Clay Millican's crew chief Mike Kloeber commented, "We've changed everything on this car; engine angle, driver position, everything, so we're just trying to master the first 300 feet, so the quality of this track hasn't entered into it."

When Don Prudhomme was asked his opinions on the surface he asked that his initial word not be printed, but commented something like, "Lousy!"

Later, in a conversation overheard on the starting line between Kalitta Racing crew chief Jim Oberhoffer, Bud King crew chief Tim Richards and clutch consultant Lanny Miglizzi from Team Schumacher, Miglizzi pointed out the Firebird track crew layering traction compound on the strip's cooling evening surface, to which Richards commented, "It's real tough to shine shit."

These testing sessions are sometimes nicknamed "The Sixty-foot Nationals," but many teams were testing all aspects of their new combinations over the entire quarter-mile. If team owners are willing to commit the vast team resources and considerable amounts of money for testing, then track operators like Allen need to step up and provide a prepared racing surface equal to that of a stop on the NHRA tour. -DH

KEEPING TRACK OF THE TRACK

Lanny Miglizzi, clutch consultant for Don Schumacher Racing, has carved a dual role for himself as a track specialist. And he put in perspective why more than a couple of crew chiefs expressed disgust about the track surface conditions.

"Once the cars get past the Christmas tree about 60-70 feet, it's a little slipperier than we'd like. And it needs cars to make it better," the Indianapolis resident and 20-year

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drag-racing expert said. "By the time we get to the 330 mark, we feel there's not much grip. So you've really got to calm 'em down. We're kind of acting like it's 120-degree track out there, when it's only 85-90 degrees.

"The facility did an excellent job with the new asphalt, but new asphalt means it needs rubber. So when we get to half-track, actually 680 feet, it spins the tires quite easily," he said. "That's why we're treating the track like it's 20-30 degrees hotter than it really is. There's excess rubber from the 330 mark on. And around 400 feet they scraped some of the excess, which means we will have more surface area, but when you scrape the rubber off it's kind of green underneath and it needs more cars. A day or two from now it will show that they put in positive effort.

Maglizzi said during Saturday's session that the Firebird staff "did put in positive effort. It's not going to show it for a half a day or a day. With some preparation, it honestly could have had better grip. Short and sweet, a week or two ago, an effort could have been put in and you would have heard a lot less complaints." -SW

ONE DITCHES, ONE DEBUTS UNIQUE BODY

Darrell Russell said he doubts he'll be driving the Wayne Dupuy-designed concave body that showed up at a few races last year. "I'm not saying we won't go back to that," he said, "but right now we're going to stay with the more conventional one. It was something cool to try. You never know. We gave it a shot."

Millican, who was one of only four drivers Saturday to clock a sub-5-second pass, debuted a one-piece conventional-style body. The Tennesseean's best pass of the weekend was 4.993 seconds at 205.38 mph. -SW