NHRA Quotes from Seattle
Compiled by Ian Tocher
Photos by Ron Lewis
7/24/06
The NHRA visited Pacific Raceways, near Seattle, WA, July 21-23, for the 19th annual Schuck’s Auto Parts Nationals, where Tony Schumacher won his second event after going to the last three finals in Top Fuel, and both Whit Bazemore and Allen Johnson broke lengthy winless streaks in Funny Car and Pro Stock, respectively. And as usual, the racers told the story in their own words through quotes included in NHRA and team press releases.
"I really like coming to this part of the country."— Tony Schumacher after beating David Grubnic in the final, on making his third-straight, final-round appearance at Pacific Raceways, with two victories and a runner-up finish as results
“This is going to be the best side-by-side event in a long time.”— Rod Fuller, the number-two qualifier, predicting a close race despite nearly every entrant losing traction at various times through qualifying
“Sometimes you have to push things to the limit to find out where that limit is.”— Melanie Troxel after qualifying 4th, on going up in smoke in her final attempt
"Cory and I are friends, except when the helmets are on.”— David Baca after qualifying 5th, on his first-round match on raceday against Cory McClenathan“It's kind of a bummer because if we would have just run what we ran in qualifying on Saturday, we could have won the round."— Larry Dixon after shaking hard and losing traction in round one against Doug Kalitta
"That was a good light for me. It wasn't a spectacular light for me, but the chances of us beating his .058 light with the way we set our car up was pretty slim."— Troxel on her .092 light that led to a holeshot loss against rookie J.R. Todd in the opening round
"We were just about to our comfort area on the track when it blew the tires off. I tried to save it, but he was pulling away so I shut it off."— Cory Mac on his loss to Baca in round one
“The clutch was too aggressive and that caused the tires to spin.”— Wes Cerny, crew chief for McClenathan, explaining what went wrong
"The facts are that only one person is happy at the end of the day. That's the nature of the beast. But when you can finish fifth in a field of talented guys like this, it's hard to be too upset.”— Baca after falling to Todd in round two