Driving the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge R/T Funny Car, Jerry Toliver lost in the opening round of eliminations today at the 27th annual NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.
He entered eliminations from No. 7 and faced No. 10 qualifier Cruz Pedregon in the first stanza. Both cars left the starting line together, but the Rockstar Energy Drink car lost traction several hundred feet down track and Pedregon drove on to take the victory with an elapsed time of 4.302 seconds at 261.07 mph to Toliver’s 5.658/125.69.
It was a disappointing loss for Toliver, who remained No. 15 in the point standings, as he now faces a big hill to climb to make it into the Countdown to 1 playoffs for the top 10 in the points following the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis Labor Day weekend. He is 186 markers out of a spot to vie for his first Funny Car championship.
“That was a devastating loss,” said Toliver, who has qualified in the top half of the field for the last three races. “We just overpowered the race track. It pretty much canceled out our chances of getting into the top 10 for the Countdown and that’s what we’ve been shooting for all year. I never thought we’d be in this spot but we are. It was a big blow and we’re pretty much mathematically out of it.
“The upside is that we’re qualified well for the $100,000 Showdown bonus event (in seventh) at Indianapolis and that gives us some hope. We’ve got eight more races left in the season and we’re just going to keep getting after it. There are still races to be won. We’ll go to Reading in a week and see what happens.”
The next event for Toliver and the Rockstar Energy Drink team will be the 24th annual NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., Aug. 15-17.
FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS, after 16 of 24 races:
1. Tim Wilkerson, 1155
2. Tony Pedregon, 1013 (winner today)
3. Robert Hight, 969
4. Cruz Pedregon, 880
5. Ashley Force, 868
6. Gary Densham, 828
7. John Force, 817
8. Ron Capps, 808
9. Jack Beckman, 725 (runner-up today)
10. Mike Neff, 720
11. Bob Tasca III, 641
12. Del Worsham, 623
13. Gary Scelzi, 586
14. MelanieTroxel, 560
15. Jerry Toliver, 534
