NHRA Quotes from St. Louis

Compiled by Ian Tocher
7/2/04

he June 25-27 NHRA event in St. Louis was tragically marred by the death of Top Fuel star Darrell Russell, but the racers still had their say about the on-track action in NHRA and team press releases. Here, in their own words, are their thoughts on the 8th annual Sears Craftsman Nationals at Gateway International Raceway.

TOP FUEL

"We're confident because we have a pretty good hot track setup and a good cool track setup. If you go rounds, you're going to have to have both setups on Sunday. We'll start out with the hot track and then go to the cool track setup. We think we can make the adjustments to make the car run faster as the day goes on." -- Don Bender, assistant crew chief for Larry Dixon, after they qualified 6th, and before making it to the semis where they overpowered the track against David Grubnic

"We swung for the fences in that second session, but didn't make contact." -- Tony Schumacher after going up in smoke in Saturday nights final qualifying round

"We've qualified at every race we've entered, and there are teams with bigger budgets that can't say that." -- Brady Kalivoda before qualifying for raceday

"We knew our last run was either going to make us number one or blow the tires off. Unfortunately for us, it blew the tires off." -- Bob Vandergriff after winding up 7th in qualifying

"I'm really excited we put this hot rod in the show." -- T.J. Zizzo after securing the 16th and final qualifying position

"I like the night racing aspect of racing at St. Louis, too. It's a truly electrifying experience racing nitro cars at night. What racer couldn't enjoy watching eight-foot tall header flames moving at 300-mph plus?" -- Tim Kushi, tuner for Scott Weis, on the unique atmosphere at Gateway

"It was so close." -- Brandon Bernstein on his narrow loss to Dixon in round two

"We did the best to block out everything that happened today, but it was really tough. I am not going to celebrate tonight. I am going to pack my stuff up and move on to the next event." -- Doug Kalitta after beating teammate Grubnic in the final and assuming the points lead for the first time in his career

FUNNY CAR

"I think we need more night races. It's something that drag racing has over other forms of motor sports and I think we should take advantage of it. There's nothing like seeing the header flames shoot over the roof of a 300-mph Funny Car at night." -- Ron Capps before qualifying in the 10th position

"Funny Car racing at night? There's nothing more spectacular. The fans love it, but it's fun in the car, too. Big ol' header flames shootin' up taller than the car. It's a rush. You don't need fireworks. We bring our own." -- John Force obviously agreeing with Capps before qualifying

"The front end was light and it was moving over to the centerline and I was just yanking it left, yanking it left. It really wasn't coming back to where I wanted it to. Then when I got out there past half track it made a big move to the left and I thought, 'Oh no, too much.' It was a handful. I wasn't able to enjoy the run because I was so busy trying not to run into anything." -- Gary Scelzi after qualifying number one with a track record 4.724-second pass at 329.50 mph that also was his personal- best Funny Car elapsed time

"You would think that coming into the last qualifying session qualified second that you'd be relaxed and enjoy yourself, but that was the most intense I've ever been cause I want to continue to do well. I want to run as good as we did on Friday night on every run. It's bad to be that greedy, but that's just the way it is. I want to run well and I know we're capable of it." -- Tommy Johnson Jr. after hanging on to the 2nd- place starting position for raceday