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FORCE CLOSES IN ON 100 VICTORIES John Force used his reputation as a 10-time Winston Champion to carry him when his race car couldn't and came away with an unexpected victory - the 97th of his career. Force, whose Castrol GTX Ford owns the national record for quarter-mile performance at 4.763 seconds, was nowhere near that number at Denver. Force turned a 4.960 as his quickest time but ran 5.225, his slowest run of the weekend, in the final against Bob Gilbertson. "Sometimes, when (the opposition) knows that you're capable of running a number, they'll push it," Force said. "I think that's what happened to Gilbertson because we didn't really run well enough to win." In reaching the finals for the sixth time in the last seven races and for the ninth time this season, Force virtually put the 2001 Winston Championship out of reach. He is a full 20 rounds ahead of his nearest rival with only 40 total rounds of racing remaining. - Dave Densmore DENSHAM BREAKS RECORDS BOB 'PRIDE OF THE CAROLINAS' GILBERTSON GETS
TO FINAL ROUND "We owe Cannon big time because we're racing for the pride of the Carolinas," said Gilbertson. The mile-high air conditions played havoc with all the teams and, combined with an ambient Denver temperature of 94 degrees, made the corrected altitude over 10,000 feet. Trying to make a Funny Car run 300 mph in the thin air is a difficult task. The "Desert Storm" camouflage-painted team also defeated Tommy Johnson Jr. and Dean Skuza before losing to John Force in the final after smoking the tires. "It's unfortunate we made some bad decisions in the finals," said Gilbertson. "We thought Force would run an elapsed time of 4.95 or quicker just like he did about the same time (Saturday) in qualifying. We set up our TEAM FMTV car to run a time to match him. It's one of those calls our team made. That's drag racing."- Jay Wells |
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