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FUNNY CAR
“It really doesn’t matter if some
of these guys have 5.10 or 5.20 racecars. When
you have 24 cars entered, it makes it impossible
for a good car to limp into the field like
you might be able to when 17 or 18 cars show
up. Some of these extra cars are going to run
well enough to push the bump spot down, and
that adds to the pressure. When you see 24
cars on the qualifying sheet, you start thinking
about getting in the show.” — Del
Worsham on the added pressure that qualifying
at the U.S. Nationals entails
“That was pretty fun. This is the Friday
night run at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals,
under the lights in Indy, and believe me it
feels special out there just standing in the
staging lanes. Part of that is the mystique,
but tonight another big part of it was the
crowd. This place is absolutely wall-to-wall
fans. The crowd is gigantic, and this is just
the first day.” — Phil
Burkart after his initial qualifying pass,
on the spectator turnout for the 50th annual ‘Big
Go’
“The fans love the Wonder Wagon. Don
did great when he brought that car out. It’s
just amazing. I had several people come by
with old magazine articles with the Wonder
Wagon in it and wanted me to sign them. I had
one guy come by today who had one of the old
die-casts and it had been signed by Don, and
he had me sign it. That was an honor. It’s
a fun deal. Everybody tells me how neat the
car is and the fans really like it. I like
it.” — Johnny Gray on driving
a third entry for team owner Don Schumacher
painted up to resemble the car Schumacher campaigned
himself in 1973
“The left lane wasn’t as good
as the right lane, there’s no doubt about
that.” — Tim Wilkerson
after the first round of qualifying, despite
driving one of the few Funny Cars to make a
full pass in the left lane and finish 10th
for the day
“That guarantees that we’re in
the show. It’s so important to make a
good pass on your first qualifying run. Now,
we can stand on it on Saturday night.” — Tommy
Johnson Jr. on going 4.879 in his first qualifying
attempt
“Now, we can actually tune the car to
win the first Skoal round on Sunday, rather
than have to think of two strategies at once.” — Worsham
after getting solidly into the field with a
4.900 on Saturday night, and referring to his
match against Gary Densham in the race-within-a-race
Skoal Showdown, run in conjunction with Sunday’s
qualifying sessions
“We’re working on repairing the
body. The guys are going to try and glue her
back together tonight so it can cure. And we’ve
got a brand new Monte Carlo back at home and
I’ve already called the guys there and
they’re going to drag it over here in
case we need it.” — Wilkerson
after an engine explosion in Saturday’s
second qualifying round severely damaged the
hood and nose of his car
“As we were getting ready for the night
run, an alcohol car had a big oil-down that
shut everything down for about an hour. After
that, Top Fuel ran ahead of us and a couple
of them had problems. In the end, this whole
day turned into a marathon. It felt like it
lasted 26 hours. It was so hot all day, and
so darn humid you could hardly move, then we
ended up being out here until after 10:00 trying
to get our last session done.” — Burkart
assessing Saturday night’s conditions
“I told the guys to yell at me on the
radio if it dropped a hole, because there wasn’t
any way to improve on a 4.90 running on seven
cylinders. It got out there, and I could sense
it wasn’t running great, but right when
my brain was registering that I heard the voices
on the radio and lifted. You can’t understand
what people are saying on the radio when you’re
going down the track, but the rule is they
keep quiet unless they want me to lift. If
I hear anything, I lift.” — Worsham
on his aborted final qualifying attempt
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