17th Annual |
| Saturday 10/12/2002 |
|
Pedregon, Krisher hold onto No. 1s |
The opening day of the 17th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals
presented by Castrol Syntec favored the Funny Cars with No. 1 qualifier
Tony Pedregon and challenger Bruce Sarver posting a pair of impressive
4.7-second passes to lead their category. Saturday, the tables turned with
the Top Fuel contingent muscling into the limelight on the strength of low
qualifier Andrew Cowin and upstart Doug Herbert's exciting 4.5-second
passes.
The most consistent Pro Stock driver remains Ron Krisher, who
turned his 68th consecutive qualifying effort into his eighth low
qualifier honor of the season.
Cowin wowed 'em the most in Top Fuel when his New York Yankees
dragster posted a 4.550 at 321.19 mph, which earned the young Australian
his fourth Budweiser Low Qualifier paycheck of the season. Cowin carded
the pass in the morning session when a heavy cloud cover enveloped the
track. He then elected to skip the afternoon round, which took place under
cloudless skies.
 Andrew
Cowin |
"We pretty much had it set-up like we did last night only this
time it made it through the early part of the track," Cowin said. "We
actually dropped a cylinder down the course so it probably could have been
even a bit better, maybe a 4.54 or 4.53. The main thing is the car's
getting consistent so you go into the race with much less of a lead-ball
stomach.
"This is our fourth low qualifier, but I'd trade them all for a
win. We've learned they don't mean much on race day and that will really
be the case here with the drastic weather change we're expecting. The
first low qualifier was cool but when you get one and then lose early it
doesn't make you feel any different."
Cowin will try to gain his first round win of the day against
Race Girl pro Scott Weis, who anchored the field with a 4.798 at 269.05
mph. No. 2 qualifier Doug Herbert was the closest to Cowin after a 4.595
at 308.32 mph in the Snap-on rail. Fram pro Rhonda Hartman-Smith will
start race day from a career-high third position on the ladder after a
4.608 at 318.24 mph.
Championship challengers Larry Dixon and Kenny Bernstein remain
in each other's shadow. Dixon's Miller Lite dragster is fourth after a
4.611 at 324 mph, while Bernstein's Budweiser hot rod slipped to fifth,
one-thousandth of a second back. Top
Fuel results
If 11-time champion and current points leader John Force wasn't
nervous before he arrived at the Texas Motorplex, he should be now as his
Castrol teammate Pedregon has nibbled another five points off his lead
with his third consecutive low qualifying effort. Pedregon now trails
Force by just 13 points heading into race day. His best pass was a Round 2
blast of 4.789 seconds at 323.50 mph.
 Tony
Pedregon |
"John's still smiling over there. I don't know how he does it but
I'm glad he finds a way," Pedregon said. "I'd still rather be 13 points
ahead but at least we're on opposite sides of the ladder so we'll stay
away from him until the finals, if we're both lucky enough to get that
far. I like being on the other side of the ladder because there's a lot
less guilt if someone else takes him out. I'm not rooting for that to
happen, of course.
"This Syntec Ford continues to amaze me. We seem to be running
well when it's cold, when it's hot, on good tracks, on bad tracks, it
doesn't seem to matter. It's the best racecar I've ever driven. It's so
smooth, like a Lincoln Town Car. I get out there a few hundred feet and I
try extra hard to keep it straight because I want to get every single bit
out of the tune-up.
"We keep hearing about a big-time cold front and I know our team
hasn't taken a shot at the national record out of the equation. If the
conditions allow for it we'll try to go for it. An extra 20 points would
mean a lot right now."
Force did improve dramatically Saturday to a seventh-best 4.854
at 315.34 mph, setting up a first-round showdown with Team Oakley's Scotty
Cannon. Pedregon draws Nitro Fish pro Todd Paton, the 16th qualifier with
a 5.180 at 282.92 mph.
Sarver joined Pedregon in the 4.7-second zone with a second-best
4.798 at 320.39 mph. Whit Bazemore finished third in the Matco flopper and
Del Worsham followed in the Checker-Schuck's-Kragen machine. Funny
Car results
Aside from some minor shuffling in the bottom half of the ladder,
not much changed in the Pro Stock ranks. Eagle One pro Krisher remains the
man to beat after a Friday night run of 6.850 at 201.88 mph. He'll now try
to parlay his eighth low qualifier honor of the season into his second
victory. His solo win came in Las Vegas where he was also the No. 1
qualifier.
 Ron
Krisher |
"I'm much more confident about having some success now that we
have some reaction time back in the car," Krisher said. "It took a super
slow-motion camera to see what we were doing wrong, but basically we
needed to move some weight around and change the center of gravity. Now
the tires don't wad up as much any more and the car moves forward quicker.
My worst light all weekend was .460-something and that was with some huge
tires on there we were testing for tomorrow.
"Weather changes always cause concern, especially when it's as
drastic as it's supposed to be tonight. We have developed a computer
program to help us calculate the changes we need to make to the clutch for
the changes we experience in the weather. It's a radical change for every
car out there so we'll all be guessing a little bit."
Krisher will begin his race day opposite No. 16 qualifier Steve
Schmidt, who was 41-hundredths of a second behind Krisher with a best pass
of 6.891 seconds at 200.26 mph. A veteran of the Pro Stock class, Schmidt
is driving the car normally piloted by Mark Osborne, who took the weekend
off to watch his son, Zach, race motorcycles.
The three men challenging for the 2002 POWERade championship
remained in the top half of the field, and, interestingly, all three are
on the same side of the elimination ladder. Points leader Jeg Coughlin Jr.
is second with a 6.854 at 201.47 mph in the Jeg's Mail Order Chevy. Jim
Yates is sixth after a 6.865 at 200.13 mph in the SplitFire/Peak Grand Am,
and Greg Anderson is seventh in the Vegas General Construction Cavalier
with a 6.870 at 201.43 mph. Pro
Stock results