THEY SAID IT ...

Compiled by Ian Tocher
8/5/03

As usual, a few choice quotes tell the story from the NHRA FRAM Autolite Nationals at Sonoma, CA.

"I hope to go deep tomorrow or as my son said early in the season, 'You need to go one mile on Sunday, Dad.'" -- David Baca after qualifying 8th in Top Fuel

"First of all, the track is so cold we're really not going to learn anything, all we're going to do is qualify No. 1 or No. 2." -- Dick LaHaie on his decision to pull Larry Dixon's fueler out of Friday's second qualifying session

"I think I needed a bunch of Rolaids after that run." -- Tony Schumacher after breaking into the field with a last-attempt 4.697 that put him 10th on the ladder

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"The cylinder went out at 1 -seconds. I couldn't see him at all. We were racing and I wasn't about to give up." -- Doug Herbert, the defending event champion, on his first-round loss to David Baca

"It was definitely a different animal today than yesterday." -- Cory McClenathan after his loss to Rhonda Hartman-Smith in the first round

"Dixon is on another planet right now." -- Schumacher after losing to Dixon for the fifth straight time in eliminations this year

"The biggest thing is the tire ripped off part of the rear wing, which changed the aerodynamics of the car and that's what kind of put us in the wall. I had the wheel cranked." -- Whit Bazemore after his left rear tire exploded at the end of his second qualifying attempt

"We've got a tough assignment tomorrow, but the good news is we've got an assignment and we're in the show." -- Arnie Karp after qualifying 13th in Funny Car

"I know the car isn't cursed, but you want to blame it on something." -- Gary Densham after his first DNQ in 37 races

"I can't remember the last time that we went down the race track four rounds in a row. If we can do that on Sunday we may find out what those POWERade trophies look like." -- Gary Scelzi predicting the future after qualifying 5th

"It's been a little frustrating, but nobody is more disappointed than Ace (crew chief Ed 'Ace' McCulloch). He'll do whatever it takes to find out what the problems are." -- Ron Capps after failing to advance beyond the first round throughout the three-race western swing

"If I knew what happened, I'd explain it and make sure it never happened again, but I just couldn't hold on and I jumped the gun." -- Karp on his redlight start against Bazemore in round one

"We were sure we'd find a mechanical problem when we took it back and looked at it, but it appears we just missed on the deal." -- Johnny Gray on smoking the tires immediately off the line in his first-round loss to Cruz Pedregon

"Obviously, we've got to fix it - and soon." -- Tony Pedregon after losing his third straight first-round match and watching his points lead diminish to just 44 over Bazemore