Rain Halts Winternational Qualifying

Rain forced postponement of Friday’s qualifying round for drag racing’s 45th Winternationals at Pomona Raceway. Weather permitting, qualifying in pro classes will resume today for the National Hot Rod Assn.’s season-opening event.

One round of qualifying was held Thursday and two are scheduled today. If today is a washout, the event probably will be postponed until next weekend. If that happens, as it did last year, Thursday’s qualifying round will carry over.

On Thursday, funny car driver John Force of Yorba Linda set a track record for elapsed-time with a run of 4.697 seconds. His top speed was 329.26 mph. Tony Schumacher of Long Grove, Ill., leads in the top-fuel division with a run of 4.487 at 321.04 mph. Mike Edwards of Coweta, Okla., was quickest in pro stock after a run of 6.732 at 205.13 mph.

“It would have been nice to have gotten additional data [from another qualifying run] this early in the season,” said Shumacher, the reigning series champion who drives a U.S. Army-sponsored dragster. “However, it’s still nice to be at the top of the charts going into Saturday’s action.”

Today’s qualifying sessions are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

-- Pete Thomas