Frank Pedregon to drive for Gilbertson in Virginia
10/11/2006

Frank Pedregon will replace Bob Gilbertson in the seat of the Autolite XP Spark Plugs Funny Car for the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals. Prior to the rainout, Gilbertson had made plans to attend the U.S. Open of Supercross to support his motorcycle racing son Jake at his biggest race of the year.

Gilbertson was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas with his family for this weekend's Supercross event to support Jake and the rest of the Trick Tank Moto-X team. He desperately wanted to be there for his son but also had to be across the country at Virginia Motorsports Park to race his Autolite XP Spark Plugs Funny Car to fulfill sponsor commitments.

After checking the rules about substitute drivers and finding that he could put another pre-entered driver in the car, the search was on for somebody to fill the seat to allow Gilbertson to go to Las Vegas for his son.

"I did a lot of soul searching the past few days," Gilbertson said. "I've had plane tickets and hotel rooms for the SuperCross since February and I didn't want to disappoint Jake, so I made the decision to let somebody else drive the car in Virginia.

Family is more important than drag racing any day, and I want to be with my son more than I want to drive the Funny Car. Three other drivers have been in my car during testing the past year; J.R. Todd, Ron Capps, and Del Worsham have all made laps in the Autolite car, and Frank will be the fourth.

I'm confident that he'll do a good job;he's a past champion and can get a car down the track under any situation. It's the first time anybody but me has driven the car in competition, so it will be a little weird watching the ESPN TV coverage; hopefully he'll do well and bring the car back in one piece."

Pedregon was surprised and excited when he got the call Tuesday.

"I was stunned when I answered the phone and Bob was on the other end asking me to drive his car," Pedregon added. I'm very happy that he had the confidence in me and my driving ability and picked me over all the other candidates for the ride. Bob's got a good car, and I'm sure his co-crew chiefs, Nicky (Boninfante) and Tommy (Delago), will give me a car that I can do well in and hopefully go some rounds."