Cruz Pedregon’s consistent performance continued at the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals this past weekend in Richmond, Va., the home state of Advance Auto Parts, his primary sponsor. With his top-eight finish, he moves into a tie for the 12th position in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, Countdown to the Championship points.
“It was a solid weekend for the Advance Auto Parts team, ” said Pedregon, the 1992 NHRA Nitro Funny Car World Champion. “We went a couple of rounds and we were in the fight, but we didn’t win. Our goal is to finish in the top-ten in points, so we gained ground in Richmond.
“We had corporate executives from Advance Auto Parts headquarters in Roanoke with us this weekend. It would have been great to hand them the trophy, but I think they enjoyed the drag racing experience. ”
Pedregon qualified in the No. 16 spot and faced the No. 1 qualifier, Tommy Johnson, Jr. in Sunday’s first round of eliminations. After the burnout, Johnson, Jr. ’s Funny Car broke, thus giving Pedregon a solo pass. He took full advantage and posted a 4.913 E. T. and won lane choice for the quarterfinals.
“We had a tough task in the first round against Tommy Johnson, Jr., the No. 1 qualifier, ” said Pedregon. “It’s unfortunate that he broke as we were looking forward to racing him. We had a real good run on our solo pass which gave us some data to review going into our quarterfinal round. ”
Pedregon faced Gary Scelzi in the quarterfinals. Pedregon ran another consistent 4.994 E. T. at 297.81 mph, but it was Scelzi’s 4.958/308.35 mph pass that carried him across the stripe first to take the round win.
“We were right there with Scelzi, ” said Pedregon. “I heard him, but didn’t see him until I approached the finish line, so I knew it was going to be a close race. Our incremental times were good until about the ¾ mark when we lost a little traction and momentum
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