn things around this weekend at the 29th annual NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix. Pedregon won this event back in 2007, where he set the standing national quarter mile record at 4.659.
From: Rachel Stoudenmire
More...
