The new Dodge Neon body, introduced to the class mid-season, appears to be the missing piece of the puzzle that was keeping the Mopars from contending for Pro Stock supremacy.

Osborne says if the track is hot--more than 120 degrees--he won't do a very long burnout, choosing instead to just clean off the tires. If the track is in good shape and a little cooler, though, he tries to do a burnout out to about the 330-foot mark, or even to half-track. "I like doing long burnouts," he admits. "I guess you could say they're the W.J. style, but it really depends on how it feels at the time."

Osborne says he stops right in the center of his lane and since the fuel mixture has a tendency to go rich when the car stops so fast, he'll sit for a couple of seconds to let the engine clear itself before he shifts into reverse.

"When you do go in reverse, you have to let the clutch out real slow because reverse is a very high gear; it'd be like pulling out in fourth gear, so you have to watch that it doesn't get too hot," he cautions. "You can destroy the clutch right there if you're not careful."

Once the clutch is out, Osborne says he gets going just fast enough to coast back to the starting line and then puts the clutch back in. It's important not to ride the clutch all the way back, he says, because it can easily overheat. "You just need to make sure you've got enough momentum going to make it back past the line to where your crew chief says to stop." Osborne says he aligns himself on the track according to peripheral vision while backing up, but also relies on team owner David Nickens to provide directions over the radio.

After reaching his starting point, just prior to staging, Osborne says he waits a moment to rest his left leg because the clutch has approximately 800 pounds of base pressure, "and it kind of goes to work on your knee." This step is particularly important on race day, he says.

"In qualifying it's not so bad, but when you're racing, you need to let your leg rest because you don't know what your competitor is going to do, whether he's going to stage fast or hang you out. You may need all the leg muscle and calf muscle you've got, so it's important to rest them before you stage," Osborne says.

Again with Nickens' guidance, Osborne rolls into the pre-stage beam "real slow" in first gear, all the time keeping an eye on his opponent to see how his staging is progressing. It's a matter of driver courtesy as to what happens next, he says, with whomever has lane choice usually pre-staging first.

Osborne puts tape on both edges of his helmet's visor to focus his vision straight ahead and to help limit his attention to the starting tree and his lane. With both cars staged, Osborne says he's hard on the gas with the rev limiter set while simultaneously holding the line-lock button with his left thumb and pressing in the clutch.

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