THEY SAID IT...

NHRA Quotes from Dallas

Compiled by Ian Tocher

he NHRA's best were at it again at the 18th annual O'Reilly Fall Nationals, presented by Castrol Syntec. Here's what they had to say about their Oct. 10-12 visit to the Texas Motorplex near Dallas.

TOP FUEL

"That deal in Reading was really odd. We're not sure what happened. Evidently, there was enough compression in the number-seven cylinder to ignite before we even put a spark to it. We went through our normal routine to turn the motor over before starting and it just boomed." -- Doug Kalitta referring to his Mac Tools dragster's backfire before starting the car for round one of eliminations at the previous race, in Reading, PA

"Our goal all season has been a top five finish and that's in sight. Probably, any higher is unrealistic, so we'll just continue to go after fifth." -- David Baca, currently sixth in the points chase, before qualifying 14th, then losing to Kenny Bernstein in round one

"Our performance is right up there with Doug's car, so we will be in contention to win one or two before we're done." -- Scott Kalitta before the event, referring to his cousin and teammate

"I guess we stepped on it a little too hard because it ate the tires up right at the hit of the throttle." -- Scott Weis on going up in smoke during his third qualifying attempt

"I knew we were on a great run. I could tell this car was stuck in the groove and flying."
-- Weis after going 4.58 at 320.39 mph in the final qualifying session to put him fourth for race day

ADVERTISEMENT

"We haven't started celebrating yet but the fat lady should be singing tomorrow afternoon." -- Dick LaHaie, crew chief for Larry Dixon, on his Miller Lite team's chances for clinching the season championship in Dallas after Dixon qualified second

"It was a real impressive lap." -- Tony Schumacher after qualifying number one with a 4.548-secs blast at 331.12 mph

"Today was disappointing. After doing so well in qualifying, we really wanted to go far in eliminations." -- Clay Millican after qualifying fifth, then losing to Jim Head in the opening round, marking only the second time this year after 11 starts that he was eliminated in round one

"I guess the second one just proves it wasn't a fluke." -- Dixon on clinching his second straight POWERade Top Fuel Championship with a win over Darrell Russell in the second round

"I am sure Doug and his Mac Tools team will want to get that title back in the last two races. My dad (Connie Kalitta, owner and crew chief) is making tons of power in both cars." -- Scott Kalitta after making the fastest pass in NHRA history, going 333.95 mph against his cousin in round two, and referring to Doug's official speed record, set at 333.19 mph in Houston earlier this year

"We had over 400 people from Berryman here this weekend. We wish we could have done better for them, but it was not to be." -- Cory McClenathan after falling to Kenny Bernstein in round two

"We wanted the win. We are disappointed but at the same time excited to reach our first final round in the Mac Tools/Jesse James dragster." -- Scott Kalitta again on reaching his first final round in just his fifth race after coming out of retirement in August

"We're pumped because we've won a couple out of three events and would like to finish the season up with a couple of wins because this is probably going to be it for me. I'm just thankful that we got to win a couple in this substitute role that I'm in." -- Kenny Bernstein on the likelihood of his return as a driver next year after winning his second event subbing for his injured son, Brandon