NHRA Quotes from Las Vegas
Compiled by Ian Tocher
4/11/06
he Melanie Troxel train just kept on rollin’ Apr. 7-9, at the 7th annual SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Troxel picked up her second event title after going to all five Top Fuel finals held so far in 2006 and extending her final-round appearance streak to six dating back to the World Finals last year. Joining Troxel on the winner’s podium were veterans Cruz Pedregon and Kurt Johnson, both breaking lengthy winless droughts in Funny Car and Pro Stock, respectively. And as always, the whole story can be learned through the racers’ quotes, as taken from NHRA and team press releases.
"It seems like we can do no wrong … I don't want to wake up from this. No matter how good a team you have, you just can't think that you'll continue to go to the finals every week. I'm surprised as anybody.”— Melanie Troxel after winning the final against David Grubnic, on the tremendous consistency her Richard Hogan-led crew is enjoying
"As I have said before, it's fine to be number one, but you still have to do something with it. We absolutely need to go rounds tomorrow.”— Tony Schumacher on earning his fourth top qualifying spot this season, but referring to his first-round exits at the previous two events
"You never want to go out there on Sunday and look past that first round; that's usually when you go out early. It's the toughest one, and it makes you the most nervous as a driver. Once you get that one out of the way things seem to flow.”— Troxel after qualifying 4th, on her opening-round match against David Baca
“We aren't the fastest car on the block, but we are consistent. I'm confident going into eliminations.”— Cory McClenathan after qualifying 7th for raceday
“They got the job done today and we didn't. That's about all you can say."— Schumacher on being ousted by 16th-place qualifier Alan Bradshaw after his car dropped a cylinder early, then lost traction and went up in smoke
"Just about the time we feel like we have a handle on this new tire, it jumps up and bites us again."— Rod Fuller on going into severe tire shake in round one against Doug Kalitta
"The tires started shaking and I pedaled it. Then I saw him go up in smoke, too, and I hit it again, but his tires caught and mine didn't, so I shut it off. This wasn't like the Sunday we had in mind.”— Cory Mac describing his first-round loss to Grubnic
"We've got the Snap-on Tools dragster going down the track. It's just not running as fast as we need to be.”— Doug Herbert after losing to Brandon Bernstein in round two
"The temperature of the track took the grip away more than we anticipated and we didn't adjust enough for it.”— Larry Dixon explaining his loss of traction in the second round against Grubnic
"We had a problem with a fuel line. All the raw fuel pumping out caused the fire. One of those weird mechanical things again.”— Brandon Bernstein on the engine fire that cost him a chance in the semis against Grubnic
"We tip-toed right on the edge all day. Our car was just a little too aggressive in that final round.”— Grubnic on his final-round loss to Troxel
“Not every round is going to be picture perfect. It was a little ugly, but it was a win.”— Troxel on dropping a cylinder in the final
"Each week you think, ‘OK, we can't keep this string going,’ and that has nothing to do with my confidence in the team. No matter how good you are, it's unlikely that you'll keep doing this. We keep thinking, ‘All right, we're not going to be disappointed when this string ends’ and it surprises us as much as anybody every time we end up in the final.”— Troxel again, after becoming the first Top Fuel driver in NHRA history to reach the final round in five consecutive events at the start of a season and being just one final round short of matching teammate Schumacher's record of seven straight final-round appearances