Funny Car veteran Jerry Toliver drove the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Chevy to its fastest pass of the event in today's first round of eliminations at the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, but unfortunately it was not quite enough for the California native to turn on the win light against first-round foe Cruz Pedregon.
Pedregon made his best pass of the weekend with a winning elapsed time of 4.104 seconds 302.21 mph as Toliver in the CANIDAE car got off the starting line first but had a slower elapsed time of 4.220 seconds at 301.07 mph. Toliver qualified the Jim Dunn Racing entry 12th on the Funny Car grid with an elapsed time of 4.192 at 299.73 mph in yesterday's third qualifying session.
"Our qualifying time would have been better but we blew a spark plug out when Jerry hit the throttle," said team owner/crew chief Jim Dunn. "It didn't drop a cylinder but we had a spark plug out. We tuned it up and it actually went two miles per hour faster today.
"We're getting after it and we're getting closer. We've been working on a new clutch system the last two races and have been pretty conservative with our runs. We still need to get the timing and the clutch together, but we're happy with it and we're slowly getting there. We'll get after it a little more at Englishtown."
Tony Pedregon defeated Ashley Force Hood to claim the Route 66 NHRA Nationals Funny Car trophy for the second consecutive year.
Next stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Series is the 40th annual United Association NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway in Englishtown, N.J., from June 11-14.
Kirk Weeks
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