News and Media Releases

Another Semi-Final Appearance in St. Louis

05/05/2009

Quaker State Driver Tony Pendragon Continues Consistent Runs at Gateway

Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State team headed to Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, Missouri for the running of the 13th annual O'Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Pedregon, a two-time winner at the track, entered looking for his first victory of the 2009 season. After rains cancelled all events on Friday, Pedregon geared up for his qualifying runs on Saturday. The Quaker State driver had a solid run in his first pass but had trouble in his second run.

After going up in smoke around the 250-foot mark, Pedregon shut his engine off and coasted down the track. The Brownsburg, Indiana native ended up 10th after the two sessions of qualifying were complete. In Sunday's elimination rounds Pedregon faced off against Ashley Force Hood in the first match-up where he had a great light before running his quickest pass of the weekend moving him on to round two.

The second round saw Pedregon up against Matt Hagan where the two-time champion started his pass off with a slight advantage at the starting line. Hagan took the lead by the 330-foot mark but had trouble around the 1/8-mile mark giving Pedregon the victory.

For the second week in a row, Pedregon found himself in the semi-final round this time facing off against Del Worsham. After giving up lane choice Pedregon was the first out of the gate in his Quaker State Impala but was up in smoke as soon as he hit the throttle allowing Worsham to take the win and ending his day.

The NHRA Funny Car Series will head to Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee next after taking a week off. The NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals are set for May 15-17.