Tony Pedregon (born March 8, 1965) is a 2-time

NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is a drag racing series organized by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). It is the top competition series of the NHRA, comprising competition in four classes, including Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Car, ...

Funny Car Champion from

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific O ...

. He is also the youngest of the Pedregon brothers. His brother

Cruz Pedregon Cruz Pedregon (born September 19, 1963) is a 2-time NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Funny Car Champion from Torrance, California. He is the brother of Tony Pedregon, also a two-time Funny Car Champion & Frank Pedregon Jr. who has won multiple N ...

is the 1992 and 2008 NHRA Mello Yello Series Funny Car Champion.

Racing career

Early Days

In 1993 Pedregon qualified for his first NHRA event driving a

Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.62 seconds ...

Dragster. In 1995 he ran a limited Funny Car Schedule for car owner Larry Minor.

John Force Racing Days

In 1996 Pedregon made his debut at John Force Racing driving a funny car. In his first season with the team he made seven final round appearances, winning his first career event at

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

and finishing 2nd overall in season points under car owner

John Force John Harold Force (born May 4, 1949 in Bell Gardens, California) is an American NHRA drag racer. He is a 16-time NHRA and 1 time AHRA Funny Car champion driver and a 22-time champion car owner. Force owns and drives for John Force Racing (J ...

. He was also named the inaugural winner of the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award. In 1997 Tony beat brother Cruz in the first ever funny car final between brothers. He was also the number one qualifier in three events and made it to five finals. In 1998 he won two events in two finals. In 1999 Pedregon was the No.1 qualifier at four events and posted the quickest time in history when he clocked a 4.779 second run at

Gainesville Raceway Gainesville Raceway is a quarter-mile dragstrip just outside Gainesville, Florida. It opened in 1969 and is most famous for hosting the NHRA's prestigious Gatornationals event since 1970. Kenny Bernstein became the first drag racer to break the ...

. He was the runner-up in the Funny Car bonus race at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. In 2000 Pedregon went to six Finals collecting two wins. In 2001 Pedregon won at Englishtown after qualifying 1st, a career first. He also won back to back races for the first time in his career. In 2002 he won six times in eight final rounds and finished 2nd in points for the 4th time in his career. He also won three consecutive races for the first time in his career. In 2003 Pedregon finally won the Championship becoming the first driver to win besides John Force since 1992 when brother Cruz won. He also won 8 events that season putting him 4th on the all-time career win list. Pedregon decided at the end of the season to go join brother Cruz and form Pedregon Racing.

Pedregon Racing

In his first season as a team owner, finished No. 8 in the final Championship standings, his ninth consecutive season finishing in the top 10. Pedregon recorded his Career-best E.T. is the seventh quickest Funny Car pass in NHRA history and Recorded two of the 10 fastest Funny Car speeds in NHRA history (331.28, Chicago 1; 329.83, Atlanta). His career won-lost record in elimination rounds of 319-189 is 13th-best among all active pro drivers with 50 or more decisions. Was the No. 1 qualifier three times (Las Vegas 1, Atlanta, Chicago 1); Qualified for all 23 events, upping his national event qualifying streak to 87 consecutive races dating back to Bristol 2001, fifth best among all active pro driver. Tony Pedregon joins a short list of only five NHRA Professional drag racers to have ever been nominated for the

ESPY An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

Best Driver Award. Joining Pedregon are

Tony Schumacher Tony Schumacher may refer to: * Tony Schumacher (drag racer) (born 1969), American drag racer * Tony Schumacher (kayaker) (born 1976), Australian sprint canoeist * Tony Schumacher (German author) (1848–1931), German children books author * Ton ...

, Greg Anderson and

Melanie Troxel Melanie Troxel is a drag racer who has raced in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Modified. She is the only woman to have won races in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. She was named Individual Sportswoman of the Year 2006 by the Women's Sports Foundation a ...

. No drag racer has ever won the ESPY Best Driver Award. In 2005 Pedregon set career best for time when he and his brother (Cruz) each ran 4.680s at Chicago 2. He finished the season with two wins and a runner-up finish at the final five events. He qualified for all 23 events, increasing his streak of qualifying at national events to 110. He also earned three No. 1 qualifiers and had the low E.T. at three events. In 2006 Pedregon won three events and finished top five in the final points standings. In 2007 Pedregon won his second NHRA Funny Car title winning four events along the way. In 2008 Tony won four events and qualified first in two events and finished fifth in the final points. In 2009 Pedregon won three events and finished sixth in the final points. On Oct 29, 1998, Tony Pedregon, sponsored by Castrol Syntec and Action Performance Racing, unveiled a racing car that featured slain Tejano superstar

Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...

Broadcasting career

On October 31, 2015, it was announced that Pedregon would join the Fox NHRA broadcast team in 2016 for their NHRA Mello Yello Series coverage.

Personal life

Pedregon resides in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mar ...

with his wife Andrea. He has four children: two daughters Cecily and Arielle, and two sons Desidario and Benecio. He is also the son of Drag Racing Legend Flamin' Frank Pedregon. He is of Mexican American descent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedregon, Tony 1965 births Dragster drivers Living people Sportspeople from Torrance, California Racing drivers from California American sportspeople of Mexican descent