FUNNY CAR

"It's like a fast gun in the Old West. Everybody's trying to make a name for himself by beating the guy who's on the point. But I'd rather be the one trying to hold on than the one trying to catch up." -- Tony Pedregon on his points race with Whit Bazemore heading into the event

"Let's get it right on the record that we're very lucky to be in this race. Some good cars didn't bump us out, cars that should absolutely run better than 5.00. So, we're fortunate as can be." -- Cory Lee on hanging on to the 16th qualifying spot, ahead of Cruz Pedregon, Frank Pedregon, and Keith Jackson

"Jack Wyatt is a pro and he did a very professional thing. They were pitted right across from us, and we could see they were having problems, but some teams would have hidden things and played games. Jack came right over and told me that their problems were too big and they weren't going to make it. We knew we had a chance to be aggressive and push the car, to see what the track would take." -- Del Worsham after setting low E.T. of the event with a 4.810-secs solo pass in round one

"I always seem to get the guy that comes out with his next best run. It's a little disappointing." -- Scotty Cannon after setting top speed of the meet at a career-best 325.73 mph, but still losing to Phil Burkart in round one

"There are tons of ways to lose and we just found a new one." -- Tim Wilkerson on his loss to Dean Skuza in round one after the studs that hold the bottom blower pulley on his engine sheared off

"I have my helmet taped so I don't see too well peripherally. And I didn't see the win light come on either. Then I thought, 'Did he win? Are you kidding me?'" -- Tommy Johnson Jr. after Bazemore nipped him at the finish line by 22-thousandths in round one

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"I knew we'd lost, because I could see him out the windshield. But then I crossed the line, felt the car drop to the ground, and got whacked in the head from behind, very hard. It was a piece of the tire, tearing through the body and smacking me. You know, in the cartoons, when the guy gets hit with the anvil and little stars float around his head. That was me; I actually saw stars." -- Lee on having his left rear tire explode just as he crossed the finish line in a first-round loss to John Force

"It's how it is. It's who's in the other lane and what you do as a team. In some regard it's fate and you just have to be the best prepared that you can be. And it's NHRA drag racing, where anything happens any round." -- Bazemore after losing to Del Worsham in round two, and losing ground to Tony Pedregon in the points chase

"It was obvious that something went wrong when you look at the speed we ran, just 306 mph. Our car runs 320 by accident. We're just having no racing luck at all." -- Gary Scelzi after suffering a holeshot loss to Dean Skuza in round two

"If we get the bugs out of our car, it's gonna' run like Jack the Bear." -- Gary Densham after a cricket sucked through a fuel line resulted in an engine failure for him in the second round against teammate Tony Pedregon

"To me, this whole Funny Car thing is a love/hate relationship. I love it when we win. I hate it when we lose. It's as simple as that." -- Burkart after dropping his second-round match against Force

"I always try to look on the brighter side of things and we were able to extend our lead by one round. We just need to find out why it blew up." -- Tony Pedregon after losing to Dean Skuza in the semis

"There's one good way to look at this. The guy who is the greatest driver in the history of the Funny Car class, probably in the history of drag racing, had to take a shot at the tree to beat us." -- Worsham on losing to a holeshot by Force in the semis

"I didn't realize it had been that long since I'd won." -- Force, who last visited victory lane in late July at Seattle, after beating Skuza in the final round

"It's good to see Kenny win because he's older than me. If he can keep doing it, then I can keep doing it. You think of these things when you get older." -- Force, 54, after securing his 109th national-event title and referring to Top Fuel winner Kenny Bernstein