Funny Car Round 1

And at 4:21, we finally get to the first round of the floppers, but it's a good one as defending series champ Cruz Pedregon squares off against Jack Beckman in a Don Schumacher Racing nitro coupe...Cruz has to back pedal twice and watches Beckman take the win with a less-than-respectable 4.41. "That's not how we wanted to open the season, but we don't want a do-over," Beckman said. "When you get the lead on race day, you'll do whatever it takes to get the win light. It looks like we dropped some Valvoline, but we'll get it cleaned up." But we are down again, waisting dry weather for a some cleanup time...and at 4:38, we're back up...We have a nice matchup between Chino Hills Del Worsham, who is driving for the Alan Johnson Racing team, against Bob Bode...Nice driving job by Worsham, who back pedals, fish tails throughout the lane, but gets the win with a 4.193...Now we have a friendly rivalry between Mike Neff of John Force Racing and Bob Tasca, a family friend of Force...Tasca pulls the upset with a 4.12. Neff left early, then spun the tires hard and got sideways and could only watch Tasca take the easy win, so it's one for the little guys. "It totally messed up my concentration when he left early," Tasca said. "But then we just went 'A-B.' ...Ashley Force Hood gets a nice rebound for Team Force with a steady 4.33, which saw her back pedal early before easily getting the win over Matt Hagan, who smoked the tires on the hit. "Those are the moments," Force Hood said "You just have to act and react." ...Robert Hight, another Force entry, follows with a solid 4.15 to beat a tire-smoking Jerry Toliver....Now, we have a big-time matchup with John Force against vet Ron Capps... It's Capps, who straps a 4.12 on Force and nips his 4.14. Just a great drag race. "....Next up, Tony Pedregon against Jim Head, who is always good for a killer run...TPed gets the early lead, feels some tire shake, drifts towards the centerline and takes out the 330-foot cone, and his disqualified, despite easily beating Head to the finish line....Gary Densham is next up and takes on San Dimas' finest in Jeff Arend, driving for the Bounty Hunter, Connie Kalitta...And there's one for the school teacher, who back pedals to a 4.33, while Arend has too much tire shake and slows to a 4.73...So, we finally get to through one round of Funny Car, and the matchups will be Hight vs. Beckman; Capps vs. Tasca; Worsham vs. Densham and Ashley Force Hood against Head.