A few hours after securing his second Funny Car championship, Cruz Pedregon added a perfect exclamation point to his season with his third straight national event win. Pedregon used a .058- to .109-second reaction time advantage and turned it into a big holeshot victory over veteran Ron Capps, clicking the 1,000-foot timers with a 4.087 at 303.30 mph to Capps’ 4.078 at 304.53 mph
“You know, we were lucky enough to clinch the championship in Round 1 and you would think the pressure would have lifted a little after that but we had to keep racing and it was just one hitter after another,” Pedregon said. “I wasn’t even done with all the champion stuff and before you know it we’re heading back up to race John Force. We beat John and get one of his team cars with Mike Neff, who was running strong all weekend, and then we get Capps. It was brutal.
“I’m worn out. There was so much leading up to this race and so much happened today, I feel like I don’t have any emotion left in me. I can tell you this, I have the best crew chief in the business with Rahn Tobler and he’s only been tuning Funny Cars for a little over a year. I have the best teammate in the world with my brother Tony, and I have a hard-working crew that always gives me a great racecar.”
Pedregon opened the day’s racing with a 4.142-second, 301.47-mph win over Jerry Toliver, who smoked his tires. He then watched all the other championship contenders fall by the wayside in the same round with his younger brother Tony, the outgoing champion, eliminating Robert Hight to keep the crown with Pedregon Racing.
After a championship presentation and a few quick media interviews, Cruz was back to work with another titanic race against 14-time champ Force. The two put on a great drag race with Pedregon eking out a 4.165 to 4.209 win.
Semifinal foe Neff fell a little easier, smoking his tires midway down the course, while Pedregon powered to a 4.162, setting up the final-round race with Capps.
“We made it that far and I was pumped up for Capps,” Pedregon said. “I really wanted to finish it and I had a good light and just carried it home from there. What a way to end the year. This is the best day of my professional career without a doubt.”
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