DENVER NOTES & QUOTES

Photos by Ron Lewis

The Pedregon boys, Tony, Frank and Cruz spent some time together at Denve.

SAVOIE BREAKS MULDOWNEY'S WIN RECORD
Angelle Savoie's win in Pro Stock Motorcycle broke a tie with Shirley Muldowney for the most NHRA national event wins by a female. Savoie scored her fourth win of the year when she outran Antron Brown in the all-Suzuki final.

"When I started my career five years ago, I never in my wildest dreams expected to have this kind of success," said the 30-year-old Savoie. "This is such an amazing accomplishment, to move past Shirley as the winningest female driver in history. Shirley paved the way for the women in motorsports and I have all the respect in the world for what she means to our sport. I never thought this record would mean as much to me as it does, but this is one of the biggest thrills of my life."

Last season Savoie (then Seeling) was NHRA Winston champion, joining Muldowney as the only female professional champions in NHRA history.

WJ BAGS HIS 86TH WIN
"Now everyone can stop asking me when I am going to win 86," said Warren Johnson after his win at the Mopar Parts Mile High Nationals. Johnson became the most prolific winner in Pro Stock when he defeated his son Kurt in the final. It was the Professor's first win at Bandimere since 1991.

The elder Johnson used a holeshot and sped down the track in 7.347 seconds at 188.28 mph in his GM Goodwrench Pontiac Grand Am to hold off Kurt, who ran a quicker 7.335/188.73. The win was the 10th for WJ in 14 final round match-ups with his son.

"Dad got the trophy and made drag racing history," Kurt said. "Too bad it was at my expense! K.J. came within 16/1000ths of a second of repeating his event-winning performance last year in Denver.

"I thought I was going to win," said Kurt. "I clicked her into high gear and waited for that win light to come on in my lane at the finish line. I'm still waiting."

W.J. now has surpassed Bob Glidden's longstanding record of 85 national event titles, improved his final-round results in 2001 to a perfect 5-0 and increased his lead in the Winston championship to 112 points over Jim Yates.

"I would have to say it's been a pretty good day," said the Professor of Pro Stock. "This is a serious business and everyone on the team has to do their part to be successful."

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