FUNNY CAR

"To me, having a new tractor and trailer is a dream come true. I've always been a truck guy, and this Volvo drives like a car. The trailer has a lathe, valve grinding equipment, a welding area, everything we need to do all the necessary work when we're on the road." -- Cruz Pedregon on the new race rig his team debuted in Memphis

"It's definitely crunch time. We've missed a lot of opportunities in the last five races with Pedregon going out early and didn't capitalize off of it. If we don't get it turned around and start doing something here we're going to come up second. So, it would be a big disappointment for us, as hard as we've worked." -- Lee Beard, crew chief on Whit Bazemoreís car, referring to their points chase with Tony Pedregon

"It's hard to build consistency and continuity when the conditions (wet and cold) are so drastically different. There's no pattern or rhythm. But everyone has been in the same boat, no pun intended." -- Tommy Johnson Jr. on the rainouts that have interrupted or postponed the NHRAís last three events at Indianapolis, Reading, and Memphis

"This wet stuff follows us around like we're on a leash. What we should do is schedule our races in drought-stricken areas, then we'd be heroes when we show up and the rain

ADVERTISEMENT

follows us into town." -- Cory Lee also commenting on the persistent weather problems

"It is what it is." -- Scotty Cannon on ending his qualifying streak at 56 straight events after his 5.134-secs effort put him 17th on the list

"The qualifying points may be minor, but at the end of the year it could be one or two points that make a difference. You look at every round. But we're beyond looking at every round now; we look at every single point. Being No. 1 qualifier gives us more points and that's what it's all about." -- Bazemore after qualifying number one with a 4.877 at 315.86 mph, and gaining four points on Pedregon, who qualified sixth

"I could be upset, but it's not going to change anything. We dust ourselves off, we load it up and we get on down the road. You can't beat yourselves up because then you'll start making mistakes and you'll start doing things that are out of the realm, and that's not what we're going to do." -- Gary Scelzi after losing to a holeshot by Dean Skuza in round one

"Bummer. There wasn't much I could do about Corey's .039 light. I just did my normal deal. Corey did a great job." -- Tim Wilkerson after his .072 light wasnít quite good enough in round one

"If there was ever a time to talk about team orders, this would have been it. But there's no way we'd ever play that way." -- Del Worsham after his first-round loss to new teammate Phil Burkart

"We just didn't seem to click this weekend. We struggled and the car shook the tires real hard at about 1.2 seconds into the run. It shook like crazy against Pedregon and I pedaled it. The car took off again but I couldn't catch him." -- Johnson Jr. on his first-round exit against Tony Pedregon

"I hate losing, I absolutely hate it. Losing a tough race like this is really hard, but that was big time drag racing right there." -- Burkart on his narrow loss to John Force in round two

"Our car was running right down the middle, nice as could be, but we hit those bumps down there, they're like moguls on a ski hill, and that gets the drive shaft going a little when the wheels spin as they come off the bumps. That was the difference. He just edged by me in the lights." -- Lee on coming about one foot short of Bazemore in the second round

"When I saw Skuza's fire I knew it was bad. We were waiting for them because I know the effort it took for them to fix everything. For them to show up for the final and run a 5.22 is amazing. I almost wanted them to win for sentimental reasons." -- Whit Bazemore after beating Skuza in the final round

"We're tickled to death to be in the points lead. I think my guys are finally really believing in themselves that they can be world champions." -- Beard after Bazemore took over the top spot in points for the first time in his career