Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Pedregon returns to relive, reflect on title

Friday, April 2, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Tony Pedregon was a man on a mission Thursday morning, but a 66-car pileup on I-15 between San Bernardino and Las Vegas forced him to change his plans.

Pedregon left his Southern California home for a leisurely drive to Las Vegas, where he was to attend a lunchtime press conference for this weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and make a pilgrimage out to the drag strip. There, he was hoping to relive the biggest moment of his professional racing career -- one that he wasn't able to fully enjoy at the time.

Pedregon made the news conference, but only after catching a flight from Los Angeles once he learned that the northbound lanes on I-15 were closed due to the accidents. His pilgrimage, however, had to wait.

Pedregon clinched his first NHRA Funny Car championship last October in Las Vegas by outrunning Whit Bazemore in the final. At the same time, Pedregon was weighing whether to leave John Force Racing, his home for eight seasons, to start his own Funny Car team with his brother, Cruz Pedregon.

"I think because I was going through so much and making a big career change that I really didn't get to enjoy what happened here the last time I was here," Pedregon said. "I'd like to go back to the track and I want to spend five or 10 minutes just looking down the track and kind of reflect and remember some of the things that I've gone through to get where I'm at now.

"I just want to take five or 10 minutes and look back on that and enjoy it because I saw it on TV and I've asked Cruz and I've asked some friends that were there to just explain it to me because I wasn't able to really enjoy the moment (when it was happening). And maybe if I see John, I'd like to get him on the starting line and say, 'all right, John, run it by me again -- what happened?' "

Pedregon's trip down memory lane, however, will be a quick one. Three races into the 2004 NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series season, Pedregon is seventh in Funny Car points and attempting to build his Quaker State Racing team into a championship contender.

After a first-round loss in the season opener in Pomona, Calif., Pedregon's new effort showed signs of life at Firebird International Raceway as he advanced to the final before losing to Del Worsham. Two weeks ago in Gainesville, Fla., Pedregon lost in the first round again.

"We've put together a good team to this point and I think just to be in the top 10 at this point is an accomplishment in itself," Pedregon said. "Out of three races, the car performed well at one of them and modestly at the other two. I think, in time, that things will continue to get better and improve.

"We're still growing and I think we're becoming more efficient and, in time, I think the performance will come with more consistency."

Pedregon won both national events in Las Vegas last season and said his familiarity with The Strip gives him added confidence coming into this weekend's race.

"Because we're familiar with this race surface, I think we've got a decent chance," he said. "I like these conditions versus the hot, 80- to 90-degree weather -- this is my kind of weather right here."

"We're going to have a little fun Saturday night," Tony Pedregon said. "We actually started in go-karts; that was my background and the background of my two brothers.

"I think we're going to have fun -- the rivalry's there. Any opportunity that I get to get some seat time -- get in a go-kart or a Midget -- I jump at the chance."

The NHRA Ford Focus Midget exhibition is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.

"Do I think we can win? Yes," Force said. "Do I think we should be the favorite? No. How can (Del) Worsham not be the favorite? He's won two races in a row and is a whole race ahead in the points.

"Bottom line, who would bet on a drag race anyway (with) all the things that can go wrong?"

Force is listed as a 3-1 favorite by Station Casinos despite having only one victory in seven races at The Strip. Worsham is listed at 7-2 to win this weekend's Funny Car race.

Other local drivers entered this weekend include Gordon Loeffler, John Gallina, John Irving, P. Thomas Ely and Maureen Ely in Competition Eliminator; Milton Gedo, Bill Koski, Carl Cannavo, Don Kruse, Justin Lamb, Vince Terrano, Steve Bones, Randolph Scott and James Earl in Super Comp; and Mike Flake, Jimmy Lintz, Paul Bledsoe, Kenny Yeoman and Mike Giordano in Super Gas.

Bob Miller of Henderson will compete in both Super Comp and Super Gas.