Ironically, Cruz Pedregon’s Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo ended up the second qualifier, (5.23/280.49), for the event’s traditional “Chicago-Style” championship to not only make the 2006 final round an all-Pedregon affair but verify all three brothers as World Series finalists. On a dew-covered surface in the wee hours of the morning, the two battled for the honors in an all-over-the-place pedalfest with Tony earning the title, 5.45/191.46 to 7.70/110.15. It should be stated that Cruz gained a two-hundredths holeshot over Tony in the final, 0.045 to 0.065; the importance of the win was obviously reflected in the reaction times!
Of note was the 4.95/278.29 early shut-off effort of 2002, ‘04, and ‘05 runner-up and ‘03 50th anniversary FC champion Tim Wilkerson during the second round, (against Texan Mitch King’s ’06 Corvette), on a pass in which, as Wilkerson later admitted, “I just lost where I was out there”; the run was one hundredths of second quicker to the eighth-mile than on Tony Pedregon’s 4.93 qualifier. Tony P’s final round effort was even quicker to half-track, however, at 3.33/252!
TOP FUEL ELIMINATOR
The scheduled match race between recent IHRA national event winner T.J. Zizzo in his father Tony’s Skull Shine-backed rig and Rhonda Hartman-Smith in her family’s South Carolina entry was a fiery affair which ended in Zizzo earning the title on two straight wins. Hartman-Smith torched two engines during the battle while Zizzo ran no better than 5.18/223.88. Zizzo piloted the “Avenger” Top Alcohol Dragster to three World Series final rounds including his first victory in 1998.
 A couple of body panels were missing on Rhonda Hartman-Smith’s dragster, so Anthony Lane of Lane Automotive and Speed came to the rescue with a bit of in-place fabrication. |
NOSTALGIA FUNNY CAR ELIMINATOR
While Ron Capps will verify that he grew up in Southern California reading the results of the World Series in the trade publications of the early 1970s, he truly relished adding his name to the list of Series champions by piloting Jeff Gaynor’s “Hard Times” ‘70 Challenger to an impressive victory over a surprisingly potent field of NFCs. After qualifying second in the field by a mere five thousandths of a second, Capps outran low qualifier John Smith’s “Sasquatch” ‘78 Trans Am in the final round, 6.28/231.87 to 6.71/186.92 when Smith’s mount went berserk at the thousand-feet mark.
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