NHRA Quotes from Seattle
Compiled by Ian Tocher
7/27/04
Pacific Raceways, in Kent,
WA, near Seattle, hosted the 17th annual
CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals July 23-25, where the racers told the
inside story in their own words through NHRA and team press releases.
TOP FUEL
"Now that the monkey is off our backs, maybe we can settle in and win a few more this year." -- Scott Kalitta before qualifying 2nd at Seattle, on winning the previous race at Denver
"My addiction to drag racing came while I was still in my mother's womb. My father was a drag racer and I went from the womb to the cradle to the stroller watching all the greats that made drag racing what it is today." -- David Baca on his return to the sport after a brief absence to take care of business responsibilities
"I wanted to install one because I think the canopy would be much safer, [but] we would've had to install a fire system and fresh air system, just like the Funny Cars use, and that would make the car 15 to 20 pounds heavier. We can't afford to add that much weight and be competitive unless NHRA passes a [weight equalizing] rule to allow using the canopy. The only difference with using the higher windshield was that I had to look through the plastic to see the tree (starting lights). That's not out of the ordinary. Funny Car drivers look through a piece of plastic, too." -- Doug Herbert on his desire to see canopies enclosing Top Fuel drivers, but instead settling for the extended windshield he added in Denver to direct air over the newly mandated shield around his car's roll cage. As one of the largest T/F drivers at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Herbert is particularly at the mercy of any weight gains on the car
"I'm looking forward to a good showing in my own backyard." -- Brady Kalivoda, from nearby Seattle, before qualifying number eight, but bowing out in round one against Rhonda Hartman-Smith
"It used to be really bumpy, but I've heard from a few people that the new surface is very smooth." -- Doug Kalitta on the recently resurfaced Pacific Raceways strip
"We come into this race with a new track surface, a new tire, a new percentage rule and it's been hotter than ever at this race. And, we had to go at all this without any testing. I'm ecstatic with how well we've done so far." -- Larry Dixon on the repaved track, revamped Goodyear slicks, reduced nitro to 85%, and record high temperatures -- after qualifying 5th for raceday
"It's going to be a real hero or zero weekend. The team that adapts first will win. I would expect a lot of tire-smoking driver's races on Sunday. I'll be one of many crew chiefs left sleepless in Seattle this weekend." -- Tim Kushi, lead tuner for Scott Weis, on the new rules and conditions at Seattle
"There isn't much of a tune-up we can use in Seattle that we used in Denver. We just leave all that stuff on the mountain when we come back to sea level." -- Ed McCulloch, crew chief for Herbert, on the vastly different atmospheric conditions the teams faced just one week apart
"My guess is that it will initially slow us down but it will only take a few runs to get that figured out and provide more exciting racing for the fans." -- Cory McClenathan on the new 85% nitro rule, before qualifying 4th and going to the semis against Tony Schumacher
"There's just no way to soften the blow." -- Brandon Bernstein on losing to a holeshot by Baca in round one
"I think it's a work in progress, but there are some positive signs." -- Dixon after narrowly losing to a holeshot by McClenathan in round two
"Even though it didn't count, that was our best run of the weekend." -- Baca after leaving before the tree was even activated for his second- round match against S. Kalitta
"You can't keep a good team down. It was another rebound for the Berryman Products/CARQUEST dragster." -- Cory Mac on surviving a wheelstand in the first round against Mike Strasburg and a failed parachute in round two against Dixon before losing traction in his semi- final loss to Schumacher
"We are getting it figured out faster than anyone else." -- Schumacher on his team's quick adaptation to the new rules package after beating David Grubnic to secure his 5th event win this year
"They say to win championships you have to win all the ones you're supposed to win and half of the ones you're not. This was probably one that people will say we shouldn't have won." -- Schumacher again, on his team's reputation for running better at cooler temperatures
FUNNY CAR
"All the teams, including ours, have done a pretty good job of adapting the cars. The only bad thing, from my point of view, is that the cars are really slow. The premise of this sport has always been to go as fast as you can, as quick as you can. Now with these rule changes we have stepped back quite a ways in time. For me personally, I like going fast.
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"We're back to where we were several years ago when NHRA lowered the amount of nitro to 90 percent from 100. I think every nitro crew chief will do the same thing -- increase the fuel volume and the blower overdrive." -- Richard Hogan, co-crew chief for Jerry Toliver, on the reduced nitro rule
"Of course 85 percent will be more crippling than 90 because, you know, even when we were unrestricted, a lot of times we only ran 92 or 93 (percent). We ran a lot of good runs at 93 percent and so we really only had to cut back three percent. Well, now we've got to cut back a full five and eventually you run out of blower. That, of course, was their intent. They want to slow us down and, well, I guess this is as good a way as any, but I'm a little concerned about how much you can back it up and (still have the engine) sound good to the crowd." -- Austin Coil, with a different perspective on dropping the nitro percentage
"We've had virtually no racing luck this season. We've seen other teams go out and win with six-second elapsed times while we're getting beat after running 4.80s and 4.90s." -- Jeff Arend on still looking for a first-round win this year
"This is a tough way to make a living." -- Tony Pedregon after squeaking in at 15th on the ladder with his last qualifying shot
"The conditions were very tough. Not just because of the extreme heat that we're dealing with, but the change to the 85-percent nitromethane has been a big challenge to the crew chiefs. It's kind of frustrating because we were running so well at 90 percent." -- Tommy Johnson Jr. after qualifying 14th
"Something weird happened on that last run. We had an oil leak, and since I was already in the show, I just shut it down. When you're in these cars, you have to make split-second decisions. It turned out to be a good one because you never know what could happen with 6,000- horsepower underneath you." -- Cruz Pedregon referring to the new 85% horsepower rating after qualifying 6th
"The track temperature was 141 degrees on that run. That was a damn good pass for those conditions." -- Tim Wilkerson on his 5.009-secs run, low E.T. of the final qualifying session
"I think both lanes are equal. And that's what we're concerned about is equal racing, with no lanes being a problem. I think they've done that. I commend them on the race track." -- Gary Scelzi after securing the number-four starting position
"We can race down a dirt road, but for the good of the sport it's an issue that needed to be addressed and they finally addressed it and it's a step in the right direction." -- Bazemore on the resurfacing of the Seattle strip that he's been critical of since 1997
"I am truly and sincerely depressed. You know, you do your best out here and your team does their best, and what you end up with sometimes isn't what you were shooting for. After the fact, we wish we could have declined the run like a football team can decline a penalty." -- Phil Burkart on moving up to the 8th spot in the last qualifying session -- which lined him up against teammate Del Worsham for round one on Sunday
"We had a really good hot weather tune-up ready for today, but the weather cooled off dramatically on Sunday and that tossed our set up out the window. I left the starting line first on Densham but the CMKXtreme Machine started pulling toward the left and when I saw he was pulling away I decided to lift and save some parts." -- Arend on nearly crossing the center line in round one against Gary Densham
"I'm a little disappointed in the way I staged the car. It was just a little driver error. We live in a world of tenths, and thousandths of a second, and that's what often determines the
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"When I hit the throttle it took off and started fading right. I turned the wheel all the way, but the front tires were dancing and it wouldn't come back. Finally, the rear tires got out of the groove enough to spin, and when that happened the front tires came back down and the car made a huge move to the left, since I had the wheel turned that way. It was pretty violent in there, and I'm glad I got it back under control." -- Burkart describing his wild first-round ride against teammate Worsham
"What we did the past two days gave us enough data on the 85-percent rule. I think we're making gains, as you can see. You can only take it one run at a time. You can try to rush the progress, but I think if you do that you can get even further behind." -- Roland Leong, crew chief for Ron Capps, after Capps made his quickest and fastest pass of the weekend in a close first-round loss to Bazemore
"Every lap we went faster and faster. [Crew chief Terry] Manzer makes it fun to race with and gives me a good car to drive. I don't have to worry about being on fire and every time I tell him the car does something, he looks into it and figures out how to fix it to make it even better." -- Terry Haddock after his first-round exit, courtesy of Force
"You live by the sword; you die by the sword. We beat Tony in round one on a holeshot and we lost to Whit (Bazemore) the next round the same way. But I think I'm getting better and I know we've got a great car." -- Medlen assessing his outing after qualifying number two behind team owner Force
"Once both cars spun the tires, it was just up for grabs and he got us." -- Worsham on falling to Force in a round-two smokefest
"The car just got out of the groove in the second round and by the time I muscled it back he was gone." -- Densham on his loss to Gary Scelzi
"Obviously, you can see that this new tire doesn't have as much grip in the heat, especially on the Funny Cars. They really struggle because they don't have the down force that the dragsters have. This tire is really more suited for dragsters. Obviously, when they decided to change tires they were looking at what transpired with the dragsters, so the Funny Car drivers have to follow suit because they're 'fuel' cars." -- Lee Beard, crew chief for Bazemore, after they went up in smoke against C. Pedregon in the semis
"Well, we had a slight glitch which caused the blower belt to break. Even at that, we were just about a hundredth (of a second) behind at every incremental. But we didn't smoke the tires. With all the changes we had to make, and with the 85-percent rule, the new tire, the extreme heat, the coolness today, I think Mike Neff and these guys did a great job. I'm not unhappy at all." -- Scelzi on his semi-final loss to Force
"He made a pass that was a little stronger than I thought the track would even hold." -- C. Pedregon complimenting Force on his victorious final-round pass
"I feel like this team is really showing signs of what we're made of. I don't want to sound overconfident because I've been around long enough to know the next race could be a tough one -- but we're definitely in the hunt." -- C. Pedregon again, after reaching his second-straight final round
"We knew we had a car that worked in the heat, but when it turned off cool with cloud cover in the first two rounds, we thought we might be in trouble. So, when the sun came out, (crew chief Austin) Coil said, 'We're right back in the game.'" -- Force after defending his Seattle event title and wrapping up his 112th career win
"Schumacher and I got some points today and we were talking about it. The problem is, we could both be caught in one or two races so we have to stay after it." -- Force again, on extending his points lead with the win at Pacific Raceways
PRO STOCK
"Considering how treacherous the old track was, anything should be an improvement." -- Kurt Johnson on the track repaving efforts
"We're making ground. We are surely making ground on him. I can guarantee we're going to beat him." -- Larry Morgan on Greg Anderson before qualifying began
"The hot weather didn't help us. We just aren't running well on a hot race track right now. The right lane was marginal in our first run Saturday and we weren't able to get down it. We needed to be in the field on that first run because we knew we couldn't run better as the day got warmer." -- Jim Yates after missing the raceday cut
"In my opinion, the cooler temperatures should benefit Kurt and myself more than some of our competitors, simply because we run lower compression than they do. As a result, they tend to hurt more parts, while we also seem to have a bigger tuning window." -- Warren Johnson on the forecast that called for a drop of more 10 degrees from qualifying to raceday
"We just got real loose out there." -- Morgan on his second-round loss to Dave Connolly
"I felt the rear of the car start to come up in the middle of fourth gear. The car started to move around and our day was over." -- Jeg Coughlin on shutting down after getting loose about halftrack in his opening-round match against Jason Line
"Anytime you run Greg, the odds are stacked against you." -- Connolly with the understatement of the day after falling to Anderson in the final round
"Without a doubt, this is the best race I've had yet. It was awesome just to have a chance to double up. I want to win in Pro Stock so bad, but I guess this is the next best thing." -- Connolly again, after recording his third P/S runner-up finish this year, and following it up with a victory in Super Comp
"We overcame a big blunder that cost us the No. 1 spot and we got scared a few times today because guys were throwing bullets at us. But when it gets down to reading a track and the conditions, I'll match my guys up against anybody. They are the best." -- Anderson after scoring his 27th career victory and resetting both ends of the track records along the way
"Everyone's been talking about records. I try not to let myself think about
it too much because it's almost unbelievable to me. But now we're at 11 wins
and I guess I need to focus on that stuff because a chance like this may not
come along again. I need to do it this year." -- Anderson
again, on being just one win shy of his own single-season record with nine races
to go 
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