Compiled by Ian Tocher
Photos by Ron Lewis
9/26/06
Brandon Bernstein kept his 2006 NHRA Powerade championship hopes alive by scoring his fourth Top Fuel win of the year at the 21st annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals, held Sept. 22-24, at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas. Joining Bernstein in victory lane were Robert Hight, who earned back-to-back event titles in Funny Car for the first time in his career after prevailing a few weeks ago at Indianapolis, and Richie Stevens, who won in Pro Stock for the first time in more than five years. And as always, the competitors described the action through quotes taken from NHRA and team press releases.
TOP FUEL
"It seems like the pressure has been squarely on Doug (Kalitta) and Tony (Schumacher). I know that no one in the media has asked me about it, but within the team I kept telling the guys we just needed to stay consistent and keep plugging away. Now I think everyone knows what we already knew, that we have a racecar that can win the championship.” -- Brandon Bernstein referring to the two drivers he’s chasing in the points, after the win brought him within 40 points of the leader and just seven behind Schumacher
"It was nice to get another pole here today, but gaining a point on Kalitta (who qualified second) was definitely more important. With the championship chase so tight, every point
that we can grab from him is extremely critical." -- Schumacher after going 4.520-seconds at 321.12 mph in his last qualifying attempt to earn his 10th number-one start this year"Don't screw this up.” -- J.R. Todd on being outside the top 16 and what he was thinking before making his final qualifying attempt that landed him 3rd for raceday
"It's the first time in my Top Fuel career that I'm going to race somebody that I actually signed their license … We will go up as buddies, but we'll race as adversaries.” -- Morgan Lucas after qualifying 8th and having to face rookie Troy Buff in the first round, on approving Buff’s competition license earlier this year at Chicago
"Our backs were against the wall and the Snap-on Tools team responded.” -- Doug Herbert, the current track E.T. record holder (4.441 in 2005) on going up in smoke in both of Friday’s qualifying attempts, but ending up 10th after two good Saturday passes
"I never realized that I could hold my breath that long.” -- Bob Vandergriff after coming from the outside to secure the 13th starting spot with his final qualifying pass