Pedregon Is Trying His Best to Force the Issue

The bottom line: If the funny car results of the next three NHRA events are the same as the last three, Tony Pedregon will unseat his boss, John Force, as champion. He will end Force’s drive for a 10th consecutive title, put on hold a 12th championship and, for the first time in a decade, cause the winningest driver in drag racing history to say, “Wait till next year.�

“You can’t stop destiny,� said Force, winner of 104 national events. “It is what it is.�

Pedregon, of Chino Hills, has won the last three races in a car tuned by John Medlen and Dickie Venables. The longest elapsed time in Pedregon’s last 12 passes down the quarter-mile is 4.936 seconds. There are 12 rounds of racing left, each worth 20 points. He is within 18 points of Force, the closest anyone has been to Force this late in the season since Pedregon’s brother, Cruz, won the title in 1992. “It’s one thing to catch him; it’s another thing to go around him,� said Pedregon, in his seventh season as a driver for Force’s team. “The true test is going to come the next three races.�

Force doesn’t figure to go down easy. Before Pedregon started his winning streak, the Yorba Linda driver had won three straight. Bad luck and mechanical gremlins have dogged him since, but he has been awesome at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas, site of this weekend’s Fall Nationals. Force has been to the finals in 11 of his last 13 appearances there, and has won five times on the track’s concrete racing surface, four times in the Fall Nationals.

“It would add to John’s legacy, not that he needs anything else on his resume,� Pedregon said. “He’s shooting for 12. I’d like one. You’ve got two different guys wanting the same thing for different reasons. That’s the bottom line. When we get to the track, all the talking, all the hype ... it’s like boxers--nothing else matters but knocking out the other guy.

“For the first time, I’m staring at something right in the face, and it’s the Powerade championship. As much as I try to look away and keep my focus, it’s there. And it gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. I know John likes a good fight, and now that I think about it, I do too.�

It should be a scrap down to the wire for the two Castrol-sponsored Ford Mustangs. They race in Las Vegas on Oct. 27, and in the season-ending 38th Automobile Club of Southern California Finals at Pomona Raceway on Nov. 10. And team orders won’t be in place to ensure that Force wins.

“As long as it’s me and Tony, we just race,� Force said. “It’s that simple. It ain’t like I’m going to lose my job if I don’t win.�

Formula One

Bernie Ecclestone, head of Formula One, has proposed a plan that would handicap a car if it built an early points lead next season, as Ferrari did this season en route to a 1-2 finish in this season’s standings, with Saturday’s Japanese Grand Prix still to be run. Michael Schumacher clinched the title in July.

Under Ecclestone’s proposal, the car leading the standings would be weighted with 2.2 pounds of ballast for every point of its margin.

Schumacher and Ferrari teammate Rubens Barichello have won 14 of 16 races this season and manipulated the outcome twice. Ferrari, of course, is against the scheme but isn’t casting the only dissenting opinion. Technical director Patrick Head of BMW Williams called the idea “distasteful,� and Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren’s managing director, said, “Nobody wants to beat Ferrari simply because their cars carry additional weight.�

Actually, somebody does.

“Bernie should go ahead,� said team owner Eddie Jordan. The Formula One Commission will debate the issue Oct. 28.

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The field has been whittled to 15 in the Red Bull Driver Search program to find American talent to run Formula One. Among the group are seven Californians: A.J. Allmendinger of Hollister; Paul Edwards of Santa Maria; Phil Giebler of Oxnard; Joey Hand of Sacramento; Patrick Long of Oak Park; Rocky Moran Jr., of Coto de Caza; and Scott Speed of Manteca. Others are Michael Abbate, Las Vegas; Ryan Hunter-Reay, Boca Raton, Fla.; Grant Maiman, New London, Wis.; Joel Nelson, Reno; Scott Poirer, Deerfield Beach, Fla.; Boston Reid, Kokomo, Ind.; Bryan Sellers, Centerville, Ohio, and Bobby Wilson, Oconomowoc, Wis.

They range in age from 16 to 24, and begin intense five-day testing in France on Oct. 15. Four will be financially backed by Red Bull energy drink to race in European junior formula series.

Motorcycles

Orange County Speedway holds its U.S. National Championship on Saturday, when Josh Larson will try to cap his dominating season with his first national title. Larson, of Monrovia, won the regular-season championship by 243 points over Shawn McConnell but he’ll be in tough company.

Billy Hamill, who won the three-race AMA U.S. National Championship series, joins seven other riders who have won Costa Mesa Speedway national championships: Bart Bast (1998), Alan Christian (1985), Mike Faria (1990, ‘91, ‘97), Chris Manchester (1992, 2001), Brad Oxley (1987, ‘99), Bobby Schwartz (1986, ‘89), and Charlie Venegas (2000).

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Supercross and U.S. motocross champion Ricky Carmichael of Team Honda takes aim tonight and Saturday at the $300,000 THQ United States Open at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Carmichael, who won all 24 motos in the outdoor season en route to a 12-race sweep of the series, is trying to become the event’s first three-time champion. It would also give him Supercross, motocross and U.S. Open titles in consecutive seasons.

“It’s really important to me, not only to keep the streak going, but to win the event three times in a row would be phenomenal,� said Carmichael, who has a 15-race winning streak. Jeremy McGrath, David Vuillemin, Ezra Lusk and Tim Ferry are among those trying to end Carmichael’s reign.

Last Laps

Five classes will be racing Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway, including California cruisers and dwarf cars. Titles are yet to be decided in super stocks, street stocks and California champ trucks. Super stock driver John Caley holds a two-point lead over fellow Riverside driver Chad Burns with three races remaining. George Bouldin of Elsinore has a 10-point lead over Henry Wesoloski Sr., with two races left in street stocks. Also with two races left, Cathedral City’s Art Peterson holds a two-point lead over Mike Hixson of Murrieta, and four-point lead over Dino Napier of Corona, in champ trucks.

Irwindale Speedway crowned three track champions over the weekend, Ricky Wildman of Wildomar in the legend cars, Carson Woods III of Yucca Valley in ultra wheels super trucks, and Rip Michels of Mission Hills in the super late model Big 10 Challenge. Wildman, 17, became Irwindale’s youngest track champion.... The late model driver who finishes best in Saturday’s race at Irwindale and the Oct. 20 event at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield will win the newly dubbed “California state late model championship� and a $1,000 cash bonus.... The Figure 8 champion will be crowned Saturday at Irwindale. James Altman leads Steve Stewart and Tom Smith by 18 points.... The third Mayor’s Cup Challenge will be held at the Irwindale drag strip Saturday, 4-5 p.m. Local civic leaders will be competing in specially prepared Ford Focus ZX-5s. Admission is free.

National records were set in the junior fuel class as Dean Carter of Glendale ran the quickest and fastest quarter-mile in the class’ history--7.114 seconds, 188.28 mph--at the 11th NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield. In the premier event, Jack Harris of Kayville, Utah, won the top fuel A final at 6.124 seconds and 216.24 mph.... Winston Cup driver Dale Jarrett appears Tuesday, 1-3 p.m., at the California RV Show at the Fairplex in Pomona.

Shav Glick has the week off.