Pedregon grew up in a motorsport household in Torrance, California. He began racing in 1980, starting behind the wheel of a 1953 Kenworth truck before moving to go-karts by 1986, where he became track champion at Ventura California Raceway. In 1987 he joined NHRA competition driving an Alcohol Dragster, spending three years in that class before transitioning to Alcohol Funny Cars. His early progression through the ranks demonstrated a disciplined, step-by-step approach to climbing the professional drag racing ladder.
Pedregon moved to Top Fuel competition in 1991, running a partial schedule before making the shift to Funny Car full-time. The move proved immediately fruitful: in 1992 he captured the NHRA Funny Car championship, making him the only driver besides John Force to win the title during that decade. That season he also became one of the first Funny Car drivers to record a five-second elapsed time, placing him at the forefront of the sport's performance advancement.
Throughout the mid-1990s Pedregon remained a consistent contender. In 1994 he was the only Funny Car driver to defeat John Force in a final round during the entire season and qualified in the top half at 15 of 18 national events. In 1995 he won the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis for the third time in four years, having previously claimed the prestigious event in 1992 and 1994. By 1998 he was qualifying from the number-one position at a career-best 12 races.
In 1999, Pedregon formed his own team, Cruz Pedregon Racing, Inc., and began running a partial owner-driver schedule in Funny Car. He recorded his first victory as an owner-driver at Englishtown in 2000. He briefly stepped away from driving in 2001 to serve as a color analyst for ESPN's NHRA television coverage, before returning to racing the following year.
Pedregon's most celebrated comeback came in 2008. Having rebuilt his competitive program, he mounted an extraordinary charge through the NHRA playoffs, winning three of four final-round appearances including the final three events of the season. He also won the $100,000 NHRA Showdown in Indianapolis that year. His second championship title was clinched when his brother Tony Pedregon — driving for a rival team — eliminated the only remaining points contender at the season finale, a remarkable family footnote to the title.
The 2008 title was historically significant: it was the first time since his own 1992 championship that a team outside John Force Racing had claimed the Funny Car crown, ending a sixteen-year dynasty era for that organization.
In the intervening years between his two championships, Pedregon returned to form gradually. In 2006 he won his first race in six years, qualifying for 21 of 23 events and advancing to three final rounds. He continued to run his own operation through the late 2000s.
In 1997, Pedregon became the only motorsport driver to receive the Premio De Oro, an award recognizing outstanding Hispanic athletes. He is fluent in Spanish and has frequently engaged with Hispanic media throughout his career, serving as a prominent figure for Mexican-American representation in motorsport. His father, Frank Pedregon Sr., was himself a drag racer, making Cruz part of a multi-generational racing family that produced three professional competitors.
Cruz Pedregon's career spans more than three decades in professional drag racing, anchored by two NHRA Funny Car championships separated by sixteen years. His 1992 title broke John Force's emerging dominance, and his 2008 title confirmed that his small independent operation could compete at the sport's highest level. As a team owner-driver and the patriarch of Cruz Pedregon Racing, he demonstrated that sustained family-run programs remained viable against heavily funded factory-backed teams. His sons and extended family have continued to maintain the Pedregon name within American motorsport.