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NHRA Quotes and Photos from
Indy
Compiled by Ian
Tocher
Photos by Ron Lewis
9/2/04
The 50th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals is
now in the record books, but the real story,
as told by the competitors in their own words
through NHRA and team press releases, can only
be found here at Drag Racing Online.
TOP FUEL
“That was my first full pass at night
and it feels like you are going a lot quicker
than you usually feel. I can’t wait to
get a picture of it with the header flames
for my wall.” — Morgan
Lucas on the Saturday night pass that vaulted
him from 24th to 7th place on the qualifying
list
“We’ve run pretty well, but that
doesn’t guarantee anything.” — Larry
Dixon after qualifying 5th to set up a first-round
match against Rhonda Hartman-Smith
“Our goal for tomorrow is to get by
this first-round loser business and advance
to at least the second round.” — Tony
Zizzo Sr. after his son T.J. Zizzo qualified
in the 13th step of the raceday ladder
“We were happy with the first run. But
then we got back to the pits we found the tires
had chunked up and parts of it hit the wing.
We had plenty of time to fix it but we decided
skipping the final qualifying session was the
best thing to do.” — Lucas
on his team’s desire to err on the side
of caution
“I’m thankful for the decision
that (crew chief) Wayne (Dupuy), (team owner)
Joe (Amato), and Morgan made. The last thing
any of us need is for something to happen out
there.” -- Charlotte Lucas
expressing a mother’s concern for her
son
“That was a terrific way to end qualifying.” — Tony
Schumacher on moving up to 2nd from 4th with
his final qualifying pass
“It really threw us a bone last night,
running that 4.60 seconds flat. We thought
we had something. Today we had to run Morgan
Lucas, and we knew that he was going to be
good on the tree; we were afraid to back it
down any.” — Cory McClenathan
after losing traction at half-track in the
opening round
“It was a good race until about 1,000
feet.” — Clay Millican
on leading Doug Kalitta in round two until
Millican’s motor went sour and Kalitta
squeaked past
“It’s like a war zone out there.
Everyone’s got the heavy artillery out.” --
Brandon Bernstein after losing to Scott Kalitta
in the second round
“I tried too hard to cut a good light
and the anticipation just got the best of me;
I just flinched. It could happen to anybody
but if I’m going to be a professional
I can’t do stuff like that.” — Lucas
on his red-light start against Schumacher in
round two
“We win as a team and we lose as a team
and we don’t point fingers on this. Morgan
made a mistake today, but I’ll make some
in the future. That’s just the way it
is.” -- Dupuy offering
an understanding perspective on his young driver’s
error
“To win this race once is something,
but to win it four times is beyond belief.
This U.S. Army team just won’t be denied,
that’s all there is to it. We just seem
to have a handle on this track. I really can’t
explain it.” — Schumacher
after defeating D. Kalitta and moving into
sole possession of second-place on the U.S.
Nationals Top Fuel win list behind “Big
Daddy” Don Garlits, who has eight wins
to his credit
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