News and Media Releases

Final Round Appearance For Second Week In A Row

26/07/2009

Quaker State Driver Clinches Spot in Countdown to One

For the second week in a row Tony Pedregon and the Quaker State team made an appearance in the final round of eliminations as they turned in another strong performance this weekend in the 22nd annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.  

With qualifying rounds beginning on Friday, Pedregon looked to carry the momentum from one week ago in Seattle to the event in Sonoma. In his first pass, the Quaker State driver turned in a flawless run putting himself second on the leader board. It was in the second round that he found trouble as one of his tires came loose around the 300-foot mark resulting in a slower pass and dropping him further down the leader board.

The second day of qualifying was uneventful with Pedregon turning in consistent runs that put him just outside the top-10 in the qualifying order in the 11th position. However, by qualifying for Sunday's elimination rounds, the two-time champion clinched his spot in the Countdown to One.

On Sunday in the first round of eliminations, Pedregon defeated Del Worsham after trailing him to the 60ft mark. The Brownsburg, Indiana native went on to defeat Mike Neff as well in round two after starting and staying out front for the entire pass. Up against Robert Hight in the semi-final round, Pedregon was quick off the light taking the win to move to the final round for the second week in a row.

Facing off against Tim Wilkerson in a re-run of the final one week ago in Seattle, the Quaker State driver was hoping to reverse the result and take the win. Pedregon got off the line first and was leading at the 660-foot mark but Wilkerson was able to pull out the win in the last 340 feet.

The NHRA Funny Car Series will take a weekend off before returning to action on August 13-16 for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainers, Minnesota.