Their Words Tell The Story...

Compiled by Ian Tocher
DRO file photo by Jeff Burk

few notable quotes from competitors at the 16th annual NHRA CARQUEST Auto Parts Nationals in Seattle, WA, effectively captured the event:

"It's a tough facility here. It's been here a long time. Sometimes older isn't better. Sometimes we need to come back and rebuild some of these older tracks. I think this is one of those places. I was told a year ago that was going to happen here. Right now I don't see any thing going on.

"The fans in the Seattle area are great and I love it up here. But to give the fans this type of facilities, or lack thereof, is not good for the long-term growth of the sport I so dearly love; Nor is the type of show we are giving the fans here. Hopefully things will improve tomorrow as far as the show goes." -- David Baca on Pacific Raceways' surface after qualifying sixth in Top Fuel

"We got stuck in the left lane. That's the biggest no lane I've ever seen. I've been drag racing a long time and that lane is as bad as it gets. They have got to fix that before we come back here next year or there isn't anybody coming back here. There's no sense in having a one- lane racetrack.

"If you're going to run two cars you have to have two good lanes, otherwise, we can run them all out of one lane and see how the E.T.s come out. There's no sense in wasting our time." -- Baca's partner Rick Henkelman weighing in on track conditions after their second-round loss to Doug Kalitta

"I can sum up track conditions in two words: hot and greasy." -- Cory McClenathan after qualifying 11th in Top Fuel

"Everybody knows that John can be beat, 'cause that's been proven all year." -- Scotty Cannon before his first-round loss to John Force

"We got in on that last pass because we set the car up as if we were going to run on a dirt road." -- Tim Wilkerson after rounding out the 16-car Funny Car field

"I'm just hoping that we have a little bit of luck. That's something that's avoided us all year long." -- Gary Scelzi after earning his career-first nitro Funny Car top qualifying position

"Somebody asked me if we are getting tired for being number one every weekend. Hell no! How can you get tired of this? This is the most fun a race team can have." -- Greg Anderson after qualifying on top in Pro Stock for the eighth time in 2003

"You can't qualify if you can't get down the racetrack. And we didn't get down the racetrack." -- Jim Yates on missing the cut in Pro Stock

"We had slipped from number five to number 16 by the time we got to the water box."
-- Jeg Coughlin on his wait in the staging lanes before the final Pro Stock qualifying session, where he wound up 4th for raceday