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Show If he quits racing . . . he can always paint. Come See What Your Summit County Dealer Can Do For You! By jason stein FI4 T '"" 'WMW fop wheelbase communications ' jS lOIW;',.-' I'l MlaiaMetttelMriWlHMaM 0"EQ PERRY FOR WHEELBA6E COMMUNICATIONS LI OMEHWERE IN THE SKIES OVER FLORIDA So, you want to be a great drag after all, has had some racer? And you're look-ing look-ing for the blue- f print of how to k become a top driv- P er in a sport that pro-files Will Singe yOUr Airlomotw legends i 1 and heroes eyebrows, split your eardrums and give tracks where his late you an a.uuu-norsepow- father, Frank Sr., com big driving shoes to till. Nitromethane was in his veins. He grew up in and around Southern California race peted in rear-engined Top Fuel division dragsters, drag-sters, the quickest, fastest and most powerful power-ful cars to ever grace 1,320 feet of asphalt: the er headache. Tony Pedregon has some simple advice. "Slow down," he says. "If I could do one thine over again, I would have never gone Quarter mile. His older that fast, that young." brothers, Frank a"nd Come again? Cruz, were natural-born i This is Tony i drivers. i Pedregon, the prodigal i Cruz won a champi-: !son of a drag racing : onship in 1992. Frank family? The heir anpar- won the U.S. Nationals, ent to the National Hot ; 0ne of the sport's pre-Rod pre-Rod Association's mier events, in 1999. (NHRA) Funny Car Tony Pedregon, now ; drag-racing king (and 38, wasn't convinced he his boss), John Force? wanted Jo do any of it. Pedregon, the man who "I knew I was going will be crowned the to drive, but that first division's champion just time, that first spin I two days after this mid- took in a car, really was-October was-October airborne inter- n't the way to go about view? , it" he savs. "You've got Slow down? to start off smaller and "It s true, he says. 1 was stupid." The truth is, Pedregon shouldn't even be here, sitting on a plane to work vour way up." After he decided that racing was what he wanted to do, it would take a while for Miami for an event Pedreeon to work his where he will talk about way up. He briefly safety and car seats for drove rear-engined Top Hispanic kids. Pedregon Alcohol dragsters shouldn't have been so similar to Top Fuel dominant this year that (drag racing's highest he would break Force's order) except the cars 10-year winning streak, run on alcohol instead of And he shouldn't have potent nitromethane beaten Whit Basemore ,n the early 1990s but on the third weekend in ' couldn't find a ride that October to clinch the was permanent. His Funny Car title after fin- career turned the corner ishing as a runner-up for in 1993 when racing the championship four entrepreneur Larry times in seven years. Minor, for whom Cruz Why? Truth was, at Pedregon won his first one point, Pedregon was series championship, scared to death of rac- offered Tony a part-time ing. ride in his mdependent- "I remember getting iy funded Top Fuel car. into my first drag racing . But in two years, car and giving it a go, ! Pedregon won only hitting the gas," he says, twice, his dark eyes narrowing Frustrated and with then quickly darting 1 n0 place to turn, by back and forth. "I- 1995 Tony climbed into almost couldn't climb j the cockpit of a Funny into a car after that, I Car (a front-engined was so shocked by the' 8 ,000-horsepo wer experience." nitromethane-powered Blame his family if ; drag car with a full body you will. Blame the that drops onto a short pressure. Pedregon, chassis) for the first time. It was a perfect match. Driving Minor's 'Geronimo' entry in 11 national events, Tony would show the form that would eventually take him to the top. With John Force as his team owner, over the next seven years Pedregon would move past brothers Cruz and Frank in career victories (27), and with a quarter-mile quarter-mile best speed of 325.69 m.p.h. in 2002 he assumed the handle once used by his father, the self-described "World's . Fastest Mexican." This year, after winning win-ning in Las Vegas, Nev., in October, Pedregon would finally hold an even greater title: Funny--. Car champion. Unfortunately, Frank Sr. never saw any of it happen. He was killed in a private-plane crash before his sons win a single race. Tony says his father would have been proud of the accomplishments, especially espe-cially the way his youngest son started out. "He knew his boys were pretty special," Tony says. "And we've proven that." Tony has proven something else: that you can be good at more than racing. He's also an accomplished painter ; whose work adorns the helmets of Force and numerous other race drivers. "It's a passion I have that I hope to do long after I am retired," he says. , .And with his first championship in his pocket, can a retirement : be far off? "Not yet," Pedregon : says. "John's still run- ; ning. And he's, like, a hundred. I've got a few , years. left." D Jason Stein is a feature writer and the editor of Wheelbase Communications' RaceWEEK racing page. He can be reached at jsteinwheelbase.ws. Wheelbase Communications supplies sup-plies automotive news and features to newspapers newspa-pers across North America. oeta gps -- I WITH YOUR I f,r '''---w new suv TTi Sea rii d S nn jkVf ' NC398i9 NT63200 -SttVXSUf cr 2003 F25o wCrew Cab -New Saturday 2003 Taurus Sb XLT Power Stroke, Automatic HOus $20,700 MSRP $41,730 MSRP - 8am3pm $14,987 OurPrice 33 9 O 0uf PnCe 't AS" After rebate- Squires FMC After rebate financing oac. 1 9 New Models Priced to Sell! 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