Topeka Friday Funny Car Pontiac Report

Cruz Pedregon (Interstate Batteries Pontiac Firebird) It was an awesome run. I was sitting in the car listening to some of the other cars, trying to observe what was going on and to get an idea of what I was going to be dealing with. I made up my mind that I was going to have to be ready to pedal it, but Wes gave me that confident nod that always does and it ran right down through there. He's just awesome, that's all I can say. We always expect great runs out of the Interstate Batteries Firebird, and Wes (Cerny) will tell you that is what the car should do. We mixed up some cylinders at the other end, but I'm sure Wes is pleased. It ran real hard in the middle of the track. The fans don't see what the incremental numbers are, but our performance at halftrack was one of the best three or four runs for our car all year. I'd have to say that we were on a 4.80 run had we not had that problem. When these cars are really moving they actually take your breath away, and that's precisely what happened that time. When I got out of the car, I could feel it. No. 1 qualifier - 4.941ET/293.82MPH

Randy Anderson (Parts America Pontiac Firebird) Jim (Dunn) really felt that the track was a lot better than he thought it would be and that maybe he underestimated it a little. This is the first time he's raced with this combination in these cool conditions so it's only an educated guess when you go out there. He learned something from that run, and we'll come back tomorrow and have the Parts America Firebird running in the 4.80s. This is the biggest race of the year for us. This is my Indy! If there is one race I want to win this year, this is it. That's our goal and hopefully that's something we can accomplish. No. 16 qualifier

Tim Wilkerson (JCIT Pontiac Firebird) We don't know exactly what happened, but the assumption is that we stuck a nozzle open on the burnout and it was puking fuel out of the No. 7 hole pretty bad. We couldn't get it to quit so we made the decision to shut it off. Discretion is the better part of valor, and when you look at the conditions of the race track, it appears that we made a wise choice. Since the weather is supposed to improve tomorrow, we'll bring our JCIT Firebird back tomorrow and put it in the show. Dale Creasy, Jr. (Creasy Racing Pontiac Firebird) We're not concerned, we'll get it down the track. We're running some new clutch disks and they seem to be working right, but we're going to have to adjust our clutch weight. That's what we're testing, to see what we have to do. I hit the gas, and that Pontiac Firebird felt pretty good coming off the starting line. I was watching the cars in front of me and I just pedaled the car on instinct when I didn't have to. When I got down track, it began to shutter and I thought the clutch was coming out when actually it was just locking up. It was driver error that time. The car would have made it, and I should have stayed in it, but we'll give it another shot tomorrow. No. 7 qualifier - 7.038ET/130.24MPH