News and Media Releases

Strong Qualifying Run At Norwalk

28/06/2009

Quaker State Driver Ends Two-Race Win Streak with First-Round Loss at Summit Motorsports Park

Coming off of two wins in a row, Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State team hoped to continue the momentum they have gained over the past two events as the NHRA Funny Car Series rolled into Summit Motorsports Park for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio.

Kicking off a full weekend of racing action was the first two of four qualifying rounds on Friday.

In his first pass of the weekend, the two-time champion lost traction just past the 660-foot mark and had to shut his engine down. However, the Quaker State driver followed that up with a strong pass. Pedregon's second-round solid run put him in the top-five qualifying positions going into Saturday's qualifying rounds.

His first run on Saturday, third overall, pretty much mirrored his opening pass with the Brownsburg, Indiana native hazing his tires around the 700-foot mark and shutting it down as a result. In his final pass Pedregon turned in a clean run keeping his third overall qualifying position going into the elimination rounds.

In Sunday's elimination rounds, Pedregon was set for a repeat of the last two events when he lined up against Jim Head for the first round. Unfortunately the former champion had trouble with his first pass and lost traction and got out of the groove. As he got the Quaker State Impala close to the wall, Pedregon finally had to lift taking the first-round loss and ending his day early.

The NHRA Funny Car Series will take a weekend off before heading to Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colorado for the Mopar Mile-High NHRA. Racing action will begin on Friday, July 10 with eliminations rounds scheduled for Sunday, July 12.